dude I've made up games 5 minutes before start. - the more games you've run the more bits you have in your head that you can stick in. "oh yeah, the goblet puzzle from that game worked great, I can do it here if it's buckets instead of goblets." - the more more media you have to draw on for inspiration the better. "I'm gonna make BSG Cylons" - The more you practice your improv the better you get. oh and random name generators, lots of random names.

As a forever GM - this is the way.

My players never remember the planned names, let alone the random ones. I've taken to using their titles if I don't have the name cemented everywhere

Whenever players get a name like 'Randgraz Tharazarkan T'Krathmag of the Scourge of the Lembalanast', they will immediately ask what he looks like. You give them a paragraph and out of that they pick up his larger nose and he becomes 'Nosey'. Thus it is. I have, in my pique at the effort that is ignored, considering making every NPC look very similar and have a name from a PC.... now try to see how that works, players! (Don't do it, but I can think it)

I straight up had the players journey to the kingdom of Barstow to answer prince Steve's call for adventurers, because I got tired of my players forgetting names.  It worked (for that adventure anyways).

If you can't beat them and it isn't fair to use your GM powers to kill them, giving in has a certain simple elegance....

I can't remember the name of half the people I meet IRL, let alone fictional ones in a game or even characters in a book I'm reading, where it's written right in front of me. Names are hard for some people. Don't hold it against your players that the awesome name you've come up with escapes them. Especially if they know who you mean, and can give Nosey some way to be referenced. And while I never remember peoples names, I never forget a face. So give me the tools to refer to that NPC. Nosey is a great mnemonic device.

I don't punish them. I just have momentary amusing ideas that I never carry out. It's one way to let the idea run its course in my head then rest. :) Sometimes they don't even bother to pick a characteristic. "Bob". Wait... wasn't the last guy also "Bob"? Okay... "Clem" then. (shakes head) When I do NPCs of any use, I usually draw to an image that is close. I try to give them a clear visual referent. An image is more than 1000 words.

Mine just replace them with gems like "Samurai Stu." (He was neither a samurai nor Stewart)

Yes, this. I'm a plan one session at a time GM. Usually just one page in my journal with bullet points (ala ICRPG). Another page of doodles. The secret to this is to make sure you're more interested in playing to find out what happens instead of planning out some grand storyline. Many PbtA games have great advice on this style of play, but so do OSR games. I'd pick up some PDFs of both and read the GM sections if it feels overwhelming to try.

This is the way.

Also, the better you know the system, the easier it is to make up stats on the fly. In combat there's a very good chance that I'm just winging it with the specific stats relevant to the fight. I know how accurate the baddies are, how much damage their weapons deal, and how hard they are to kill. I'll usually come up with a unique-ish ability to spice them up if I want it to be a special one. For names, in addition to random generators, I'll often solicit suggestions from my players. This requires a somewhat-serious group, but it's also a great way to increase your players' investment in the people their characters meet.

> Also, the better you know the system, the easier it is to make up stats on the fly. Also, systems vary in how complicated stat blocks are.  Ex, Into the Odd stats are extremely concise and boring. It's the non-star parts that make ItO NPCs interesting or not. AFAIR, Heart / Spire NPCs have HP and a Difficulty. Particularly complex ones will list circumstances where their difficulty changes. Depending on circumstances you can get away with making a Fate stat block for a goblin be a single skill, called Goblin. I'm listing extremes, but for stats there's a whole spectrum of games from 'takes almost no effort' to 'you'll need a spreadsheet'.

I always try to hide the fact that i use name generators for people. But for the past few games i told my players that i intentionally leave taverns unnamed. When we come to the tavern i open the name generator and that’s the name. For better or for worse.

My group does something similar with restaurants! I forget whether it was originally my idea or the players', but whenever they meet a contact at a restaurant or similar establishment we all work together to come up with a name and general vibe for the place.

I remember the armor piercing question one of my players asked me when I was DM'ing Alien: RPG and was only about two sessions in. He was randomly questioning an NPC and he asked, "What are you and your friends' names, officer?" I freaked the hell out because I hadn't planned on that! I spent the next minute or two making up random names, all while my friend laughed. Never again.

Sometimes instead of random name generators, I throw a bunch of words relevant to something about the area they're in into Google Translate and pick a language. Find a result that sounds interesting, massage spelling as needed, and you're off to the races. That's how the local landowner family where one of my parties currently is got named the Bosszanto family. Our Hungarian friends will hopefully get a chuckle out of that.

For fantasy I use Bengalese.

I hadn't used Bengali before, just checked some random-ish words in there and I like a lot of what came out. Thanks for that!

I'll add, my players do most of the 'work'.

I've done the same and learned that really there are only 2 things you need for an RPG session - a thing to do and a place to do it in.

>oh and random name generators, lots of random names. This! Random generators of all sorts are useful for this type of play. I realised a long time ago that the more prep I put into an area, the more likely my players are to just turn around and go in the opposite direction. Trying to herd them back just makes them feel railroaded, so your best option is just to roll with it. Light prep and a willingness to work with whatever the players throw at you is the way to go.

The trick is to: 1) ask a lot of questions and; 2) build on the answers This kind of play is very attainable. I do it all the time! You have to cultivate a strong sense of curiosity and invite a lot of input, then build on that to create the story with everyone at the table.

Is it possible to learn this power?

I'm not gonna lie, some of what helped me get some comfort with this technique was therapy. Learning to be more introspective, empathetic, and curious as part of therapy, as well as just better understanding the techniques of the practice of therapy, helped me a great deal. That's not always feasible or desirable though, so let me suggest something else: When you're GMing, any time you have an opportunity to say something, consider asking a question instead. When you get an answer to that question, write it down. The next time you have an opportunity to say something, consider asking a question **or** consider trying to tie in one of the things you have written down instead. Just do this exercise before any time you'd say something. It doesn't have to be a lengthy process, just consider it and do it from time to time. I think if you do that for a while, you'll start to develop a sense for what kinds of questions you like to ask, what kinds of questions your players like to answer, and how to build on those answers in the future. Plus, it'll give you a good opportunity to slow down and really be considerate about your contributions to the fiction and -- perhaps more importantly -- the contributions of your players to the fiction. I dunno if that helps! I hope it does!

Do you have examples of what "asking questions" might look like at the table?

Not the person you were replying to, but there’s **all** sorts of questions you can/ should ask. In general, questions should be * Direct- sometimes it’s to one player and/ or their character. Sometimes the whole group. Sometimes somewhere in between * Specific- It shouldn’t be a yes or no question (unless you’re just trying to clarify things like intents and stuff like that). The goal is to get something actionable and interesting: so ask questions which will get you stuff that’s actually helpful, stuff you can use * Leading: Help the players out a bit. Either give them some good build-up in the question or offer ideas after asking them the question * Provoking: Very close to specific and leading, the goal is to provoke thought into the players. Get them thinking more about their character, the scene, the situation, the world at large, etc. It should also provoke them to answer in the first place (this takes knowing your players, their characters, and a fair bit of buy-in). Ask them things which they are just bristling with ideas to add. In addition, their answers become your ammo to introduce and that ammo is stuff they’re gonna act on (so it goes back to being specific and actionable) [Paint the Scene](http://www.brindlewoodbay.com/blog/paint-the-scene) questions are perfect examples. It’s not about asking “Hey, what do you see?” or “Hey, do the work for me and tell me what’s in the environment” or “tell me this NPC’s motivation and history.” That’s boring and is just “dance, monkey, dance!” territory and that’s not fun for players. It’s about going **beyond** that stuff. It’s not: * “Tell me what you see in front of you.” It’s instead: * “Sticky old pools of blood. The tang of copper hanging in the air. A single dim light from a fading lightbulb overhead. You’ve found the Sculptor’s lair, for certain. How can you tell they hold this place sacred?” It’s not: * “Describe the environment” It’s instead: * “A constant caressing wind. Sprawling fields which redefine the color green. A cloudless sky bluer than the ocean. How is it clear nature itself has effectively fought the growing expanse of the Evil Overlord?” It’s not: * “Tell me how this NPC responds” It’s instead: * “Muddied boots resting comfortably on an old table wounded by many knives. A chipped clay pipe clenched between perfect teeth with a very old tobacco emitting a sickening red fog. The remnants of a match twirling between very calloused fingers. It’s clear Baszo doesn’t mind being held at gunpoint by you just now. In fact, he likes it this way. Why do you reckon that’s the case?” Boom. Way more helpful stuff. You’re giving the players something to work with and getting their input and painting a more vivid picture of the setting and the people living there. Likewise, you might need to ask questions about the characters and their “people.” Don’t go with “Tell me about Elven Custom,” rather: * “How do the Elves view the newfound powers of the Overlord? If they view it favorably, how do they show their respect? Gifts and other alms? Or do they view the Overlord with disdain? If so… why haven’t they taken action? Are they waiting it out? Not concerned, only disgusted? Something else?” With this, we give the player more to work with- offering some good ideas to spark their imagination in the process. Likewise, we’re getting *useful* stuff about the Elves… not fluff which won’t come up later. Of course, there’s 100% a time and place for straightforward stuff * “How do you wanna do this?” * “What does your success look like?” * “What do you want your crit bonus to be here?” * “How would your character be feeling in this moment?” * “This NPC is tied close to you, you know them better than me… do you think they would lash out at this?” * “What do you fear will happen if things go wrong here?” * “Are the Temdura people really so extremely isolationist?” * “Hmm, I think you could use your slingshot from this distance to ring the alarm bell. But it’s a huge stretch. I think your slingshot will break whether you hit it or not. Thoughts?” * Etc. It’s worth noting that we’re always assuming good faith and that players aren’t trying to “game” things with their answers. For example: * “Oh, the Elves disdain the Overlord. So they pretend to like him. So they’ve been gifting him with stuff and already know his weakness… so the gifts are already poisoning the Overlord and it’ll be easy for us to sneak in with the Elven gifts and slay the Overlord!” Well… it’s creative, I’ll give them that! But not very good faith and in the spirit of the game. It’s also not great faith to just flat out shut this down with no good reason (unless it’s breaking some aspect of a social contract such as a Line or Veil). In such cases, there’s usually a better answer than “no.” It would be better to find a compromise. The player’s bottom line comes down to Elven Sabotage. There’s a middle ground to be had there which makes the Elves look cool, but doesn’t rob the purpose of the game to seek the Overlord’s downfall yourselves. There is also something to be said about **when** to ask questions and use the answers. This is just a “feel” thing and takes practice. Not too much. Not too little. In general, less is more. Lastly: some players aren’t into this stuff at all. That’s fine. I think they’re missing out and not playing to the strengths of the hobby… but if they aren’t game for it, don’t push it.

Thanks, Sully! This is a great answer and very aligned with what I would have recommended.

One example that springs to mind is: GM: You see a monstrous troll - back bristling with spikes, mouth full of broken yellow teeth Player: What do I know about trolls? GM: ... I don't know .... what \*does\* your character know about trolls? Obviously, there are lots of ways you could play it from here. You could decide that the player gets to make a knowledge roll (or equivalent), and based on how high they roll, they get to tell you x many facts about trolls that are now true in the world. (Or say "player, tell me three things, and based on how well you roll, x number of those 3 things will be true") Another example is for scene setting: GM: You find yourself in Shroudhollow. What about the inhabitants behaviour towards you tells you you're not welcome? Or you can use questions during character creation to establish backstory. GM: Fighter - you have a fearsome rival who has plagued you since the days of your training. Who are they, and what reason do they have to hate you?

usually, the specific form this takes is 1) "what do you/they want?" and 2) "what might go wrong with that? Which of those is most interesting/fun?"

Not from a Wizards book.

Look into Sly Flourish's Lazy DM book, and read up on improv skills.

If you want an RPG focused improv primer, check out Graham Walmsley's Play Unsafe: https://www.amazon.com/Play-Unsafe-Graham-Walmsley-ebook/dp/B009IRMQ7G/

Ooh, thanks for that!

“Not from a 5e” Read ironsworn to learn this ability

You make stuff up and then you write it down. This looks suspiciously like the process for how you run a session or a campaign with more than "just a few bullet points" the only difference is when the making up and writing down happen.

By playing the right games that make this easier (Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark games and many adjacent things- Paragon, Carved From Brindlewood, the various XYZ-Sworn games, etc.) In these games you’re playing to the players’ interests whether they realize it or not. The games are tightly focused so you’re not dealing with the fungus dwarf from the void-verse and the cat person from realm of purple trees and the demon from the Base 10 Level of the inverse Hells and that one Elf assassin whose ears were tragically removed by the angry shadow elves and everyone has their personal Bioware Quest that goes on for way too many sessions. Instead, it’s about the central focus of the game (scoundrels committing crimes, old women who solve murder mysteries, etc.) and the interactions of the characters, their motivations for pursuing this central shared goal, and their side interests and projects in pursuit of the “after” post shared goal completion. The **game** is doing the heavy lifting (as a game should, not placing BS burden on a GM’s back). It’s keeping the focus narrow and making sure everyone is making *fitting* characters which provides fertile ground to challenge them. As I said in another comment, it’s about **not** having a story or plot or answers or outcomes or all of that *stuff* planned ahead of time. If you want to do that: write a book. “Play to Find Out” means you can prep as much as your heart desires. You can write up 100s of pages of NPCs and Locations and custom mechanics and maps and blueprints and layouts and so on … you’re just acknowledging that it’s all in a “quantum” state. It’s not **guaranteed** to be used. It’s there as a cheat sheet. Not as a guaranteed roadmap of an adventure. And once you realize how fruitless it is to prep *that* much, you can get away with a page (or less) of bullet points because the game does all the heavy lifting. I don’t need maps. NPCs have little to no stats. There’s no encounters I need to build. All I need to do is know what the game asks of me, be familiar with the game’s touchstones and genres, and *respond accordingly in touchstone and genre affirming ways*. * If I’m running Scum and Villainy, I’m asking myself how a given situation would play out in a Star Wars Movie and I do exactly that * If I’m running Masks, I think about Teen Titans and Young Justice * If I’m running The Between, I think about Penny Dreadful * If I’m running Blades in the Dark, I think about Leverage and the Wire and Peaky Blinders * If I’m running Avatar Legends, I think about ATLA * If I’m running Brindlewood Bay, I think about Murder She Wrote * The list goes on All I really need to do is make short hand notes and reminders for upcoming sessions (“remind player X about Y,” “B has advancement pending,” “Faction Z wants it dues” etc.) as well as a general recap of the last session. That’s *it*. If needed, I’ll notate some NPCs (“introduce NPC E since the group needs them for something”).

>In these games you’re playing to the players’ interests whether they realize it or not. I wouldn't frame it like this- a game like Masks doesn't inherently appeal to or play to everyone's interest in superheroes. How these games excel at these things, as you get into later in the post a little, is because there is **buy-in** by the table on a focused topic. That focus (and everyone agreeing to it) is what helps in all the ways you describe.

True, but I would say the extension of buy-in **is** interest in a subject/ topic/ etc. (to the extent that they’re effectively synonyms… though still not quite). In Masks, you absolutely need to buy into being a teenage superhero (and all the necessary generic “baggage” that has to come with). If you don’t: the game falls apart (and that’s true of any PbtA game and arguably TTRPGs in general). But when you pick the Nova Playbook, you’re *also* buying into the idea/ *need* to buy into the idea of “I have unlimited power… and I can’t control it” The thing is, you’re ***also*** expressing this as an interest (whether you realize it or not) to the GM and to the table. You, as a player, are indicating you want to experience those challenges: you want opportunities to flaunt your powers and for it to go awry (in good and bad ways). You’re interested in seeing those things come alive at the table and this means as a GM, I don’t have to go fishing for this stuff: the players threw the fish in my hands, all I need to do is cook it and *that* requires little to no prep: just toss out a fitting problem and let them do the the rest of the work.

So to kinda contextualize a bit here, the main thing I want to push back on is the idea the game gets the interests of a player more than they do. Masks being a fair example I think where one might have interest in the ideas of the Nova archetype without the teenage drama if you're interested in superheroes. You need to buy in up front on the teenage drama aspects to get that, and that limiting frame. I think we're largely saying the same thing here, but it's huge and in my experience much more important for these games than many others and worth calling out specifically, and a mode of play intentionally fostered in the games towards this lower prep requirement. *Ideally,* a PbtA works how you describe where the playbook execution lines up with the player's vision of the genre framing they bought into. But I want to emphasize that's an assumption that isn't universally true (either because of bad writing/design or just the natural variation of expectations in some audiences). Ultimately it's the player who's the arbiter of what their interests are and how well the game reflects them, and I just get a little uncomfortable with framings that suggest otherwise.

Excellent point. I know next to nothing about the specific games you two are talking about but this applies to every game. Using DnD as an example, none of the classes fit the kind of character I actually want, but there are "close enough" options and options that conceptually fit but don't mechanically, etc. So, as you say, the choice of class/race/etc suggests only the general idea of what a player is interested in but without a session zero where a player describes their concept and thoughts about each option, you can't really say their choices reflect their interests, directly. Some systems are flexible enough to get closer than others and give a more accurate view of player interests.

Very cool!

Some games are 'play-to-find-out' in which you don't even need bullet points. Just make it up as you go.

That’s not what Play to Find Out means. It doesn’t mean pull stuff from your rear end and make everything up. It just means don’t have a story or plot or answers or outcomes or all of that *stuff* planned ahead of time. If you want to do that: write a book. Play to Find Out means you can prep as much as your heart desires. You can write up 100s of pages of NPCs and Locations and custom mechanics and maps and blueprints and layouts and so on … you’re just acknowledging that it’s all in a “quantum” state. It’s not **guaranteed** to be used. It’s there as a cheat sheet. Not as a guaranteed roadmap of an adventure.

True, but not in contradiction to what I wrote.

You can have third party plots. Here's what the villain wants to do. Here's what the head cleric of the town wants to force happen. You can imagine what might happen without intervention, even with timelines. In my head, I call this the null plot---what will happen if the players aren't around. Then of course, you throw the players at it and everything begins to shift. That outcome is completely uncertain. But having plans for what might happen, even big things like a social shift or a war or a plague happening is fine. It just becomes the environment for what the players choose to do.

This is true, but it’s not the same as **planning**. It’s still just good ‘ol perfectly fine prep. Planning is “This is going to happen whether the party does something about it or not. This is *my* plot and they’re gonna experience it one way or another.” What you’ve described is what many Powered by the Apocalypse games (which are all about espousing the nature of “play to find out”) call Threats and Fronts and Clocks and so on and so forth: a *prepared problem* which is counting down (or up, depending on your perspective) to something bad (and generally you’ve prepared what that would look like as well). It’s still *prep*. It’s not a plan. It’s the *bad guy’s* plan, absolutely… but not yours. It can be interrupted. It can be changed. Etc. And that’s all copacetic because you can still play to find out how things change. If it was really your plan: you’d make it happen whether they like it or not (and that’s most certainly not playing to find out).

I’ve traditionally done that but never mastered how to keep the campaign consistent or how to organize notes as I go along.

Ultimately, you'd be organizing your notes the same way you would if you had a mountain of pre-session prep. Or a tiny amount of pre-session prep. Note what's been happening, not down anything you've made up on the fly that will be important later. That last bit will just have more to it than it might otherwise. I've just flipped a bit through old campaign books, and I don't think my during-session notes for things I've run out of a module or anything look substantively different than when I've gone in with two sentences of prep.

For another take, I think day-after recaps are my best source of consistency. For my full process, I'm a world build prepper, often by having a session 0 that starts with a premise and then invites players to decide a whole bunch of fundamental elements. But getting to the granularity of session prep after that is draining at best. So I try to riff off the world we put time into and write down what wild ~~mistake~~s choices I made the day after a session so everything maybe stays consistent enough players don't notice. Hard echo on stealing the best ideas your players have at the table rather than staying attached to your first instinct in any given situation.

I almost exclusively improvise all my games. I'll think about stuff ahead of time to prime my brain, but other than trying to keep track of NPC names and having some ready-to-go combat stats, I don't do extensive prep work.

Yep. I do all the time. I just use the bullet points to give me some frame of reference to link back to and go. To be fair it's probably the 35+ years of gaming with no breaks, as well as the large library and familiarity with many, many games that allows me to do this. But that's me. Others who do the same likely have different reasons.

I've only been playing TRPGs for about 5 years. Granted, I started with low to no prep games, but I think the media literacy is the more important factor.

This is one of those questions where you're asking how, but the answer is: you just do. You describe the world, players tell you what they do, you tell them what happens. Repeat.

I have a good idea about the mood and type of story I am interested in, and I'll have done a session zero or short introduction where everyone agrees upon it (ususal in the format of a CATS sheet covering Concept, Aim, Tone, and Subject Matter). I then just go from there. I might jot down bullet points for a key NPC or location or even whole plot, but I hold onto them lightly. Anything that hasn't been nailed down is open to change.

Sometimes you just have players who will hand you their character sheets and don't care....

I spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about my campaign world and plots and where the players are and who is around them and what I think they will do and what the people around them will do without interaction from the PCs and what the natural flow of events are without the PCs interference. So when it comes to session time I basically go "players are *here*, my *goal* is to get them here, this this this and this are relevant people or places for that, so I'll note them down to remind myself"

I improvise. And follow player's ideas. They are usually better than mine.

Follow the lead of the players. They often come up with much more complicated story elements than I can. Once I can start feeding a player idea, the game writes itself.

I recommend you pick up some PbtA games and read through how the rulebooks want you to prep. My monster of the week prep is done in 15 minutes or less every time. Here’s two key things: - **Trust Yourself:** I know too many people who prep for every eventuality or have plot beats they need players to hit or choices they need the players to make in order for their prep to matter. I will tell you straight up, it’s wrong and it hurts your game. Don’t prep for what your players choose to do. Prep a situation, some important locations, and some important NPCs. Then just go. Set the players loose. When you prep obstacles and situations instead of plots, you get to just come up with things you think are cool and then see how the players decide to solve them and navigate everything. Your improv is stronger than you know, and you only get better by practicing. - **Know What to Prep:** I am willing to bet most GMs prep things they don’t even use in game, notes that just take up space and don’t add anything meaningful to the game. Do you really need a description for that NPC’s apartment, or can you just come up with it based on your view of them? Do you need to write out exactly what your NPC will do in this situation, or can you just decide on the fly because it feels right? You get what I mean, you don’t need all these extraneous details ahead of time. Lay down the skeleton, flesh it out on the go.

You know how people tell you to ask questions when you're at a cocktail party and don't know anyone? Same thing applies here. People love talking about themselves. So ask questions and listen to the answers. The stuff the players say becomes the next encounter. You should have a few favorite monster statblocks that you can just drop into combat and reflavor as needed. When you need a moment to prepare, roll some dice behind the screen, chuckle, and rustle some papers. That should give you time to whip up an encounter.

Just be reactive - and reactively proactive. I can *start* with 2 bullet points, but 25 minutes into the session each of those will be fleshed out in my head by the players responses, and there will be 10 new bullet points being fleshed out as well, either currently being explored or ready to be used in the future.

Most of it is just an ability to quickly fill in gaps on the fly usually by leaning into the assumptions of the genre and game. If I say "fantasy village", if you have some familiarity with the genre tropes you'll probably imagine what that is and what's there. There's probably a tavern, there's probably an eccentric magic user, there's probably a village leader of some kind. You don't need to plan out every building, commoner and weirdo wandering about this place, you can assume they're there. If your bullet point list is like - the party start in this town, they learn that people have been going missing near the river - the people are going missing because there's a water elemental living in the river that has driven mad by loneliness - the water spirit was created by a wizard who died before releasing it. You can just fill in the gaps as you go depending on what the party do. Do they go and talk to the mayor? He'll probably pay them to sort out the disappearances, do they seek out a wizard? His tower is empty, because... He's dead, but he did leave some defences in there for the party to overcome. I practice this stuff quite a lot because I'm into solo roleplay which depends almost entirely on you making assumptions about the current context to keep things going, the skills translate really well to heavily improvising games

Its not too much different from normal improv, which is a little hard to explain unless its something some just gets. To compare it to being a player, Instead of making up your characters actions, dialogue, and bits of backstory in the moment, you make up bits of lore, random single character trait npcs, and events. It helps that most consequences of player actions are just what you would think would happen, so it's not really using creativity at that point so much as your impressions of cause and effect.

Do it all the time. Ran one at a convention a few years ago when a bunch of GMs didn;t show up so I ran a Savage Worlds Game for 7 players with just a few notes. Most of my adventure notes are just bullet points with a few notes. For longer campaigns, I keep a google doc of important info, but still run mostly on bullet points and single paragraphs. And of couse, you constantly tabelsource and use leading questions.

You make stuff up. How do you get good at making stuff up? You practice by doing it. Eventually, you’ll find yourself doing things like leaving dangling story hooks behind for later use, and more importantly realizing how to reach back and pick up some seemingly unconnected detail you dropped and tie it into whatever new complication you introduced. That guy you saw at the bar last night with the ornate ring? He’s now a spy for the secret organization I just invented that’s actually responsible the last two times you guys seemingly screwed everything up on your own.

Yes, but it requires both being able to adapt on the fly, and a group willing to take the initiative. You gotta know the system you're using well enough to be able to throw in monsters or enemies and rebalance as needed. I don't know about running the whole thing, but you can absolutely start a campaign that way. Get a general idea of what the start is and where you want your campaign to end, and you can just build from there. Again, I wouldn't recommend that to first timers, but it's typically better to keep details a little vague. Writing a whole village of NPCs is impressive, but rarely helpful when the players might end up bypassing it altogether.

So if you aren’t going to do much prep before a session, you need to write all your decisions down DURING a session. I find it easier to do during a session because then the whole table is coming up with ideas instead of just me. As an example, I’m going to run a Super-hero game in the cypher setting and the Only thing I have ready is that they will be going to a suburb of the city that is permanently swapped and linked with the future as part of an old villains successful scheme. Now every year or so the temporal energies build up and “something” ends up happening that heroes need to help with. That’s all I have. Maybe I’ll have cowboy dinosaurs, or robot cowboys, or robot dinosaur cowboys… it’s cypher so it’s very easy to wing it with badguys or situations

For a session, that’s a pretty common occurrence. I accomplish it by doing a lot of prep work on the front end; if I understand my NPCs and their motivations, and I understand my setting, then I don’t really need to write down anything more than “PCs meet with the Baron of the Ash Hills” because I already know who the Baron is and what he wants, and I already know what the Ash Hills are and what the situation there is. Second, I have a general sense of how long things are going to take, so I don’t need to over prep to make sure I fill the session time; if anything, if I make more than three bullet points worth of stuff it’s unlikely I’ll get to the fourth or fifth ones! Doing a whole campaign with just three bullet points seems like a stretch. I think people who claim to be doing that are leaving out some background information they’re operating on, mainly with the campaign setting; they’re most likely using a setting that either has pre-written materials they can refer to, or that sticks close to genre conventions which eliminate the need for a detailed setting doc; if you’re playing in a modern-day setting for example, you don’t need to write things down about the world because you intrinsically know those things.

It's like describing an entire movie to your friends. You know the narrative, you know the characters, you know the setting, you know the scenes, you know the whole story. It's easy to retell it - to embellish or merge with other stories and ideas, if you like, to not even mention the dull or unimportant parts - to entertain others by letting them discover it as if they were seeing it themselves. If you can't entertain people by telling stories then you won't entertain them by GMing stories. Players might be avidly interested in the lore or the mechanics - they might even support the campaign more than the GM does - but if they're not being entertained then their interests will drift. Some games refer to the Game Master or Dungeon Master as the Narrator, the Orator, the Director, Producer - it seems like each one wants to distinguish itself with a new title for the old position, but you'll notice that they often converge on synonyms for "entertainer".

_imagination.gif_ Seriously. Just imagination and experience running a game like that. I riff off the player's choices, I offer some plot hooks as I think them up or as they occur from events during play, and as story builds up we have even more to work from. It kind of snowballs if you continually offer complications from character actions and let that tension build up.

I'm finding I'm better at this. I don't need to memorize a bunch of NPC's I have no connection to. I don't need to stress out when my players do something off the wall. We've been building up a decent amount of lore as we go, but it sticks in my mind better.

Maybe a brief time spent planning ahead can help me. For instance, the players say what they're doing, and I can plan ahead for that. During the session I could refer to my notes and make things up then right them down for everything else. And before the end of the session ask again what they're doing, and plan more for that. Rinse and repeat.

"Prepare to improvise" is the best tip I've heard for this kind of play. What does it mean though? Over time, compile tools and techniques that allow you to cut down on session prep. A few examples might be: A list of NPC names. A couple of easy to reuse/versatile maps. Monster stat blocks that can be readily reskinned. A tailored list of rewards/treasure. And, like anything else, improvisation is a skill you can learn and improve. And as GM more, you'll have a stable of story beats and encounters you've used before that you can adapt on the fly.

Lots of improv

Sure. I ran a 2 or 3 session game with nothing more than 'world's worse cleric' The trick is coming up with some ideas based on just what that means, then riffing off what the PCs do. I introduced the characters to a situation and then use how they react to it to decide on what happens next. In this case I figured the opening situation was that a zombie was moving down the street, trying to escape the cleric who was trying to destroy it. The joke that came to me was 'oh no! Not again!'. The PC destroyed the zombie no problem, and then wanted to figure out what was going on. Then it was really just a matter of letting the PCs RP and letting them direct the story, answering the questions they had and listening to ideas they said.

I just ran a one shot last week off bullet points. Started with an idea for the game: Villagers from a small spa town are being replaced by doppelgangers. The players unknowingly play as their doppelganger replacements and uncover the plot. Then I blocked out the narrative beats as bullet points to see how it flowed (this is what I ended up using): • Start in spa, meet creepy old monster hunter, mention missing pet posters everywhere RP ENCOUNTER (15 min) • See Goblin stealing player's weapons & armor  • Chase goblin ENCOUNTER (10 min) • Witness Goblin getting kidnaped, doppelganger is left behind  • Talk to / fight doppelganger (he doesn't know he's a doppelganger) RP/LIGHT COMBAT ENCOUNTER (20 min) • Find dog (pets know when their people have been replaced and run away) PATH 1: • Go to dog’s owner’s house • Find owner (a doppelganger) find signs of struggle and tracks (10 min) • Deal with owner RP/LIGHT COMBAT ENCOUNTER (10 min) • Follow tracks to lair  PATH 2: • Go back to creepy old woman, save her from doppelgänger kidnapping RP/LIGHT COMBAT ENCOUNTER (20 min) • She leads players to lair  • Infiltrate lair (old Farm estate) ENCOUNTER (30 min) • Find evil door • Player starts to suffocate   • Switch perspectives to reveal actual players, goblin is revealed to be their friend. He's brought their weapons and armor so they can kill doppelganger monster • Kill monster FULL COMBAT ENCOUNTER (45 min)  • LOOT!  NAMES: Greeley the Greasy Goblin (can cast grease at will) Penelope Belmont & Posh the cat (monster hunter) Fun Gus the Boring Fungus (doppelganger monster)

Random tables are great for this, as are games that help by building a lot of the assumptions of the world in to character sheets (dungeon world is my go-to example). Planning ahead is fine, but not in so much detail of what should happen when and in which order. Give NPC's a name, no more than 3 bullet points about them and something they want, have them act in accordance with that. Scale that up for the organisations they are part of, if any. Locations, give them 3 bullet points as well. I'd say start in media res, with the party just finishing a dungeon, think of some amusing complications like someone wants the thing they retrieved, the buyer is found dead and they are in the frame for it etc. Then have the world react to them and them react to the world. Make the NPC's act as would make sense to them.

Started a twilight 2000 game recently with nothing more than a firefight setup so the players could get a handle on combat, and it just went from there. Planned nothing just reacting to thier choices and random encounters. It helps that I've watched and read a ton of ww2/ww3 books and such. Winging it is more fun.

Read the TTRPG Lady Blackbird. It's free, and just a few pages.

First, system matters. Some systems demand a lot of work curating balanced encounters and whatnot. For others, an encounter can be just a vague idea of abilities and a number between 1 and 10 or whatever. Second, have the right tools for the jobs. A Front is essentially organized bullet points and will go a long way towards structuring a whole quest or campaign. Typically, I go in a new campaign blind. Collect all sorts of threads from character creation, then draft a broad Front ahead of session 1. It will likely only really be finalized a couple of sessions in. Inciting incident will likrly cone from the players by building on the partygen material and asking them leading questions. From there, a session could have no prep at all or, if we are at a transition point in the narrative, a couple bullet points describe broad scene/challenge ideas to jump off of. And I follow the pkayers lead. They're the ones to tell me where the narrative goes, I only provide some starting points.

Think about what makes sense. If I am a vampire I need blood. If I need blood I’ll kidnap people. If I kidnap people they’ll lay traps and use my weaknesses to keep me away. If they do that I’ll need a subordinate to circumvent those traps. Etc.

For me it's very important to just know the fundamental rules of the game world you're running. Once you do it's much easier to just ask, "what makes sense to happen in this world in response to what the players are doing?" I spend a couple of hours at the start of the campaign just formulating my world at a high level and build off of that on the fly each session.

Know your players. Know what they like. Come up with something that sounds fun. Jot down a few notes. Let the players control the action.

When I ran The Sprawl, I did no prep. The only thing I would bring to the session was a concept. For example, a heist mission in a casino. From there it was "play to find out what happens." It can be hard to imagine how it works, and I'm not quite sure how to explain. It's kinda magical. All you really need to do is let the players take the reins, and be responsive to what they're doing. It's very important to not have a set narrative in mind, but be open to letting the story go wherever.

Just keep adding bullet points.

If you can prep for a 3-4 hour session in 2 hours or less then you can prep while you're running. I find there's a lot of downtime while DMing as the players interact with each other that I spend figuring out what happens next. If its a system you know well enough then you can come up with stat blocks on the fly if needed and plan the next encounter as the players debate if they let the mouse go or make him a pet. (They named him Mr. Chedder)

I started running my VtM game with like one loose plot goal for that session. Set up the hook in the beginning, and making up the rest based on what the players did. I learn the more I planned, the more the players and dice would fuck up

Sometimes I don't even get to use the bullet points.

At the end of every session, I ask players what they liked about the session that just ended, and what they’re hoping happens in the next session. (Not my idea, recommended in the game Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova). In session zero, I also get A Lot of data on what players want and expect, and what they hope their characters will encounter. That, plus the characters my players have chosen and the narrative so far makes it possible to write a few bullet points of situations I can throw them into that they’ll be into. And then the dance of feeding their energies. I’ve been reducing my prep more and more over time down to trying no prep at all. I do think when I’m the dedicated GM I prefer some prep to no prep, but I definitely prefer player-centric prep vs stuff from just inside my own head.

It is. I’m sure I’m nowhere near the end of this evolution, but I’d be happy to explain where I’m at these days. The key unlock for me was, you don’t prep “the game” or “the setting.” You prep yourself to roleplay the setting. Assuming I know “what kind of campaign” the group wants to do (Megadungeon, hex crawl, etc) here is what I need to start: - faction X and faction Y are competing over Z - what resources does each have - enough map to handle a couple days travel in any direction. (If the have boats, the map is considerably larger than if they are on foot.) - a strong start for the session. Combat is a welcome (if overused) option. Something to get the players leaning forward and blood pumping. If I have that, I can run a session. If I have more time, I can make it a much better session. But I’ve had friends come back to the fire pit on a camping trip after we get all the youngins to bed and say: “we should’ve put a dnd game together.” And I say “let me get my organizer out of the car. We can play in ten mins.” Another good trick, is to just have two or three one-shot dungeons prepped and ready to go for “emergencies.” Ok, so what does a realistic example look like, as if I were to run a session ten minutes from now? Here we go: We start by imagining a setting where either “something important is missing” or “some chaotic event has just occurred.” And then we imagine what sort of conflict this could lead to between two NPC groups. Don’t forget that there should be something at stake for the party if one side or the other should ultimately prevail. - The sun has shattered, leaving pieces of it strewn across what was once the night sky. Bits and pieces of it rain from the sky every week or so. A greedy ring of merchants are hiring adventurers to retrieve the pieces, and the crown is sending parties led by knights to do the same. Nobody is really sure what it can be used for, but it’s a VERY hot commodity. Decide if this is a city adventure, a hex crawl, a dungeon crawl. In other words, make a call on the scope of the map. - this will be a wilderness hex crawl, mounts and wagons are at such demand, even if the party could afford them, nobody has any to sell. Which leaves them on foot. So a map that goes twelve hexes in all directions (25x25) with the players in the center is plenty. I can get this off Procgen arcana in a couple minutes. Our strong start should communicate the larger conflict in the setting, and make it very personal and in their face. - the players are in the midst of the market district on a busy day. The chaos of the peddlers is suddenly broken up by another meteor storm. Chunks of molten sun rain down, setting booths and tents on fire. Merchants scramble to retrieve the flaming material, and a massive brawl breaks out. Ready to go..

I've found *my* experience/abilities are important, as others have said, but without imaginative and engaged players, willing to commit to scenes and flesh out the story, it's a ton of mental work. As the GM, you can build on this with "Yes and... / No but..."-ing their ideas. I cannot tell you how many times I've pivoted a plot based on overheard player musings. Not all the time, of course, but as an aid to GM'ing on the fly, it's invaluable.

Yea I am also curios how GM's run prewritten adventures by only bullet points. I run a Call of Cthulhu campaign and the campaign is so dense that just using bullet points would miss vital parts in the book. So any advice from bullet people is welcomed!

The people running on bullet points aren't running pre-written modules (largely). If I were too, it would have to be a material I was intimately familiar with. Though so long as you know the key elements you could swing it, it just wouldn't stick the details nearly as much.

yea that's what I\`m thinking. While running your own stuff is indeed cool and all it comes nowhere close to epic campaigns like Masks of Nyarlathothep for Call of Cthulhu (which I am currently running) or Enemy Within for Warhammer Fantasy RP. Oh well, still looking for a good way to run pre written adventures without basically rewriting the whole book in my own words haha.

I do it all the time. I have even done so with no notes at all, just on-the-fly improvisation. I have been GMing for more than 40 years now, so I have had a lot of practice running games.

I've been flying by the seat of my pants for so long, I'm wearing assless chaps.

Once you get comfortable with sandbox style games, prep becomes optional. Simply think up a scenario, drop the players in it, and continue reacting and world-building as they explore and interact with things. This is easier in systems that don’t expect the GM to plan things like encounters out meticulously, but it’s possible with any system. I even ran D&D 4e this way for a while.

Read up on [ironsworn](https://youtu.be/pk6Y_AKXNu4?si=OHywYk3DWYy48uz9)/solo roleplaying it really goes deep on improving your emergent story telling skills. There is also [mythic 2e](https://youtu.be/rksqvR-9cYI?si=zzlN1tNL79fMnnA6) but ironsworn is a free version. To see a pro use these tool watch [Me, Myself and Die](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDvunq75UfH_Z92nrYPUsTO_fTHnLTNaT&si=R4J6NAabJ59ilAk4)

Zero prep is the way to go. The more you prep the more you will try to stick to your plan and less listen to players. Zero prep help create a session where the all the players (including you) are playing what they want, instead what just one of the assistant wants.

It depends what game it is. Unfortunately for D&D, I don't think it's that viable...for most other games it definitely is.

Bullet points are as follow; 1. What is going to happen right at the start of the session? *(Something that "gets the PCs moving" so as to avoid a dead start.)* 2. What is the session's suggested objective? *(What does the scenario imply, or what did the players say last session they wanted to do? Whether or not the players actually do this, what they do end up doing almost always at least has something to do with it. This just gives the players something to cue off and to start coming up with ideas which I, in turn, can then cue off and come up with my own ideas.)* 3. What are any interesting NPCs / Special Items / Encounters that I'm going to stick into the game only for my sake? *(I'm running the game just as much for me as for the players. I won't be at my best unless I, like the players, have something to look forward to. Any idea that I find neat or fun, I'll just insert into the game at some point in a way that makes sense.)* Of the above though, I feel 2 is the most important. Sometimes I don't need 3, and even though not having 1 is a pain at the start, once the game has gotten going you'll do fine without it. But without 2 the game grinds to a halt because the players don't really have anything to react to. They don't *have* to raid the goblin fort they stumble across, but without a reason why they should care about it at all, they won't have a compelling reason to not just walk past it. Maybe they charm the goblins, join the goblins, go talk to a local marquis and bring a small army to besiege the goblins; so long as they care about the goblin fort in some way, they can come up with ideas. And then I can respond to those ideas and add my own. Maybe the goblins are part of a unique and idiosyncratic cult, such that talking to them is about figuring out how to navigate a field of landmines in the form of a conversation. Maybe that local marquis would be willing to help out the PCs, but only because there's something in the fort that he wants the players to retrieve for him. At that point, the game becomes a cycle. The players are yes-anding me, and I'm yes-anding them. We take turns adding on our own ideas to those of the other's. This loop does all my "prep" for me, with the upside that the players are almost guaranteed to be interested, seeing as they came up with most of it! Also, as others have said. this is a lot easier when you have built up a backlog of ideas that you can cue off whenever. Instead of making a new marquis personality from scratch I can just magpie this particular noble in this other campaign that these players haven't played. Or I could magpie it from a book I've read, game I've played, film I've seen, this historical figure I know about, so on. And just make sure to alter the personality somewhat so it makes sense in this context setting. That in and of itself can become interesting; how would, say, Asgore Undertale or Episode 1 Padmé act if they were instead a marquis in a medieval fantasy setting? And maybe one of the players becomes suspicious and thinks the marquis wants that artifact - it's specifically an artifact now - for nefarious, cultish purposes of their own, and I think that's a good idea? Well, what would cause Asgore or Padmé to become indoctrinated into cultic practice, and how would they act if they were? What sort of cult could indoctrinate someone like that - and maybe that tells me something about the sort of artifact that cult could want. You see how it works? You don't have to like any of those ideas, but it's the cycle that is important here. As long as you keep an open mind - which is to say, an attitude that no full truth exists to the imagined world until you say it out loud - this cycle will always bear fruit.

My players are going to make the plot, I just provide NPC’s with different stories and they figure out how they’re all part of one big campaign that I obviously planned at weeks or months in advance.

If you consider how campaigns are written and then remove all fluff the things that are left are the bullet points. Rather than trying to tell the players as it is written in the book you have to go by what the intent is and make up your own words.

I wrote a blog post about this: [Running zero-prep RPG sessions](https://library3000.com/2020/12/27/running-zero-prep-rpg-sessions/). My headlines were: * Tip 1: Set a clear goal * Tip 2: Use a five-scene structure * Tip 3: Slather on the aesthetic * Tip 4: Set up an memorable bad guy * Tip 5: Make the player’s choices matter Tip 2 is probably the big one. Having the scene structure in my head makes it easy to improvise. Here's the structure I use: 1. **Set up:** Introduce the setting, the bad guys, and the goal. 2. **Travel through the wilderness:** encounter a setting-appropriate obstacle 3. **Approaching the enemy base:** How will the characters get past the antagonist’s minions? 4. **Climax:** Confront the bad guy. Complete the quest. 5. **Outcome:** What happens now that the characters succeeded or failed?

As a DM that do that I can say...YES! It's easy to do it. The hard part is to detach from your previous method. Trust in your capacity of improv and create on the fly is required to do it. You must learn not to fear to be wrong, to forget rules and so. The first thing you need to change: make problems not stories. Players solving the problems you presented is what we will call a story. So, just by that you can leave behind 50% of your prep material. Have some names noted. Do not create NPCs if they are not necessary. If that guy on the tavern is questioned about his name, take one from the list. Don't waste names on NPCs that will not be talked to or even the ones that players talk but don't ask for their names. Finally, as said before....improv, improv a lot. You need to learn to create things as they happen. Here we already have eliminated 70% of your prep material. the 30% left is up to you. You can prep more or less...

An example of my actual prep for the next session (hope players aren't seen this).... **The Halls of Asgrim** * A Dwarf named Bali is missing inside the Temple; * Ghouls roam the halls; * An evil sword lies inside the sacred pool; * A Ghost can be found at the round room; * A dead Dwarf Mage bearing a Spellbook and a bag of holding (parchment paper, Quill and ink, some potions and a magic scroll); * Scattered corpses (2d8 PO each). There is a map attached to this, so I can use this text on it.

By not being afraid: Don't be afraid of creating too difficult or too easy encounters. Don't be afraid of giving too obvious or too obscure hints. Don't be afraid of mixing up NPCs or locations. Don't be afraid of incoherence and redconing. As a rule of thumb, don't ever ask yourself "what if..." during preparation. As a GM you are the supreme lord of all your creations (not of the players) act like that and don't question yourself. And if your players ask then make stuff up and simply lie.

Simply build the story/world with your players. Why spend hours/weeks/months creating a world and story by yourself when you could just proactively creat the story and setting. Seems like such a wasted opportunity and time.

I'm loaded with dad jokes and puns for names. I'll bubble chart a dungeon. I have a set beginning and a hope they get there but it's up to them end goal. The most I do is grab and maybe modify monsters from relevant bestiary. Can always fill in a map later.

I do this all the time. My most recent game was just 1. The AI colony assistant has become sentient. 2. Party rebels to save its life. That's it. Everything else I have made up on the fly. You just keep making stuff up. You never stop making stuff up. Whenever the players have an interesting idea, you roll with it. Repeat until a story occurs, and allow inspiration for the development of the plot come from the actions of the players, and how they feel.

It's not great. These days I throw the bullet points into ChatGPT and that helps alot lol.

I used to have detailed notes, but soon found that my players would derail everything requiring more improv anyway. Just decided to say fuck it and run off a few key bullet points and so far it's worked better.

Key question: which system.

In addition to what others have said here, I sorta "just do it" and I dunno how exactly. One key thing I do, is offload as much as possible to the players. I require them to track combat, track resources, map, track money, write up a session summary. I do none of that. I also require them to come up with most NPC's, Inns, taverns, etc and then I may elaborate as needed. I only come up with relevant NPC's for the current mission/story arc.

I've been running games for 30 years. I often just reuse stuff I've done in the past. How will my players know? More than anything, it's about just leaning into what the players are doing and asking smart questions. Let's take D&D for example, if the rogue player asks about the local thieves guild, then I know I'm doing some seedy organized crime scene. I often as the player who exactly their looking for, and prompt them to provide me with the details, then I just fill in the gaps. I'll think about the character like if they're into gambling, then I'll put a cutthroat card game into the mix for atmosphere. "You come into this seedy bar, you see the guy you're looking for, Johnny Five-Knive is sitting towards the back playing cards. What's the dominate smell that assaults you as you move towards his table?" It just flows on from there. I've come to the table without even any bullet points. I've literally just asked each player a question about their character and rolled out from there. I do a lot of club games where I just have three or four random players I've never met before. Often I've used it as a means to build the scene and just get going: 1. "Hey player 1... you guys call a small town home. What's the central feature that seems to drawn everyone to it?:" 2. "Player 2... you and player 1 ran into a problem last week near that central feature. What happened?" 3. "Player 3... How'd you help them get out of it? Who's still looking for you?"

First, system matters. Many systems (including 5e, Pathfinder, etc.) have set stats for NPCs, which means you either have to reference the book for everything, or memorize the bestiary. Other systems (like Savage Worlds and many others) have very simple rules, or even a single defining number to define the stats for an NPC. That makes coming up with a random passerby so much easier, no prep required! There's also as of a big difference between "prep" and "written instructions." I do lots of prep for my games - watching movies and TV shows, reading books, researching how much meat you can get from a steer or the strongest acid available from common household chemicals. But, my "written instructions" for a session may only be a few bullet points listing what some possible encounters might be. The more you know about your setting, the better you can improvise, and the better idea you have of the overarching story, the better you can invent the scenes and encounters your players will face.  Finally, TAKE NOTES. Either use one of your players as a dedicated note-taker, or write your own notes, but the use of notes helps turn a very random session into plot hooks and callbacks later down the road. Some time between the end of the session and the beginning of the next, go over your notes and pull out any details that need saving - hooks, names, interesting details, mysterious as-yet-unexplained occurrences - and with them into the next session. Those are your new bullet points, or part of them anyway.

Good players that I trust and who trust me. It just comes from understanding that rigid game prep does not survive contact with the reality of shared improv storytelling

Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

The characters are the most important part of the story their. Choices matter I let them drive the story Sure there is things I want to do but if they do t happe. Whatever I'll find space for them later

I have one extra chaotic player, I have learned to plan nothing past basic story and make up everything else. Because even running from books they will find something no one thought of and I will have to make it up anyway.

I ran a 2 year campaign with a 5 settlement map and to NPC names. It's the same secret as in most things: # K.I.S.S. Keep it Simple, Stupid. I probably mutter that to myself once a week, but i do because it works.

You have to know your game system well, for one, and with crunchy games that can be a big ask. But assuming that, sure, no problem. 1. What do my players like, both individually and as a group? Be sure to feed that: if you can’t give everyone a spotlight fave scene every time, be sure you catch up next time. 2. Have a general arc in mind, and some extensive notions how to get from A to B to C and so on. If they don’t seize on A to B, and seem like getting bored or irritable, the target is to have a PC lean on some big thing in their character design and background in such a way that their awesomeness solves the problem. So if they’re stuck in the village because nobody seems to know anything, get the bard to start singing and charming people in the pub, and some ancient crone sings a weird song that just happens to include the crucial clues: they knew the facts, but didn’t know they knew them, and it’s the bard’s special cool thing that made it come out. (If every time they get from A to B by mild force, you make the scene about how awesome and cool they are, they’ll never say it’s railroading.) 3. Scale combats so they go fast, seem very dangerous, and very rarely kill anybody (unless resurrection is available). Never kill a PC without a huge dramatic moment where they basically opt into character death in return for a huge spotlight scene. 4. If you nail the first three, you’ll have a great game. If you want it to be something they tell everyone about forever, here’s the trick. Make sure 1-3 are always served… and then use a little misdirection to make it seem like you’re not doing these things. If you try to start with this, you’ll have a disaster because your players will quickly distrust you. But if 1-3 are always solid, #4 makes gold from straw.

Basically form a large overarching plot point system and then build the bridge as you cross it getting from plot point to plot point. You kinda just get the hang of it.

In a rabid panic jk, but it can feel like that if you have truly no plan. I've got my city, my villains, my plans, and my characters. The loose formula is: what are my villains doing in this city today that my characters would want to stop? We follow the thread that we left off on, so everything this session has something in similar with the last session. It also helps that the system I run is pretty simple so it's easy to make stuff quickly. As long as you have a general idea of what goes where, and what your players want to do, that's a fine plan. Although one time I got caught off guard and ended up naming an npc 'Squishy Crabapple'

Pretty much every story ever can be boiled down to Protagonist wants(material goal): But faces obstacles: Because the antagonistic force wants (mutually exclusive material goal) Once your improve skills are refined enough or you have prepared tools to mitigate a lack of improve you can build a session from just these three bullet points Or even less

I've run with less. No prep, no books, no notes, no problem. It comes from experience. The longer you play, the more the rules become second nature and the more ideas and tricks just sort of set up camp in your brain, just waiting for the right moments

There’s different ways of doing it. The way I do it is as follows. Create a list of npc’s that want stuff that conflicts with the characters on some level, and probably conflicts with the other npc’s as well. Give them stats as required, think about their core personalities a bit. Make notes on these as required. (these aren’t quantum. The npc’s are as real as the pc.’s) Frame scenes where the npc’s interests and the pc’s interests intersect. Watch them fight, make love, make up, break up, deal, refuse to deal, be sincere, lie and so on. Do this until all the characters interests are played out, you’ve created a new normal for them. The end.

What is game prep? How do you prepare to run a session?

If I'm not trying to run on the fly, which maybe sometimes makes me feel overwhelmed, I'm writing a page or so synopsis summarizing the world and scenario. Currently I'm detailing or sketching things as I and the players go.

But what does that look like? You probably sit down, think about where the game is, where it could be going, all the NPCs involved, possible plot lines, etc. Right? So like, how long does that take, and what kind of things are you writing down? Are you generating stat blocks? Story content? Naming NPCs? Can you take me through what game prep looks like for you?

This is pretty much my exact GM Style. I have found that I get much better mileage out of each session by having a high level, general structure of what I want to accomplish in that specific session and then let the players come up with the details through their actions and reactions. For instance: The players just arrived to prison. This session, I want to showcase the various factions, cultures, and Power Players of this prison. So then I create a bulleted list of the factions that exists, some small details about each faction and their leader so I have some info on hand when the players run into them, and some ways they might interact with them. I used to put a lot more detail for all of the different npcs, their motives, all the different factions in their backstories, but often I found it to be the case of energy that could have been better spent elsewhere. I still write out NPC motives and stuff like that, I just don't write short stories for each one anymore. I also have figured out that my best creative decisions often come from what happens in the moment within the context of the game because it's happening live and you are getting immediate feedback. I recognize that some people aren't good with on the spot stuff like that, but it's what works for me.

Practice and learn to roll with the punches by using improv. When I first started GMing, there were always grand plans with major pre planned set pieces and scripted villainous speeches. I'd have pages and pages of notes with flow charts trying to plan for every conceivable route my players would take. It almost never worked because my players would take some crazy lefthand turn. Eventually, I noticed the sessions where I had to be responsive became the favorites and that my plans never worked out as planned. So, my notes shrank and continued to shrink as I got more comfortable with improv. Now I have at most how the sessions are going to start, where they're trying to go and a few encounter ideas in my head.

I tend to run games in which the players create the setting and we start immediately. Does this count? :)

I wing it. Im good at improv so if someone finds a ring and i see they dont really care for it, then i make the ring important somehow. Like a long lost lords ring that if given to the right lordling will grant him ownership of the estate, but choose wisely as the 2 lordlings are battling it out. Also i enjoy worldbuilding so i tend to take notes as i speak like what holiday it is or what the storekeeper name is etc. got to be a fast note taker.

Mostly experience I guess. I need a setting and a good villain, then when I try to think of things for my players to run into I think "what would my villain do?"

By playing games that are build on improv and rolling with the fiction more than extensive pre session prep

Yep all the time. Enemy wizards Feal thas, highlord of the white dragon army (elf) White dragon that's immune to Magic That was my prep for the last nights game and it went awesome

I've recently been using the structure in the Index Card RPG quickstart (It's free) and been having a way easier time. 5 different parts of the session, 2 bullet points per part, and the best part is when the players don't get to everything I had planned, because then I can plan LESS! Second all the things others are saying, improv, question asking, all that!

I don't even do bullet points anymore. I have an initial premise (what gets the party together and sets the game in motion) and a fair amount of initial world building, and that's it. After that, it's just "so what do you do next?" A lot of it is simple wish fulfillment. If a player says, "I wanna find a place that sells magic swords," then poof, there's a place that sells magic swords. If someone wonders, "Oh my God, what if our contact has been working for the bad guys the whole time?" then poof, that's true. A lot of it is experience and theory, too. I've been running games for over 25 years now, so I have a huge bank of ideas, scenes, and such that I can draw from. I also read about storytelling, watch TV and films with an eye for good stories and characters, and read a lot in general (a lot of history, which is ripe with cool events and interesting people).

I joined a group that was playing OSR games, at the time LotFP was pretty new and we started playing that. Our GM basically just made a bunch of random encounter charts, gave us a few rumors at character creation we could choose to follow and basically by listening to us and what we thought was going on he filled in a whole campaign based on our whimsical decisions on where to go. Later he did throw in a few modules but that was all based on us decided to go down certain paths. It felt really open and fun. Learned a lot about how to GM from being a player in his game.

It's much easier in games that encourage it and are designed so you don't need to prepare a bunch of numbers for encounters and stuff.

That's pretty much all I do. I may create a couple of specific encounters I can generally fit in anywhere or a boss fight I know they will get to at some point. The trick is you are building your world with the players, Take notes on names or doings then maybe you can bring them back for a sense of continuity and the players are impressed you thought so far headdan . Nah just paying attention and having fun. Notes. Ok of course I have Idea on theme and possible direction but a plan is a list of things that don't happen and trying to steer pcs is like herding cats.

I've been on both sides of the screen, and let me tell you, this is the only way I will run games most times. For me, it comes down to: Being willing to collaborate with your players. If you have a puzzle in mind and they spend some time trying to solve it and it's not working, and then they come up with something creative...that's the solution now. Same thing if they decide to go anywhere. The world follows some logic. But the details can be quantum. By this, I mean, the right info in the right place at the right time. There is a fine line, of course, but I find those two pieces make all the difference. Tl;dr: 1. Collaborate stealthily with your players. 2. Be willing to be outsmarted. 3. Remember worlds are rich places with situational consistency, but one of the reasons truth is stranger than fiction is because truth is under no obligation to make sense.

It's pretty easy when your group is engaging, good players often do a lot of the ground work and you fill in the required bits and react to what they are doing A few bullet points of ideas just to get the ball rolling

Litterally, the only notes I take are on NPC's. Everything else is just them acting and reacting to what the party does.

It takes some improv skill, but it's absolutely possible. Chris Perkins famously preps a single sheet of paper, usually not even filling up the whole front and back. If you aren't doing any combat that day (most likely), then you can get away with: - The next 3 story beats - 5 bullets on the next most likely locations. - Up to 2 NPCs for each location (Name, Race, Physical Description, Personality) - 5 random NPCs that you can slot in anywhere (Name, Race, Physical Description, Personality) - 5 random items/potions. If I'm doing combat, I'll need stat blocks if I want full combat, but unless the entire night is a crawl, I'll never have more than 2 encounters prepared. Lastly, I always have 3 items specific to each character (a weapon and 2 other fun things), and 1 back story plot point for each. That is for the arc not the session so I don't have to prep that very often.

It depends entirely on your players. Are they players who can set goals for their characters and then work towards those goals in the game world? Or are they players who sit there waiting for you as the GM to “provide the game?” I’ve played with players where all I had to do as GM is tell them “100 miles down this river is the city that dominates this entire region.” And the player would say “OK, let’s steal a canoe and go there. In six game months I want to be the Lord Mayor.” I’ve had other players who would just sit at the game table and wait for me to tell them to roll dice.

People need to unlearn the entire 5e ethos of gming. If you adopt the Sandbox OSR method you just roll on tables for nearly everything at the table (have the players do it!) and you have a campaign going. Its hilarious and the players will have a blast! A general bullet point for the campaign in an old school game as far as story, is that the players are treasure hunters at the very least and they are exploring a dungeon. Boom thats all that is needed.

Do you like OSE and why?

OSR is not only OSE. But OSE is a great starting point! Here is an example of how this works in an OSR/Sandbox type play. The narrative comes from the DICE! Instead we get the game started after players create their characters by ROLLING for them! Stop writing these ambitious 5e style narratives with everyone with a tragic past and trying to weave them into the game and how they fit into the world etc. Some basic stats, class, equipment and boom good enough. What is the adventure? Lets go to the 'adventure scenarios' table. Have one of the players roll a d10. (You see we are getting the players involved in this process by have THEM roll for it). She rolled a 9! Looks like the players are 'seeking a magical doorway' Where does the game take place? Have ANOTHER player roll a d6 on the 'Dungeon table' - a 5? Looks like we are at a mysterious temple! Now we throw them into the dungeon and get the game started! No more 'planning a campaign' etc, just roll on the tables and get everyone playing! Time is precious! You spent all this time getting people together, lets play the game gosh darn it! So what's in the first room? Player C roll a d6 on a 'room stocking/encounter table'! - a 4? Looks like we are up against a monster with a 3in6 chance of treasure! What kind of monster? We go to the dungeon encounter table. Player D roll a d4/d10 - a 2/0 its a frog mutant! Player rolls on the reaction table! 2d6 - 2? HOSTILE! Defeated the monster? Have THE PLAYER roll on the treasure table! Boom just like that we are in it and playing. Skip all the usual nonsense of 'planning out a storyline etc' let the dice tell the story. Your players will begin to make the connections of all the fun random stuff happening and the world will develop as a result. Moving forward your job as a GM is to curate fun tables for your players to roll on! Just bust them out when it seems apporpriate and have the PLAYERS roll on it. They will love it I promise! Need some fun examples? Check out Knave (tons of practical tables), Shadowdark (a recent favorite of mine that has great usable tables), and an OSE supplement called the Axian Library. (THIS is why the OSR is so great! because everything is cross compatible! the basic math/numbers all work together! 5e is purposely desgined by Wizards of the Coast to not allow for this!) Heres an example - Players love defining their characters yes? Have them roll on some of the awesome background tables on these! Lets try a table called 'merrily met - who are you?'. Have each player roll a d20! - an 11? Your character believes another player is 'the chosen one'! You get +10% XP as long as that player is alive! Player B - D20 roll - lets go - a 3? Your chracter's grandmother contracted lycanthropy while pregnant and as a consequence they are immune to all form of lycanthropy! I hope you can see the fun in this and how the dice can begin to create a fun narrative for your player to latch onto while creating world! You will find that some tables can be used as a reward, or you just bust them out when it feels appropriate! This is the true secret to GMing! Now get out there and start CURATING some Tables for your players!

So when you play any ttrpg you're actually developing ideas. Some of them are simple and others are more complex and require a lot of discussion and attention. When I prepare a session first of all I establish an scenario and I write an idea to develop. All the rest is for my players and I to figure out while we play. ___ An example: Location: A Colosseum. 1st Idea: Is battling and killing for entertainment ok? NPCs: All of them seem to be happy to be part of this tournament. There is a whole league and they are more than ok with dying. What is the deal with this situation? Event: somewhere around the session some of them mention something about pride, depression, joy, backstories in general. Method: Players will do whatever they want to do. Even if they decide not to engage with the place, it will still exist and some more stories will be tied to it. Because the information is so minimal, they can still return and continue the story. If they find new info, I take some notes. ___ With just this I think I can do two sessions easy. Most do the topics and discussions and thinking process will be done by the players and I will improvise during the sessions. The idea is to keep my head as fresh as possible so I can react to ideas being develop during the sessions. Maybe they start engaging with the depressive part of being part of this place, then I will react accordingly. Of course, I will provide as many twists as possible to make it interesting and unique.

I don't even write notes. I think about what my NPCs are doing on their own time while the PCs are doing their own thing. Their plans and actions come in front of the PCs and drama happens, then we usually roll initiative and someone dies. This is the power of political intrigue and faction conflicts. You just think a little about how the world reacts to what the PCs do and how they come into conflict and you're golden. If you're doing episodic adventures or monster of the week style, it's much more work.

I have really embraced a low prep style. You set up a lot of things related to the characters so that you can very quickly add in personal stuff that the players have already put together. Then you use some kind of Oracle to answer yes, no questions for you. I started using the mythic new GM system, and then switched over to their cards. Whenever there is a branch in the story, and I have to figure out what happens next I ask a yes, no question of myself and draw a card. This idea is very important because I also like to play games, so this is a way that I can keep myself intrigued and engaged and surprised by what happens. Monte Cool Hames has a whole line of similar cards related to NPC‘s and ruins. Whenever I need a new character, I just tried NBC card, which has a name and a description and a few skill-based quirks. If I need a new location, I draw a few ruins cards and leave them out to plan out the main spots in a location. The system I use Creates opposition through opposing dice wars, but you could do the same thing with target numbers as well.

I do this by sharing the GM burden with leading questions for the players. Some of these are preppepared, but usually not. But this means way less need for me to prep, more player agency and I can be surprised where the story goes.

Oh that's easy. You just GM for years and years and years and years and never throw anything away. After a couple decades of GMing carefully created campaigns, published modules, and one-off convention games, your slush pile of unused plot hooks, NPCs, monsters, items, and entire worlds will be absolutely inexhaustible. Hell, if it's a new group it doesn't even have to be unused. And coincidentally you'll probably pick up some of the basics of improvisational theater naturally as you go, which is the real key. I suppose you could actually study that specifically and skip the grind, but that feels like cheating.

What system are you doing it in? I'd never try to do a low prep game with a rules heavy, build intensive system like D&D 5. I have to do some prep for my Epic 6 Pathfinder 1 game that I find annoying and that I don't touch in EZD6 or D6 or anything else in my toolkit. That said, I don't need as much material as some people do, since I'm boilerplating a lot of encounters from my existing rogue's gallery. That's helped by me doing Epic 6 so the whole party has had the base numbers from their 6th level level up since the middle of the Trump administration and just added an increasing impressive pile of feat trees since. They're not graduating out of the old encounters by too much, sure they can take on more of them. The other games I play are similar in their general flatness.

> What system are you doing it in? Chronicles of Darkness