Crackers, meat, cheese

The specifics of each of those can vary greatly -- with the crackers occasionally being replaced by biscuits or rolls. but, ultimately, it is crackers, meat, cheese.

Then I will decide that's way too much every now and then, and toss in a tangerine or banana, or grab some dip and a bag of broccoli florets.

Now, before you get all weird on me, I should point out that in some ways the making of a calzone fits this design, and we've had a now 30 year tradition of calzones, lol.

Mountain Dew and something salty like chips. Also pizza, but that’s for special occasions.

Quote from Wysperra >>

What is your go-to gaming snack or beverage?

I usually go with something finger friendly to eat and iced tea.

 If we're talking about me gaming non-dnd wise, don't really have a particular snack.

If we are talking about me gaming dnd-wise, then pizza. We get some from a store or something before the session, put it in the oven to heat up and around halfway through the sessions we eat our "Cheese Mage Shields" (nerdy name we made for it to make it sound "cooler"). Sometimes also get Cheetos or Doritos with it too.

One day I would love to have the skill to make my website for my game have the incredible map system ability that the League of Legends website has:

https://map.leagueoflegends.com/en_US

The way it pans in like google earth, the clouds that slowly move across... the information available... it's so incredibly well done.

I've never played the game (a co-worker plays it, and used to be in one of my D&D games and we always talk about how incredible their map site is...)

Quote from SirTawmis >>

One day I would love to have the skill to make my website for my game have the incredible map system ability that the League of Legends website has:

https://map.leagueoflegends.com/en_US

The way it pans in like google earth, the clouds that slowly move across... the information available... it's so incredibly well done.

I've never played the game (a co-worker plays it, and used to be in one of my D&D games and we always talk about how incredible their map site is...)

 

 
Wow. That is some serious programming. It is ineed gorgeous and I share your thirst for seeing my own world brought to life that way, lol.

I particularly like the shift to isometric as you zoom in, though I would want a bit more range for zooming in myself -- would aim for a Wyrlde League (about 9.77 miles US).

At least, right now. I am thinking of redoing my scale and length measurement system. Probably because I am behind on my deadline (only have four classes up right now, and 15 more to do today and tomorrow, lol) and desperately looking for something to do other than that, even though I took time off to focus on iit all.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

I've never played the game (a co-worker plays it)

 It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Legends of Runterra is pretty neat though!

Re: snacks. Variety is the spice of life. I would never tie myself down to a routine. Okay, I probably would, I just haven't. Pop tarts seem to be my go-to lately because I'm playing online and they're here, they're not noisy to eat. Idk.

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

I've never played the game (a co-worker plays it)

 It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Legends of Runterra is pretty neat though!

Re: snacks. Variety is the spice of life. I would never tie myself down to a routine. Okay, I probably would, I just haven't. Pop tarts seem to be my go-to lately because I'm playing online and they're here, they're not noisy to eat. Idk.

 Have you noticed the reduction in size?

In pop tarts?

Everything is getting smaller thanks to shrinkflation.

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

I’m sure it’s been asked many times before, but I’m still curious.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 Well, since I'm using a newbie DM using a preset adventure I just take like 5-10 minutes to put my DM screen, adventure book, dice, etc. etc. then I wait for my group to arrive. The part where I have to wait tends to be one of the more boring parts of the day, I kinda just sit around, sometimes on and off both our group chat and these forums.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 Going over my notes and thinking about how I expect the adventure to go. Also reviewing what I know about the characters and how they’re likely to interact with the adventure.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 
All of my notes for each session (and the world) are on my website. So I typically re-read the notes (my main two games I run are bi-weekly on Tuesday, rotating between what I call the "Work Game" {which in of itself is ironic, as there's less co-workers on there now than when it started}, and the Off Week Game). So I review my notes of the last session - make notes as to what is going to tie over into this session. Write down NPCs they may encounter. In total, I probably spend an hour. If it's a new session (everything was resolved last session), I tend t flip through all the monster book resources and see what I've not used and how I can potentially use them in the next session. I like to use new monsters when I can so it doesn't get stale ("Oh. It's goblins. Again?") and keep the players on their toes (so they're not familiar with what the monsters can do). Naturally, sometimes the same monsters come up (just based on what I consider the population) - like Drow came up a lot for awhile (and now where they are now, the Drow have appeared again). When I do that (where I am looking for monsters to use, it's probably another hour of time as I write down a long list and see what I can tie together). Usually I do it the day before (or during my lunch, the day of) the game. lol

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 Try to remember what happened the last time.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere_ >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 Eating, sleeping, painting and playing/reading warhammer 40k rules/lore🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️(I’m not very good at focusing)

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere_ >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 step one: set up stuff

step two: sit, fidget, & wait for people to arrive

step three: as soon as the game starts, realise I forgot something important (like dice. or a notebook. or pencils. or anything else) then rush to get it

And that is Spider's steps to prepare for games

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere_ >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

 
So, we are obvs not talking about n-person games for me because pretty sure everyone already knows that's going to involve two days of cooking for me, lol.

But the online games...

For Primary:  Review the NPCs, check notes from last session, make a few regarding likely events in the new session. Select playlist. Check dates in game, compare to schedule of external events. set up reminders of anything I have to mention in rumors or exchanges. Look at any possible subplots that might be going on.

For Secondary: See above.

For Newbies: answer all the questions I didn't answer last session. Review the notes of the dungeon, make changes that seem to fit with what they are still learning. ***** about how I need to write this out instead of just have a bunch of C/P notes in a word doc. Check to make sure I have my maps for the game ready. Make a pitcher of tea, and that my snacks and after tea beverages are ready. Maybe do a playlist, but definitely make sure I have the sound effects ready.

For Tertiary: Not there yet. Still have to figure out how imma deal with the damn regular classes and my custom world, lol. THinking about making it an open game as well, so may just say screw it and do a "small world" variant and keep it simple.

IN short, my basic prep is just making sure that I have the stuff available to me that I will need during the session. SInce my game is reactive to the players, unless they are in a randomly rolled ruins or something, most of what I do is on the fly based on my notes that I set up when I created the stuff n the first place.

But that's all because my deal is create things in blocks and parts and then assemble them as needed, or do all the hard work ahead of time before anything starts (like I am doing now with the next campaign for Primary and secondary, and they've only been in get to know each other mode).

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere_ >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

"Ok, I have everyone's sheets open, the combat tracker ready, the encounter is here, my plan docs are there... what did I forget... oh what dice should I use? I wonder if they'll talk to this npc. I hope this combat encounter isn't too hard. The map is working on roll20, right? Ok good."

"I FORGOT TO GIVE THE SHOPKEEPER A NAME"

Quote from Thorrison >>

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere_ >>

Page 2? Disappointing.

QotD: When you DM, how do you spend your pre-session prep time?

"Ok, I have everyone's sheets open, the combat tracker ready, the encounter is here, my plan docs are there... what did I forget... oh what dice should I use? I wonder if they'll talk to this npc. I hope this combat encounter isn't too hard. The map is working on roll20, right? Ok good."

"I FORGOT TO GIVE THE SHOPKEEPER A NAME"

 
And this is why I check my NPCs, lol

true story.