I'm talking about printed adventures specifically, either modules or APs. Do you use any programs, do you take notes on encounters, traps and treasures? Or do you guys just read the adventure and go from there?
|
Depends on what I'm running but in general my process is this:
For an AP:
Read the entire AP once through. Time ~ 1 Week.
Read the messageboards to highlight plot-holes and problem spots ~ 1 Day.
Read the first adventure more closely. Note points of interest and add further notes for early foreshadowing of later adventures ~1 day.
Day before I run the adventure read closely the first section of the first adventure. These will be my table notes paying particular attention to what I suspect will be tricky to adjudicate rules-wise (underwater combat, complex traps or monsters with unique or rarely seen abilities like Swallow Whole). I adjust treasure up or down depending on what my group needs. ~1-4 hours.
Of course it's rare I do all of these things all in one go, usually as I get free time here or there. It's just so that when I'm at the table I always have the overall plot in mind when players ask questions or get off track.
Bonus: If I'm really lucky and have a lot of free time I put together a bonus encounter to add to the night's session to give the players a bit of my own signature.
I make mini-stat blocks for enemies they're likely to meet in the next session, including their key features, their attack bonus and damage when they use power attack, etc. I also keep an eye out for encounters that are likely to be too boring or too deadly for the group.
I print out relevant images to hand out to the players. (You can search for them on the internet or cut them out of a PDF.)
I like to note down possible snatches of dialogue for people they meet, including enemies. I want everyone to have a personality, and I'm not a great improviser.
I generally read a module twice before I run it. In terms of prep, I photocopy player handouts and usually a copy of the map which I scribble notes all over (reminding myself about light or sound that can be seen/heard from other areas, for example. Making notes about which rooms might be able to summon reinforcements, etcetera). I also go through calculating total experience points for the module (if we're using them) - i generally award twice during the adventure and once at its conclusion (irrespective of whether they directly confronted every creature or not - i take the view that avoidance is as effective as elimination).
The final thing I do is prepare a notebook with one page per encounter - all monster statistics, treasure, a place to record hit points, etcetera. I don't use the module much during play but rather rely on my annotated map plus the notebook.
I like to note down possible snatches of dialogue for people they meet, including enemies. I want everyone to have a personality, and I'm not a great improviser.
I should probably do that too.
I run games via email, so my system is a little weird. Ideally, for an AP-based game:
1) Read the whole AP.
What has really happened in the past is that I've read the first adventure, fallen in love, and gotten things moving. That has led to a few ill-advised decisions. There are certainly a lot more things I'd have changed about Second Darkness if I knew in detail what its back end was like when I started. I've been making eye-babies with Wrath of the Righteous for a few months, but committed to waiting until I've got at least two volumes in my hot little hands before deciding. This is a new level of restraint.
2) Read the module I'm going to be running immediately.
This always gets done. I almost never reread it at any length, though. I get very frustrated trying to reread something that I just read not that long ago. For fortunately I have effectively infinite prep time and I can take it just about whenever I want.
3) As sections of the module come into play, I read those again as I present them.
Modifications can be made at any stage of the process. Since the time lag in PBEMs is greater, I usually try to cut out filler encounters. I also sometimes have to do lengthy plot recaps because recent developments might reference things that happened real time years ago.
Most of my modifications are verbal and exist largely in my head. Unless I'm making a really drastic change, like rewriting a whole NPC, I don't use notes very often. A lot of "rewriting" NPCs amounts to using the same statblock, or the same but for minor changes, but changing the description. When I do an actual rewrite, involving something like changing a class, adding levels, etc, then I fire up the trusty old word processor and make it happen.
I did something different when I started a sandbox game. I wrote a rough scenario, a lot like the Adventure Background section of an AP. Proper names, basic details of the locations and what really happened in an assumed order. Then I threw it at the players, they chose a different path, and I ran with that. They still ended up at Point B, but they took a detour around Point A3 and have taken several more since. They've also opted, at least so far, to skip some stuff I put in for them. That's fine too. I think my entire "adventure" is less than two pages of typed text but it's working really nicely.
I wrote down major points and things I wanted to remember quickly into Word, like a point for list of the stuff I expect to happen that session and certain feats I didn't want to look up mid combat (mounted combat feats for the goblin dude in RoTL ect).
I also liberally used the highlight text and add sticky notes feature in Adobe Acrobat. Highlighting descriptions and rewards and using sticky notes for fixing all the terrible math for enemy stats.