Preparation 101

I've decided to give some DM advice.

First, Kyla and I finally got play another session of Delta Green: Check it out.

Since some new DMs might have stumbled onto this blog looking for advice, here's a cool YouTube video I found that expertly summarizes advice for new DMs: Check it out.

Today I'm going to talk about prep. Or at least how I do prep.

The first step is don't over-prepare. PCs will zig when you expect them to zag. Dungeons are helpful for this because they are basically a physical in-game embodiment of a decision map. So when using a pre-generated dungeon or using one of your own, you'll want to focus on two things. First, what route(s) CAN the PCs take. Second, what route(s) are the they LIKELY to take.

That first part is easy if you're using a simple dungeon with mostly left, right, or forward type decision options. Castle Ravenloft is not a simple dungeon. From their current position, they can back track, move forward to a room with approximately 8 options for potentially moving forward or bogging down the session in a deadly, deadly combat. One of the options for moving forward is protected by a trap that, while not deadly, can significantly set back their progress.

Now the second part requires knowing your players. For the most part Will and Joseph and the most active players when it comes to decision-making. Kyla is catching up rapidly, but she still has a little distance to cover. Alec is a little more interested in role-playing his character than taking the lead. And Blake and Hillary, while definitely interested in driving the party's decisions more, tend to not get as much acknowledgement. Mostly because they're kids, which is unfortunate.

So what do I know about Joseph, Will, and Kyla as players? Most importantly, they're non-linear thinkers. When Lop and Ap were trapped in a cell, they decided to use the laws of thermodynamics to weaken the bars of their cell (casting ray of frost and firebolt on them in rapid succession). So they're going to look for an indirect approach to advancing. Kyla is a puzzle solver. She takes notes and can figure things out from handouts and pictures. This means that one of those 8 paths forward I was talking about is a very real possibility. Since it's going to sequence break everything, I can definitely put it on the list of likely outcomes.

Of course, I have to remember that Blake is what the 4e DMG called an Instigator. When he sees a big red button, he has to press it. Ravenloft being an old school adventure, this means that if he pushes the wrong big red button, it could lead to deadly, deadly combat.

Of course, they could always just follow a straight forward path. If so, I have to account for that trap. The real problem is that Amrus isn't very good with traps. Tathora is certainly amazing at spotting secret doors and traps, but Amrus is not good at disarming them. However, I'm also pretty confident that Lop, Ap, or Cugel might find a way to bypass the trap with a spell.

And of course, there's the catacombs: a huge sandboxy area of the Castle they are likely to reach. There's a lot to find and do, and some of it involves combat. One of them even involves one of the party's sidequests.

Once I have a rough idea of what encounters are likely to happen, I mark off the stat blocks in the Monster Manual or the adventure book. I use 3x5 cards and use them to keep track of monsters' hit points. DJ, the previous DM, actually used a spreadsheet for this. It was probably faster, but I'm fine with my method. Rob, who runs a Pathfinder game I play in, actually would mark damage dealt totals to NPCs and monsters directly on the map. Not a bad idea, but I prefer to save space on the map.

Next comes special rules I might need to review. Most of those are in the DMG, which I keep at the store. However, as a DM I arrive early, so I use some of that time to review rules. I also use it to chitchat with my fellow DMs, the employees at the store, and any other early arriving players.

For tomorrow, there are no rules I'm going to need to review. However, I have noted a situation which might split the party. Since the effects need to be somewhat secretive, I prepared a 3x5 card for a description for a disappearing character, while using another description for the rest of the party.

Finally, I have to take into account that sidequest. Having marked the stat block of combat likely to ensue, I have to also ponder what the reward should be. Since the adventure provides no real monetary award, and the story-based reward for it is moot at this point, I might have to settle for a milestone or some other non-concrete reward. One I certainly could provide is allowing the party to gain the benefits of a long rest. That would be a boon to them as they are likely to be low on resources and very close to the final showdown, but it wouldn't involve the updating a bookkeeping a milestone would.

A few other tips when prepping and running: game sessions are only so long, do decide ahead of time what you want to focus on. If you want combat, put a lot of energy into planning out that battlefield and determining the monsters' or NPCs' tactics. If you want exploration, focus on re-reading descriptions so you aren't always looking down at the book and reading verbatim (I'm guilty of this, I know!). Especially if you have a target in mind, do as much as you can to make it easier for the PCs to reach that target.

If I really wanted (and I kinda want to) just have the campaign end tomorrow, I'd remove all obstacles between the PCs and Strahd's Tomb and just do some glossy and creepy narration to get them there, ignoring traps and hostile creatures in favor of the story. But we still have one more session in October, so I'm not super desperate. Let's enjoy having the party wander around a spooky, vampire-haunted castle while the season is still right.