My GMing goal for the year is to get more effective at prep and execution using the “Prep Situations, not Plot” approach. Assuming I’m not running a PVP game, what published GM materials have the best advice / processes for implementing this? Is there a specific PBTA or Fate or other game product that you can recommend? I’m less looking for general how to be a good GM advice, and more specifically how to prep situations (e.g., Fronts, Clocks, Motivated Antagonists), and then turn that into a bunch of satisfying scenes across one or more sessions.
My GMing goal for the year is to get more effective at prep and execution using the “Prep Situations, not Plot”…
My GMing goal for the year is to get more effective at prep and execution using the “Prep Situations, not Plot”…
Dungeon World has a great Front guide in the book. There’s also a ton of resources out there for that kind of prep.
Thanks. I’m also looking for stuff about how to turn the stuff you prepped into scenes and situations at the table, after some inciting incident.
I recommend checking out the score generator in Blades in the Dark.
I also highly recommend having a list of NPC names on hand to draw from on the fly, it’s helped me out with keeping scenes running quickly and with fewer slow downs.
I’ve been working on a document organizing prep for Dungeon World (mostly stolen from other, more superior advice). It might have stuff in there you find useful.
docs.google.com – DW Prep
The Dungeon Starters for Dungeon World have that kind of structure: http://www.finemessgames.com/DWsupplements/dungeonstarters
Here’s my guide for DW which I think Yochai Gal borrowed from a bit 😜: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gIM7GX1FjsYBzJIwDlj6eJxzoXivR5xNt_puYMurbSw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Thanks so much!
When I try to improv this kind of stuff, it produces the opposite of a satisfying session. I come up with an obstacle or two, the players easily overcome them, and have then achieved whatever their goal was in a very unsatisfying way.
I think there’s something else that good improv GM’s are doing after the “here’s the thing the players are trying to do” (idea) and “lets roll to see if they do it” that produces a satisfying story / adventure.
While canned adventures or plot-point campaigns have their own issue, they can produce satisfying story-like experiences, since they’re a bunch of challenging obstacles.
My guess is that whatever it is improv GM’s do to generate multiple scenes between the seed and the outcome is something that is so instinctive to these kinds of GM’s that it isn’t even in the prep advice of books.