Sunday, December 29, 2013

Did you hear that?

It's quiet, too quiet. With all of the extra time I had to prep and the limited scope of the campaign, the aftermath of the first play session has been very easy.

Normally I would be scrambling to figure out how  the NPCs would react to the actions of the PCs.  Instead, I am spending prep time focusing on small details, more creative traps, better way to describe settings and monsters. Books on my gaming shelf that haven't seen the light of day for a long time are getting pulled out and perused for ideas. IT has been quite liberating.

Procrastination is my enemy. Waiting until the PCs have gotten close to an area of the dungeon to write up descriptions and stock it will only lead to pain. Right now, I feel ahead of the game.However, in one session the players could take a direction I haven't planned and literally be in uncharted territory. Granted, I have been using quite a few randomly generated maps.  I even have a couple extras lying around, but they are not stocked. I don't want to improvise a new level of the dungeon. Oh, there are tricks to slow down a party's progress: I am not afraid to employ them. I just need to stay focused not resting on my laurels.

I have 3 above ground levels completed, 3 underground levels completed and 3 underground levels started. That feels like a lot, but considering how much time is really spent in the dungeon, it will get used up pretty quickly. Restocking helps this quite a bit, no level is ever truly cleared out.

I just need to stay focused.

Oh hey, the other day I was in my local super giant shopping place while a song was playing in the background. You can find the video here.  I am not Rick rolling you! When designing an NPC bad guy or dungeon level around the phrase "The King of Wishful Thinking" what would you build?

2 comments:

  1. Some of my best ideas have come up spur of the moment when I've been put on the spot as a GM.

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  2. I agree, I have had a lot of great GMing moments when I was improvising. I have found with this game that being well prepared had actually allowed more moments of clarity as a GM, seeing the bigger picture more easily if you will.

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