I have a DM who does this. He’s never planned a session, never made a map, nothing. Somehow, all of his encounters end up being balanced and everyone has a great time. The lad is a god. But he has many years of experience in doing this, I wouldn’t recommend trying it without any prior experience.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I’m a new DM and I’m going to come up with some side quest ideas that are just one or two sentence hooks, no planning, nothing. Just as practice exercises. I don’t think I could do a full blown campaign, well I don’t think I could make it interesting at least...
Be warned -- a campaign with no structure can lead to boring moments. I am running a campaign with a loose structure: the players need to collect some semi-rare items from all over the world, with no time limit. They get to choose which order to find them, and each location has the backstory for many side quests.
While it was more of an improv "homebrew" (flat out roleplay with stats and dice attached) than a true dnd game- I have done this a few times for my friends and they absolutely loved it. So much so that what started out as a spur of the moment one time thing has now become a tradition. Though I should point out that we are a roleplay heavy group and my strength is in world building. so if you are good at making compelling stories on the fly or want practice in doing so, it can be really fun- but you will probably need to be working with a group that really likes the roleplay aspect in order to make some of the leaps for you.
since you plan on doing some more by-the-books dnd encounters than i did, i might recommend pre-making a list of possible encounters within the party's cr rating and picking/rolling from that list for the actual battles depending on where the setting leads you. Or, if you plan on totally flying by the seat of your pants, be prepared to either tweak the health of the monster a bit behind the screen or have help arrive after x amount of time to help balance things out if you unintentionally make the fight way harder than you intended.
While it was more of an improve "homebrew" (flat out roleplay with stats and dice attached) than a true dnd game- I have done this a few times for my friends and they absolutely loved it. So much so that what started out as a spur of the moment one time thing has now become a tradition. Though I should point out that we are a roleplay heavy group and my strength is in world building. so if you are good at making compelling stories on the fly or want practice in doing so, it can be really fun- but you will probably need to be working with a group that really likes the roleplay aspect in order to make some of the leaps for you.
since you plan on doing some more by-the-books dnd encounters than i did, i might recommend pre-making a list of possible encounters within the party's cr rating and picking/rolling from that list for the actual battles depending on where the setting leads you. Or, if you plan on totally flying by the seat of your pants, be prepared to either tweak the health of the monster a bit behind the screen or have help arrive after x amount of time to help balance things out if you unintentionally make the fight way harder than you intended.
I agree, and would like to add that if you're like me and fantasize about playing D&D more than you actually play, Making random encounter tables is quite fun! (I have Xanathar's, but the random encounters there are to generalized to enclude ANY forest and ANY city, not a jungle and a thieve's haven)
While it was more of an improve "homebrew" (flat out roleplay with stats and dice attached) than a true dnd game- I have done this a few times for my friends and they absolutely loved it. So much so that what started out as a spur of the moment one time thing has now become a tradition. Though I should point out that we are a roleplay heavy group and my strength is in world building. so if you are good at making compelling stories on the fly or want practice in doing so, it can be really fun- but you will probably need to be working with a group that really likes the roleplay aspect in order to make some of the leaps for you.
since you plan on doing some more by-the-books dnd encounters than i did, i might recommend pre-making a list of possible encounters within the party's cr rating and picking/rolling from that list for the actual battles depending on where the setting leads you. Or, if you plan on totally flying by the seat of your pants, be prepared to either tweak the health of the monster a bit behind the screen or have help arrive after x amount of time to help balance things out if you unintentionally make the fight way harder than you intended.
I agree, and would like to add that if you're like me and fantasize about playing D&D more than you actually play, Making random encounter tables is quite fun! (I have Xanathar's, but the random encounters there are to generalized to enclude ANY forest and ANY city, not a jungle and a thieve's haven)
Agreed. I have made quite a few pages worth of random encounter tables. I wonder if I'll ever use any of them.
Honestly, do as little or as much prep as you want. If your players of the kind where their responses are seduce/kill/burn to the ground, then prep work is pretty worthless.
So, how does it sound? Improvise everything other than the setting and main plot. No writing it down, pre planning etc.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Well, you have a few set goals, and always draw dungeons the day before. Other than that, go right ahead.
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
I have a DM who does this. He’s never planned a session, never made a map, nothing. Somehow, all of his encounters end up being balanced and everyone has a great time. The lad is a god. But he has many years of experience in doing this, I wouldn’t recommend trying it without any prior experience.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I’m a new DM and I’m going to come up with some side quest ideas that are just one or two sentence hooks, no planning, nothing. Just as practice exercises. I don’t think I could do a full blown campaign, well I don’t think I could make it interesting at least...
Honestly, that's basically what I do. I spend maybe 10-30 minutes of prep and then just work through it.
I exist, and I guess so does this
Be warned -- a campaign with no structure can lead to boring moments. I am running a campaign with a loose structure: the players need to collect some semi-rare items from all over the world, with no time limit. They get to choose which order to find them, and each location has the backstory for many side quests.
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
While it was more of an improv "homebrew" (flat out roleplay with stats and dice attached) than a true dnd game- I have done this a few times for my friends and they absolutely loved it. So much so that what started out as a spur of the moment one time thing has now become a tradition. Though I should point out that we are a roleplay heavy group and my strength is in world building. so if you are good at making compelling stories on the fly or want practice in doing so, it can be really fun- but you will probably need to be working with a group that really likes the roleplay aspect in order to make some of the leaps for you.
since you plan on doing some more by-the-books dnd encounters than i did, i might recommend pre-making a list of possible encounters within the party's cr rating and picking/rolling from that list for the actual battles depending on where the setting leads you. Or, if you plan on totally flying by the seat of your pants, be prepared to either tweak the health of the monster a bit behind the screen or have help arrive after x amount of time to help balance things out if you unintentionally make the fight way harder than you intended.
I agree, and would like to add that if you're like me and fantasize about playing D&D more than you actually play, Making random encounter tables is quite fun! (I have Xanathar's, but the random encounters there are to generalized to enclude ANY forest and ANY city, not a jungle and a thieve's haven)
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
Agreed. I have made quite a few pages worth of random encounter tables. I wonder if I'll ever use any of them.
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
Honestly, do as little or as much prep as you want. If your players of the kind where their responses are seduce/kill/burn to the ground, then prep work is pretty worthless.
Proud poster on the Create a World thread