“My job doesn’t require math? Sweet! I can forget all that shit they made me learn in college, and focus on the stuff I like.”

Sometimes I suspect they’re trying to trip me up.

A) I’ve spent a whole bunch of time on prep, and the party only ends up using 10% of what I created (this used to be a horrible problem when I was in college, but thankfully I’ve gotten that under control over the last ten years or so).

B) I write myself into a corner by not doing *enough* prep, and find that what I thought was a pretty clever plot, wasn’t really quite so clever once the PCs actually start running through it. Imagine a highway with a bridge out … but not realizing that the bridge was gone until you’re right there.

Since your name isn’t linked, I’m guessing you don’t have a blog/website — if you’re interested in writing something like that as a TT guest post, email me and let’s talk.

Now, you’re probably thinking “How can I trust them to …”

But that means you aren’t delegating right. Most of my players could come up with some ideas for unique magic items, or maps of a city without any difficulty at all. Or ask for ten piles of treasure, from big to small. When you have a large enough collection of stuff, it will seem random, and yet they’ll occassionally say “Hey, that’s the statue I thought of”

I think there’s something to be said for a correlation between Type B/English/running games and Type B/Math/prep, but it seems pretty fuzzy.

I find that I do better games when I create a modicum of prep work. Usually about 3-4 hours a week, sometimes up to 5.

However I have run several campaigns (not jsut single sessions) from the seat of my pants. I personally enjoy the “give and take” of winging it over the bittersweet task of prep.

I call it bittersweet since I get many more compliments and questions about the next game after I do the prep work than if I just wing it.

Oh yeah this is my first comment on TT!

I usually code something to do the mundane prep work for me.

I like prep that gives me a good return on my investment. I don’t like other prep. Say I have a new creature for D&D 3.5 that I really want to share with other DMs. All that reverse-engineering and getting the stats just so is rewarding. Someone will get some bang for my work. OTOH, say I make up a new creature for my game. Who cares if the skill points are exactly correct? The exact same work that was worth it in the first case isn’t worth it now.

Preparing to run a good game is an inherent part of roleplaying. If the game is one we would normally call “low prep”, the prep might be mainly to get a good rest ahead of time, and then play appropriate mood music the hour before. One might prefer that kind of prep, but it is still prep. If you prep for someone else to run a game (e.g. write a published adventure), that is mostly work.

Finally, the joy of creating a campaign is a kind of prep that does have some work attached with it. If nothing else, you must organize your creation enough to keep it straight in your head.