Can you run D&D without prep? Do dungeon masters need to spend hours during the week preparing encounters and epic stories? Is there a dungeon master shortage because D&D is too difficult to run?
Let’s dive into these questions, shall we? The answer to the first question is of course you can run a session or campaign Dungeons and Dragons without prep.
Now, there maybe be a couple of caveats or finer points. However, D&D can be run with little or no prep. But, first, let’s a couple of objections to no-prep DMing.
D&D was Designed for DMs to Prep
First, let’s address a common objection to running D&D without prep. A chorus of role-players always shouts, “But D&D was designed so the dungeon master needs to prep!”
My answer is simple: so what? Yes, you heard me, so what? What does it matter that the game was designed to need session prep? The game was also designed to be played with miniature figures but I know very few people who play with them. The game is always changing. Every gaming group changes something or has different interoperations of the rules.
Why do we throw so much pressure on the dungeon master? Why do games not happen because the DM didn’t have time to prep?
There comes a time when we just want to play Dungeons and Dragons. Let’s stop grinding DMs into the ground and demand that they spend hours in prep. DMs have no more time during the week than players do. Players don’t have to prep for sessions and the dungeon master is a player, right?
Even if the designers of D&D expect dungeon masters to prepare for sessions, it does not mean they have to. The designers don’t know what I have to accomplish this week to carve out three hours to play let alone magically conjure up another three hours to prepare.
No Prep D&D is Bad
The second objection is that no-prep sessions are bad or are poorly handled. This is not necessarily true and everyone who plays knows that.
I’ve played in a number of sessions where the dungeon master spent months planning and the session was terrible. Heck, I’ve run sessions where I have planned for weeks and months and the session was awful. No prep sessions can be bad of course, but so can ones that are planned.
Running No Prep D&D
Here’s the real meat. Are you canceling sessions because you don’t have time to prepare? Well, here are some tips to cut that prep time down.
- Use Players as a Resource – Ask your players questions. Have them help create the world. Does a player ask what the NPC’s name is? Ask the player to make it up. What on that island? You tell me. (NOTE: This is what most story or narrative RPGs codify into rules. However, you do not need rules to tell you how to do this.)
- Think About the Session – Taking a shower? Driving? Eating lunch alone? If so, use this time to think about the upcoming session. Think about what situations you can throw at your player characters. Don’t think of what will happen next just wait to react to your players’ actions.
- React to Player Decisions – Do the PCs start a fight in the inn? Do the PCs kill an old woman? Do PCs want to hunt a bounty? Do the PCs find a map after they kill the goblins? Good, react to their actions with common sense and think about what would be cool if it happened as a result.
- Use Random Tables – Random tables fill in details and story hooks on the fly without prep. Yes, dungeons masters will have to react to things rolled on the table, but that’s okay. It’s better than spending hours in prep. Also, see points one and three above. Ask your players how the items or situations fit into the session. Plus react to how the players act when presented with random things that are rolled.
- Read/Watch Fiction – This is the most esoteric suggestion. But, hang with me. Reading books and watching movies and TV shows fill us with ideas and situations. We take these situations and ideas mash them up and put them into our campaigns and sessions. You don’t have to run the movie or book. The ideas will naturally blend together into something new see point two above.
If you need more, I expand on these ideas and many more in my little book, The No-Prep Gamemaster.
No-Prep RPG Gamemastering
GMing with Random Tables Do’s and Don’ts
Pitfalls of Running D&D without Prep
For all the glories and joys of running D&D without prep, there can be some downfalls. So, let’s see how we can avoid them.
- Halting Play – The DM can get caught flatfooted and not know what to do. This is a very real problem. However, this happens anytime we have players at the table regardless of preparation or not. It is to be expected. (NOTE: If players don’t like the DM halting and fumbling for ideas then they had better always know what they are doing on their turn, know how spells work, and never interrupt the DM. Just saying.)
- No Epic Plot – Players will bemoan the fact that there is no huge plot and that the campaign can start in a city but then move to the wilderness based solely on their and the DM’s whim. Well, the dungeon master should never formulate a huge plot. That is a recipe for disaster even when preparing. DMs should give the players situations and let the plot develop based on player actions. The PCs are the protagonists. The protagonist’s actions decide the plot in the vast majority of great fiction.
- Players Don’t Want to Create – The players do not want to help create the world or be asked to come up with NPC names. Well, too bad. We’re all here to have fun. We all need to be involved.
No-Prep DMing the Way to Go
“Let’s play D&D,” should never strike fear into the heart of the person who may end up being the dungeon master. You can prepare as little or as much as you like, but never cancel a session because you haven’t prepared.
Dungeons and Dragons can be played without tons of prep or even no prep. Just relax and think about what you need: situations, engaged players, and the desire to have fun.