Cut Your Session Prep Time in Half!
Game Masters Hate This One Simple Trick!
BRO!
Dude. DUDE.
Session prep? Like getting ready for sessions and shit?
Simplest shit in the world, bro:
Who: The major characters in the session (PCs and NPCs)
What: The major (potential) scenes in the session
When: The ongoing clocks (faction or otherwise)
Where: The locations these all take place in
Why: Goals and fronts for factions / major NPCs
That’s it. That’s the whole article. You can stop reading and just figure that stuff out for your upcoming session and be all set. Everything else, despite your hollerin’, is window dressing.
Side note: Murkdice has a great article on another 5Ws take that’s absolutely worth reading. Chop and screw that and this together for some real gas.
Maps? Who cares.
Music? Don’t need it.
Snacks?
…
Okay, you need those, but that’s the exception.
Let’s break it down.
Who: The Major Characters
Figure out who matters this session. Who’s showing up?
PCs obviously. Know their goals, tensions, and unresolved shit from last time. At the very least, know their names!
NPCs. Villains, allies, and neutrals who have something important to do, say, or react to. Don’t overdo it. Three to five tops.
Want a worksheet on how to make some NPCs? I’ve got you covered.
TIP: If you’re consistently running into a situation where you feel you need more NPCs (or your players are those types that ask what the barman’s neice’s dog’s cousin’s owner’s name is) consider making a d20 table with the following columns: First Name, Last Name, Race/Species, Associated With.
What: The Potential Scenes
Sketch out scenes you anticipate could come up in play. Note the word could; don’t write down every single outcome, just the situations you can reasonably expect to arise.
The smugglers smuggling down at the docks
A secret meeting between two outwardly hostile factions
A sudden panic at the King’s banquet sending people scattering
Keep it loose. Scenes aren’t scripts. Give yourself and your players breathing room. If your scenes are complicated enough that they necessitate players to take notes, maybe do some rewrites — I don’t know, I’m not your dad.
TIP: If you’re finding your scenes too prescriptive, write them in a way that will happen with or without the players intervening. All the ones I listed above check this requirement.
When: The Running Clocks
Have a couple of ticking clocks that keep everyone on their toes:
The assassin arrives in three days (or shorter).
The thieves guild’s coup triggers tonight (or early).
A magical storm approaches in a week (or is delayed).
Stakes rise naturally as time drains. In the article I linked above, Luke originally wrote the hack clock for literal hacking in sci-fi/cyberpunk games, but there’s no reason you can’t hack (HAR HAR) the basic concept into your own fantasy games.
Where: The Important Locations
Know the main places. If you want to get away from needing maps, lean into a really obvious landmark that helps anchor the imagination:
The blood-red and bleeding tree in the middle of the town of ghouls
The ten-story pillar of pure emerald piercing through the center of every level in the megadungeon
The ribcage of a fallen greatwyrm that acts as the village’s perimeter
I recently wrote about every dungeon needing a theme. Well, so does every town, city, forest, etc. Sometimes that theme is “betrayal” but sometimes that theme is just “cool dragon skull that the baron’s castle sits inside”.
Why: The Long Game
Factions and major NPCs have motivations; plans simmering in the background:
The Duchess to a peacetime Duke wants war to consolidate power.
Cultists engage in underhanded politics to outlaw the worship of their god’s enemies.
Rebels secretly arm themselves with weapons and armor for the uprising.
Understanding this makes your world dynamic. Sessions feel interconnected when you have a why to a what. Players notice their actions have lasting impact when they foil the why.
A looooong time ago (like a year or something) I wrote about factions and how to determine their goals. Might be worth a (re)read if you missed it.
Takeaways
This was partially inspired by a process finessed by Mike Shea, aka Sly Flourish, called the “Lazy GM Method.” While that method focuses pretty intently on 5th Edition DND, it’s a solid framework from which to build.
But, in my case, I don’t find myself desperately needing magic items or monsters every session. If they're baked into the other Ws, I may not even need secrets and clues.
So, instead, I use the 5Ws.
And you can too!
Get your notes down for the 5Ws, buy some snacks (realistically, enlist your players to buy some snacks) and Bjorn Stronginthearm is your uncle!
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The 5Ws are gold dust. I used them in my own thing on a scenario design framework too! https://murkdice.substack.com/p/2-rules-for-scenario-design
Great article on prep time and the 5Ws.