When I roll a 6 on my Daily Game Prep table, the result is, “Add a person, place, or thing to the world.” This happens one-in-six times and is a great result from my Tiny Prep method. The trick, of course, is to keep this act of creation tiny.

While the aim is, over time, to flesh out the details of the person, place, or thing that you are adding to the world, the trick is first just to think of a rough idea and give it a name. Further details might be forthcoming, but you need to remember that the goal is to keep Tiny Prep doable and quick so that we don’t get deterred.

An example: I decide to add a person to my world. I have an idea for a villain and so I open my ready-made blank NPC Sheet (based on The Alexandrian’s universal NPC roleplaying template), add the name and a quick description of the role, and then save the file with the name of the new NPC. Done… at least, for now.

Perhaps I can add some quick ideas to the sheet – because some days I have more energy and time – but the habit I am forming is to do one small thing that takes less than 5 minutes, so I only add when I feel I can. Instead of rolling on the Daily Game Prep table tomorrow, I can always add a small entry to the NPC.

The next time I might add any of the other short entries: Appearance, Quote, Roleplaying Notes, Background Ideas, Key Information, or even start building the Stat Block (if combat is a possibility). The point is that I do these things one at a time, day by day, as the ideas arrive and I have energy.

In the course of a week, I can add a fully fleshed-out major NPC to my world. Of course, sometimes a name and a role, a quick description, and an idea of what they want is enough. Not every NPC needs the full sheet. This makes adding persons to my world manageable.

Game on!