notes from Smart Prep - The Alexandrian
smart prep: targeting the highest value prep and seeking to avoid prep that’s never used at the table
three principles of smart prep
- don’t duplicate improvisation
- avoid waste
- maximize utility
don’t duplicate improvisation
your prep should focus on game elements that are
- time-consuming to create
- require special tools (e.g. mapmaking)
- benefit from considered thought
- difficult for you to run off-the-cuff
e.g. prepping exactly what NPCs know and what clues they can supply → universal NPC roleplaying template
avoid waste
never prep a lot of specific contingencies based on hypotheticals
learn to identify the likelihood of a particular outcome by
- discerning what the PCs are likely to affect vs. what they won’t affect
- predicting the choices your players will make
practice ending your sessions with the question, “What are you planning to do next session?”
don’t prep plots, prep a toolbox
maximize utility
develop material that
- can be recycled
- has flexible use
- is multi-use
status quo design
prep a chunk of the game world in a given state; don’t bother touching it again until the players’ actions interact with it. when the players agitate or change that status quo, that chunk of the game world becomes active
the best status quo design is usually more like a coiled spring: The lightest interaction from the PCs will cause an explosion of activity.
the actions that force a location, organization, or NPC into motion don’t have to be direct and don’t require cataclysmic scenarios
in the absence of continued PC interaction, elements of the world will generally trend back towards a status quo again. note that status quo =/= boring or static state of being, just “the norm” for that corner of the world
campaign status document
rather than keeping notes attached to a dozen different scenarios, rope all the active elements of the campaign into a single document. think of it like a change log. original scenario notes remain untouched, and the document evolves to record how those scenarios have changed
offload the mental load to downtime, so that at the actual table you can stay focused on execution
three elements of this document:
- timeline of bangs
- background events
- scenario updates
& things like the cast of supporting characters, if that makes sense.
timeline of bangs
bangs: explosive moments you use to start a new scene. a list of events that are going to happen to the PCs in the future. moments where the campaign world is going to actively seek them out instead of waiting to react to them.
when the clock reaches that moment, we’ll frame a new scene and the story agenda will be updated
bangs = “things I don’t want to forget to have happen”
background events
background events: timeline of future events running in parallel with the timeline of bangs
events that don’t’ directly affect the PCs but are nevertheless taking place and moving the campaign world forward
info the PCs will have to seek out
this timeline can reference “dedicated pages” elsewhere in the document, which detail an entire situation and work as a singular reference point for ongoing threads in the campaign
“backdrop files” are dedicated pages for aspects of the setting and world. as time passes, you can seed the timelines based on the groundwork laid in these documents
background events should include stuff evolving out of what the PCs have done and also foreshadow elements you know are coming in future scenarios
you also want to spice the events with entries that aren’t directly related to the PC’s activities or the scenarios of the campaign; colour/flavour content or “storylines” of unrelated events happening in the background of the campaign world
don’t overthink these events; details can be improvised during play
scenario events
change logs for each scenario
tightly organized lists of updates/differences you can combine with original scenario notes on the fly
timeline of continued events, continuity of past events, adversary roster, etc
compare/contrast: