Prep - I like it
A lot of people hate doing game prep, but I actually enjoy it. One of the things I like doing most is figuring out ways to enhance the experience.
I'm a prop fiend so making things like maps, notes, letters or other artifacts I can either just draw myself or write up is fun and easy.
As a minis painter, if I can find a way (or an excuse) to get some miniatures on the table, that's good too. Minis help in the game to show relative position, and the right minis, well-painted, adds to the atmosphere.
Whenever I can I use background music. The past few years, I've put together MP3 playlists of appropriate tracks. I usually play the stuff at low volume so it's just ambient, but I can easily turn it up a bit or skip to whatever track works best for a given scene.
And I count background reading and video watching as prep, since I can soak up the visuals and themes of whatever movies suit the genre of the game. When I ran Deadlands years ago, I totally binged on Westerns for example.
Making and doing all this stuff gets my head into the game, and I think it helps me set the tone at the table, as well as giving me a big pool of stuff to draw on for the color that I feel is so important to creating atmosphere at the table.
But I fuggin' hate doing stat blocks for NPCs. I've gone totally shorthand as far as that's concerned - just jotting down only the most relevant stuff.
Works for me!
I'm a prop fiend so making things like maps, notes, letters or other artifacts I can either just draw myself or write up is fun and easy.
As a minis painter, if I can find a way (or an excuse) to get some miniatures on the table, that's good too. Minis help in the game to show relative position, and the right minis, well-painted, adds to the atmosphere.
Whenever I can I use background music. The past few years, I've put together MP3 playlists of appropriate tracks. I usually play the stuff at low volume so it's just ambient, but I can easily turn it up a bit or skip to whatever track works best for a given scene.
And I count background reading and video watching as prep, since I can soak up the visuals and themes of whatever movies suit the genre of the game. When I ran Deadlands years ago, I totally binged on Westerns for example.
Making and doing all this stuff gets my head into the game, and I think it helps me set the tone at the table, as well as giving me a big pool of stuff to draw on for the color that I feel is so important to creating atmosphere at the table.
But I fuggin' hate doing stat blocks for NPCs. I've gone totally shorthand as far as that's concerned - just jotting down only the most relevant stuff.
Works for me!