Hey everyone, due to changing schedules (and Tristan running like four games a week), we are discontinuing our Wednesday night Prep Night... ...and we will instead be holding an Open Q&A on Tuesday evenings (EST). The last one we did was a lot of fun - people game out, workshopped their goals, posed questions to the group, etc. So the calendar for next week will reflect that. Hope to see you there - come hang and talk about your games and plan new ones!

It's been a pretty long time since we've had a poll, so let's get one rolling! This week, I'm curious how much people prep for sessions, and in what way. To keep the poll simple I'll just add prep amount here, but feel free to leave a comment describing your style of prep (bare-bones bullet points, notebooks, notion, etc). Personally, I'd say I'm a medium prepper. I always do it in notebooks, and I'll usually prep more than I need because I enjoy using it to wind down before bed. I'll usually have a few pages of notes for a session, and I'll put some sticky notes where I need them.

I am starting a new campaign this week. I am a little torn about player goals. Has anyone tried doing a set of party goals as well? I am wondering about how to do player goals in a way that the whole party is invested in so that it isn't just a campaign of continuous side quests.

I'm planning this wicked fight for tomorrow, where my party stole a pirate ship holding poached giant eagles. I partially want to show off this cardboard cutout I made, which is super cool, but also ask for advice with combat on a ship. They're going to try and set them free, meanwhile the pirates onboard have woken up. Planning three groups of enemies: - Group of minions with the captain, topside, want to keelhaul the players for stealing their ship. Fight to the death. - Group of minions with the first mate, lower decks with the eagles, want to prevent the players from freeing them, but could be bought. - The rest of the pirates that were out drinking pursuing behind. Mainly, they want to be reunited with their crew, and potentially seize the ship if both parties are wounded. Would flee if the players are obviously winning. As far as combat devices and environment: - Sails falling on players - People getting tied up in ropes - Fish jumping out of the sea - Storms and Lightning - All the cannons have been removed to fit the eagles, and instead the top deck was retrofitted with two ballistas. One fore and the other aft. They were expecting more giant eagles to come and attack. - On that note, more giant eagles could show up I don't do minis very often, and have never done a physical 3d thing before. I also have not ran any combat in fantasy ships before. Any suggestions for how to run this massively complex thing? Any other suggestions to add to my NPC goals and environmental challenges?

…and where would you like to grow? One of the greatest gifts in my gaming career was discovering that I don’t have to GM like anyone else, and can find and build my own strengths into the GM I would like to be, someone I enjoy. I have plenty of examples and ideas, and I’m going to resist the urge to put my thumb on the scale and let y’all kick it off. I promise I’ll chime in later. ☺️