>>45591520
That's how I used to do things, but I found it took many hours longer for less helpful prep when it came time to actually play.

These days the #1 thing (and sometimes only thing) I do is prep a web map. A bunch of circles with each location/likely person to seek out in them, and lines connecting them to other things. I label all the lines between the nodes to show what clue they are, what piece of information leads from one to the next, and make sure there are at least 3 ways out of and 3 ways into each circle. If I have time for nothing else, it's actually possible to run a game off this.

Ideally, I also make a list of 10 male and 10 female random names that fit the setting, have any important NPCs on notecards with stats and personality and brief RP notes with any important things I need them to say bullet pointed, and make some props/handouts.

I mostly don't bother writing out much in the way of description like that anymore, as long as I've read enough stuff recently to have it sort of in my head.

>>45591520
Usually little more than a list of NPCs, their motivations, goals, personalities and such. I have learned the hard way that players will, conciously or not, always disregard and go out of their way to avoid any and all planned plot, forcing you to improvise either way.

>>45591520
I basically have 2 notbooks. 1 has stuff the players know or can see without ruining the surprises. The other has the surprises, along with world details, important plot points, and stat lines for generic monsters I can throw at them. I stopped trying to keep track of specific plot stuff when my players decided to abandon the rails in favor of a airship.

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>>45591520
Five Room Dungeon is a fine model for setting up a game.
Go here and scroll down to "Use the Five Room Model" It's an outline for creating a simple adventure:
http://roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=156#1

For ideas, I scroll through monsters and extrapolate adventures from some creature: "how did it get there" and "what sort of treasure would it be guarding?" I also look at fantasy art and make up stories about the scene.

>>45591520
Holy shizz son, for my DMing style, that'd be so unbrokenly dense it'd be useless. I try to throw in pictures, tables, simple maps and stuff to break up concise descriptions of people and places, most of which have 1 line motivations, then like the day before the game I'll hash out what they do if they don't stumble onto anything themselves. Then they, as always, stumble onto something themselves. And away we go. I'll actually post a lot of my stuff if this is still up tomorrow.

>>45591916
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, that maybe I'd try to find one of my web maps if this thing is still alive.

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Here's my cluster fuck of a way. It starts really broken then slowly builds and gets organized into something. Tons of editing and changing and altering and fixing etc needed.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f_VGN-x5WuwclONACmB_wuhv6Z8mynRshhU33o5xhfg/edit?usp=sharing

I generally just scribble up some key data on any important characters, places or items, some basic data for the minor encounters, and a simple map if relevant. The rest can be generated on the fly. I often practice voices for NPCs though, and write some lines they'll likely say. There's no guarantee those lines will see use, but it gives me something to work from and is especially helpful if I haven't gotten proper sleep; fatigue really screws with improvisation.

The most important thing is to get a vague backbone together that hints at what the adventure may become. It doesn't have to be concrete or detailed, in fact I usually find that's a bad idea because there's no telling what'll happen in the meantime and when they'll finally get back to it. For instance, the current raid on a necromancer's tower has been put on hold while the group teams up with a psychic dinosaur to rescue Santa Claus from the frost giants. (The result of a holiday session that wound up getting out of hand and becoming a large scale adventure in its own right.)

>>45592250
That's pretty much how i do it as well.

OP's so.. clean and pretty tho.

>>45591520
>what does your planning look like
Not making anything especially detailed.

Deciding what factions will be doing in the background in the moderate future.
Replacing used consumable content (interesting dungeon chunks, slots on encounter tables, etc.)
Outlining new stuff that was tangentially mentioned in the game.

>>45591520
I have an idea book that contains scenario development ideas cross-referenced by actors and effects, and a folder of archetypes for everything from organizations to map features to terrain to characters to encounters.

That, the backbone of the existing story, the personalities at the table, and a general sense of what can happen is generally enough to get me where I need to go promptly and in good style.

>>45592931
That's a pretty good idea.

>>45591520
I used to do flowcharts with some bullet points about what would happen depending on the path they followed.
These days, it's usually
>Detailed narrative intro.
>5-6 Important plot beats that are likely to happen regardless of player action.
>Npcs, motive, background, relations
>Important locals and their descriptions.
>Narrative, detailed-ish outtro.

I usually have a good idea of how a session will start, and how I would like it to end, but most of what happens in the middle is up to the players and the ending is 9/10 a direct result of their actions.
Some games I do more sandboxy, some are a little more strict if the narrative is something like "You're a military unit under strict orders and supervision". but generally it's somewhere in the middle.

>>45592945
I honestly don't know any other way to do it. Everything else is frustratingly onerous and, arguably worse, inefficient.

>>45591916
I'd like to see it.

>>45592968
The workload can also depend on system, but the challenges are universal; don't overplan for players that don't see eye-to-eye with your own strategies/interests. It's almost impossible to plan unless they willingly agree to your plot beforehand.

>>45596386
Well you can plan in the sense that you can prepare likely tools to improvise with (NPCs/monsters/locations) like a lot of these Anons are saying.

But yeah, some of the sandbox threads where people do this giant amount of prep about their world weird me out because for me making the game more sandbox is the best way to reduce prep. Just have NPCs with goals and some likely stuff figured out and improv the whole thing.

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I use a 3 ring binder, the type with cover sleeves and put in lots of page sleeves. I often print pictures and text on cardstock and just hole punch them. I have one for each campaign. I usually write my scenario notes then type it to speed up access during the game. I put in monster stats and special rules so I don't need to look in a book to run. If there is a rules question I ask a player to check the books. I use props and pictures often but not excessively.
Pic related, a stand in for the tcho-tchos. Much more effective than a verbal description

Character blocks are written up, with stats, and skills for every major NPC the PCs encounter, including but not limited to one drawing, and a paragraph of their motivations and personality.

Then I draw a bunch of maps, and fill in the blanks with monsters, and traps and shit.

I only railroad the PCs for the first few sessions, just to give them a sense of the world and it's problems. After that they're on their own on how they will fix things, or make them worse.

I plan a lot of things, but I write down next to nothing. Because really, I just don't find myself looking at any notes I take during the game anyway.

I really should practice making detailed plans and lists, but my typical planning session consists of me flipping through my library of modules, reference material, and inspiration bits until I find a hook or plotline that is interesting or serves the purposes I want. Then I'll read that a few times so I know exactly how it goes, and in my head I'll just mentally assign the connections and names I need to make it fit into the plot so far.

Then, I'll usually run through the major scenes in my head, trying to talk to myself as if I were roleplaying specific NPCs in specific scenes, so I can nail the tone and get their dialogue feeling right.

Then...I just wait until the session and play it.

If I have to make a map for the session, usually that will take me a good couple of weeks in advance, so during the process I'll have time to go over all the enemies, their personalities, their reactions, their knowledge, and what could possibly happen in the process of fighting/exploring. So by the time we get to the game, I'll know it all pretty well.

I have a single sheet of paper with a mind map and everything else is in my head.

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Cont.
I build a framework for the setting but try not to put too much detail into the big picture. I also try not to prep the actual campaign to far ahead. Too many times the game ends too early. It can be tricky to prep just enough, I enjoy building worlds, but don't like not getting to use them.
In modern games I use google earth.

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>Listenting to "sandbox" DMs talk about how they plan things

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cont.
I often use a published module (with any needed adjustments) for the first game in a new campaign, especially if I don't know all the players or what their characters are going to be. After that, I expand on the results of it and what motivates the characters. and rarely use published stuff.

>>45591520
Don't do any of that shit.

Improvise.

If it's investigation focused campaing I write down the whole story behind the mystery, a lot of NPC backgrounds(helps me roleplay them better + I enjoy writing them), some clues that I can use, maps and NPC stats.

I use a three act structure for my sessions with two or so set pieces prepared, but not necessarily used.

Usually it's
1. Investigation/RP - players figure out what they want or need to do and why
2. Initial action/twist - players do something fucking stupid, but I go along with it for a while so it can tie into the final act.
3. Climactic action - The big thing that ties everything else together. Sometimes it's a fight, sometimes it's something else, but it's always with higher stakes than usual.

>>45591520
List of NPCs with goals, important social ties, skills.

The hook for the thing I want to introduce.

A bunch of obstacles pertinent to that thing.

A bunch of obstacles that can be introduced at any time.

>>45591520
I note down my plans in dot points on the left page of the book and then note down things during session on the right, like names and the current date etc.

Every time the players go through a month of in game time I write up a page or two of events that happened in the world.

The first and most important thing I do is figure out my PCs. I write down each of them in a notebook with bullet points of strengths and weaknesses and important background information. I then can build a plot around that and can make encounters play to certain characters strengths or weaknesses.

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Our DM uses massive flowcharts for missions, then notebook entries for each node on the flowchart. The man may have some sort of bizarre form of OCD that drives him to over-prepare for everything.

This is what he gave me when I asked for a simple example to show people.

Mostly, what I do is just come up with an interesting situation that the PCs can be involved in and make sure the the NPCs involved are fleshed out enough that I can easily have them react to the PCs actions. This leads to a very dynamic, organic style of roleplaying which I find often flows much better than some of the more railroad-y forms of GMing.

>>45599943
That's really, really bad practice to create such detailed plans.

>>45600175
Eh, it seems to work for him, even if he does throw out >70% of the stuff he creates. The man is a machine.

Also, he's gotten very good at predicting what we'll do over the last 10 or so years. I think we've only caught him flat-footed 3 or 4 times over the course of the most recent campaign, the rest of the time he either had something laid out for our exact decision, or was able to adapt his stuff with relatively little pain.

Anyway, not sure I'd recommend his style to someone looking for tips, I know I'd never want to put in the effort he does.

>>45599943
I have this same form of OCD but am able to overcome it and prep more simply. No longer having enough time to do this really helped me get past it. It's kind of fun, but so much wasted time compared to what is actually needed to run.

>>45596386
Yeah, IMO of any RPG i've played L5R has by far the biggest workload to make a session.

>>45599186
Why, every campaign needs a plan. The smart thing as a sandbox GM is to just know what your players wanna do next. If they steal a boat, have them make a plan before the end of a session on what they want to do next - Then build around that.

I write down a few names for potential new characters find the enemies I want based around the area and wing it

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>>45591520
like a rambling drunk

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I'm not sure this is the place, but it seems kinda like a GM's General thread.

I was wondering if i could get some help trying to make my PC's actually hate and want to kill the major NPC in my upcoming L5R one-shot. I basically have the back story as this. During a war with the shadowlands this Imperial came in a took control of their little contingent, and his cowardness cost all the lives besides the PC's. He also took credit for the eventual victory the PC's gained vs some enemies and to top it off - convinced others that the PC's were cowards who ran.

Problem is, I'm not quite sure how to either word it make it interesting and well make sense. I have a idea planned out that over the first 2 nights the PC's will 'dream' out the events and thus play them out to help flesh it out.

But I'm still extremely unsure on how to go about making them hate him and him doing things like the above in a way that works.

Any of you more experienced (And better) GMs here willing to help me or anything at all.

Pic related

This is my planning for my current game on Roll20. This mission starts on Friday but in the mean time I'll probably make a regional map for the mission.

>>45604323
Woops. Here's the image. Added in a cap of an older mission as well for comparison.

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>>45604323
>>45604388
Fuck me, I'm bad.

>>45604265
>Scenography, vault, postmodernism, utopy

What pretentious hipster architect-shit is going on there

>>45599943
Did he tell you what the different colors represent? I am curious.

>>45605060
A book I took from the library, it was a nice introduction for some topics but it was rather heavy handed with the "architecture is the savior of humanity" message

>>45591520
Moleskin, much like yours. Lots of tg images online as well. Hard meshing notes, so I couple photos of pages to art.

Tried notes on phone; bad audio notes (hate my voice)and text awkward typing or stylus.

>>45599340
>Improvise: to produce from whatever is available.

The more you have available, the greater your options.

>>45596386
Well, I don't plan at all. I just collect high-quality ingredients and keep my tools sharp.

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As much as I enjoy the classic tropes of D&D like notebooks, mountain dew, and perpetual virginity, I use a computer to organize my games because its obviously and demonstrably better. I also bring my laptop to the table and even access the internet during games. I find it helpful when I need to find a picture of a a tomb AND a sepulcher because they're definitely different things.

I think the ad-lib DM style is the best style so I try and prep out the basics of any NPC or location or whatever else I can possibly imagine my group interacting with. If players somehow grow a brain and choose an option I'm not prepared for I calmly drink an entire beer as I scream internally while designing a suitably engaging response. This technique has never failed to garner reasonable results.

>>45606754
Why do you sound like rorshach?

>>45599943
Literally rails. I'd rather flowchart the actually different paths that the story could take rather than this micromanaged horseshit; that's what enables the story to go in different directions with a different feel, and not feel limited or "samey".

>>45599943
This is a reasonable amount of work for an adventure. Its way easier to re-skin an encounter or interaction to account for player agency once you've laid this type of groundwork. Good DM's plan like this because inside every player lurks a That Guy jagaloon who inevitably wrecks the game and the DM needs to have a contingency for their shenanigans. If you're a DM and aren't thinking this expansively you're just another filthy casual.

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I'm a proud member of Team OneNote.

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>>45592062
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13KaeP3rSQVV7NvtnnVvDcGfZKElG6cp9bH1oVptzim8/edit?usp=sharing

Here's my first session i did. It's very on rails as we all learned the system and what not. But it's how similar to how that one will turn out. Not nearly as on rails but you get the gist.

>>45607558
That flowchart isn't dumb because it's too expansive. It's dumb because it's too limited, while at the same time taking much longer/more work to prep than actually more expansive prep would.

>>45605177
Brown is probably player planning, orange were favorable encounters, red were unfavorable encounters and bad things, purple were non-combat, but definitely distinct scenes, and green were good things.

Bear in mind though, this is just a demo, last time I caught a glimpse of one of the massive spreadsheets he uses the thing had an entire bloody rainbow of colors, distinct subshapes, different sort of connectors based on direct results and concurrent actions and so on.

The guy attempts to keep us on rails by laying down a ridiculous amount of them, and hoping we just decide to follow one on our own. Hell, when we started our last campaign, he'd prepped for us switching from DH to Rogue Trader, and had the first two sessions after the switch planned out.

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>>45607991

>>45607991
>>45608218
I was under the impression that it was a demo flowchart representing one or two sessions at the most. I mean, it looks nothing like a whole campaign, it's seriously 3-4 encounters at most. It's the equivalent of a dungeon map.

I use a lot of index cards for my notes in game, and a large size sketch book for maps, drawings of creatures, locations, stuff like that.

The index cards have stats, items, important things I like, and keeping track of new things the players/characters do, lists of names and quick descriptors. Easy to shuffle through, doesn't take up much space on a table. I've been making specific cards for technological items and treasure the players get for loot with drawings on the back. They love that shit.

Somewhere in a notebook I usually plan out a rough idea of the different pcs/npc/environments and anything else that's active, what it wants and how it might conflict. I try not to get too specific though, just a few ideas because the players usually come up with something I didn't think of that's neat.

>>45608355
Yep, where 3 general phases of play MUST happen. Not to be a dick, but many GM sessions leave more room for surprises and player agency than that.

>>45607991
>too limited
That Guy reveals himself

>taking much longer than more expansive prep
Please tell me how you do more work in a shorter period time lord

>>45608707
By making better use of your time doing things that more efficiently bring about your desired outcomes, you pitiable clod.

>>45608707
Better tools, better strategy, better technique.

Not all time spent is equal, my friend.

>>45608707
How is creating more varied narratives as a GM a That-Guyism???

>>45609787
It isn't. They are most likely a tourist on /tg/ trying to fit in, without much success.

>>45609787
A GM should only be expected to pre-develop enough PLAUSIBLE narratives to account for the REASONABLE actions a group might decide to take given the information the GM presents to them. To propose that flowchart is "too limited" clearly discounts a GMs ability to adapt/reskin/reroute pre-designed encounters to synthesize with player input, and is one of the signs that the many faced That Guy virus has entered a host body. If Thatguytis isn't dealt with in its earliest stages a player becomes unrecognizable as a reasonable human. He is the darkness and the filth that infests a table with his spoiled tantrums and need to take the group hostage as he veers on a tangent into his magical realm and spits and hisses when the GM doesn't provide "more varied narratives" where they can bathe in the spotlight like a special snowflake.

>>45611157
The flowchart is too limited, if it can be said to do anything at all.

>>45599294
I do this too. It gives me some structure early on and lets me almost auto-pilot the mechanics whilst I pay real close attention to the characters, player interactions. I like to spot any issues early on, and second session onwards always builds on what the players did or wanted to do, once we've kicked off.

>>45591520
i wing everything, give levels once i feel it appropriate and almost give no loot whatso ever to keep the game party under leveled to avoid the game devulging into DBZ fights.

>>45611827
Well that's one way to GM.

>>45611867
i call my style

No fun allowed.

>>45591520
Flowcharts, flowcharts everywhere. Each node is an important event, and the lines leading away from it are possible outcomes. You have to do some pruning and improvising, but it allows you to have structure without railroading too much.

>>45611869
>>45611827
Are you me?

>>45611157
That's not pre-development, it's just a flowchart. It doesn't aid in the planning process AT ALL.

>>45611940
If you absolutely hate your players.

Yes i am you.

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>>45591520
I can only dream of having handwriting that good

>>45607723
poor aziz

>>45592062

Are you me?

I can't organize for shit, I write random paragraphs for stuff that should maybe happen and pull a session out of it.

Half the stuff I write falls to the wayside when it gets lost in my clusterfuck of notes, but it helps me weed out ideas that didn't stick in my mind I guess.

>>45612277
i could be, but it does get more organized at some point - see here
>>45607925

Write a sheet or notecards of important characters with details if the game is character/rp heavy, or just some names and simple traits if it's more about loots and monsters.

Have a skeleton of the "story" I have in mind.. uh.. in mind, if the game is more of an arc, or draw a rough map of major locations and terrain if it's more sandboxy.

Write up some flashcards of quantum monsters/enemies by terrain.

Then just fuckin' wing it.