Achievability and Tiny Prep

IRL I’m super busy so I’ve returned to running the Grim North. This is what’s achievable right now and it’s a lot of fun to run. 

Just an average day in the Grim North

Because I’m short on time I’ve tried to embrace the principals of Tiny Prep. Just doing something every day to contribute to the weekly game is enough to maintain or even spur on my creativity. Tiny Prep is the brainchild of Che Webster of Roleplay Rescue. He’s got a book out on it now, which admittedly I haven’t read but the idea resonates with me. His blog posts on the subject are collected Here

I am not a prep heavy GM. I don’t generally have a lot of material prepared in advance. I certainly don’t get involved in virtual table top bells and whistles. I play on line using video chat and theatre of the mind. Some prep is required however no matter how well developed the ability of the GM to improvise. The reverse is also true; even the most well prepared GM must improvise at some point in response to player action. In returning to the Grim North I realise how much I have prepared to improvise. There are tables for things, adventure seeds, a big d100 rumour table, omens, weather, small encounter tables for each district of the city, a loot the body table, all things I have created piecemeal over the years to support myself in session. In going the Tiny Prep route I can add one small thing each day that will be useful in session: an NPC name, some detail about and existing NPC, add a room to a smol dungeon, add an entry to a random table, etc. The accumulation of such tiny additions pays off in the long term and often spurs further creativity so more gets done. 

 So, as much learning and playing the systems I have purchased over the years seems like a worthy pursuit I’m focusing on what is achievable right now. After all this is supposed to be fun, not work.