From: markk@pongo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Allen Kampe)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: How long does it take (was: META)
Date: 23 Dec 1992 16:23:44 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: markk@pongo.West.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: pongo.west.sun.com

Someone asked how long it takes to put something together.  An interesting
question and I'd be interested in how different people do their preparation.

How long does it take to come up with and flesh out a new campaign?

	It takes me 3-18mo to come up with a new campaign (mostly musing on
	possibilities and jotting down notes).  Once I get serious, it takes
	about a month of 1-3 hours a day to get it organized, coherent, well
	inter-connected, fleshed out NPCs, local soap-operas, and all the
	other junk that goes into getting an idea ready to be played.

How long does it take to make a boxed campaign/module playable?

	I find that I like to read it twice.  Once two weeks prior to play,
	and again one week prior to play.  In between those two readings
	I think about the story and what I like and don't like about it
	and what would make it better, improve the connections, better suit
	players/characters, and stuff like that.  Durring the second reading
	I make lots of notes and I then spend 2-6 hours organizing those notes
	and sticking pieces of paper into the middle of the module, making
	up lists of extra information I will need when it comes time for play.

How long does it take to prepare for a day's play?

	If I am completely happy with the module (prepared as it has been)
	I might spend as little as five or ten minutes reviewing the material
	the players are likely to deal with, making a few notes about things
	I shouldn't forget, and reviewing what happened last session.
	
	More typically, I spend 1-3 hours reviewing what has happened,
	(perhaps reviewing notes I made when I ran this previously) and
	fine tuning.  I find that I spend this time (for adults) even
	for modules I have run four or five times.  They never stop
	growing.

How long does it take to come up with a new module?

	Sometimes, it becomes clear that things aren't going as planned,
	or that what was planned is no longer right, and I have to do some
	reworking.  Once this involved creating a whole new module for a
	campaign (the players followed developed some plausible leads and
	decided to follow them to a place that was never developed in the
	original campaign).   

	This involved about 2 hours of notes on what I could already infer
	about the new module (from clues developed in the game, GM background,
	and "gut feel".  Then I went to the library, got four books (in this
	case on the "Gold Coast of Africa") and spent about six hours perusing
	them and making notes about interesting history, demographics, economics,
	politics, tribal politics, ...).  Armed with these notes, over the next
	week, I put in another six hours of detailed plot, local politics, 
	NPC design, tables, ... and had the module ready for play by saturday.

How long do you spend on review of play?

	I try to write up story notes (15 min - 1 hour) for each day of play.
	This is useful for me (as GM) to keep track of what has happened,
	and popular with the players (who get a book at the end of a campaign).
	It also gives me the opportunity to reflect on what has happened and
	to look for things that should have interesting consequences.

	At the end of a module, I spend 30 min - 2 hours making notes on how
	the play went, what was effective, what was a big hit, what was a waste,
	what was a disaster, what turned out not to make sense, what was too
	subtle, what was too obvious, and so forth.  These are the notes that
	I review the next time I want to run this module.