Reading scenarios before playing them - what should I do?

[Mekkis]

I am cursed with a rather good memory for scenarios - I still remember the plot, enemies and complications that occurred when I played my first scenario, back in 2009.

I have always been of the opinion to play a scenario before I GM it, or if I'm required to eat a scenario, to not play it subsequently. Until around 2011, I believe that this was official policy, although now it's been degraded to a 'strong recommendation'.

Recently, a situation has arisen where I have been assigned to GM a scenario at a local convention, literally one hour after playing it, and I'm unsure about how to handle this situation. I can either read it prior to playing it, thus spoiling it for myself, and possibly the rest of the table, or I can avoid reading it, and end up running the scenario on one hours' prep, which given the complexities of Season Five scenarios, seems to be a bad idea.

What should I do in this situation?

[Dhjika]

Mekkis wrote:

I am cursed with a rather good memory for scenarios - I still remember the plot, enemies and complications that occurred when I played my first scenario, back in 2009.

I have always been of the opinion to play a scenario before I GM it, or if I'm required to eat a scenario, to not play it subsequently. Until around 2011, I believe that this was official policy, although now it's been degraded to a 'strong recommendation'.

Recently, a situation has arisen where I have been assigned to GM a scenario at a local convention, literally one hour after playing it, and I'm unsure about how to handle this situation. I can either read it prior to playing it, thus spoiling it for myself, and possibly the rest of the table, or I can avoid reading it, and end up running the scenario on one hours' prep, which given the complexities of Season Five scenarios, seems to be a bad idea.

What should I do in this situation?

One option is to take good notes on the game - also explain your situation to your GM and he/she might let you look at his notes after the game - if you get a chance, talk to the GM after the game to get a feel on pitfalls and then read it.

[Farrindor]

Also a thought is to print the GM Shared Prep material without actually perusing it, to give you a leg up on prepping it in that hour.

If you give us which scenario in question is involved, those who have run it can give you an idea of the complexity of preparation to help you decide if prepping in that hour is workable for you or not. (It sounds like you have a mind for remembering detail, which will help you in a crash prep.)

[Greg Hurst]

Just play the game and let the GM know you've already prepped it. I GM more than play and I've almost always run games that I play. You will want to let the players know too so when they're stumped trying to figure out something they understand why you're not helping. It's often a great help because a lot of times players zone out during the opening text and you can get them back on track. One other suggestion is to have a couple characters that have a good reason for not being super helpful for puzzles, etc... Maybe break out the low intelligence fighter, a monk with a vow of silence or a deaf oracle.

[Nefreet]

Perhaps try contacting your GM ahead of game and ask them if you can borrow their minis and maps for the next slot.

I also second the idea of printing the Shared Prep Drive.

[Sior]

I'm with Greg on this one. Just because you know what's going to happen doesn't mean you're going to spoil it. Nor does it mean it's fully spoiled for you. Okay, so you know that the end boss is actually the resurrected form of Michael Jackson. Half the fun of the game is getting to that point and interacting with the characters that you don't know. And always always go with what the dice say. If you roll a nat 20 on a Sense Motive check and don't see through what you know is a bluff, don't push the matter. Take the die roll and play it off in ignorance.

It is a different experience playing something you have prepped, that is not to say it's a lesser experience.

[pauljathome]

The best approach is also going to depend a LOT on the scenario. For example, if it is Library of the Lion I'd strongly recommend playing it before reading, both because the scenario would be MUCH more fun and because an hour would be enough time to prepare as long as you had the stuff from the GM shared prep printed.

[Alex McGuire]

Try to find someone to trade slots with you, assuming you are GMing multiple slots at the con.

[BigNorseWolf]

Just play your dumbest character and play it to the hilt.

[Dhjika]

pauljathome wrote:

The best approach is also going to depend a LOT on the scenario. For example, if it is Library of the Lion I'd strongly recommend playing it before reading, both because the scenario would be MUCH more fun and because an hour would be enough time to prepare as long as you had the stuff from the GM shared prep printed.

If it was something like Hellknight Feast or Blakros Wedding - reading it before playing could spoil some of the "oohs"