Third installment in my break down of how I prep to run games. Today we focus on Scenes and Combats
TTRPG Game Prep Meta: Scenes/Combats
- Scenes
In this section I loosely plan several potential RP scenes. I try
to make sure that each PC has some interest in at least one scene.
I also drop notes on the NPCs involved in the scenes; stat blocks if
they have them, voicing notes, and clues that NPCs have to give
about secrets. I group scenes by their locations and when I expect
them to happen during the session.
Hot take: I set DC/DR/Target numbers by the scene. This is a trick
I picked up from ICRPG and I’ve used this trick very effectively
during Borg games. For 5e games I still use enemies AC for combat
but other things in the scene will all be set at the same DC. If a
PC is attempting to do something exceptionally hard (shooting a
spy drone out of the sky with a revolver) or easy (stealing bagel
sandwiches from uncaring bagel shop employees) I will adjust the
scene DC by 3.
- Combats
In this section I list the Foes that I think might be involved in
any combats that might come up. I also set up for initiative and
HP tracking. I use emacs for my notes and the org-d20 module for
dice rolling and initiative tracking. When I set up combat I enter
the HP for the monsters, their bonus, and how many of them. I
keep the PC list generic and drop in player names and adjust
initiative at the table.