Warstories is the name I gave to a series of short articles meant to spark discussions and advice amongst DM’s. With the series, I hope to tackle common problems that crop up during the game, and see how other people deal with them at their table. If you have an idea for a future subject to tackle on Warstories, please send me an email.
For D&D players, life is fairly easy. You build your character and every now and again you have to select a few things, feats, powers or whatever, you add a weapon here or there and off you go. For the most part all you really have to do is show up and bring your A-game to the table, the truly hard work for your week’s enjoyment is done for you behind the scenes by guys like me… the DMs.
So DMs, it’s no surprise to any of us that what we do is hard work. It’s our job to craft the adventure, the encounters, the monsters, the maps, the monster minis, the npc’s, sometimes the food, many times we have to juggle real life with game life and inter party dynamics… whew, it’s a lot of work. And it doesn’t even stop at the table. Nope… we have to prep. Prep may be the most important and least thought about (by players) part of the job. But it has to be done. So if you are anything like me, you have responsibilities outside of D&D. Yes, my hard core gamer friends, these responsibilities do exist, so the trick is to find a balance that works best for you.
After pulling out a very nicely printed, (monsters keyed out btw), adventure battle map from Dungeon to scale, a player once asked me “Where do you find the time for this stuff? When do you see your kids?” The truth is that due to my personal situations involving work and family life, I really only have prep time late at night. So that’s when I do the majority of my prep. You see, my wife isn’t a gamer. My wife couldn’t give less of a crap about D&D. What my wife wants is for her husband to help her out with the kids and with dinner when he gets home from work. And well, me being the wonderful husband that I am, I do. If I were to tell her, “Nah, I need my prep time woman, you bathe the kids!”, she’d put me on the curb with the recycling bins.
And so it is, I am forced to prep late at night, blog late at night, play online late at night, and indulge in my hobby late at night on the weeks that I am not actually playing (which lately seem more often than not). Thankfully, 4e makes prep flow like a gentle breeze under a Hawaiian palm tree. Clumsy as it may be, the Monster Builder has nonetheless been a wonderful play aid for me, as has the Compendium and the other DDI stuff. Could it be more polished and run a little better? Sure, but why am I going to dwell on the negative? I’ll let others do that. I need to prep.
So the questions I pose here for discussion are the following: When do you prep? Do you have time restraints due to real life? Is your wife/husband a gamer, and does your prep time “count” as your play time? I look forward to your comments!
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Erebus
July 15, 2010
My gf often calls during games, i may not have a “prep” time as a player, but my group understands my role well enough and they “take over” or delay me if im in combat. Also i ussually take calls after my turn. But she understands as well, talks to me for a bit until its my turn. Then i say “love you hun, i have orcs to kill”
Brannon
July 15, 2010
I plan on the can. Because it rhymes all the time.
No really. While dropping deuces. At least mostly.
newbiedm
July 15, 2010
@Brannon: That’s awesome. I read a lot of DND on the can, while dropping friends off at the pool.
Epiktetus
July 15, 2010
“My wife couldn’t give less of a crap about D&D. What my wife wants is for her husband to help her out with the kids and with dinner when he gets home from work. And well, me being the wonderful husband that I am, I do. If I were to tell her, “Nah, I need my prep time woman, you bathe the kids!”, she’d put me on the curb with the recycling bins.”
Totally, exactly, preach it brother! Actually my wife is very understanding of my “guy time”. She couldn’t care less what it is all about, but she understands that she has a happier husband when I get time to play occasionally. I’m a player right now, but when I was DMing I also prepped at night after the kids were in bed, the bills had been paid and the wife was distracted by TV or Facebook or something.
BrianLiberge
July 15, 2010
I keep a small, hardbound, blank book in the bag I take to and from work. On the train, I jot down ideas for sessions, and sometimes places and events, since my current campaign is a little sandbox-y.
My wife generally goes to bed before me so when I’m done with responsible stuff out comes that book and into the Obsidian Portal or word document it goes. Anything thats not in obsidian portal lives in my dropbox, so if Im at my desk on my lunch break I’ll do a little then as well.
However, the monster builder has really made it so I really just need to know the big ideas. I know there’s a dragon here, hobgoblins here doing this, and the weather of this region. If the players go somewhere’s thats not quite ready with a full encounter/adventure document, I open a new word file, say “I need a minute”.
A minute later I’m ready to start. I’ll keep building while their deciding actions and roleplaying.
Trabant
July 15, 2010
I prep wen I should be studying. The best ideas come to me from the mindfarts that boredom creates. Also, working at a conveyor belt inspired me to a DH scenario.
That being said, I hate the fact that players essentially don’t have to do shit for prep. That’s why I find ways to do the same and prefer games that allow me to do so, all the while I better my improv skills. On the other hand, if I’m a player, I do my best to prep at least something; it helps if the GM gives some rough guidelines as to what the next game is going to be like. I try to ahve the GM’s back like that.
AlioTheFool
July 15, 2010
I’m with you man. I’m a husband/father/DM too.
Most of my planning occurs either once the kids are asleep at night or during my lunch break at work during the week. It’s the main reason I flipped out on Wizards for the C&D on Masterplan, which allowed me to bring my campaign planning with me on a USB key to work.
My wife is not really a D&D player. I’ve convinced her to play with the kids and me a couple of times, but she doesn’t really like it. Fortunately she does like other games so I do get to play some things with her.
My planning time is most certainly my “play time.” Whatever time I spend working on D&D comes out of my “me time” budget.
Carolinacharlie
July 15, 2010
My prep situation is the same as yours — late at night, when wife & daughter are asleep. My group games twice a month, so the prep isn’t too bad, but it’s still prep.
ZeroArmada
July 15, 2010
When I was in college, I’d always devote at least 1 day to doing nothing school related. That was the day that I prepped, most often. In the summer, I used to have nothing to do all day, so I could prep as much as I wanted. Now, though, I’ve got an internship and I commute kinda far. I do what Brian does with the empty notebook, and when I get back (after doing my hour-long reconnect with Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube), I prep with Masterplan. That’s about 2 hours with the notebook, 2-3 hours on the laptop on a good day.
Paul
July 15, 2010
It’s all about balance, as long as I’m doing my share with the kids, my wife will forgive me if I retreat behind the laptop and a pile of game books for some adventure planning. In addition, I’m a bit more of a night owl than she is, so occasionally I’ll stay up until the wee hours working on something (though if I do that more than 1 or 2 nights in a row I get cranky from lack of sleep). It helps a little that my current adventure planning is something I’m going to run for the kids.
Brian Engard
July 15, 2010
I’m very lucky for two reasons. First, even though my wife is not a gamer, she’s very tolerant of my gaming habits, and doesn’t generally get in the way of prep time or game time. Second, I’m fortunate that my game is a monthly game. This may be a strange thing to be thankful for, but honestly I love having the extra prep time. It means that every session has to be awesome, and I have time to make it so. I like to go all-out on my prep; I print out full-color custom counters for all the monsters, customized initiative cards, detailed adventure notes, player handouts, and so forth. I honestly don’t think I’d have time to do all that if we were playing more frequently.
I also find that quite a lot of my prep goes on in my head. I look at scenes from different perspectives, play them out in different ways, and come up with ways to make them cool. I get inside my NPCs heads (and yes, some of this happens on the can). I find that having a whole month to do this allows me to fiddle with encounters and scenes until they’re the best they can be.
hbunny
July 15, 2010
My wife is really supportive of my D&D, and I typically prep once or twice a week before or after dinner.
I spend a lot of time daydreaming about encounter ideas and such during the day, and I usually find time to jot down some notes into Google docs or sketch out a map in the graph paper pad I keep in my laptop bag. So, when I do have a chance to sit down with my books and the digital tools, I usually have a to-do list of stuff I want to get done.
Now, spending my prep time productively is another story. I think Mike from Sly Flourish said it best with “focus on the next session”. I’ve spent far too many hours working on back-story, only to have poorly-planned encounters once I get to the table.
Sarah Darkmagic
July 15, 2010
I’m going to share a little secret. I didn’t play for the longest time because I wanted my husband to have that guy time with his friends and I didn’t want to intrude. Even when we started hosting the games, I tried to sequester myself away to give them their space. But, turns out they liked me hanging out and it was all cool.
As for prep time, I’m lucky in two ways. I’m a morning person, so I often get up at 6-6:30 am to plan, blog, read D&D blogs, and all that fun stuff. The other is that my husband is a huge sports fan. Like, he watches at least 6 hours of sports a weekend and more during the week. I head over to my local tea shop during that time and write, plan the game, and do all the stuff I love to do. Neither of us have to feel guilty about indulging in our hobbies and its great.
Geek Ken
July 15, 2010
I try to squeeze in my campaign prep when I can. My wife is somewhat understanding when we are watching TV, I have my books and notes thrown about the coffee table. It’s a feeble stab at having joint quality time, but at least I’m in her physical presence so she let’s it slide.
As for the comment by Brannon, I salute you for your honesty. I’m a closet D&D pooper too.
Behemoth0089
July 15, 2010
Well, my prep time is after 18:00 usually, because I go to university, so in the whole day I’m out of D&D (but I make some encounters in class… the boring ones LOL)
After that hour until I get to sleep late at night, after dinner and so, I prep my game.
Fortunately, I begin prep a week earlier to finish on time. You know, you enter the Internet and then poof! good bye, prep! LOL
The Dungeoneering Dad
July 15, 2010
Chalk me up as another late night prepper (as well as an “on the can” prepper). I also wait for my wife to head up to bed or do it when she has control of the TV remote. Sounds like a lot DMs are night owls (wonder if there is some relation there?).
Dr. Nathan
July 16, 2010
Before my wife and children get up and sometimes after they go to bed. I as well get a lot done in the Restroom. I carry a moleskine and a pencil everywhere. If I get an Idea I jot it done and then flesh it out in the Restroom at, Cough, Cough, Work or at lunch. If I write a little here and there I can completely connect the dots on the glorified abacus, the Ol’ Mac later in about 10 mins.
Noumenon
July 16, 2010
I brought my D&D books to work today and worked out XP and picked monsters in between my hourly checks. Usually I’m much too busy, but I have a session tonight that I found out about yesterday morning.
Will K.
July 16, 2010
Because I tend to take lunch at work at adverse times than my work buds because of meetings, I often will prep for games on my lunch hour. This also let’s me use the powerful graphic design software at work for really cool flags, insignias, etc.
I also get to talk to my co-workers about how awesome RPG’s are too.
DMJard
July 16, 2010
As a teacher and soon-to-be husband, I have a big chunk of time in the Winter and Summer where I can get in and really plan a large ammount of adventuring for my players. Whenever my fiancée notes that I’m spending a lot of time on it, I remind her that it helps make less planning during the school year and it builds skills I use in wedding planning. That could be re-skinned as pretty much anything for other spouses: vacation planning, budgeting, scheduling for weekend plans, etc.
boccobsblog
July 16, 2010
My players have no idea the hours i spend planning adventures, enriching our home-spun game world, making props, etc.
Seth Blevins
July 16, 2010
It is very simple. I do not play or run Dungeons and Dragons! It is a horrible, tactical, and high prep kind of game. I am currently running two different Dresden Files games, and none of feel as though we anything. Except for the amount of time we used to spend working on the game. I do not need stats for monster or environmental challenges, I can just come up with it on the fly, and it all works very well.
The same be said for many other non-traditional games ( Mutants and Masterminds, Dogs in the Vineyard, any FATE incarnation, even Savage Worlds is at least significantly better about it).
You want to spend more time with your family?
Stop playing DnD and try a game that supports something other than “Killing monsters and taking their stuff!”
The Dungeoneering Dad
July 16, 2010
>Stop playing DnD and try a game that supports something other than “Killing monsters and >taking their stuff!”
No thanks, I’m having too much fun doing it. I will say this, I like Castles & Crusades a lot because it is a much simplier version of D&D. I think that is part of the reason it has a strong following with the “married with kids” crowd.
Kevin
July 16, 2010
I’m another married DM w/ kids. Like most everyone else, I get my prep time into whenever I find time – late at night, weekends when the girls may be off doing something, lunch time at work, etc.
Although, I will equivocally state I DO NOT prep on the toilet. Gross. Do you all clean off your books afterward? Remind me to bring hand sanitizer to your games…
j-man
July 16, 2010
I really need to get d&d insider! I think up these awsome monsters to use in my game but then it is so time consuming to make them. If I had the monster builder it would be so easy. My players wish they had the character builder also. That’s why I’m making them all pitch in for a subscription.
Also, I Love fancy terrain! I spend some serious time creating my own hand-drawn dungoen tiles (I love to draw so it’s enjoyable). I just use a copy machine to make a bunch of 1″ by 1″ grids and go from there with a ruler, pencil, eraser, and colored pencils. My maps turn out great for almost no cost.
Scott
July 16, 2010
My wife is a gamer, but we have hugely different work schedules. I work a regular Mon-Fri 9-5 job, and she does nightshifts from Wed-Sat. So, I do most of my prep nights, while she’s at work and I’m alone at home.
We don’t have any kids, but I have a few constraints on my time. They’re generally fairly light, and from about 8:30-11pm each night I have the free time to plan. Granted, my ADHD doesn’t help the matter… I think I may need to add more constraints onto my time, so that I can get things done! Ha!
Thunderforge
July 16, 2010
I can’t stand to prep for games, which is why I’m drawn to zero-prep games like Savage Worlds. I love to GM, but I’m college student with a full load and I just don’t want to spend time prepping for a game.
In a recent D&D campaign I ran, my prep was the following:
10 minutes: Think about a scenario (can be done during idle time, like driving)
10 minutes: Flip through Monster Manual and decide who they should be fighting. Get a rough idea of how difficult the fight will be, but don’t worry at all about Encounter Level (the players won’t know and it just isn’t worth the time).
20 minutes: If necessary, update characters’ sheets on the CB because I’m the only one with a copy. Print off new ones.
That’s only 30 minutes of “sit-down prep time” for 4 hours of gameplay. The added benefit is that the improvisation means that if my players decide to deal with things in their own way (which always happens and is always awesome!), it’s a cinch to do so and there’s no hard feeling about “scrapping four hours of prep work” that other people get.
That said, I do use DDI for the CB and the Monster Maker to create recurring villains or ally stat blocks to hand out to the players and such. I don’t use them every week, but those don’t take very much time either.
Ford MF
July 19, 2010
As much as I wish you hadn’t phrased your question in the context of “How do you men avoid the demands of your nagging wives/girlfriends/women who interfere in your life?”…
I do a lot of my prep a couple of days before, usually on the subway to and from work and in the form of short plot notes to myself. At work during short breaks in front of the monster and encounter builder I usually put together the game elements that cannot be ad-libbed, the stats and tactical details of a combat encounter. My players try to avoid fighting for the most part anyway, so sometimes I even skip this step.
The day before and day of game (ie Friday), prep continues, but mostly in the form of food shopping for snacks (wine, fruits, cheeses, &c), and me and my girlfriend cleaning our apartment for company–all of which I consider an essential part of my game’s preparation work. (FYI, my gf plays too.) And usually the last two hours before game is me scrambling like crazy to put together the day’s character vignette–I usually have one per session at least, and skew each session to be slightly player-centric for one player per episode (sort of like the narrative structure of Lost), but for some reason these never seem to come together until the very last minute.
newbiedm
July 19, 2010
@ ford mf – I always get in trouble with someone. 🙂
Thanks for your comment though!
🙂
Runeskin
July 19, 2010
My girlfriend knows how difficult it is to get 6 guys around a table with all the obligations of life. So to her eyes it needs preparation and dedication. So she take care of the kids that night, she even buy the food for my game session if she goes to the grocery… YEP my friend want a clone of her for Christmas… i am lucky. She understand that we give time to the kids for hockey, dance and school stuff… But never forget to take time for us too… She even try to convince others of my players girldfriends to see that our hobby is not just a stupid game but a way of life.
Jerry
July 19, 2010
My prep time is late, when the kids are asleep. My wife is a gamer as well and at least she understands. She’s also began running her own campaign lately and needs lots of time to prep, so all those times before of “are you done yet” and “you’re taking all damn night” have kind of subsided because now she understands from firsthand experience. I have the same setup though, during the day I help out as much as I can, or I too would be left outside with the recycling bins.
Raevhen
July 20, 2010
I am yet another late night DM. I work during the day, come home and take care of the kids so my wife can get some free time away from them after watching them all day. Once the kids are in bed, I sit at my laptop and plan out my game while the wife watches her TV shows. I also have slow times at work with nothing to do, but could at a moment’s notice, so I keep Google Docs open to make any notes I might need for later.
katanageldar
July 23, 2010
I prep late at night and on weekends as it’s pretty much when I can find the time, working all day and dinner to get and stuff.
I do try and get quite a bit done before the game day, as the more I have on the page the less time I need between sessions when I can tweak.
Nick
July 23, 2010
Hey,
I teach a lot and work long hours, so I used a prepared website: Dungeonaday.com
I prepare things when I can, like a temple-opening festival over thanksgiving. However, if I just don’t have time to prep, I have a pretty cool old-school dungeon.
Nick
Nicholas Cardarelli
June 26, 2011
Prep time is almost always late at night when the family is snuggled in their beds. My wife is a gamer and a budding DM. Any time spent on D&D “counts” against my play time. lol
Miri
December 27, 2011
I’m a college student, and I run an online game for my friends. Most of my prep time is done on the hour-and-a-half bus ride from home to school and back, on the ten-minute breaks we have every hour, and in the half an hour between when the bus actually gets to school and when class starts. I can tell you, drawing up a continent map while on an ancient bus with bad suspension going over roads that have frozen, thawed, and re-frozen three times in the last week is interesting.
My boyfriend is a bit of a buddy-gamer, so he’s in my game, and I always look forward to pulling a surprise or two on him and the other players (mostly consisting of friends of mine), surprises which usually get written in my spare time. My mom is really supportive as well (she and my dad actually met over a game of Fantasy Hero way back in the late ’80s) so I often bounce ideas off of her while we’re doing dishes. Since she’s been gaming since she was in high school, her ideas, suggestions, and tricks are always invaluable advice.
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