How I Prep Pointcrawls
Hi! I hope y'all have had a happy Halloween (and a happy Diwali)!
In this post I wanted to detail how I prep my pointcrawls! This isn't about prepping for the purpose of publishing, but about campaign prep and weekly session prep, the kind of stuff that you do at the table.
To start, let's get some guiding principles out of the way.
1) Easy to prep -- I have a busy life! Prep should take an hour tops.
2) Consistent -- I want a regular system for session prep. When designing the campaign, I tend to start creative and untethered, but once I get down to the weekly session prep, I want the process to be very consistent and logical.
3) World-First -- Prep situations, not plots. As in, prep a world with conflict that involves the characters, but don't prep outcomes. Let them occur naturally as a result of character-world interaction.
Ok, principles done! For my actual prep notes, I'll break it into two parts. The first is campaign prep - it's about how I set up the campaign, manage expectations, design the world as a whole, etc. The second is session prep - this is about the weekly prep I do before each session, taking anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on what all my players did last time.
To start, let's get some guiding principles out of the way.
1) Easy to prep -- I have a busy life! Prep should take an hour tops.
2) Consistent -- I want a regular system for session prep. When designing the campaign, I tend to start creative and untethered, but once I get down to the weekly session prep, I want the process to be very consistent and logical.
3) World-First -- Prep situations, not plots. As in, prep a world with conflict that involves the characters, but don't prep outcomes. Let them occur naturally as a result of character-world interaction.
Ok, principles done! For my actual prep notes, I'll break it into two parts. The first is campaign prep - it's about how I set up the campaign, manage expectations, design the world as a whole, etc. The second is session prep - this is about the weekly prep I do before each session, taking anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on what all my players did last time.
Campaign Prep
Developing the inspiration for a campaign is a creative process, and it's not something I can really define. It all occurs quite naturally as you ponder and think. Let's assume that we're already past that point.
The next few things I do, once I've decided on a campaign concept, are:
1) Decide on a System -- for this post, I'll be using my Mausritter campaign as an example
2) Inspirations and Mood Words -- my current campaign is Medieval, Wild, and Mouse-y (mood words), and takes inspiration from Game of Thrones, the Tale of Despereaux, and How to Train Your Dragon.
3) Make a map! -- I'll go into detail on this a little down the post, but this is where I start getting into the meat of prepping the world.
4) Make factions -- self explanatory, and again, detailed lower in the post
The next few things I do, once I've decided on a campaign concept, are:
1) Decide on a System -- for this post, I'll be using my Mausritter campaign as an example
2) Inspirations and Mood Words -- my current campaign is Medieval, Wild, and Mouse-y (mood words), and takes inspiration from Game of Thrones, the Tale of Despereaux, and How to Train Your Dragon.
3) Make a map! -- I'll go into detail on this a little down the post, but this is where I start getting into the meat of prepping the world.
4) Make factions -- self explanatory, and again, detailed lower in the post
Map Making
How you make your map is really up to you - I switch between GIMP and pen-and-paper mostly. GIMP (and other online tools) are good for larger and faster edits, and can use multiple layers, but pen-and-paper will always feel more engaging to me at the table.
How exactly you prep will be dependent on your personal system, but my GM maps look something like this:
There are:
1) Places -- in this case mostly towns and points of interest
2) Paths -- connecting places, and given a length in terms of time (days)
3) Regions -- sets of places and paths, which help me understand what's going on where on the map
Factions
Factions are pretty simple! At this point I'm not going too in-depth with any kind of prep - just making the broad strokes - and factions follow that trend.
Like the campaign, I start by picking out mood words that describe the faction. For example, the frogs are Raiders, Shamanic, and Opportunistic, while the Pickers Clan of Berrystand are Reclusive, Jealous, and Agricultural.
Next, I establish 2-3 Goals and 2-3 Resources. By this point in prep I have a vague idea of who the characters are going to be in this world, and so I try to make at least one of the goals directly conflict with that idea.
Like the campaign, I start by picking out mood words that describe the faction. For example, the frogs are Raiders, Shamanic, and Opportunistic, while the Pickers Clan of Berrystand are Reclusive, Jealous, and Agricultural.
Next, I establish 2-3 Goals and 2-3 Resources. By this point in prep I have a vague idea of who the characters are going to be in this world, and so I try to make at least one of the goals directly conflict with that idea.
In my campaign, around this point I knew the party would be a band of adventurers from Berrystand (a classic fantasy borderland town, but mouse-sized), and so I made each of the initial factions have some kind of bone to pick with Berrystand as a whole or with another faction within Berrystand. Once the players left town and started to make a name for themselves elsewhere, I started to rope in more factions with more complex dynamics that were related in less obvious ways (like Rufus the fox, who had no direct connection to Berrystand but gained importance because of a nearby beaver that blocked the river).
And that's it for factions! It's just moods, goals, and resources.
Now that I know where my players are heading, I just need to prep the situation at any points of interest and the paths that take them there.
And that's it for factions! It's just moods, goals, and resources.
Session Prep
Once the big stuff is out of the way, session prep gets very easy. For each session, I create a Google Sheet (it makes tables easier, and adds a new dimension to spatial organization), and write down what the party's next move is going to be. I usually figure this out by asking everyone at the end of the session what their goals are for the next one. The party knows this also, so if they have plans they'll let me know so I can prep that area ahead of time.Now that I know where my players are heading, I just need to prep the situation at any points of interest and the paths that take them there.
Points of Interest
Start off with a brief description. Who lives here? What's going on?
Then, make a quick map to get a lay of the land. This will get edited recursively as we go on, but it's nice to have a visual basis to start.
Then, prep:
1) NPCs -- with a name, a 3-5 word description, and a goal. Super barebones, but improvisation can carry us most of the rest of the way.
2) Events -- what's going on here? What is going to happen if the players don't get involved?
3) Encounters -- who do you meet unexpectedly here? I like to use a simple d6 table, with the first 3 entries being common, everyday occurrences, the next 2 being uncommon, and the last being weird, rare, and/or dangerous. It's important to note that these aren't always about combat (mine rarely are), and some are just sounds or sights that indicate something going on around the characters.
My campaign hasn't had a fight since last real-world year, so I stopped making little stat blocks for mice and other creatures. If a fight were to break out, I could whip up some stats easily (Mausritter stats are extremely easy to create) and run the creature on the fly.
Then, make a quick map to get a lay of the land. This will get edited recursively as we go on, but it's nice to have a visual basis to start.
Then, prep:
1) NPCs -- with a name, a 3-5 word description, and a goal. Super barebones, but improvisation can carry us most of the rest of the way.
2) Events -- what's going on here? What is going to happen if the players don't get involved?
3) Encounters -- who do you meet unexpectedly here? I like to use a simple d6 table, with the first 3 entries being common, everyday occurrences, the next 2 being uncommon, and the last being weird, rare, and/or dangerous. It's important to note that these aren't always about combat (mine rarely are), and some are just sounds or sights that indicate something going on around the characters.
My campaign hasn't had a fight since last real-world year, so I stopped making little stat blocks for mice and other creatures. If a fight were to break out, I could whip up some stats easily (Mausritter stats are extremely easy to create) and run the creature on the fly.
Paths
Honestly, prepping paths takes more time than prepping locations.
For each path there are three tables:
1) Encounters (d6) -- in the same style as the location-based encounter table.
2) Small Places (d6) -- a d6 table of places off the road that are of interest, but not of much relevance. Things like a cottage with a friendly mouse or an abandoned watchtower. They add a little lived-in feel to the road. Like the encounter table, it has 3 common entries, 2 uncommon entries, and 1 rare/weird entry.
3) Weather (2d6) -- based on the season. A 2 is horrible weather, a 3-5 is some sort of unpleasantness, 6-8 is normal, 9-11 is nice, and 12 is perfect. Usually a 2 will trigger some other effect that the party has to interact with, and in Winter, a roll of 3-5 will also do this to make the season feel even harsher.
For each day on the road, pre-roll 3d6. The first 2d6 are the weather that day. The third d6 is the encounter die. On a roll of 1, roll another d6 and check the Encounter table. On a roll of 2, roll another d6 and check the Small Place table. Adjust your final itinerary as you like so that it makes the most sense in the world.
The two main goals of this travel system are to A) make the world feel real and lived in and B) prompt meaningful choices. Do you waste a day and explore this little ruin by the road? Do you hunker down in the rainstorm or push through and chance sickness? Stuff like that.
And that's it! That's how I prep.
For each path there are three tables:
1) Encounters (d6) -- in the same style as the location-based encounter table.
2) Small Places (d6) -- a d6 table of places off the road that are of interest, but not of much relevance. Things like a cottage with a friendly mouse or an abandoned watchtower. They add a little lived-in feel to the road. Like the encounter table, it has 3 common entries, 2 uncommon entries, and 1 rare/weird entry.
3) Weather (2d6) -- based on the season. A 2 is horrible weather, a 3-5 is some sort of unpleasantness, 6-8 is normal, 9-11 is nice, and 12 is perfect. Usually a 2 will trigger some other effect that the party has to interact with, and in Winter, a roll of 3-5 will also do this to make the season feel even harsher.
For each day on the road, pre-roll 3d6. The first 2d6 are the weather that day. The third d6 is the encounter die. On a roll of 1, roll another d6 and check the Encounter table. On a roll of 2, roll another d6 and check the Small Place table. Adjust your final itinerary as you like so that it makes the most sense in the world.
The two main goals of this travel system are to A) make the world feel real and lived in and B) prompt meaningful choices. Do you waste a day and explore this little ruin by the road? Do you hunker down in the rainstorm or push through and chance sickness? Stuff like that.
And that's it! That's how I prep.
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