Minimum Session Prep: Listen

Hi, I’m Brent P. Newhall, and I feel bad about this post.  I originally promised Chatty a post aimed at newbie DMs, describing the absolute minimum prep needed for a D&D 4th Edition session.  And while I’ll cover that, I realized there’s a bigger issue that needs to be addressed.

The amount of preparation required for a session is directly related to how much the DM reacts to the players’ behavior from the previous session.

First, prep.  You really only need a ridiculously small amount of actual data for each 4E session.  In fact, you only need to worry about two things:  people to talk to and monsters to kill.

When it comes to the people, each NPC needs (again, at an absolute minimum) two things: a personality and a goal.  The personality should center on behavior–how you will physically act when playing the character.  What does the character’s voice sound like?  What about body language, like hand gestures?  Or posture?  Get a grip on one or two things that make this character unique compared to other characters.

That’s not quite enough, though.  Ever had an NPC conversation fall flat?  Or just not go anywhere?  Every major NPC needs a goal.  By knowing what your NPC wants, you can direct the conversation in that direction.  You’ll always have that to return to, and you’ll know when to end the conversation (when that goal has been addressed as much as it can).

Monsters are pretty easy in 4E, too.  You need to know:

• How many monsters are in the encounter
• Their HP, AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will
• Their powers (+X vs. Y, dealing Z damage, plus effects)

Seriously, that’s it.  More is better, especially in 4E, but you can run a combat encounter with just this.

But as I mentioned at the beginning, this isn’t the big issue.  I’m sure some of you are wondering, “But how do I know what NPCs to think up?  How do I decide on which monsters to use, and how powerful they should be?”

Simple:  After every session, think about what your players did.

Who did they talk to?  Where did they go?  Were the encounters difficult or easy?

That will tell you what to plan for next session.  If the players are asking a lot of questions, create more NPCs for them to ask questions of.  If the players are really interested in that abandoned mine north of town, create a few encounters centered in that mine.  If the players are eager to talk to that dwarf, work out the dwarf’s personality and his relationships.

This may sound like an anemic amount of work.  Is there more you can do?  Absolutely! Create lots of encounters and towns and NPCs and weather formations.  Draw up detailed family trees and city maps.  Making your world a more detailed place is a Good Thing.

But, please, listen to your players.  That will tell you what you need to do.