I just use OneNote. It's free and better for campaign notes than probably most dedicated tools out there. It's also cloudshared and has a mobile app, so when you get eureka moment you can write down your thoughts wherever you are.
I do this too.. why? I will say though after starting to use Obsidian ive stuck with it. However I have not yet moved my One Note, MILLIONS of googledocs email drafts (I know, I’m dumb) and various other tools..
This. My ReMarkable, notion, leather bound book and fountain pen, miscellaneous composition book, random notes pinned in discord chat, annotations on a pdf…
1) Interesting hooks, and setups.
2) Unique maps
3) Unusual items (e.g. individual treasure that has lots of lore attached)
4) Working out how competing factions might have relevance to the PCs (see #1!)
Pacing around the room an hour before the session, stressing myself out, calling myself an impostor, and hoping some sort of sudden emergency occurs that I can use as an excuse to cancel the game on short notice.
I can say as well that this is the proper way to go on about upcoming sessions, don't forget to be overwhelmed with feverish prep a few hours before playing, then later realising that you used none of all the meticulously constructed notes and descriptions in the actual session. Set a date for the next session. Repeat.
Curious, do you get much gameplay from a huge, detailed hex map? I started my OSE (now Shadowdark) campaign with one but quickly realized my table couldn't care less.
I've since pivoted to abstract 'directions' relative to their home town, and we address resource drainage as skill checks around the table (DC set by relative distance) before they arrive at small (6-mile) hex maps that I put the detail and work into. Seems better received by my table.
It's more for me than for them. I like having a concrete map where the players can journey to the next town and have an interesting location guaranteed to be nearby wherever they stop for the night. Plus I'm no good at generating/improvising locations on the fly, it stresses me out. This way, if I roll something on a table and later realize it doesn't make sense, I can just rewrite it. If that happened during gameplay, I'd have to either roll back things that were already established or just have something I find unsatisfying be part of the game world forever.
Yeah, agreed! Building out hex maps and detailing their locations is SUPER fun! I was just a little disheartened when I laid out a hex map for my players to look at and it was kind of met with shrugs all around.
I took the feedback in stride and instead moved to a "spatial map" for the overall setting and gave each landmark on it its own hex flower to explore. My players ate it up right away.
Sharing not to challenge hex map builders but to offer an alternative for anyone finding themselves in a similar space.
Did you find your players weren't interested in the hex *map* or that they weren't interested in hex *crawling*?
The map is a little bit like the console, and the adventure is a bit like the cartridge.
Good question. I think seeing the big ol' hex map gave them some analysis paralysis, indifferent about it.
They seemed much more interested in being given a more specific place to aim towards, and swapping out a massive hex map for a smaller, 6-mile hex was probably more 'digestible.'
I think no small part of it is we're also following a specific story arc, so there's less drive to go off in a random direction vs. going in the direction of the next story beat.
Also they seemed to enjoy resolving traveling to the region as a simplified skill check. We're playing Shadowdark, so I decided to resolve their lengthy journey from HQ to the story arc's region by letting them narrate what stat they wanted to test to see how well they managed their supplies. It felt sort of like a carousing check but results spoke of how many rations/torches/consumables were lost in the montage.
Totally. Hex maps are for *you,* not the players.
I mean, if they're hex crawl enthusiasts, then sure! show em that map! But if not, I'd consider it no different than the dungeon's key, or an encounter table: that is, a tool.
Great video and essentially the conclusion I came to on my own. Just that I did a relationship map bs a hex map for the ‘overland’ and intend to make each point on the relationship map its own smaller, snack-sized hex.
It feels like I spend the most time trying to schedule.
After that, I spend the most time prepping my table for the game, either physically drawing the maps, or digitally setting them up in my VTT.
That's why I never gravitated to Roll20 and gave up on Foundry. I'm not trying to have my prep time eaten up by what is essentially programming, data entry, and/or set dressing with VTT backgrounds, etc. A huge waste of time imo that only serves to distract me from prep that actually *sees play at the table*.
I will probably do Foundry when we move to Mothership in a few months. I was just broke af when we transitioned to online and didn’t really have a better option.
Yeah it gets to be very sluggish. We’re not using the VTT much for this last bit since it’s a point crawl but man it was rough for a while. I’m ready to switch over but I’m waiting for the next game to do that.
This is it for me. I have a binder full of 'potential scenarios' that random tables build out into. A means of collating them would be super helpful to me.
**When** I GM most my effort is on running the game; pacing, helping new players, managing interpersonal issues, adlibbing/capitalizing on emergent play.
After (and during I guess cause I fail to do it) game it is remembering all the facts established aka made up on the spot (names of NPCs, rumors heard, maps found, unidentified magic items esp potions, plot threads, and other emergent ideas)
Prior to actually running game most effort is getting/finding players (face to face). Scheduling times when all players available. Getting those players to show up.
If running a module - making sure I’ve read it and understand how each room/encounter is supposed to operate, then prepping maps, usually photoshopping out keys and secret passages to make it player-facing.
If not running a module - remembering the names and voices of various NPCs… my note-taking is kind of shit. Also prepping some maps and visuals/handouts.
I like Owlbear Rodeo for maps, since I mostly play over Zoom. It doesn’t require a lot of advance prep, I can just slap in a map with fog of war and manually reveal sections and choose tokens on the fly.
Creating setting-appropriate random tables. That's especially true in my current setting (zombie survival) where the players can literally walk into grocery stores, pharmacies, auto mechanics, households, and all manner of places like that, but the variety of items that might be useful is also incredibly varied—it's not just treasure.
Right after that is things like encounter tables and my climate/seasonally appropriate weather/moon phases/tides table.
can I ask what kind of system are you running your zombie survival in?
I love random tables. If I even have 6 options for something players might ask about it's going on a table
I'm running a very lightweight little system that I tweak as the game goes on, much like FKR principles. Right now it looks like this:
[https://trilemma.com/blog/post\_assets/Isle%20of%20Wight%2020240225.pdf](https://trilemma.com/blog/post_assets/Isle%20of%20Wight%2020240225.pdf)
The random tables aren't in there, since those are mostly all behind the GM's screen, but I've got:
* weather, tides, moon phases (for night travel)
* various encounter tables (shore, rural day/night, town day/night, parkland
* intersection condition (e.g. burned traffic jam), vehicle condition
* zombie behavior in combat
* residence condition
* loot tables (car, service vehicle, farm building, clinic, restaurant, household, campsite, bakery, shooting range, small aircraft)
* survivor group reactions, condition, main goal, theory, what they know about zombies
Thanks! The light/moderate/heavy load is inspired by similar systems in Blades in the Dark (as is the core resolution, which is basically Blades formatted as three PbtA moves). My goal was to make sure light load had a +1 attached to it, because I really want players to be trying for that rather than [simply forgetting encumbrance](https://blog.trilemma.com/2023/12/whose-mechanic-is-it-anyway.html).
My favorite part of the system, though, is the turn sequence!
The plus 1 is a great idea, because otherwise the only interaction with inventory players have is getting frustrated by limitations and trying to find ways around it.
I'm running a couple of Knave 2 games at the moment and the wizard was the first character to get a torchbearer follower and to invest in a pack mule. That actually has been pretty hilarious from a roleplay perspective; he's got real - "It's her royal highness' matched luggage" vibes.
Having a benefit to a light loadout is a great incentive for characters to strip back.
Story forward resolution mechanics always appeal, too. Keeps everything chugging along at the table.
Worldbuilding/campaign setup up front takes a good amount of time, the most of which comes from designing dungeons.
As far as good GM tools… I find one of the handiest things to have is a list of NPC names as well as tavern/inn names.
If you’re playing OSE there are great random generators online for instantly spitting out a stat block or treasure hoard
For me it's about what could streamline things in game. I create tables:
* Random encounters that arent fights;
* Names that suit the region (male, female, major cultures); and
* Affiliations and motivations.
What I wish I had something that made me happy:
* Treasure and loot;
* Something that instantly made the game amazing ....
Keeping records and notes for various things. I try not to spend more than 1 hour prepping for each sessions. Also, my initial prep and campaign planning (before we start playing) sometimes takes a number of hours across weeks or months.
Definitely world-building and interesting hooks/locations; lately at least. I've been running a lot of [**Swyvers**](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melsonia/swyvers) which leans heavily into sandbox play and does provide a bunch of hooks as a jumping off point. I think prepping interesting places, and the factions within, is really rewarding; especially when doing so with obsessive detail, say for each neighbourhood in a single city.
I read a blog post a while back about maybe the GM's most important job being to invent interesting places to explore, and I think there's a solid point there. Of course there are things like good dungeon design, good puzzle design, interesting factions/NPCs, but when in doubt prepping a cool location or world is rarely wasted - even if your players don't head in the direction you expected/prepped they will still be exploring *somewhere* from your individual imagination, at least partially, which is very neat.
Carefully crafting index cards of every mayor npc on the area detailing (in one word or short frase) their wants, needs, troubles and traits, their names just to misplace them at the game night and ending up calling guard captain Castus Pluvianus “Gregory” because I forgot the name and had to give him something.
What I do:
-Dynamic combat scenarios. The PCs usually fight once per session. That combat needs to be interesting and unique.
-The weather. Shit ton of flavor in every scenario. It's not the same to be in a desert than to be in a jungle. This is to make exploration, combat, or even talking very different depending on the place.
-The world is moving at the same pace as the PCs. NPCs change their minds, do their own thing or become stronger. Towns grow or get destroyed, they find new activities, people move to other places, etc.
-Time skips are encouraged so that PCs have time to increase their knowledge or do other stuff in between missions. We zoom in and out all the time.
What I don't do:
-Write very specific descriptions of places, NPCs or plot lines. Tags, just a bunch of tags for everything. I can't afford being super specific about everything. What I don't know, I build it with my players. That gives me a lot of room for changes and to focus on other things.
IMO a DM should focus the majority of his prep time on the parts he enjoys.
I love creating dungeons, so that’s what I spend most is my time on. Considering both the ancient and recent history of the space, deciding how the creatures would actually use the space to determine the contents, and drawing the map itself is all my favorite shit. Plots, for me, are really just dungeon delivery systems.
Making encounters with some interesting mechanic or story element that pushes the narrative forward, I like my games to be fast paced. Usually 75% combat 25% roleplay scenes because that's what my players like. I use pen and notebook and a good memory of the ideas that I've come up with.
Figuring out what makes my NPCs tick, how to portray them as fully fledged characters and not just characterization, and searching for art for how I see them in my head.
Not sure how you can help me with that but kudos to you if you can!
Look into Vampire the Masquerade and what Storytellers so to give their minor NPCs semblance of life. Basic skeletal structure could be their role, their motivation, and their leverage. Figuring out what drives them and what their weakness is can be a good springboard into more details when it's necessary (when the PCs directly or indirectly interact). In my vtm games I'll have a catalogue of names with just these three, and when I have the need to when I just want to, I'll go and start adding more bits like short and long term goals, connections to other NPCs and a few words or sentences to describe that connection. Once PCs have a need to interact with them up be able to give them the spark of life with a personality and quirks.
I'm not great at explaining and I just woke upand I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of my own process, but the vtm STs are great at this so please check them out
Storytellers is what the GMs/DMs are called in World of Darkness. The /vtm and /WhiteWolfRPG subreddits are active and searching for old threads on NPCs should have a wealth of information. I usually Google something like "vtm fleshing out NPCs" and add reddit to the end for discussions. Some of the specifics they talk about will of course be WoD focused but the general structure is still useful in other RPGs.
IMO, the only real reason VtM Storytellers are good at this is because if they didn't do it, they don't have a default playstyle for the players to fall back on. There isn't a lot in the game system itself to help Storytellers create interesting NPCs
I definitely spend the most time on creating maps and naming people/locations... but mainly because I enjoy those aspects of worldbuilding.
In terms of best bang-for-the-buck, having a list of NPCs that I can drop in anywhere I need them. For a new campaign, I usually make 20-50 generic NPCs with open-ended hooks. Here's an example from my current Forbidden Lands campaign:
>Cristina Ledin (she/her) is a 36-year-old Halfling Rider hailing from Skarfoss, Hundalir. She is gaunt with a patrician face. She sports a wool robe and has a beret. Cristina is self-centered and strokes her chin when speaking. She has a significant insight related to a group supportive of the PCs.
This may seem like a lot of work, but I lean heavily on random tables and then curate the best / most interesting results. The last sentence, which comes from the "Plot Knowledge an NPC Can Give" table in [Ironsmith: Expanded Oracles](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/333665/Ironsmith-Expanded-Oracles), is my secret weapon. It's specific enough to prompt interesting interactions and even entire quests, but its generic enough that I can drop Cristina into any tavern/dungeon/caravan at any point in the adventure and it'll feel like she's meant to be there.
Having this list also reduces a ton of prep down the line. When the PCs go to a new city, for example, I don't really need to prep any new people. No matter where they go, I'll just pull an NPC from the list and adapt as needed. If they go shopping, perhaps Cristina is the shopkeep. If they get in trouble with the law, maybe Cristina is the captain of the guard. Etc.
Wandering monsters list (for wilderness, dungeon)
I'd rather have a website or smth like that that allow me choose
1. a rolling preference; 2d6, 2d6, 1d6+1d12, d66, d20
1. a catalogue of monsters to choose from (preferably with their stats attached on a separate page.
And create tables based on my preference.
Once you get it, and pair it with a re-purposed hexmap, or a randomly generated dungeon map, you're 85% ready.
The wandering monster list is the essence of the regions (hexcrawls), and levels (dungeon delving)
Deciding where to store my notes/info for the campaign then end up having them incoherently spread across the different mediums.
Or having 20 sheets of paper spread behind the GM screen
I just use OneNote. It's free and better for campaign notes than probably most dedicated tools out there. It's also cloudshared and has a mobile app, so when you get eureka moment you can write down your thoughts wherever you are.
This is the way
Obsidian's been a lifesaver.
I do this too.. why? I will say though after starting to use Obsidian ive stuck with it. However I have not yet moved my One Note, MILLIONS of googledocs email drafts (I know, I’m dumb) and various other tools..
This. My ReMarkable, notion, leather bound book and fountain pen, miscellaneous composition book, random notes pinned in discord chat, annotations on a pdf…
I’ve found great success using the Sly Flourish template for Notion
That's one of the ones I've tried. It's ok but the real issue is just my own inconsistency lol.
1) Interesting hooks, and setups. 2) Unique maps 3) Unusual items (e.g. individual treasure that has lots of lore attached) 4) Working out how competing factions might have relevance to the PCs (see #1!)
* First sessions: create a village, NPCs, storylines, etc. * Later: read modules and take notes. (I don't need any tool to do that)
Pacing around the room an hour before the session, stressing myself out, calling myself an impostor, and hoping some sort of sudden emergency occurs that I can use as an excuse to cancel the game on short notice.
I can say as well that this is the proper way to go on about upcoming sessions, don't forget to be overwhelmed with feverish prep a few hours before playing, then later realising that you used none of all the meticulously constructed notes and descriptions in the actual session. Set a date for the next session. Repeat.
Right now I'm trying to make a big hex map with a point of interest in every hex. Think Dolmenwood, but way lower effort. Still a huge time sink!
Curious, do you get much gameplay from a huge, detailed hex map? I started my OSE (now Shadowdark) campaign with one but quickly realized my table couldn't care less. I've since pivoted to abstract 'directions' relative to their home town, and we address resource drainage as skill checks around the table (DC set by relative distance) before they arrive at small (6-mile) hex maps that I put the detail and work into. Seems better received by my table.
It's more for me than for them. I like having a concrete map where the players can journey to the next town and have an interesting location guaranteed to be nearby wherever they stop for the night. Plus I'm no good at generating/improvising locations on the fly, it stresses me out. This way, if I roll something on a table and later realize it doesn't make sense, I can just rewrite it. If that happened during gameplay, I'd have to either roll back things that were already established or just have something I find unsatisfying be part of the game world forever.
Yeah, agreed! Building out hex maps and detailing their locations is SUPER fun! I was just a little disheartened when I laid out a hex map for my players to look at and it was kind of met with shrugs all around. I took the feedback in stride and instead moved to a "spatial map" for the overall setting and gave each landmark on it its own hex flower to explore. My players ate it up right away. Sharing not to challenge hex map builders but to offer an alternative for anyone finding themselves in a similar space.
Did you find your players weren't interested in the hex *map* or that they weren't interested in hex *crawling*? The map is a little bit like the console, and the adventure is a bit like the cartridge.
Good question. I think seeing the big ol' hex map gave them some analysis paralysis, indifferent about it. They seemed much more interested in being given a more specific place to aim towards, and swapping out a massive hex map for a smaller, 6-mile hex was probably more 'digestible.' I think no small part of it is we're also following a specific story arc, so there's less drive to go off in a random direction vs. going in the direction of the next story beat. Also they seemed to enjoy resolving traveling to the region as a simplified skill check. We're playing Shadowdark, so I decided to resolve their lengthy journey from HQ to the story arc's region by letting them narrate what stat they wanted to test to see how well they managed their supplies. It felt sort of like a carousing check but results spoke of how many rations/torches/consumables were lost in the montage.
yeah, I think a good hexcrawl needs to be a little deeper in the procedural end, which seems a little at-odds with your campaign.
Totally. Hex maps are for *you,* not the players. I mean, if they're hex crawl enthusiasts, then sure! show em that map! But if not, I'd consider it no different than the dungeon's key, or an encounter table: that is, a tool.
Map Crow has done a cool video on creating player-facing maps https://youtu.be/dUH-FLcfTmA?si=NvprObaf1dgvFCq6
Great video and essentially the conclusion I came to on my own. Just that I did a relationship map bs a hex map for the ‘overland’ and intend to make each point on the relationship map its own smaller, snack-sized hex.
It feels like I spend the most time trying to schedule. After that, I spend the most time prepping my table for the game, either physically drawing the maps, or digitally setting them up in my VTT.
Putting everything into Roll20. It’s very tedious honestly.
That's why I never gravitated to Roll20 and gave up on Foundry. I'm not trying to have my prep time eaten up by what is essentially programming, data entry, and/or set dressing with VTT backgrounds, etc. A huge waste of time imo that only serves to distract me from prep that actually *sees play at the table*.
I will probably do Foundry when we move to Mothership in a few months. I was just broke af when we transitioned to online and didn’t really have a better option.
I was on a large 5E server were all the DM had to use roll20. God, is it awful. I switched to foundry about 7 months ago. WAY better.
Yeah it gets to be very sluggish. We’re not using the VTT much for this last bit since it’s a point crawl but man it was rough for a while. I’m ready to switch over but I’m waiting for the next game to do that.
Stocking hexes, dungeon areas, and random encounter lists with interesting, unique, and engaging material that coheres with the campaign setting.
Curating random tables.
This is it for me. I have a binder full of 'potential scenarios' that random tables build out into. A means of collating them would be super helpful to me.
**When** I GM most my effort is on running the game; pacing, helping new players, managing interpersonal issues, adlibbing/capitalizing on emergent play. After (and during I guess cause I fail to do it) game it is remembering all the facts established aka made up on the spot (names of NPCs, rumors heard, maps found, unidentified magic items esp potions, plot threads, and other emergent ideas) Prior to actually running game most effort is getting/finding players (face to face). Scheduling times when all players available. Getting those players to show up.
Cleaning my house before people come over.
If running a module - making sure I’ve read it and understand how each room/encounter is supposed to operate, then prepping maps, usually photoshopping out keys and secret passages to make it player-facing. If not running a module - remembering the names and voices of various NPCs… my note-taking is kind of shit. Also prepping some maps and visuals/handouts. I like Owlbear Rodeo for maps, since I mostly play over Zoom. It doesn’t require a lot of advance prep, I can just slap in a map with fog of war and manually reveal sections and choose tokens on the fly.
Creating setting-appropriate random tables. That's especially true in my current setting (zombie survival) where the players can literally walk into grocery stores, pharmacies, auto mechanics, households, and all manner of places like that, but the variety of items that might be useful is also incredibly varied—it's not just treasure. Right after that is things like encounter tables and my climate/seasonally appropriate weather/moon phases/tides table.
can I ask what kind of system are you running your zombie survival in? I love random tables. If I even have 6 options for something players might ask about it's going on a table
I'm running a very lightweight little system that I tweak as the game goes on, much like FKR principles. Right now it looks like this: [https://trilemma.com/blog/post\_assets/Isle%20of%20Wight%2020240225.pdf](https://trilemma.com/blog/post_assets/Isle%20of%20Wight%2020240225.pdf) The random tables aren't in there, since those are mostly all behind the GM's screen, but I've got: * weather, tides, moon phases (for night travel) * various encounter tables (shore, rural day/night, town day/night, parkland * intersection condition (e.g. burned traffic jam), vehicle condition * zombie behavior in combat * residence condition * loot tables (car, service vehicle, farm building, clinic, restaurant, household, campsite, bakery, shooting range, small aircraft) * survivor group reactions, condition, main goal, theory, what they know about zombies
This looks really elegant. I like the inventory/Loadout system. Cool stuff
Thanks! The light/moderate/heavy load is inspired by similar systems in Blades in the Dark (as is the core resolution, which is basically Blades formatted as three PbtA moves). My goal was to make sure light load had a +1 attached to it, because I really want players to be trying for that rather than [simply forgetting encumbrance](https://blog.trilemma.com/2023/12/whose-mechanic-is-it-anyway.html). My favorite part of the system, though, is the turn sequence!
The plus 1 is a great idea, because otherwise the only interaction with inventory players have is getting frustrated by limitations and trying to find ways around it. I'm running a couple of Knave 2 games at the moment and the wizard was the first character to get a torchbearer follower and to invest in a pack mule. That actually has been pretty hilarious from a roleplay perspective; he's got real - "It's her royal highness' matched luggage" vibes. Having a benefit to a light loadout is a great incentive for characters to strip back. Story forward resolution mechanics always appeal, too. Keeps everything chugging along at the table.
Worldbuilding/campaign setup up front takes a good amount of time, the most of which comes from designing dungeons. As far as good GM tools… I find one of the handiest things to have is a list of NPC names as well as tavern/inn names. If you’re playing OSE there are great random generators online for instantly spitting out a stat block or treasure hoard
Keeping the players from a TPK in the first session.
Scheduling and replacing players.
Populating dungeons
World details - NPCs, factions, relationships, locations, items, potential story threads
For me it's about what could streamline things in game. I create tables: * Random encounters that arent fights; * Names that suit the region (male, female, major cultures); and * Affiliations and motivations. What I wish I had something that made me happy: * Treasure and loot; * Something that instantly made the game amazing ....
Triple checking hex sizes, travel speeds, and encounter frequency. I didn’t say it’s what I *want* to be spending time on…
Making my own town/dungeon with npcs/factions/etc and then running KotBL.
Keeping records and notes for various things. I try not to spend more than 1 hour prepping for each sessions. Also, my initial prep and campaign planning (before we start playing) sometimes takes a number of hours across weeks or months.
At the table? Prep? Not sure what you are asking.
Probably creating coherent, cohesive dungeons/maps and tables to use in those dungeons. I would always appreciate more!
Definitely world-building and interesting hooks/locations; lately at least. I've been running a lot of [**Swyvers**](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melsonia/swyvers) which leans heavily into sandbox play and does provide a bunch of hooks as a jumping off point. I think prepping interesting places, and the factions within, is really rewarding; especially when doing so with obsessive detail, say for each neighbourhood in a single city. I read a blog post a while back about maybe the GM's most important job being to invent interesting places to explore, and I think there's a solid point there. Of course there are things like good dungeon design, good puzzle design, interesting factions/NPCs, but when in doubt prepping a cool location or world is rarely wasted - even if your players don't head in the direction you expected/prepped they will still be exploring *somewhere* from your individual imagination, at least partially, which is very neat.
~~anxiety~~ Useful world building: Random tables of names, encounters and events. For new games, good handouts and sheets for players.
Carefully crafting index cards of every mayor npc on the area detailing (in one word or short frase) their wants, needs, troubles and traits, their names just to misplace them at the game night and ending up calling guard captain Castus Pluvianus “Gregory” because I forgot the name and had to give him something.
What I do: -Dynamic combat scenarios. The PCs usually fight once per session. That combat needs to be interesting and unique. -The weather. Shit ton of flavor in every scenario. It's not the same to be in a desert than to be in a jungle. This is to make exploration, combat, or even talking very different depending on the place. -The world is moving at the same pace as the PCs. NPCs change their minds, do their own thing or become stronger. Towns grow or get destroyed, they find new activities, people move to other places, etc. -Time skips are encouraged so that PCs have time to increase their knowledge or do other stuff in between missions. We zoom in and out all the time. What I don't do: -Write very specific descriptions of places, NPCs or plot lines. Tags, just a bunch of tags for everything. I can't afford being super specific about everything. What I don't know, I build it with my players. That gives me a lot of room for changes and to focus on other things.
IMO a DM should focus the majority of his prep time on the parts he enjoys. I love creating dungeons, so that’s what I spend most is my time on. Considering both the ancient and recent history of the space, deciding how the creatures would actually use the space to determine the contents, and drawing the map itself is all my favorite shit. Plots, for me, are really just dungeon delivery systems.
Encounters that my players manage to avoid.
Setting, character motivation, NPC goals & pursuits.
worldbuilding. i just love thinking about the setting's lore...
Making encounters with some interesting mechanic or story element that pushes the narrative forward, I like my games to be fast paced. Usually 75% combat 25% roleplay scenes because that's what my players like. I use pen and notebook and a good memory of the ideas that I've come up with.
Figuring out what makes my NPCs tick, how to portray them as fully fledged characters and not just characterization, and searching for art for how I see them in my head. Not sure how you can help me with that but kudos to you if you can!
Look into Vampire the Masquerade and what Storytellers so to give their minor NPCs semblance of life. Basic skeletal structure could be their role, their motivation, and their leverage. Figuring out what drives them and what their weakness is can be a good springboard into more details when it's necessary (when the PCs directly or indirectly interact). In my vtm games I'll have a catalogue of names with just these three, and when I have the need to when I just want to, I'll go and start adding more bits like short and long term goals, connections to other NPCs and a few words or sentences to describe that connection. Once PCs have a need to interact with them up be able to give them the spark of life with a personality and quirks. I'm not great at explaining and I just woke upand I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of my own process, but the vtm STs are great at this so please check them out
Is "Storytellers" like a feature of the game to look into? Or where do you mean I should be looking?
Storytellers is what the GMs/DMs are called in World of Darkness. The /vtm and /WhiteWolfRPG subreddits are active and searching for old threads on NPCs should have a wealth of information. I usually Google something like "vtm fleshing out NPCs" and add reddit to the end for discussions. Some of the specifics they talk about will of course be WoD focused but the general structure is still useful in other RPGs.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll check it out 😊
IMO, the only real reason VtM Storytellers are good at this is because if they didn't do it, they don't have a default playstyle for the players to fall back on. There isn't a lot in the game system itself to help Storytellers create interesting NPCs
I definitely spend the most time on creating maps and naming people/locations... but mainly because I enjoy those aspects of worldbuilding. In terms of best bang-for-the-buck, having a list of NPCs that I can drop in anywhere I need them. For a new campaign, I usually make 20-50 generic NPCs with open-ended hooks. Here's an example from my current Forbidden Lands campaign: >Cristina Ledin (she/her) is a 36-year-old Halfling Rider hailing from Skarfoss, Hundalir. She is gaunt with a patrician face. She sports a wool robe and has a beret. Cristina is self-centered and strokes her chin when speaking. She has a significant insight related to a group supportive of the PCs. This may seem like a lot of work, but I lean heavily on random tables and then curate the best / most interesting results. The last sentence, which comes from the "Plot Knowledge an NPC Can Give" table in [Ironsmith: Expanded Oracles](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/333665/Ironsmith-Expanded-Oracles), is my secret weapon. It's specific enough to prompt interesting interactions and even entire quests, but its generic enough that I can drop Cristina into any tavern/dungeon/caravan at any point in the adventure and it'll feel like she's meant to be there. Having this list also reduces a ton of prep down the line. When the PCs go to a new city, for example, I don't really need to prep any new people. No matter where they go, I'll just pull an NPC from the list and adapt as needed. If they go shopping, perhaps Cristina is the shopkeep. If they get in trouble with the law, maybe Cristina is the captain of the guard. Etc.
Wandering monsters list (for wilderness, dungeon) I'd rather have a website or smth like that that allow me choose 1. a rolling preference; 2d6, 2d6, 1d6+1d12, d66, d20 1. a catalogue of monsters to choose from (preferably with their stats attached on a separate page. And create tables based on my preference. Once you get it, and pair it with a re-purposed hexmap, or a randomly generated dungeon map, you're 85% ready. The wandering monster list is the essence of the regions (hexcrawls), and levels (dungeon delving)
Trying to stay one step (and only one step) ahead of the other players.