Post by logan9a on Jul 23, 2018 12:49:27 GMT
This is something I put onto some of the FB groups I belong to. If you have input, post it!
NOTES ON HOW I PREP
I’ve seen a lot of different posts from people asking how others prep. Maybe this will help someone or give someone ideas. Or, maybe someone will point out ‘hey, here are some other useful categories you might like’ (see below). I hope this is of use to someone out there.
I game very differently from a lot of people. My game is more of ‘let’s come together for a bit of collaborative art’ more than ‘getting together with friends’. I have become friends with many of the gamers I have/had but didn’t start out as friends with many. My game takes place via the internet and has gamers from three continents.
During my off game time (prep time) I have three months. This last time, I managed to get three of these zones done. That brings the approximate number of zones (including one off, experimental zones, etc) to 15. To give some examples of the different types of zones the players have run into: 1950’s sitcom, Wild West - with furries (Disney style), very gritty cyberpunk, modern day, fantasy, etc. Quite a lot of different places. And the same characters are tossed in to all of that. Even though the games are episodic, the campaign is not and the characters get extremely varied backgrounds and skill sets built up.
To clarify, my gaming schedule is (due to visas, etc) three months off then three months in which I will run around two hundred hours of games for 15-25 people. And yes, we are looking for a few more players. (Link to podcast/youtube for those who want to find out more - instructions on how to get involved can be found at these links as well - Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC2TZucbqPpz9Bx8rz57Wbmg/playlists Podcast: anchor.fm/ataw ) So I spend more time GM’ing in three months than many of the games I see advertised play for in an entire year. If they go for more than 5-10 sessions. Most of the games I’ve seen and heard about usually seem to go about three. Hence, the three months of prep helps. Plus, I do other things during that time - like travel the world. Anyway…
My game is comprised of the PC’s hopping around different times and spaces. Because I played too much Everquest (I’m old) back in the day, I call these different world/time/space areas ‘zones’.
Each of these zones I try to make very different including what sort of feel it has, the kind of missions people pick up, etc. One of the big challenges is to attempt to make it internally consistent. Doing a lot of heavy thinking about stuff is a chore.
I use Scrivener to organize everything. I use to use Word and notebooks with hand made notes. After messing with this product on it’s free trial I have never contemplated going back. Love it. (No, I don’t work for them. Very satisfied customer.)
The categories I make include, explanations in []:
Initial Arrival [There are different ways people travel between the zones of the campaign, and often some or all of the PC’s material possessions get stripped away. In addition to those instructions, descriptions]
Plots
Rumors
Street Scenes [When I was a ‘young GM’ I relied a lot on random encounter charts. I’ve switched to writing things up ahead of time.]
Various ‘mission givers’ [I’ve run a lot of ‘here is the plot, go’ type stuff in the past. Now, I am trying more of an ‘open world’ format. Although there is a lot of talk about this sort of thing in the gamer world, in reality few players seem to have actually been run in really open worlds. I think it kind of broke some of the players. So, now I try to build in ‘mission givers’ into the zones. In case the players don’t know what they should be doing or haven’t found a way to weasel into any of the big plots going on.]
Interesting Places
Organizations
NPC’s
Background [Why this place is as it is]
Magic/Tech/Special Zone Rules [Does magic work here? What level of tech works here?]
Money/Wages/COL [Amazing how much crap you end up putting onto a simple price sheet. For a game like this, it is important to also think about how balanced goods are in different zones. Clever players may find ways to take goods from one zone and sell them in another.]
Ideas [Miscellaneous ideas which may or may not ever become anything. I jot them down in this section and go back later to look at them again.]
Past Plots [Because I run a fairly large number of players, I try to keep track of ‘who has been on this module or adventure’ (if I made a module or adventure). After it has been run for as many fresh groups as possible, I will move it down here. Later, I might dig through it for follow up mods or other evil stuff. Or, in the future, if this world ever gets published (who knows) then there will be plenty of mods for GM’s.]
Future Plots [The PC’s have different ways to get back to places they have already been to. Future plots go here.]
NOTES ON HOW I PREP
I’ve seen a lot of different posts from people asking how others prep. Maybe this will help someone or give someone ideas. Or, maybe someone will point out ‘hey, here are some other useful categories you might like’ (see below). I hope this is of use to someone out there.
I game very differently from a lot of people. My game is more of ‘let’s come together for a bit of collaborative art’ more than ‘getting together with friends’. I have become friends with many of the gamers I have/had but didn’t start out as friends with many. My game takes place via the internet and has gamers from three continents.
During my off game time (prep time) I have three months. This last time, I managed to get three of these zones done. That brings the approximate number of zones (including one off, experimental zones, etc) to 15. To give some examples of the different types of zones the players have run into: 1950’s sitcom, Wild West - with furries (Disney style), very gritty cyberpunk, modern day, fantasy, etc. Quite a lot of different places. And the same characters are tossed in to all of that. Even though the games are episodic, the campaign is not and the characters get extremely varied backgrounds and skill sets built up.
To clarify, my gaming schedule is (due to visas, etc) three months off then three months in which I will run around two hundred hours of games for 15-25 people. And yes, we are looking for a few more players. (Link to podcast/youtube for those who want to find out more - instructions on how to get involved can be found at these links as well - Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC2TZucbqPpz9Bx8rz57Wbmg/playlists Podcast: anchor.fm/ataw ) So I spend more time GM’ing in three months than many of the games I see advertised play for in an entire year. If they go for more than 5-10 sessions. Most of the games I’ve seen and heard about usually seem to go about three. Hence, the three months of prep helps. Plus, I do other things during that time - like travel the world. Anyway…
My game is comprised of the PC’s hopping around different times and spaces. Because I played too much Everquest (I’m old) back in the day, I call these different world/time/space areas ‘zones’.
Each of these zones I try to make very different including what sort of feel it has, the kind of missions people pick up, etc. One of the big challenges is to attempt to make it internally consistent. Doing a lot of heavy thinking about stuff is a chore.
I use Scrivener to organize everything. I use to use Word and notebooks with hand made notes. After messing with this product on it’s free trial I have never contemplated going back. Love it. (No, I don’t work for them. Very satisfied customer.)
The categories I make include, explanations in []:
Initial Arrival [There are different ways people travel between the zones of the campaign, and often some or all of the PC’s material possessions get stripped away. In addition to those instructions, descriptions]
Plots
Rumors
Street Scenes [When I was a ‘young GM’ I relied a lot on random encounter charts. I’ve switched to writing things up ahead of time.]
Various ‘mission givers’ [I’ve run a lot of ‘here is the plot, go’ type stuff in the past. Now, I am trying more of an ‘open world’ format. Although there is a lot of talk about this sort of thing in the gamer world, in reality few players seem to have actually been run in really open worlds. I think it kind of broke some of the players. So, now I try to build in ‘mission givers’ into the zones. In case the players don’t know what they should be doing or haven’t found a way to weasel into any of the big plots going on.]
Interesting Places
Organizations
NPC’s
Background [Why this place is as it is]
Magic/Tech/Special Zone Rules [Does magic work here? What level of tech works here?]
Money/Wages/COL [Amazing how much crap you end up putting onto a simple price sheet. For a game like this, it is important to also think about how balanced goods are in different zones. Clever players may find ways to take goods from one zone and sell them in another.]
Ideas [Miscellaneous ideas which may or may not ever become anything. I jot them down in this section and go back later to look at them again.]
Past Plots [Because I run a fairly large number of players, I try to keep track of ‘who has been on this module or adventure’ (if I made a module or adventure). After it has been run for as many fresh groups as possible, I will move it down here. Later, I might dig through it for follow up mods or other evil stuff. Or, in the future, if this world ever gets published (who knows) then there will be plenty of mods for GM’s.]
Future Plots [The PC’s have different ways to get back to places they have already been to. Future plots go here.]