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Podcasts: Narrative Control - Episode 7 - Zero Prep vs. High Prep

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  1. Administrator
     

    Hi, welcome to Narrative Control. This episode Justin and I talk about high prep vs. low games and the advantages and pitfalls of both.

    Hosts: Sean Nittner and Justin Evans

    Length: 29:33 Minutes

    Liner Notes

    [0:27] Introduction to the show. Zero prep vs. high prep games.
    [0:55] Rpgpodcasts.com bumper
    [1:16] Cage Match! We want two winners
    [1:32] Definitions: Zero Prep games.
    [2:21] Example of a zero prep game: Spirit of the Century. Pickup or zero prep? The same thing?
    [4:40] Even less prep: In a Wicked Age using oracles.
    [6:51] Story starts being developed during character/setting creation. Creates situation and conflict for the GM to use.
    [8:10] Definition: High Prep game
    [9:57] May create different player motivations. Instead of directing plot, pursue developing character or find a reason to connect to the existing plot.
    [11:00] Foster antagonism between the GM and players?
    [12:40] Listening to Have Games will Travel: For a Few Games More. Paul talks about different types of stories.
    [14 :44] More examples of low prep games: Universalis. Players sit down with a blank slate and bit on story elements to include.
    [15:35] Prime Time Adventures. Pitch session is zero prep. From then on, low prep.
    [17:07] Games that include a mechanic to push the story forward. Shab-al-Hiri Roach and Sons of Liberty and Polaris
    [18:54] Show Notes (not schnotes, just in case you thought you heard me wrong but didn't)
    [19:32] High prep games examples. Dungeons and Dragons, White Wolf games, Call of Cthulhu and Shadowrun.
    [20:04] John Wick's method for combining low prep mechanics in high prep games: Dirty Dungeon. Method from Wilderness of Mirrors
    [21:11] Win and Fail of low and zero prep games.
    [21:23] Win! Low prep games offer a great time savings.
    [22:42] Win! Player Buy in. They like it because they built it.
    [23:35] Fail. The game could be potentially less coherent. Different players with different ideas about what the game is about.
    [24:45] Fail and Win! Investment in the game for both GM and players.
    [25:00] Win! Less pressure on the part of the GM.
    [27:04] What happens if someone isn't exited about a game?
    [28:33] Try swapping back and forth. Spice it up!
    [28:44] Closing notes. Lets us know what you think at forum.narrativecontrol.com or email narrativecontrol@gmail.com

    Links
    Rpgpodcasts.com
    Spirit of the Century
    In a Wicked Age
    Have Games will Travel: For a Few Games More
    Universalis
    Prime Time Adventures
    Shab-al-Hiri Roach
    Sons of Liberty
    Polaris
    Dirty Dungeon
    Wilderness of Mirrors

    Direct Download Here: NC_Episode_007.mp3

  2. Member
    • CommentAuthorEmman
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2010
     
    Hey guys,

    Just beginning to listen through the back catalogue so a)good work, really enjoying them and b)apologies for resurrecting an old thread.

    I found your thoughs on low pres/high prep really interesting as this is an area of some debate in my gaming group.

    Fairly frequently, as a storyteller, I aim for high prep - I feel that I want to give a planned story in a coherent world which has a clear feel of theme, history and consistency, all things which I think high prep brings to the table. But what I find is that, fairly rapidly (2-3 sessions in) I revert to running low prep games where I'm blagging an improvised session based on the story so far and player reactions.

    I used to try and avoid this or see it as a failure of myself as a storyteller. I'm beginning to come to the opinion that, actually, this is just my style and I need to accept that and try and play to the strengths I have and minimise the weaknesses.

    I guess what I'm saying is that you guys did a fascinating look at varying your style from system to system. I wonder if you could comment on your experiences on varying high to low prep (and vice versa) within the same campaign?

    Cheers,
    Dan
  3. Member
     
    Hey Dan/Emman,

    Thanks for shocking this thread back into life. And thanks for listening to the show. Sorry it took a bit for me to reply to the post.

    Recently I've just finished my Cadwallon campaign which was a pretty high prep game during its whole run (a little more than a year). While I did put in a lot of time to help make the game focus on a main plot line I had mapped out, I did use a number of low prep techniques in certain parts of the game.

    I used the ideas of 'dirty dungeons' or 'capers' at several points in the campaign where I know I wanted a scene where the players needed to pull off some sort of mission...but the details of how they did the mission weren't that important.

    A specific example was a mission to sabotage a primitive steam-punky train line in Cadwallon called 'The Tractor'. They were ordered to sabotage the Tractor by the Duke of Cadwallon to send a message to the Guild who controlled it. That could have been planned out meticulously with me know the full layout of the Tractor, where all the guards were, the timeline for the Tractor route, its weak points, etc. But I think that would have resulted in a lot of that detail going to waste as my players chose to tackle it in a completely different way. It could also have just been boiled down to a couple rolls...boring.

    Instead I let them describe the complications they needed to face and how they were going to tackle the problem...then I just had to plan a couple surprises to throw at them during their caper.

    Another technique that I used (which I mentioned on this podcast) was the idea of previews. We had a round previews at the end of each game session which gave me fuel for the next. As I've mentioned before its much easier to write encounters for specific scenes than it is to pull them out of my....mind.

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