Prepping and my "Beach Trip" Campaigns

For the longest time, I ran 1.5 hour campaigns. I would run them for my local youth club. There were rules set by the organizers that helped mold my prep. First, I had an 1.5 hour time slot total. That includes set-up, cleaning up after wards and gaming, so my sessions happened fast. Secondly, I only have around 4-5 sessions. I did largely oneshots for the first 2 years and the last one I did an actual campaign. My prep was guided by these rules and still help me today. Here is my prep process for that last 4 session campaign. 


First off, rule system. 5e isn't big in my area. Gamestop ceased all operations in Ireland and they had the most tabletop stuff (dice and 5e mainly). I ended up creating a rough 2d6 system loosely based off of Kal Arath. At this point I would assemble all the random tables and spark tables I need. Secondly, I would prep the starting 3 missions. I like sandboxes and I found them easy to run as my players were part of a community. I prepped the mission by getting a random word from a spark table from Random Realites by Cezar Capacle. I would get two words and riff off them. before the first session I asked them what characters are they creating. I would then put one in a mission. For example one player wanted to get revenge on their former cult leader. All the player characters had a faction that relates to them. the Cult leader became the leader of the White Hand. 

Prep sheet with 3 missions



When I would prep a scenario, I would make sure I have a goal, an enemy faction, a rough idea of what everyone wants, what notable features are there and what rewards are there. A goal would be a simple 2 word simple objective. With an effective session length of an hour, I, along with some players would like a goal to aim for with no obvious answer. The faction informs what type of enemies I should make along with how they act. The wants are the most impactful as they handle any unclear interactions. No, the cultists won't be intimidated as they think that their leader will dispatch them. But if it started snowing, suddenly they get spooked as their deity brings snow where it steps. The notable features help create abstract points to the adventure. The rewards finally add something to achieve for the next session. 


Monsters for those 3 missions



I would then prep monsters. They have health, courage (morale for OSR), DC to dodge their attacks, a DC to hit the enemy and lastly attacks and spells. They were very simple, tracking hits rather than HP numbers. This entire process would take me about 15 minutes. I would do this process 2 more times. During prep I would take note of all "gaps", the areas I would improvise. I added a star so that if something I didn't prep for happened, I wouldn't be out of the water. I used a random word picker to help me if I hit a star. At the end of a session I would ask, "okay, what do you all want to do next week?". Rinse and repeat for the 4 sessions. 

 

I called this campaign a "beach trip" campaign. It had sandbox elements, since players could explore what they liked, and it was manageable due to the fact that it had a small scope. It was like a beach trip where you would go to the beach, explore it and then pack up and go home. Since player feedback was central to the campaign, it made prep so much easier as all I had to do was to ask "what are their enemies gonna do about that?". It reminded me of of how video games don't load all of the map, just the parts within your movement/vision. I still prep with this model and refining it. 

Clickables 

Roll to Doubt was the catalyst for this post here's her take on prepping.

You can get random realities on their itch.io page 

Vorpal Coil lodges dice into banks. 

Break RPG reels in a new fishing procedure. 

 

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