I think we have a lot of GMs here and I am sure many of you have stumbled on good time-saving techniques for prep. Starting this thread so people can share what they've learned, things that made you more efficient and improved play at the table.

Well, I do like to put the dungeon together in advance. Even if I'm not using Dwarven Forge, I still go through the minis and put the ones I'll be definitely using that night into plastic sandwich bags.

For what it's worth, here's my most recent dungeon (mostly trashed by adventurers, but I put some of the original monsters back in just to show how it started):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]875[/ATTACH]

Random Encounter Lists: Use an area's RE Tables to roll up a list of events. When the players' RE Check comes up positive just use the first thing on the Area RE List and cross it off. You still have "procedurally generated content", and still can't be sure when the players will trigger each item, but you will have a sense of the order the events happen in and will be able to think about how to introduce the first few during prep time. This saves a huge amount of time at the table when the RE Check comes up positive as it cuts out rolling/table-lookup and you can get on to the brainstorming and narrating the new complication. You can also use these lists to run a "living world" by rolling a RE Check one a week (or more/less often) for areas the players are not at, using the top item as inspiration on how the situation at that location has changed. You can us the Re List for the surrounding forrest to start repopulating a dungeon, for example.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;956101I think we have a lot of GMs here and I am sure many of you have stumbled on good time-saving techniques for prep. Starting this thread so people can share what they've learned, things that made you more efficient and improved play at the table.

Use a random roll table when controlling your NPCs/creatures in a fight. Eliminates all arbitrary decisions based on bias and is seriously quick. If you've never encountered accusations or sideeyes of bias aganist you or the bullshit a power-fantasy seeking player can bring to the table when you properly play your side to it strengths, you haven't GM'd.

(Turns it into a simulation too, which is always awesome!)

One of my deputy GMs notes character stats on post-it-notes. Do this. Especially if you've a shit memory for numbers and gratuity. It's also great just in case you forget some fuck-you power/ability that your NPC/creature has that you can use have fun with the players at the table (highly recommended if you run into the above scenario).

Print pregens out for people, especially if you're expecting new players. Have a few copies of the basic/most commonly used rules printed and strewn about the table. Again, if you've new/inexperienced players, have them read these while you're attending to other players.

Have a big bag 'o dice for everyone to use. EVERYONE forgets their dice at some point (or don't have enough to roll the awesomeness of their stats). Seriously, I've seen old cranks like on this forum not do this (who you'd think would know to do this by now!) and its a piss-take when people are trying to kill orcs and take their shit in an efficient manner.

If I am not just asked out of the blue to on the spot DM then I will usually at least put some thought into the area or roll something up if I have time and the urge. Or I may just pull out BX's map and use that as a frame.

I usually dont worry about NPC stats unless I know they are going to be in a combat situation. And even then all I prep are their AC, HP and gear. If I need more I'll flesh it out on the spot.

Quote from: Omega;956158I usually dont worry about NPC stats unless I know they are going to be in a combat situation. And even then all I prep are their AC, HP and gear. If I need more I'll flesh it out on the spot.

I think this is the thing that lets me GM with almost no prep - for NPCs I just have names and occasionally an idea of personality; stats are rarely needed and in most cases generic combat stats work fine. Only exceptional NPCs get a unique stat block.
I do find pictures (or minis) help bring an NPC to life. Tried to find a fat Nehwon ghoul pic online today - no luck.

I'm kinda writing a book on GMing where this is part of the description:). Here's an extract on NPCs.

QuoteAll NPCs get a number. That's what they roll when it's relevant to who they are and what they do. That's effectively "stat+skill" in systems that differentiate the two.
When they roll against something that's part of who they are,  but not part of their "job description", they get 2/3 to 1/2 that. When they roll against something that's what they do, but not part of who they are, they get 3/4 that. When they roll for something that's not part of either, but they could conceivably do, they do get 1/3, 1/5 or 1/10 that (and if that makes the roll impossible, tough luck for them).
So, "Swaggering Swordsman Song 90% (in a d100 game)" gets to roll 90% for initiative, flashy attack, flashy defence, intimidate, and so on. He would roll Resistance to wounds on 72%, because it's part of what he does, but he really hates being struck. He'd roll to impress, seduce and swindle people on a number I pick between 60% and 45%, depending on how I picture him in my mind's eye. And finally, he's going to roll for scientific problems unrelated to swordsmanship on anything between 30% and 9%, if I felt there's a reasonable chance he might know them. He's not going to be allowed to roll for surgery at all, for example - he might assist a surgeon, but that would be mostly by handing him the instruments and being unfazed by the blood.
Depending on setting, and whether swordfighting includes any magic secrets (like in Earthdawn) he might be refused any roll on Occult, or get to roll in any of the other ranges.

But my most important hint in the book, and one I'd expect most people to overlook, is "have a relationships map".

Quote from: Telarus;956109Random Encounter Lists: Use an area's RE Tables to roll up a list of events. When the players' RE Check comes up positive just use the first thing on the Area RE List and cross it off. You still have "procedurally generated content", and still can't be sure when the players will trigger each item, but you will have a sense of the order the events happen in and will be able to think about how to introduce the first few during prep time. This saves a huge amount of time at the table when the RE Check comes up positive as it cuts out rolling/table-lookup and you can get on to the brainstorming and narrating the new complication. You can also use these lists to run a "living world" by rolling a RE Check one a week (or more/less often) for areas the players are not at, using the top item as inspiration on how the situation at that location has changed. You can us the Re List for the surrounding forrest to start repopulating a dungeon, for example.

For random encounters I usually use something to give a better range so that Nothing, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, can be determined with the roll, and the tables can be adjusted based on the area of the dungeon, so Goblins would be common in areas Goblins inhabit, very rare in the Spider Cave, and an encounter there with a goblin could be a webbed goblin. etc.

Once you have good tables, then yeah, using them to pregenerate content is great, it reduces the amount of improv you have to do, and can also be used populate things as well, as already said.

Meditate upon evil.

I am not kidding.

In advance of the game, I walk through the setting, imagining myself immersed in room by room, encountering each monster and in the case of NPCs, being a fly on the wall to their day-to-day dialogue, plans and way of being.

If its a sandbox hexcrawls, then I walk about where the PCs are and flit to the various nearby hexes to see what is where. I take in the vistas, look about to see who is traveling where, who is stalking what and what is stalking who.

This is where photos can be a big hep to spur the imagination.

Quote from: Spinachcat;956217Meditate upon evil.

I am not kidding.

In advance of the game, I walk through the setting, imagining myself immersed in room by room, encountering each monster and in the case of NPCs, being a fly on the wall to their day-to-day dialogue, plans and way of being.

If its a sandbox hexcrawls, then I walk about where the PCs are and flit to the various nearby hexes to see what is where. I take in the vistas, look about to see who is traveling where, who is stalking what and what is stalking who.

This is where photos can be a big hep to spur the imagination.

And OneNote and Scrivener, with their ability to quickly embed photos, clipped text, audio clips, make sticky notes etc can be invaluable.

This and this.

Quote from: cranebump;956509This and this.

Those are awesome!! Thank you!

This was a MASSIVE time saver for me with traditional D&D: group together HP for common monsters. For instance if there are 4 Orcs w/8 HP each, make a chart for group HP, like so: 8/16/24/32. Add all player damage up to determine how many Orcs remain. For every 8 HP damage, remove one Orc and carry the damage forward. If that results in enough damage to kill a second or third Orc, narrate the results. This can mean that whenever a player gets a lucky hit, they carry that damage forward (and lets players who rolled poorly have the chance to kill an Orc with a result of less than .

This worked beautifully whenever we played without miniatures.

I've got a handy-dandy encumbrance sheet I give to players which helps the keep track of things so that
1) I don't have to
2) We still get to preserve that dungeoncrawl feel by tracking things like ration spoilage

Keep in mind that this uses the stone system from ACKS. In that system, items carried are broken down into categories based on their overall difficulty to carry (size and weight). Hand held items are six to the stone, armor is 1 stone per AC, coins are 1K to the stone, and heavier items have their weight listed in stone (1 stone being somewhere between ten and 16 lbs.)

The info on the bottom of the sheet is how speed is determined from weight carried. It's copied directly from the ACKS core book, so no infringement meant etc. etc.

Quote from: cranebump;956509This and this.

http://wizardawn.and-mag.com/tool_dmap.php

HOLY CRAP!!! Thank you!