I got a cat-themed daily calendar last Christmas that I use at work. A few weeks ago I was peeling off the page to show the next day's date and cat fact when I realized the back of the sheets were gridded. I then had an idea to challenge myself creatively, create a small dungeon or few rooms of a larger dungeon every single day. Later, I can use these as plug-and-play in a big complex by connecting them or just single-page dungeons. I don't stock them, I don't make hooks, I don't do anything other than draw a map. The actual use of them or what is in them will come later when I need to use them. My prep approach for this game is focusing on creating tools to run a smooth and reactive game at the table. If my players go left when the hook is right, or decide they want to go explore just because they want to, I want to have the tools ready to run that. This includes lots of random tables, one-page dungeons, single sentence hooks, easy plug-and-play things that I can use on the fly. This also lets me get my creative thoughts flowing every day and be productive for my game while only taking 5-10 minutes of my day.
So the tip for the week is always to think about your game, set aside routine time to prep every day but keep it simple. Look around at everyday things in your life that you can turn into your prep (like my daily calendar). You might write down a hook every day based on the episode for TV you watched the night before or an NPC based off of a co-worker.
Hope this helps knock down the intimidation wall that is DMing for those new DMs and helps show a new perspective for the old ones!
- C&D Daniel
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