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Would it be possible to put a little checklist at the front or end of a scenario that lists all the monsters (and NPCs?) in it and which book they're from? It could also include the list of flip mats used or any other products?
It would make it a lot easier to pull the stat blocks and pawns I'll be using instead of needing to flip make through. Especially when I'm doing 2 or 3 scenarios in one day or for placing markers in a Bestiary if a scenario needs to be run cold.
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I have good news, in season 4 and 5 they list what books are used. Listing which monsters are in there and flip mats and what not cuts into word count, this is part of the reason they no longer give stat blocks for standard monsters in a scenario and just reference a book and page.
Personally I don't really see why this is needed as any good gm reads and re-reads a scenario several times and should be doing prep to run it and the things you listed above basically cover that.
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I have good news, in season 4 and 5 they list what books are used. Listing which monsters are in there and flip mats and what not cuts into word count, this is part of the reason they no longer give stat blocks for standard monsters in a scenario and just reference a book and page.
Personally I don't really see why this is needed as any good gm reads and re-reads a scenario several times and should be doing prep to run it and the things you listed above basically cover that.
Interesting then that there is a whole section devoted to running a scenario "cold."
I wasn't looking to redundantly print a monstrous ability I've never heard of, just a way to collect all the extra materials one would use. It's not something necessary, and I was curious about it's ability to be implemented at all. I find the benefit to be self evident, but not necessarily worth the cost. Which is all I was asking about.
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I am not sure what scenarios you are running but in the 120+ I have run there is no place that goes over how to run something cold, unless you are talking about the summary which is by no means directions on how to run cold, but more of an overview on what is going on story wise. I am not saying you are, but running something cold is typically the sign of a poor to bad gm. I do realize that sometimes things come up at conventions and what not, but a good VO, especially yours Kristie, is not going to ask someone who hasn't already run something, or isn't comfortable doing something they don't want to do.
Scenarios have a word count. It is extremely precious. Adding the stuff in that you are requesting is kind of redundant as the information is already there. Even another box that says, these are the monsters in here cuts into that word count and thus into the scenarios quality.
There are tons of resources out there to help gms prep scenarios. There is the forums here that specifically have a GM section, there is also the Gm Shared Prep Drive
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I would also like to clarify that, to me, running cold is when you have never run something before with no prep and only a moments notice. There are scenarios I have run that I can rerun with less than 30 minutes of notice and a short amount of time to refresh myself on. I am not saying you are a bad gm, or if you are running cold there is a bad VO involved and I do understand that things can happen, but if you say you are going to run something, I know most of us give our gms weeks of advanced notice to prep, you should be prepared and the suggestions you make are not really needed.
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My personal advice, is when you download a scenario please visit the GM Shared Resource folder on the google drive. We have a ton of stellar individuals who for most scenarios list all the monsters with full stat blocks and details on the spells, spell like abilities, and super natural abilities. IF you endup having to run a scenario cold, then it would be extremely prudent and helpful to run off the gm shared file for it. Running something cold is something that should happen in a blue moon (maybe once a year), not something that should occur on a regular basis. It is rough on you as the game master and for the players as well.
Oh yeah ditto on everything Chris said above. (BTW a special note to Chris: Pleasure having you in the game over the weekend for Library of the Lion. Hope to see you in more online games in the future!)
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I for one would love an 'at a glance' list in the shared prep area.
flip mats / map packs used (or suggested easy substitutes)
suggested minis / pawns (with quantities)
My wife creates something akin to one of these when she preps a scenario.
I'll prompt her to upload the ones she has prepared.
