Following on from my post about prep difficulties, I thought I would post a quick update a about 10 days on. In the original post, I wrote:

What I need is a prep habit. The only way to build a habit is to take action on a regular schedule. The key is to add a concise gaming prep action taken on a regular basis, prompted in a way that is effective at getting that small action taken. 

Drowning In The Prep Hole, May 27th 2020

The new habit has been framed as: ““After I post the blog, do one thing off the prep list.”

Each day, I have been rolling 1d6 on my “Daily Game Prep” table, hand-written on to an index card and placed in plain view on my computer desk. After I post the blog, I roll and see what comes up. The tasks take less than 5 minutes.

Ten days on and I have completed ten prep tasks. There have been three NPC profiles created – one of which came up in the last session on Monday night – one item designed, two occasions of adding to a dungeon map, two times I’ve added something to the Mystamyr map, and two clue writing spurts… which is weird, because I only posted eight blogs.

Actually, the clue sessions ended up helping me create a master clue list and I found myself adding somewhere nearer 20 clues over two sittings. This habit also helped prompt me to create a default NPC summary sheet to make it easier to write up interesting NPCs – I based this on The Alexandrian’s suggestions.

Regarding the Mystamyr map, I updated it to include new sites and printed off a copy of the area we are gaming in. This has prompted several ideas on how to make the adventure we are playing richer and helped build some confidence.

All in all, I have made a good start. Once I’ve edited this post and pressed “Publish”, it’s time to roll 1d6 again.

Game on!