What do you do to reduce DM load? Any tricks?

[Khrysaes]

So, I was thinking about this while doing homework, sorry if it is rambling.

What do people do to reduce DM load?

I have been researching to try and get better at DMing, both more efficient and less pressured.

My problem is that there always seems to be too much for me to do, not enough time to prep, or too much to remember OR reference.

My main strategy has been to play premade adventures, read them beforehand, restructure notes that I make such that they make sense to me, and keep a reference of other things I need to remember.

That said, I still want to get better, so I thought I would pick the playgrounds collective brain, and see if there were things I can blatantly steal to improve my own DMing.

[strangebloke]

The biggest way to reduce workload is simply to do less. It can feel lazy, but in many cases I see newer DMs do a lot of work that isn't really pursuant of any kind of fun at the table. Don't overdescribe your set pieces, don't necessarily detail every enemy's location on the battlemap (just saying "5 gnolls, 1 manticore" with a rough terrain diagram will do) don't even work out complex identities for the main NPCs you use. At most a name and a trait or two is all you need (its all your players will remember anyway.) Just relax, remember you're here to have fun, and that if you're having fun rather than being stressed, your players will probably have more fun too.

But for some quick "tricks."


Procedural Generation. save yourself work by creating a system that will create aspects of the game for you. Roll for loot. Roll for random encounters. Spend a few hours making a list of pre-made NPCs so that if your players choose to seize upon some random merchant or whatever, you can just pull a name from your list of NPCs and roll with it.
Deputize people. If Bart wants to buy an airship, don't grab the DMG and look up how much an airship costs, tell Suzy to do it and then switch over to doing something else with Gary or whoever. If you're not sure if a spell works the way a player says it works, ask another player to fact check them. If there's a huge number of NPC allies, give control over to a player you trust to control them quickly. Encourage your players to take good notes so that they don't have to ask you as many questions.
Side Initiative. Look it up. It's really good. I do an altered version of this personally where all the baddies share one initiative roll.
Tab your MM. stuff it full of bookmarks so you can flip between the various sets of monsters quickly.
Feel free to reuse basic monsters a lot. Ultimately large groups of guards
Get a lot of dice or a digital dice roller, and roll in batches. 20 hobgoblins? 20 rolls. Divide them by who they're targeting, then divide hits from misses, then roll damage.


But honestly such 'tricks' as these will only save you a bit of effort. For the most part, reducing your load comes down to establishing what work needs to be done, and what is best ignored. In general your load will become lighter over time as you get better at improvizing and you'll memorize more monster stat blocks and everything will get easier.

My one thing I'll say? Don't skimp on terrain. It's very important for establishing interesting tactical encounters.

[Thunderous Mojo]

That said, I still want to get better, so I thought I would pick the playgrounds collective brain, and see if there were things I can blatantly steal to improve my own DMing.

Beg, borrowing, and stealing is a good 1st step...😉

I hate coming up with names, so I will repurpose names from other products and use them. I also have an Atlas of the Ancient Mediterranean, and love to repurpose names from it.

I also keep a DM's notebook...(actually a Google doc), that I write ideas down, create encounters in, so on and so forth.

Any Encounter you create that you don't use...save it for a later date.

How long is a typical session for you, and how many Encounters do you go through per Encounter?

If, for example, you only get through 3 Encounters per session...then you know you need to flesh out the likely 3 encounters, and can probably 'wing it' if a fourth is needed...which gives a scope to your planning.

In terms of modules, I think the best advice is don't be afraid to excise some portions of the module, and expand others. See what the players are excited at, and cater to it....the module is yours..the module serves you...not you it!

While this takes time, I use a sketch book to make customized NPC stat blocks, with check boxes for items like 2nd level spells, so I can quickly see at a glance what resources have been used and what is remaining.

Placing a Post It note or Flag on relevant rules pages, before a session is also useful. If a PC drowning is likely going to be relevant, might as well have the Suffocation rules earmarked.

DM-ing is a skill...your PB goes up!
You are also always learning as a DM....I've mostly DM'd for the last 20 years, and I still consider myself a learner...it comes with the role.🍻

[stoutstien]

So, I was thinking about this while doing homework, sorry if it is rambling.

What do people do to reduce DM load?

I have been researching to try and get better at DMing, both more efficient and less pressured.

My problem is that there always seems to be too much for me to do, not enough time to prep, or too much to remember OR reference.

My main strategy has been to play premade adventures, read them beforehand, restructure notes that I make such that they make sense to me, and keep a reference of other things I need to remember.

That said, I still want to get better, so I thought I would pick the playgrounds collective brain, and see if there were things I can blatantly steal to improve my own DMing.

I'll let you know when I figure it out lol.

Mostly trial and error with a good mix of table time is the only real way to reduce the load because you can trim away what you personally don't need.

For example I'm horrible at coming up with names so I keep a list on hand where their personalities come to me with no effort so I don't need to waste much time prepping those past writing down a few key words to work with.

After that coming up with a way to abbreviate everything is a huge help with prep work. The fact most of my NPCs can fit on 3X5 index card in totality adds a little work to save a ton of time.

Don't be scared to reduce the scope you are working with. Reducing player options and the levels of play might seem extreme but it's a sure fire way to make your life easier.

[Pex]

Steal I mean pay homage to games you played in the past and run those adventures or at least combat scenarios. If you play a game and DM another game at the same time, ask your DM for his notes when you're done with whatever encounter.

Today's technology is a wonderful thing. I'm currently running a module and have all the notes I need available already online via the module being online through D&D Beyond. I do need to read it over a bit to know what's going on and fit it into my world, but all the busy work is done for me.

[ad_hoc]

Have a talk with the group at the beginning of the campaign.

Discuss how the game is like improv and everyone is there to boost up everyone else. Set the expectation that if you as DM are having trouble thinking of something in the moment that another player will step in and keep the flow going. You're all working together.

I also have all player related things managed and kept track of by the players. If a player needs help with something then another player should step in and help unless no one else can.

This gives me breaks to think of what to do next.

I also only play pre-published adventures. Sometimes I read the whole thing, sometimes I just read the first page of a chapter and read it as we play along. It depends on how into it I am and how much time I have.

If the game feels like work stop.

The #1 reason I kick people out of the group is when they expect me to entertain them and do all the work for them. They're just a drain at the table and make me feel like I'm in customer service or something.

[dafrca]

I also have all player related things managed and kept track of by the players. If a player needs help with something then another player should step in and help unless no one else can.


This right here. Trust the players to do some of the work. You, as GM, do not need to do everything. As them to help. Once they realize you want help, they will offer ideas, listen to them. You do not need to accept all of them, but it will help.

I also would strongly resist the urge to plan 100% of everything out to the nth degree. No need. Be comfortable with leaving some areas or things vague if it is not important to the core goals of the game. The local Blacksmith is Jarl, he is large and always seems happy. No need to create a three page back story for him if the players will come to him once or twice for fixes or to do some needed work.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Lean in to the crazy theories the players come up with, at least in the absence of other core plans. They're convinced that the mild-mannered store-keep (who really just doesn't have much characterization at all) has a dark secret? Great. Now he does. Doesn't mean it's main plot related, but it'll keep people entertained and/or distracted.

I second the "don't over-plan". Both in time-from-now and in depth. As you get more experience, it becomes easier to just ad lib the little parts.

One heretical notion is this--stop caring about rules and balance so much. Because really, they don't matter as long as things aren't totally out of whack. And 5e's pretty broad on that front as long as neither DM nor players are pushing the challenge frontier. Sure, if everyone is a hyper-optimizer and challenge in combat is what matters to your table, disregard this. But if the players are mostly there for the events/narrative/experience/feeling cool, don't sweat it. Sure, they'll win. That's ok. As long as there's variety, it doesn't matter if you push the adventuring day budget every day, if you run everything exactly by RAW, or if you perfectly execute those tactics. Just play. Relax, let it go, and play. You'll have more fun, your players will have more fun, and you'll be less stressed.

[J-H]

I over-prepare, a lot, for my content because I don't like improvising.

CR is a suggestion for encounter-building, don't sweat it.

I have players tell me what spells do (except new players) and try to lean on them to look things up. Varies from person to person.

[Khrysaes]

I have a lot of difficulty improvising and reading people.

Probably at least in part because of autism.

That said, here are some tricks I have been experimenting with.

I make an NPC "deck"

I generate NPC statblocks and put them on an index card. If I need an NPC I shuffle and draw it. Or I have the one needed already prepared.

I have a player track initiative instead of me. I have a board which facilitates this.

I have a different player keep track of conditions. I have condition rings for it.

One player, usually the closest is the one to move figures on the battlemaps. I labeled mine in spreadsheet form such as columns are letters and rows are numbers.

I have each player take control of an allied NPC in any combat situations the NPC's are involved in.


Ones I want to try:

I haven't done this yet, but I have been wanting to stop tracking HP, and try the "they die when it stops being fun" method for combat.

I want to have one of my players that takes the best notes also keep track of the entire party's inventory. I have been considering giving them a bag of holding for this purpose.



I have been working on these two:
Similar to NPC statblock index cards, I want encounter statblock index cards.

I also want environment index cards. Basically a card with an area or room's description, and bullet points of interest.

I have been looking into D&D solo engines to help develop some personal random generators.

[Amdy_vill]

Zee Bashew has a good video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKQv4GC0N9Q) general I use a setting I like and consume media around. so I watch a lot of forgotten realms lore videos. I then run super minimal.

I start by picking a town. general something big that has a reasonable amount of lore on their wiki and/or youtube but is not too big as to be unreasonable to run. so I stay away from cities like Waterdeep or never winter. cities like Baldur's Gate are just on the edge of what I would pick. I would have picked it and did pick it a few times before descent into avenues and Baldur's Gate 3. Daggerford is a good example of something I would pick.

after that, I figure out a theme. anything that appears in the lore multiple times in the area that I think would be interesting. I try to get 3 ish themes. ill get together more but ill settle on three. ill write down the others for later.

after that, I look at the town's lore and pick out some interesting characters for quest givers. the bar keeps merchants and nobles. ill write down their names 2 personality traits. ill then throw some homebrew npc in. a waitress, or traveling merchant, blacksmith, the local drunk, or farmer. add a few new options. I'll write down their names 2 personality traits, their job, and race. Ill general stay away from PHB races. with the exception of dragon-born and teiflings. I feel focusing on non Typical races make the world feel more magical.

I then get a list of vague quest ideas together. thier a flock of sheep going missing, strange noise from the lack. connect them to the themes of the town. I write down 8 of them.

then I drop the party into the town. I'll have them build a backstory artificial. generally, I have them together for 3 months to a year. Generally I will ask them to tell the party everything they think they would tell people who they have been adventuring with for x time. after that ill do some random prompts for the party. you got drunk last week and told x character a secret what was it and what did x character tell you in response. I use wording like that to imply the second player should tell them something equally as secret. After a few rounds of this ill ask the party what their last job was. and have them build out some adventuring gig they did. generally, I start at level 3-5 but I do the same for level 1 parties.

after that I ask them why they have come to the Town. are they passing through to another town coming here to get a boat ride so on. I tell the players what town and world we are in and to come up with this beforehand.

I run everything from the wiki and run supper minimal, and as things go on I slowly set things in stone. so if the party latches on to an NPC they pick a quest giver they like ill work on that NCP. fleshing them out more. if they pick on x themed quests a few times and like them I move more of my quest options over to that theme. if they show disinterest and other quests ill pick up some of those other themes. I let them move town if they want. if they do ill generally take a 10-minute break and then gather more quest givers and 3 themes. I do this super quickly. I will generally pick the first few named characters or themes I see. so a lot less than I normally would. then i run some travel to the city and repeat

[Cheesegear]

What do people do to reduce DM load?

There's a big difference between DM load 'at home', and DM load 'at the table'.

I do the vast majority of my 'work' at home, so that I don't have to do it at the table.


My problem is that there always seems to be too much for me to do, not enough time to prep, or too much to remember OR reference.

To Much To Do:
Look into running published modules/adventures. Adventurer's League also runs in 'Seasons' having over a dozen storylines available by now, and they can be customised for different sized parties and includes for what happens when the party is over- or underleveled.

If you get really stuck, and just want to take a break; Yawning Portal and Candlekeep Mysteries are just full of dungeon-like one-shots that you can just slip into any campaign or adventure.

Not Enough Time to Prep
Most groups tend to play once a week at most. I have a hard time imagining that seven days is not enough time to read over the next section in a published adventure, or to generate 6-8 encounters/challenges and string them in a line with one or two - or three - solutions to each challenge.

However, you did mention 'homework', so I imagine that you're not an adult with free time. Maybe - just maybe - someone else in your group should DM. I once played in a group where we actually had two campaigns going at the same time with each DM taking their 'turn' every other week, as they did not have enough time to prepare in only seven days, but we did want to play D&D once a week, still.
It was difficult at first. But it was only temporary and we didn't do it for long. Once the DM got their life sorted out they were back to their regular DMing of 'all the time'.*

*Hint; It was me.

Remember/Reference
Cards. Lots and lots of cards.

Figuring out a good card template might take half a day as you figure out what the font size needs to be so you can still read it, whilst still remaining portable. But standard card sizes have worked extremely well for me;
63*88mm for standard playing cards (e.g; M;tG)
3*5" palm cards
4*9" note cards

Once you have a good card template the way you want it, all's you have to do is transcribe what you want straight out of the MM or DMG and you're good to go. Like I said, making the 'master copy' is the only thing that takes time. Once you have that, you can just plug in your values and print.

[Bohandas]

Procedural Generation. save yourself work by creating a system that will create aspects of the game for you. Roll for loot. Roll for random encounters.

Train an AI if your computer is powerful enough

[da newt]

I try to keep things simple, easy, fun.

Bad guys do average damage every time - I roll to hit only. Every goblin arrow or scimitar hit does 5 hp damage instead of 1d6+2. Much quicker, much less public math.

Index cards for my bad guys and PCs with the info/stats I need. Little paper slip with PC / bad guy name folded over DM screen for initiative order - everyone can see who is next.

I borrow building / town / dungeon maps and uncover them as we go.

I mostly ad lib/ approximate battle maps - dry erase marker, the room is as big as I happen to draw it, add some terrain features. The dungeon map might show a 45x60 room w/ 6 pillars and a 10' diameter fountain, if my drawing is 40x70, w/ 5 pillars and a 10' radius fountain who cares? It's much faster.

AOE templates - circles and cones of different sizes.

I find having a loose plan / outline and then ad libbing as I go is much easier / less stressful than planning a bunch and then trying to make sure I stick to the plan or follow a module. I tend to create chapters, or chunks of adventure, rather than try to string everything together - my chunks are loosely related which makes campaigns much simpler for me and easier to adjust on the fly as needed.

[OldTrees1]

I have 3 main techniques to reduce DM load. Although both sound like they increase load.

1) I start prep a month or more before session 0.
2) Increase Player Agency. I don't need to plan for what the party will do next if I can offload that onto the players.
3) I let the campaign world live rent free in my head. This trains my intuition to act as my co DM.


However this works because it fits me. That second technique works really well for me because I live at the 10,000 ft view and thus can derive the trees from the forest better than derive the forest from the trees. My opposite would have a carefully indexed notebook instead.

[Sparky McDibben]

1) Never predetermine outcomes.

2) Random tables to help generate ideas on the fly or as part of session prep.

3) Mostly theatre of the mind combats (no minis, no terrain to set up, etc)

4) Completely nix initiative. PCs go before monsters.

[Khrysaes]

There's a big difference between DM load 'at home', and DM load 'at the table'.

I do the vast majority of my 'work' at home, so that I don't have to do it at the table.



To Much To Do:
Look into running published modules/adventures. Adventurer's League also runs in 'Seasons' having over a dozen storylines available by now, and they can be customised for different sized parties and includes for what happens when the party is over- or underleveled.

If you get really stuck, and just want to take a break; Yawning Portal and Candlekeep Mysteries are just full of dungeon-like one-shots that you can just slip into any campaign or adventure.

Not Enough Time to Prep
Most groups tend to play once a week at most. I have a hard time imagining that seven days is not enough time to read over the next section in a published adventure, or to generate 6-8 encounters/challenges and string them in a line with one or two - or three - solutions to each challenge.

However, you did mention 'homework', so I imagine that you're not an adult with free time. Maybe - just maybe - someone else in your group should DM. I once played in a group where we actually had two campaigns going at the same time with each DM taking their 'turn' every other week, as they did not have enough time to prepare in only seven days, but we did want to play D&D once a week, still.
It was difficult at first. But it was only temporary and we didn't do it for long. Once the DM got their life sorted out they were back to their regular DMing of 'all the time'.*

*Hint; It was me.

Remember/Reference
Cards. Lots and lots of cards.

Figuring out a good card template might take half a day as you figure out what the font size needs to be so you can still read it, whilst still remaining portable. But standard card sizes have worked extremely well for me;
63*88mm for standard playing cards (e.g; M;tG)
3*5" palm cards
4*9" note cards

Once you have a good card template the way you want it, all's you have to do is transcribe what you want straight out of the MM or DMG and you're good to go. Like I said, making the 'master copy' is the only thing that takes time. Once you have that, you can just plug in your values and print.

Ill reply to these as read through these.

I mentioned I use premade adventures in my original post, but thank you for the suggestion.

I am a Doctoral Student with a full time job. Between sleeping 7 hours a day; working 6(every day, so 42 per week); doing my schoolwork, which is essentially a second job what with the participant recruitment, statistical analyses, qualitative analyses, and writing papers; housework such as lawncare, dishes, cleaning, laundry, feeding/walking pets; and finally spending a few hours with my wife, I do feel I don't have much time. I also feel like I "lose" time eating and driving, I usually account for about 2 hours per day for these two activities. Also, clinical depression, ADHD, and autism. They don't help.

We haven't played for a while, but when we played regularly we actually had a rotating DM system. Recently I have been swamped with schoolwork, so we haven't gathered much, last time we played was Halloween, I DM'd a premade adventure, with premade characters.

If you read my second post, it does say I use cards for reference. If you have template suggestions I would love to look at them.

[Khrysaes]

Train an AI if your computer is powerful enough

I am moderately computer savvy, but not this savvy.

[Khrysaes]

I try to keep things simple, easy, fun.

Bad guys do average damage every time - I roll to hit only. Every goblin arrow or scimitar hit does 5 hp damage instead of 1d6+2. Much quicker, much less public math.

Index cards for my bad guys and PCs with the info/stats I need. Little paper slip with PC / bad guy name folded over DM screen for initiative order - everyone can see who is next.

I borrow building / town / dungeon maps and uncover them as we go.

I mostly ad lib/ approximate battle maps - dry erase marker, the room is as big as I happen to draw it, add some terrain features. The dungeon map might show a 45x60 room w/ 6 pillars and a 10' diameter fountain, if my drawing is 40x70, w/ 5 pillars and a 10' radius fountain who cares? It's much faster.

AOE templates - circles and cones of different sizes.

I find having a loose plan / outline and then ad libbing as I go is much easier / less stressful than planning a bunch and then trying to make sure I stick to the plan or follow a module. I tend to create chapters, or chunks of adventure, rather than try to string everything together - my chunks are loosely related which makes campaigns much simpler for me and easier to adjust on the fly as needed.

My group got mad at me for doing average damage, because my zombie beholder one shot their character with a disintegrate beam. I rerolled it afterwards and still killed the character.

I used to do the same for index cards. Now I have a player track initiative on a magnetic board.

I have an AOE ruler guide I use, but I had been thinking about more templates.

Since I have been running premade adventures, I try to use those maps.

I try to adlib/improv, but I am not great at it. I would say that this is likely where most of my load is, that and forgetting parts, or forgetting to check references for parts I am forgetting,
What do you use/how do you make chunks? What is your process/are your tools?

[Khrysaes]

3) I let the campaign world live rent free in my head. This trains my intuition to act as my co DM.
.

Can you elaborate on what you mean?

[Khrysaes]

1) Never predetermine outcomes.

2) Random tables to help generate ideas on the fly or as part of session prep.

3) Mostly theatre of the mind combats (no minis, no terrain to set up, etc)

4) Completely nix initiative. PCs go before monsters.

I do number 1.
2: I have been building cards instead, easier to draw one or two cards than use a table.
3: I have tried this, but theater of the mind has been more load actually, with having to visualize and keep track of things mentally.

4: This one is interesting. I may do this or just do side initiative, such that its a 50% chance to go first. Maybe, roll one initiative for opponents, then have the entire group roll to beat it, if more than half the group beats it, they go first, otherwise, they go second.

[EggKookoo]

My basic approach:


For encounters I know are coming, I pre-roll initiative for monsters.
I allow (but not require) players to use their initiative score rather roll init at the start of a fight. For most fights, this works fine.
I build spreadsheets (in Excel) for known/planned encounters, with rows for each PC and NPC, and columns for init, AC, HP, damage (I used to deduct from HP but I like having them separate), and a link to each NPCs statblock in DnDBeyond.
Oh, I use DnDBeyond, lots of homebrew. You can get away with a lot before having to pay for anything, although I do have a subscription to get content.


I sometimes cannibalize published content for the nitty gritty rooms in a particular location. But I'm doing that less and less these days. I'm a big fan of the 5-room dungeon approach, and I build my content using that pattern. You can use it for things other than dungeons. It's really a scenario pattern tool. I've used it for social engagements like parties, a kind of crossing-a-bridge trial, and you can link them together to make really big scenario chains.

I don't prep a lot of fine detail. If I have something like a shop, I'll note the kinds of things it sells and the general persona of the shopkeeper(s), but I'll invent small details on the fly while playing.

If an NPC ever has to talk, I pick a celebrity and try to copy his or her speech pattern. Ricardo Montalban, Sean Connery, Cheech Marin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Marisa Tormei... just don't try to imitate them perfectly. Use their cadence, but change the accent to avoid sounding like you're trying to do an impersonation.

[da newt]

If a group of adults gets mad at you for using average damage, they don't understand what average means. Sounds like you have plenty of math knowledge - school them up.

"I try to adlib/improv, but I am not great at it. I would say that this is likely where most of my load is, that and forgetting parts, or forgetting to check references for parts I am forgetting."

- for me I find making it up as I go along much easier because that way there is nothing to forget or check because I'm making it up as I go. I'm not trying to recall a story and tell it again, I'm creating as I go so there is nothing to forget and no pressure to remember. I try to keep my stories/plots moving forward toward new stuff so that I don't contradict something from the past. I find running a module much more work as I have to find a way to remember all of someone else's stuff and make their story work for me and my party. I have a crappy memory (especially for specifics) but a good imagination, so I only prep what I need (story outline, maps, monster stats). I find that much less stressful and efficient.


What do you use/how do you make chunks? What is your process/are your tools?

- I'm very much a KISS proponent (Keep It Simple Stupid). My Chunks are usually focused around a single quest or task/objective of some sort. They tend to be simple to grasp - rescue person X, defeat bad guy Y, recover object Z, explore PC A's backstory, solve the mystery ... SIMPLE. Then I outline some stuff that makes sense to me to accomplish along the way - some smaller obstacles, the journey, the dungeon, whatever. I prep a couple maps and encounters, outline a cogent plot to string it together, and that's about it. One chunk may last 3 sessions or 3 levels.

Once the PC's start towards the goal, they will do stuff and I'll adjust as needed. All of the small stuff, I'll make up as I go to get them to the next thing or keep them amused. Sometimes I'll offer the party choices like you can raft down the river or hike through the forest - it doesn't matter which they choose, the next encounter will still occur along the way but the terrain will change. If they are in a bar trying to gather the next clue, who ever they decide to talk to is the one who tells them what they need to know - I don't care if it's the waiter, the bar tender, the drunk, or the bard.

I can't remember names IRL or in game, so most of my NPCs are called 'the dwarf lady bartender' or 'the old drunk tiefling' unless they are major characters.

My adventures tend to have simple themes - like 6th grade level stuff, all of the cleverness and complexity and richness is in the minutia of the moment - not in the plot. I find this makes it sooo much easier for me.

[False God]

Don't be afraid to reuse material. Building layouts, dungeons, it doesn't take much to say "dungeon A" is now "cult lair b". If the party doesn't go to Random Dungeon A, there's no reason they won't know that Random Dungeon F is using the exact same materials. The party doesn't know you've crossed out "Lizardman" on the statblock and replaced it with "Cultist".

Make decisions not dice rolls! Sometimes the dice will stump you. They'll roll an extreme when it's not appropriate. They'll roll an average when you're trying to make a decision. The dice cannot decide for you, only you can do that. Decide what is appropriate, and do that. The dice exist to service the game mechanics, they're not there to tell a story or make decisions, much less good ones. Just because the random encounter table can generate an adult green dragon doesn't mean it's appropriate to have one appear. That's a decision only you can make.

Keep your work. Town F, Dungeon G, City Alpha, the specific names can be generated in a few minutes before a new game, but there's no reason not to reuse these elements in other games or with slight changes in other places. Eventually you'll build up enough resources that any time you need something you can just flip to the "towns" section of your binder and pull one out.

Not everything needs to be exciting. Sometimes a town is a town. Sometimes a forest is a forest. Sometimes nothing happens today. While you should plan for alternatives because parties often like to hook a left when you least expect it, some of those alternatives should be "you find nothing". Not having anything to find is not the same as railroading.

Don't be afraid to railroad (a little). You planned out the quests, maybe even provided several alternatives. You planned out the settings and locals and events. The fact that the party decided to ignore all that in favor of the pretty mountain you described in passing as setting window-dressing does not mean you are obligated to generate all new content related to the pretty mountain. Be direct with the party, be honest with the party, be clear with the party: the quests and adventure were over there.
-If you're running a railroad (and don't get me wrong, I think most published games are by-and-large) don't be afraid to be clear when the party has gotten off the rails, and that if they want to continue playing, they need to get back on.

The party/players don't know what they want. A lot of good advice relies on talking to the players about their expectations, their wants and desires, and so on. This IS good advice. But they are often terrible judges of what they actually want. They might tell you they want an epic Zero-to-Hero story full of quests and monsters and magical artifacts, but.... maybe hiking up the mountain with no monsters, no quests, no McGuffins, no dungeons is what they end up enjoying.

Be clear about what you're willing to run. If you don't want to run a session all about hiking up a mountain, be clear and honest about that. If the party wants to engage in human trafficking and you're uncomfortable with that, be clear and firm that you aren't going to run this. If they decide that instead of the epic Zero-to-Hero game you prepared they want to become merchants and open shops in town, you can tell them you are not interested in running such a game. The DM is a player too. You're there to have fun. If you're not having fun, if you're feeling uncomfortable, if party actions are hitting your triggers, it's OK to stop the game.

[stoutstien]

Another angle completely would be CO-DMing in some fashion.

[OldTrees1]

3) I let the campaign world live rent free in my head. This trains my intuition to act as my co DM.
Can you elaborate on what you mean?

I take the campaign world and turn it into a single complex concept rather than a bunch of separate simple concepts coincidentally together. If done well enough, then understanding the single complex concept can derive details you forget. It also makes it easier for me to remember since I am better at remembering information as one complex concept rather than a list of details.

Then I take that concept and memorize it. I put it in my head.

Finally instead of sending it to an fridge at the end of the session, I just put it on the back burner. My mind is still thinking about it subconsciously as a background process while I do the rest of my life. Occasionally this creates flashes of insight that rise to the conscious, but other times it just trains my intuition.

Now when running a session, if I don't know the answer to the player's question, I just ask the campaign world. Surprisingly it answers. Concepts can't actually answer, what is really happening is my intuitive understanding of the campaign world is covering for the gaps in my active memory.

[Kurt Kurageous]

I know this will be lost in this thread, but I must try.

Pre-Session:
Create interesting problems for your players. Give no thought to the solutions. Innovation not anticipation. Play to find out what happens. Don't predict.
If you type out your material, make a compendium of monsters. Send me a DM. I have a pdf containing most of the monster/NPC stat blocks formatted to a half page column. This is my greatest gift to the community.
A major encounter is easy to build. Solo monsters have HP 1x (Medium) to 2x (Deadly) the total HP of party. Groups have 1x (Hard) to 1.5x 9Deadly) party HP total.

At table:
Have a preprinted sheet with 400 excel generated random d20 rolls. It's great on multiattacks and monster saves vs AoE. Its a lifesaver when someone says, "buh dis/advantage!" because you can go back and LOOK AT THE ROLLS. Can't always do that with real or virtual dice.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IVqS6xzvPza_XeqU2AsV37gJhyMwuaIzHrhxObebTD4/edit?usp=sharing

Have a player management sheet listing players names, classes, languages, HP, saves, skills, and attack mods. Here's an older version of the one I use: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98VDZfd3hnR2Q3M2s/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-PSUR-PqDXvumapYjjI-VVQ

Have the caster-players read the spell descriptions, and you adjudicate it. If you say no, give a reason for disallowing the effect.

Always finish with an incitement at the end of a description of a scene/encounter/threat.

After session: XP is based on party level. See DMG medium encounter XP and use that as the basis for all individual XPs in encounters where resources are expended.

[Khrysaes]

I know this will be lost in this thread, but I must try.

Pre-Session:
Create interesting problems for your players. Give no thought to the solutions. Innovation not anticipation. Play to find out what happens. Don't predict.


I do this one. All I have for the players are problems and the goals of said problems, which may or may not affect the story depending on play.



If you type out your material, make a compendium of monsters. Send me a DM. I have a pdf containing most of the monster/NPC stat blocks formatted to a half page column. This is my greatest gift to the community.
A major encounter is easy to build. Solo monsters have HP 1x (Medium) to 2x (Deadly) the total HP of party. Groups have 1x (Hard) to 1.5x 9Deadly) party HP total.

I have been working on cards for these, trying to avoid double working so attaining cards such as the monster cards by WizKids? has been useful.
Main thing for me is making cards of encounters, not just the monsters, I have been looking into some homebrew premade encounters and trying to make them small sized. I have been doing sets for terrain and inhabitants. I have considered other variables, but those two are really all I need for now. Maybe




At table:
Have a preprinted sheet with 400 excel generated random d20 rolls. It's great on multiattacks and monster saves vs AoE. Its a lifesaver when someone says, "buh dis/advantage!" because you can go back and LOOK AT THE ROLLS. Can't always do that with real or virtual dice.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IVqS6xzvPza_XeqU2AsV37gJhyMwuaIzHrhxObebTD4/edit?usp=sharing

This is by far one of the most brilliant things I have read. It is a nice compromise between averages and live rolling.



Have a player management sheet listing players names, classes, languages, HP, saves, skills, and attack mods. Here's an older version of the one I use: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98VDZfd3hnR2Q3M2s/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-PSUR-PqDXvumapYjjI-VVQ

Ill take a look, thank you.



Have the caster-players read the spell descriptions, and you adjudicate it. If you say no, give a reason for disallowing the effect.

I do this already. But thank you.



Always finish with an incitement at the end of a description of a scene/encounter/threat.

I will try. I am confused though, do you mean, describe the encounter/scene/threat, then end? or finish the encounter/scene/threat with a description, then end? I.e. end at the start of combat or after combat is finished?



After session: XP is based on party level. See DMG medium encounter XP and use that as the basis for all individual XPs in encounters where resources are expended.
We as a group don't use XP.

[noob]

So, I was thinking about this while doing homework, sorry if it is rambling.

What do people do to reduce DM load?

I have been researching to try and get better at DMing, both more efficient and less pressured.

My problem is that there always seems to be too much for me to do, not enough time to prep, or too much to remember OR reference.

My main strategy has been to play premade adventures, read them beforehand, restructure notes that I make such that they make sense to me, and keep a reference of other things I need to remember.

That said, I still want to get better, so I thought I would pick the playgrounds collective brain, and see if there were things I can blatantly steal to improve my own DMing.
I do not prepare anything at all then improvise as stuff goes.
Then pull up monsters from the MM as needed.

[Kurt Kurageous]

I have been working on cards for these, trying to avoid double working so attaining cards such as the monster cards by WizKids? has been useful.
Main thing for me is making cards of encounters, not just the monsters, I have been looking into some homebrew premade encounters and trying to make them small sized. I have been doing sets for terrain and inhabitants. I have considered other variables, but those two are really all I need for now. Maybe

I am confused though, do you mean, describe the encounter/scene/threat, then end? or finish the encounter/scene/threat with a description, then end? I.e. end at the start of combat or after combat is finished?


Perhaps this will help you on your quest to make cards. Yes, there are typos and errors. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j25iXB6Ei8GMa93FvOgUFyMkhyWjw-oW?usp=sharing

Sorry I was not clear. And I'm not sure I can describe it well enough in this media. To answer the confusion, check this out. It's an example for how I format my encounters. Hopefully you will see what I mean.

Location 1. The Orc and the Pie
DQ: Will the PCs recover the missing piece from Lady Questgiver's silver service?

Background:
-The room is a small brick building just off Lady Questgiver's garden.
-Pieface the Orc has the dessert fork, but did not steal it. He took it as a tax from the knave for breathing funny. He wants to eat the pie in peace.
- The slice of cherry pie is from Simon’s Pie Shop in Burgviltown and rests in a small piece of buff colored wool cloth with a blue wax seal "S.P.S".
- The north door is unlocked but has a tripwire on the back side attacked to a cowbell noisemaker. [Investigation DC15] It opens to a pathway that leads to Lady QuestigiverÂ’s secret garden.

Scene: You exit the tunnel through the curtain into a red brick-walled 30’ square room with a single door on the north wall opposite you. In the middle of the room an orc sits on a plain wooden stool holding a slice of pie in one hand and a silver fork in the other. Overhead on a thin chain is a lit bronze oil lamp. The orc’s greataxe leans on the ground against his leg opposite you.
Incitement: His face is (Insight) lit up with an expression of anticipation (Perception) as he looks at the pie. He hasn't noticed you yet.

Resolutions of actions.
1. If the players examine the fork in Pieface's hand, Perception DC15 to see that the fork is a dessert fork with a seashell motif.
2. If the players ask/talk at him, "You wait! Gruumsh wait! I eat pie now." Once the pie is eaten, he will trade the fork for anything worth more than 5 sp. He will drop the pie and fork only if attacked. Losing the pie will enrage him and he will fight to the death. He has a tiny bronze figurine of an orc female he calls Thunbun in a pouch on his belt. He likes to ask other people to kiss Thunbin for good luck.
3. Pieface will defend himself like any other orc.

In my text the statblock for Orc is in the right hand column with words wrapping around it.

[aprilodee]

Set reasonable goals and live by them

If I don't have time to prep a political intrigue campaign, I can't run one. When I'm out of time or emotional energy, the plots get bared down, the monsters come straight out of the manual, and the locations are taken whole from adventures or from my worldbuilding folder, where everything I think of goes before it's "in world". We still like Small Village asks Good Guys smash Bad Guys for Shiny Sword. When my schedule or mental health is erratic, I try to keep things episodic so I don't overcommit, and only go for two or three session plots, dungeons or quests.

Gather little and often

I have voice recordings, note apps, screenshots of inspiration from IG or forums or blogs, I listen to podcasts about D&D and watch YT videos and just take anything I think is cool and make a note of it. When I need something, I flick through what I have amassed and choose from my curated catalogue of content that inspires me. It's faster and easier to work when I am feeling excited by the content I've chosen and more gets done in less time.

This works doubly if you know any other DMs who want to share ideas, resources, point you in the direction of well structured modules etc.

It doesn't cut down prep time so not as useful, but it goes without saying all my homebrew also goes in this resource.

Structure my DM prep time as if it were an assignment or work project

It sounds kind of grim for a hobby, but I need this. When I start prep, I open a blank document, write the session # at the top, and then I put the last paragraph from last session, about where the PCs are right now. Then I bold out their options from here, and expand only on what I really need to, what struggle to improv. I do not suggest what the party might do at all, and I don't try too much to guess. I just list the things they have time and motivation to get to from where they are. If they need to travel overworld to get there, I structure that "day one... watch one... day two...". Random encounters don't feature often in my campaign but you could cut this prep out if you pace that way, which would be shorter.

Over time my notes get shorter and shorter because the doc is live. Its the only thing I have open when out of combat, and at the end of the session I can see clearly what I used, what I didn't, and what I needed to have put in because I couldn't improv it. My weak point is differentiating NPC dialogue. My strong point is description and combat management. So I prep bare bones for combat, barring custom monsters, and environment/NPC/interactive description, and I put dialogue pointers and bullet point motivations for my NPCs to keep me on track.

I get a feel for just how much my party can get done in a session. I think it might be easier to just see my notes for a session to give an idea of the structure, but fair warning it is long and unedited. My players are running through LMoP with some major alterations. This session took 2 hours of prep because it involved exposition and key NPC dialogue I didn't want to contradict myself later. We played the session in around 6 hours, finishing at the end of the wisp fight.


TRIP TO PHANDALIN – watch passes – luck check DC15 Niramour’s horse returns
The party arrives in Phandalin as the faint light of dawn colours the distant sky. As you come into town, the main street is still quiet, and a single oil lantern sputters its last at the closed doors to the Stonehill Inn. When you knock, the door opens slowly, filtering out the smell of baking pies, as Trilena sleepily lets you in and steps out into the cold dawn to untether the horses.
“WHERE… WHERE IS THE OTHER HORSE?”

Linene approaches the party when they are packing out in the morning outside the Stonehill Inn. She looks sheepish and makes an uncertain start to conversation, very unlike when you last saw her.
Linene Coster
“… I… HOPED TO SEE YOU HERE. LISTEN. WE GOT OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT. I HEARD WHAT YOU DID, I SAW MIRNA AND THE BOYS, HOME. WHERE THEY BELONG.
I WANTED TO APOLOGISE. AND AS A SHOW OF GOOD FAITH, ANYTHING YOU NEED FROM THE COSTER? WELL, YOU’LL HAVE THE LOCALS’ RATE. I WON’T SOON FORGET THIS.”


BACK IN PHANDALIN
MAIN QUEST EXPOSITION TIMEEEE…. SILDAR HALLWINTER
Tolben is given a message to send the adventurer’s over to the Townmaster’s Hall at their earliest convenience.
• Sildar has been instated in the town hall and has a room booked for several months at Stonehill Inn. He has taken on a major role in the town at his superior’s request – he can be found here

The Mayor’s Residence The town hall is a squat stone structure with a belltower at the back – you heard its’ peal during the fire. Outside the building is a notice board with a couple of advertisements for the Lionshield Coster and the Miner’s Exchange, along with the following notice: “REWARD – Orcs at Wyvern Tor. Enquire within”.
Inside is a square main room, simply furnished, with several shelves, a desk, and a leather studded chair. One wall is formed of thick iron bars, separated down the middle to form two simple holding cells. The desk is neatly filled with papers, and Sildar sits with impeccable posture, a quill in one hand and a paper in the other.

Harbin holds the keys usually, but Sildar will have a copy soon.

• Sildar has received a response about the Black Spider from his superior at the Lord’s Alliance – a horse came from Neverwinter while the party travelled to Wyvern Tor

“HA. I AM EMBARRASSED BY YOUR EFFICACY. WELL, I SUPPOSE NOT ALL OF US ARE FORCED TO PROVIDE TRIPLICATE PARCHMENTS FOR OUR EXPLOITS.
HARBIN IS TAKING A SHORT SABBATICAL WHILE ORDER IS RESTORED TO PHANDALIN. I HAVE BEEN LEFT THE DETAILS *RIFLES THROUGH PAPERS QUICKLY* AH YES, I SEE HERE. 100G. AND YOU SHALL HAVE IT.”

• The Black Spider is a kind of bandit orchestrator who normally causes problems North of Neverwinter. He has several bandit groups and goblin camps that raze and hold up various trade routes from time to time – he offers information about targets for these groups…. for a portion of the coin. The main group he is working with here is the Cragmaw tribe of goblins – a tribe that have a hierarchy and, by the sounds of it, a “King”.
• The location of the castle is not currently known – Sildar suggests asking the locals, and if asked what he’s done will suggest several people recommended the local druid, Reidoth. He provides herbs to Sister Garaele and is good friends with Quelline Aldermath. They could also try to catch a raiding party of goblins, back in the area that they previously got ambushed… or they could search the woods for it themselves…
• On a personal note, Sildar wants to know where Gundran is and if he’s still alive, he wants him rescued. His brothers were supposed to come back to town about 5 days ago, but they still haven’t arrived- they are linked through the Wave Echo Cave location.

AH, IF YOU WANT MY ADVICE? WELL, THERE IS NO “CRAGMAW CASTLE” HERE, NOR HAS THERE EVER BEEN. I HAVE A FEELING IT’S SOMEWHAT OF A MISNOMER.
I WAS GIVEN A BRIEF BY THE LORD’S ALLIANCE BEFORE I TRAVELLED HERE, MAINLY INFORMATION FROM *PAINED EXPRESSION* IARNO’S REPORTS, THOUGH WHAT VALUE THEY HAVE NOW, WHO CAN SAY. *SIGH* WELL, AT ANY RATE, I’M GIVEN TO UNDERSTANDING THERE IS A SAGE OF SOME STANDING HERE, A DRUID? NAMED REIDOTH. OF ALL THE LOCALS, HE SEEMS THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE INCLINATION OR ABILITY TO EXPLORE THE REGION – ESPECIALLY GIVEN RECENT TENSIONS.”

Sildar has been given funds to solve this problem and is able to offer the players a reward of 500G if they locate Cragmaw Castle and remove the goblin clan


COMPLETE THE QUEST WITH DARAN EDERMATH
Daran is working the orchard when the party arrives. If evening he is in his abode or very occasionally at the Stonehill Inn.

THANK YOU. I KNEW I COULD TRUST YOU WITH THIS, YOU HAD MY FAITH AND I HAVE BEEN KINDLY REWARDED. *LOOKS AT BYRNE ESPECIALLY*
THAT MAKES SENSE. THAT TOWER, IT HAS BEEN BUILT OVER SEVERAL TIMES BUT I UNDERSTAND IT USED TO BE THE HOME OF A POWERFUL MAGE. I WORRY WHAT THIS NECROMANCER MIGHT BE SEARCHING FOR... OR WHAT HE MAY HAVE ALREADY FOUND.
I DON’T HAVE THE, AH, RESERVES I ONCE HAD WITH THE ORDER, BUT I STILL HOLD FAITH AND GOOD STANDING. I’LL PUT OUT THE WORD AND SEE IF I CAN’T ASK A FAVOUR OF AN OLD ALLY OR TWO.“

The party receives 60exp each for reporting back to Daran about the necromancer. Daran approaches the conversation end and hesitates, then opens the chest in his room with an arcane gesture and a silver key. He fishes through gleaming armours and thick cloaks to produce something small, which he rolls in his good hand hesitantly and then proffers to the party (hands to Byrne). It is a Ring of Protection. The band is two-tone silver and grey and inside the makers mark bears the stamp of the Order of the Gauntlet.

“I SUPPOSE THIS DOESN’T NEED TO STAY WITH ME ANYMORE… AND I HAVE A FEELING. WOULD YOU DO ME THE HONOUR OF FINDING A USE FOR THIS? *HANDS TO BYRNE*
IT *LOOKS AT STUMP* COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. THE SHRINE MAY BRING YOU LUCK, BUT THIS SHOULD OFFER YOU PROTECTION.”


QUELLINE ALDERLEAF AND THE SEARCH FOR REIDOTH
The halfling woman (late 30s, brunette, dressed in simple dress and with an apron on. Yorkshire adjacent, no-nonsense speech) is working the fields in the day or darning in the early hours or evening. She may or may not have Carp with her depending on the time. She heads to bed early. If they meet her at her home, Pip and Carp are playing noisily in the background and she may shout through to tell them to run along outside to play or shut the hell up.

WELL, HELLO AGAIN. WE HEARD ABOUT MIRNA AND THE REDBRANDS. THANK YOU. I SLEEP EASIER AT NIGHT KNOWING CARP WON’T BE IN DANGER FROM THOSE FOOLS. REIDOTH?
OH, IF THERE’S SOMETHING TO KNOW ABOUT THIS AREA, HE’LL KNOW IT. BUT HE COULD BE GONE FOR TENDAYS YET… HE’S RESTLESS IN THE LATE WINTER.
WELL, HE DID SAY HE WAS HEADING FOR THUNDERTREE… BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT’S TO THE NORTH… MAYBE 70 MILES? SOMEWHERE SOUTH-EAST OF NEVERWINTER, UP-RIVER. HE’S BEEN GONE NEARLY TWO TENDAYS NOW. NOT THAT THAT’S UNUSUAL… ALTHOUGH I DO WORRY.”
 

The party might head to Thundertree for Reidoth, or look for Cragmaw Castle themselves, depending on their decision making!

TO THUNDERTREE!
Thundertree is 70 miles away. The party could choose to cut through the Neverwinter woods but most of the journey could take the High Road to Neverwinter and is safe… well… as safe as it can be.

First day’s ride …
The party passes by the ambush site. The scalped remains of the two horses are shoved off the side of the road and several large pieces have been cut off them for meat.
DC10 survival check shows small footed track marks and scuffs. DC15 shows the boots are ****ty, worn, mismatched. There are drag marks on the ground.
DC15 perception shows several arrows embedded in trees nearby, slightly off the road past the drag marks, a piece of torn cloth, and blood. The blood is fresher than when they were ambushed.
First night’s watch…
If the watch rolls a DC10 perception, they see two skinny, scruffy wolves skulking around the fire slowly sniffing. If no offensive action is taken the wolves lie down at the edge of the firelight and whine. If Lach’Alahn or Niramour are on watch, a DC12 insight reminds them of the two wolves they set free in the Cragmaw caves.
If they feed the wolves, they pass the night at the camp and leave as dawn approaches. 1d6 by watchman, on 5-6 they growl menacingly into the night at one point and party hears a rustle as a ‘something’ disappears into the brush. A check in the morning light shows several marks of several beasts.
If they attack, the wolves are shown to be extremely under-nourished, and both attempt to flee.
Second day’s ride… nothing happens.
Second watch …
Third day’s ride
The party moves into the woodland on the old naval road to Thundertree, off the High Road. They move into a swampy area as they near the river. The crooked marsh trees block a lot of light in sections. A gloomy mist hangs. It’s clear there was once a road here, but as Thundertree was abandoned more than a decade ago the marshes have grown in thickly. There is a sickly damp, unpleasant smell and DC10 perception shows shapes periodically writhing in the murky waters. The water is not safe to drink.
Encounter 1 An enormous, rabid “mastiff” confronts the party. Its’ jaws are foamed and its’ eyes bloodshot. DC12 medicine or nature – it’s poisoned, medicine check – lesser restoration may help. It shows no fear and is immediately aggressive. If the party moves off the path during the encounter into the ankle (knee for Byrne) deep waters, they are attacked by 1d4+3 poisonous snakes.

Encounter 2 A wisp hangs swinging like a lantern in hand in the woods ahead of the party. As the marsh gets thicker there appears to be a Y-turn. A survival check from those proficient shows the left Y is directly along the river toward Thundertree (supposedly) and the right is longer. The left is the original road, the right is a trampled path made by feet rather than constructed as road. If the party takes the left road, the wisp hangs close and waits for the party to step in the water, alerting 6 poisonous snakes and 2 constrictors. Once a member of the party is attacked successfully by one of the snakes the wisp moves in and joins combat.


BEING AMBUSHED TO FIND THE INFORMATION!
If the party attempts to be ambushed or ambush the goblins they must stake out the area where Sildar and Gundran’s horses were shot. After 1d6+1 hours, or at dusk, whichever sooner, they will find a scouting party composed of 3 goblins and a bugbear, all of whom are sneaking through the underbrush to set up for another ambush. They will begin dragging the horse carcasses out into the road if they are not attacked by/do not see the party. If they see the party, they will attempt to pot-shot them as they escape into the woods. The party only needs to capture one of the enemies alive. A goblin will talk easier than a bugbear, but the bugbear will better communicate the location of the castle. Neither require an outrageous amount of persuasion, but the bugbear must feel it will be let go alive to give the party what it wants. The goblin won’t think that far ahead—fear is a powerful motivator. Under duress a goblin will lead the way to the castle themselves. A bugbear will not.

[skyth]

Some tricks I use -

I do my adventure prep in Google Docs. I have one Doc with quick stat-blocks for creatures I use and can copy/paste the stat blocks for the adventure I'm running into a different sheet for the current adventure. Takes some time to set it up, but once you enter a statblock once, you have it. And it's a compressed statblock:

Badger, Giant:
Medium Beast
AC:10 HP:13 Speed:30’ Burrow 10’ CR(XP):¼(50)
Str:+1 Dex:0 Con:+2 Int:-4 Wis:+1 Cha:-3
Passive Percep: 11, Darkvision 30’
Keen Smell: Adv on Perception checks for smell
Attacks:
Multiattack(Bite + Claw)
Bite +3 (1d6+1 pierce dam)
Claws +3 (2d4+1 slash dam)

Another thing is I have encounter trackers in google sheets. I have columns for mini, monster, AC, mx hp, damage, and attacks. Like with the Docs, I have one sheet with these filled out so I can copy/paste the encounters for the adventure I'm currently running.

One thing I do at the table is I use group initiative. One d20 roll for the players and one for the monsters (No bonuses for either). Whomever turn it is can act in any order - So I don't need to track initiative.

[pwykersotz]

For me, the biggest things to easing my efforts in D&D (at the table) was streamlining monster statblocks. There is just so much information in there, and so little of it ends up being needed. The trouble is that all of it is needed at SOME point in SOME game, so it's hard to know what to cut. For me, I write out my monsters like this:

Red Wyrmling HP 75 AC 17
Attack +6, 9+3 fire
Breath 24 fire, 15' cone

If I need something more, I can always pull up the actual statblock, but it's amazing how little I need to. If Speed or Special Senses are a big deal in a given scenario, I write those down too. But it's amazing how often I can get away with this shorthand. And it speeds up my processing of turns in combat hugely.

I also don't use spells very often for monsters/NPC's. I don't have them all memorized, and I don't really want to. I tend to shorthand the cool stuff as limited use abilities and keep them limited to 1-3 things per monster/NPC.

Note that this stuff actually generates a little bit of prep time (10-30 minutes) for ease of play at the table. If it's not a concern at the table and you want to kill pre-game prep, I don't recommend them. :smalltongue:


To reduce pre-game prep, I haven't had any better advice than to read Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeonmaster. (This is the second thread I've mentioned this in over the last week, I'm not trying to shill it, I just like it.) It has all sorts of minimalist prep ideas.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

So, I was thinking about this while doing homework, sorry if it is rambling.

What do people do to reduce DM load?

I have been researching to try and get better at DMing, both more efficient and less pressured.

My problem is that there always seems to be too much for me to do, not enough time to prep, or too much to remember OR reference.

My main strategy has been to play premade adventures, read them beforehand, restructure notes that I make such that they make sense to me, and keep a reference of other things I need to remember.

That said, I still want to get better, so I thought I would pick the playgrounds collective brain, and see if there were things I can blatantly steal to improve my own DMing.

You sound like you're using a similar method to me in trying to use existing mods and modify as needed. It's still a lot of work, so I get it. I do think choice of mod makes a lot of difference in terms of how much prep/ modification is needed.
Out of the Abyss was comparatively good in that regard. Curse of Strahd was good. Ghosts of Saltmarsh was playable as is, but IMO was a lot better with considerable re-fluffing of all the non-Sauhagan adventures and adding shipboard travelling bits so that the remaining baddies were connected. Descent into Avernus was a HUGE pile of work, which I didn't mind cause I loved the ideas and was happy to fill in the blanks; do not DM this if you are trying to be time efficient.
Of course those are my opinions, and mileage will vary, but I think the more information you have before committing on behalf of your group the less work you will have to put in.

[deljzc]

The best advice I've hear is DM'ing is like playing music. When you make a mistake, the worst thing you can do is stop.

Don't stop. Just go with the flow. Make a mental note that you might need to read up on that rule or situation and explain to the group OUTSIDE of play time that you made a mistake and this will be what changes moving forward, but when you are playing, the whole goal of DM'ing is to keep the action moving.

Yes, combat takes a long time. Yes, having good access to cheat sheets, laptops, DM screen, generic names, etc. is all part of prepwork.

Also, I really like the idea of delegating some of the ambiance of playing to the players. Have a player be in charge of background noise or music. Don't be in charge of snacks or drinks (delegate that). The more they do, then the less they will feel bored while you do all the heavy lifting, which is inevitable.

And as stated before, don't let the dice rule the roost. Sure, dice add some randomness to the game, but so can you. If you want one hit to be a lot of damage just to mix things up, use some colorful language and make it happen. If you want a hit by monsters to only cause a scratch in a battle that is otherwise going to be easily won, go ahead. You want the APPEARANCE of randomness, but that is really the most important thing. If you are fair and don't have it out for the players, just use your imagination to add texture and detail to the adventure.

The best times by players are almost always "close but made it". Games where their decisions matter (or feel like they matter) between success and failure. So create that atmosphere even if it means stretching RAW or ignoring dice.

[PhoenixPhyre]

The best times by players are almost always "close but made it".

I'll note on this (while remaining neutral about fudging dice) that what seems close to players is not necessarily what seems close to the DM. Because the DM knows the full state, while the players don't. That has led me to think a lot of stuff was a cake-walk, when the players felt it was much more closely-fought. Because I saw what the enemies AND PCs still had in the tank and that the end was inevitable after round 2, while the players only saw their own resources dropping.

[dafrca]

I'll note on this (while remaining neutral about fudging dice) that what seems close to players is not necessarily what seems close to the DM. Because the DM knows the full state, while the players don't. That has led me to think a lot of stuff was a cake-walk, when the players felt it was much more closely-fought. Because I saw what the enemies AND PCs still had in the tank and that the end was inevitable after round 2, while the players only saw their own resources dropping.

This is a great point. The players see the game from a different angle and often have a slightly different take on many things. Sometimes after an adventure or campaign is over I like to sit with the players and ask questions and see their take on things. I have learned a lot as a GM doing these post story arch debriefings. It is sometimes fun as well as informative to hear what they were thinking or feeling at times. :smallsmile:

[PhoenixPhyre]

This is a great point. The players see the game from a different angle and often have a slightly different take on many things. Sometimes after an adventure or campaign is over I like to sit with the players and ask questions and see their take on things. I have learned a lot as a GM doing these post story arch debriefings. It is sometimes fun as well as informative to hear what they were thinking or feeling at times. :smallsmile:

I try to make sure to pay attention to what they say. Especially those who have sat on both sides of the screen. I've had people come back after their first session of DM'ing going "wow, it looks so much different from that seat...."

Although my current party has developed out-of-band communication protocols to scheme against me...:smallsmile: I'm just glad they're into it enough to do so.

[dafrca]

I've had people come back after their first session of DM'ing going "wow, it looks so much different from that seat...."
So much truth to this. Oh so much. :smallbiggrin:

[5eNeedsDarksun]

Doesn't help prep much, but during combat I usually let some of my more experienced players run the NPCs where possible. That definitely helps move combat along and lets me focus on what the baddies are going to do. Despite the fact I'm an experienced DM, I still get to the end of combat occasionally and realize I've forgotten a significant monster ability and to some extend let the party off the hook. Giving away control of NPCs helps with that a bit.

[Easy e]

Note: My techniques are not to everyone's taste, and are very controversial.......

1. Outsource more of the work to the players by asking them things like, "You see a person in trouble, tell me; who are they? What is their relationship to you? Why do you care what happens to them?" They are now creating the hooks and story, not you.

2. Combat is just a way to resolve story points or add complications, it is not the be all of the game. Therefore, if combat does not serve any purpose.... don't have it. If you do have it, make it only as useful as it needs to be. When it no longer serves its purpose, dispose of it.

3. Roll dice as little as possible, or to indicate time it takes to accomplish something; not to resolve its success. Never let a dice roll get in the way of helping move things forward.

4. Less is more. Only create or add things when they are needed.

5. Dispose of most resource management, as it is only intended to be a complication. Make it only relevant when it is relevant.

6. Always keep the pace of the game flowing, let important scenes breath, while unimportant scenes are written off quickly. I.e. interacting with a key NPC should take as long as it needs, while buying lunch for the party is a throw away moment.....

7. Dispose of most system crunch as it is only a means to adding or removing complication for the players. You can bypass as little or as much of it as is needed. The only thing that matters is the method is which players resolve actions occurs, everything else is window dressing.

8. Listen to what the players are asking for, and give them what they want in the game. If they want to solve diplomatic issues, do that. If they want to eventually fight the big bad, let them. You only add complications and plot beats on their way to achieving their goals

9. Lastly remember that rules are for players, and not GMs. The rules are simply there to create friction and complications for players to overcome.

As I said, my techniques are very controversial, and some would say they rip the heart out of what playing an RPG is about. However, they work for me.

[dafrca]

1. Outsource more of the work to the players by asking them things like, "You see a person in trouble, tell me; who are they? What is their relationship to you? Why do you care what happens to them?" They are now creating the hooks and story, not you.


I admit I am real curious now, what if the player said "I don't know them and do not care what happens to them. I am moving on now." No story, no hook. What do you as the GM do?

[Derpy]

I make lots of notes. The better I can link them to when I need them, the easier it is. I use software for the making of maps and encounters, so I can always have bits of fluff, information, stats, and whatever is needed ready to be brought up at a seconds notice. This really front loads my work, but lets me coast through the session with the players.

I have a wide world, but not a deep world. I know the shape of the continent, where the cities, towns, dungeons, encounters, and other points of interest are. Each of these has notes on several points or persons of interest; how things relate and connect with the world, and briefs on NPCs. If the players breeze through something, no more depth need be added. If they find something that strikes their fancy, I add to it, and make sure to note what has been added so consistency can be maintained. This also front loads the work, but lets me coast by in session.

It seems like with the workload you have, this wont really help you.

Improvise. Improvise. Improvise. The better you can think on your feet and make stuff up as you go, the less you need to front load. I don't need to know all the members of a town's population, but I can make up The guy sitting in the corner of the inn chewing tobacco, wearing an eye patch. If the players don't care, he can remain a bit of fluff. If they find him interesting, maybe he becomes the line to whatever hook is needed, or even just an odd memorable social interaction. The more you improvise, the less you have to prepare; but it is important to make sure you note everything you improvise to maintain consistency in the world. If one session the guy in the corner is wearing an eye patch and chewing tobacco, and in some later session he has two eyes but is missing an nose and is smoking cigars, the disconnect is jarring (unless it can be explained in game for some reason; a spy, a thieves guild contact, just a nutter who thinks someone is out to get him, and maybe someone is...).

Little things I do are lumping initiative, have macros for the monsters attack rolls, figuring out NPCs general disposition before the battle starts, making sure I have the basic information of the players so I don't need to wait to know if an attack hit or other such things, knowing what spells, if any, are going to be cast by NPCs in the upcoming session and having notes on those.

I guess, in short, I plan way in advance to have everything at my fingertips when the session happens and cover the rest by making it up as I go. If you're falling behind planning on a weekly basis, maybe switching to bi-weekly and doing a bit more then one session's worth of prep in the two weeks... but this might also make you forget things and be counter productive.

Only other thing I can think is that the more you DM, the more you'll get a feel for what you need to do for your style of DMing. Oh, and train your players to pitch in. If they can find the relevant information to any dilemma while you're pushing ahead with whatever else needs to be done everything runs smoother, more or less. You don't want them to overrule you on things; but if you train them to be like... 'I cast such and such spell, and here is the information for the nuts and bolts of that spell,' or 'I use ability xyz, it does this, you can see it on page # of this book' and another player double checks it while you move on, it saves time and effort. Having players that you can trust the word of and are proactive also makes everything run much smoother, but can be more difficult to obtain and is not always something you can control. If they won't lie or fudge things, that makes everything go more quickly, and you wont feel the need to check to make sure, and if other players are checking while you keep pushing ahead, so much the better. If they are paying attention, know when they need to act, and can chime in if their knowledge can help, it also makes things go more smoothly. This last bit might be most helpful to you if you can train your players to pitch in.

[Khrysaes]

Wow. A lot more advice than I thought I would ever get. Thank you guys so much. I will definitely have to thoroughly read through it all carefully.

That said, if I make replies it may take me a bit.

[Easy e]

I admit I am real curious now, what if the player said "I don't know them and do not care what happens to them. I am moving on now." No story, no hook. What do you as the GM do?

Then we move on. Me telling them why they know them or what the hook is won't make a player like that anymore interested.

However, most players WANT to play along and not just stone wall the DM. In a lot of cases, it is a nice way for the players to help make this a living world and tied into their characters.

[dafrca]

Then we move on. Me telling them why they know them or what the hook is won't make a player like that anymore interested.

However, most players WANT to play along and not just stone wall the DM. In a lot of cases, it is a nice way for the players to help make this a living world and tied into their characters.

No argument from me, I was just interested in what would happen if the player didn't have the answers or know how to build the story hook for you. But yes, I do agree most of the time a player wants to help and play along.

[Grod_The_Giant]

One thing I've been trying to do more of recently is to cut back to ultra-simple battle maps and tokens. In the last campaign I ran I wound up spending way too much time with image searches and mapping software and photoshop and crap.


As I said, my techniques are very controversial, and some would say they rip the heart out of what playing an RPG is about. However, they work for me.
I mean, they're excellent advice--that sort of stripped-down game can be an absolute blast (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/268061/STaRS-The-Simple-Tabletop-Roleplaying-System). It's just that D&D is a bad starting point because by the time you finish ripping out unnecessary rules and combat and resource management and all the rest there's nothing left but scraps.

[Demonslayer666]

We rotate DMs between three of us. When one needs a break, we pause that game and play another. We usually have two going at once. Really helps with DM burnout, and we all get to play.

When I DM, I use google docs, a notepad and pencil, a laptop with notes open and tabs open to monsters. I write up a recap digitally after the session (usually the next day) and read it at the start of the next session. I archive each session's notes so I can go back and reference the old info. I will also record the session on occasion, which helps me not miss stuff, but it is only moderately helpful and pretty time consuming. I also use a tablet to display pictures of NPCs and creatures they encounter (open to a folder on google docs).

I use theater of mind for simple combats, and scatter terrain when we do use the battle board. I have found that Pathfinder Pawns work great for medium and small creatures to avoid confusion, but for large and up, I like to use minis.

[Easy e]

I mean, they're excellent advice--that sort of stripped-down game can be an absolute blast (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/268061/STaRS-The-Simple-Tabletop-Roleplaying-System).

It's just that D&D is a bad starting point because by the time you finish ripping out unnecessary rules and combat and resource management and all the rest there's nothing left but scraps.

I have even made it work for D&D BUT it was a bit harder because the players had more system knowledge. Even then, D&D is basically just roll high on a dice for "better results" and once HP is maxed, it dies. I left player resources up to the players to track and only asked about "where they were at" after some resource use to keep them honest. As long as I was consistent about what a successful DC from encounter to encounter, then it really didn't matter much beyond that. :)

If you keep the game moving, adding complications/twists, and avoid getting bogged down; then most players do not look that close. They just want to have fun!