The worst DM advice that everyone gives 

The advice shouldn’t be “don’t over-prepare” it should be “don’t over-rely on your preperation. Be prepared to improvise”

Take it from Eisenhower: Plans are useless, but planning is everything.

"Don't waste prep" was the big one for me. When I started I had a huge overpreperation problem, and the issue was wasting time on stuff that would never come up. One early session, for example, I prepared 5 full Dungeons, and the party didn't end up going to any of them. The phrase that spoke to me (which seems like basically the same place you landed here) was Brennan Lee Mulligan saying "You should prepare as much or as little as you need to feel comfortable improvising the rest."

i personally always saw the quote as: "dont try to cover every single base, prepare enough that you feel comfortable playing and dont exhaust yourself for the sake of a game meant for fun."

I think there is a third thing that "don't overprepare" usually means. "Don't let perfect get in the way of good enough" Your first game will never be perfect and trying to prepare for a perfect first session can lead to DM burnout before you ever run a session. Just give it a go and learn from your mistakes. Most players will be understanding and any existing DMs playing in your game will be there for you - we have all been there.

I agree soooo much about the preparing for history and a world, as those are important things that the players WILL notice the inconsistencies and holes in. and yes, absolutely prepare problems, not solutions. the players will figure the latter out and often times surprise you!

I always saw “overpreparing” as “don’t put all your eggs in the same basket”. It’s not necessarily talking about prep time and effort but moreso expectations. The more you plan for things to go a certain way the more disappointed you’ll be when they don’t, and that can lead to everyone not having a good time if it’s clear everyone went into it expecting something different. They’re essentially expressing that being able to adlib and improv is a much more useful ability to make sure things go smoothly than something you spent a week rehearsing

One thing that I've found incredibly useful for my Extremely ADHD DM brain is realizing that certain kinds of prep done early can relieve a lot of pressure/necessity for other prep later. When inspiration hits, I can pour a lot of time and enthusiasm into putting together maps and locations and NPCs and possible treasure and hints and plot hooks and who knows what else, not in a linear fashion but just in a 'fun learning about this world' fashion, because I'm _excited_ and I want to play with my world. Inevitably, the first time or two that we venture into that location, the party will encounter SOME aspect of it all, but there's always a ton of things they don't go near -- which means that for the NEXT week, I rarely have to do more than refine one or two things in the back of my head while I'm doing laundry. I also generally keep prepared lists like "names common to this region", "moon phase calendar", or monster manual stat block page numbers. That's the kind of prep that took a little work at the start (again, while I was feeling VERY EXCITED about playing in this world and wanted something to play with between sessions), but now is just _there_ whenever I need it, helping me improvise. The biggest thing about overpreparation that I've run into, aside from the real risk of railroading, is that if you spend too much time and energy and thought on your prep, it's possible to get bored of a scenario before it even happens in game. Stop while it's still fun and you're still excited. That's really key.

I think the only point of "over" preparing that really matters is when the DM is putting more pressure/stress on themselves than the amount of fun they're having actually playing the game.

The comfort level advice is not just good advice, it's very well explained, particularly for something I've tried and failed to impart to other DMs in the past. Nicely done, Ginny!

Honestly this was such a relief to hear as a new DM. I am a preparer by nature so when everyone told me to "not over-prepare" my first campaign, I felt like I was already a bad DM. I'm loving your videos! Thanks for all the ideas!

"I'm here to explain myself and add a solution, like a god damn contributing member of this community" You have long earned my respect, but this is a great example of why you maintain it.

This! This is good advice, better to over-prepare and then learn to dial it back to your comfort level, nothing is wasted if you learn something from it.

I'm literally always prepping. 30min lunch break: "I wonder what bbeg is up to", 5 min between meetings: "X player is going to love this item", hours before the session: " I should double check that i have all the stat blocks ready"

That stuff about "if players avoid an encounter you've prepared, just reskin it and throw it at them later" is perfect.

Longtime player, 1st time DM: just ran 1st session, I prepared waaaaay to many contingencies on "but what if my players do this??" I nearly fell into the trap of implementing countermeasures for creative thinking because it vaguely reminded me of a cheese strat I'd lost sleep building a countermeasure for. I think maybe this is what they mean?

There's two other meanings to "don't over-prep", besides "don't railroad" and "don't waste prep" imo. The first is "don't stress out": lots of new DMs tend to stress about whether or not they have enough material yet, to the point where they never feel ready to actually start running a game. DMing shouldn't be stressful, or intimidating to the point where it turns people away from doing it! The second meaning is "don't burn out". Lots of new DMs are in a sort of honeymoon period where they spend every waking hour thinking about their next game, to the point where after a couple of months, they burn themselves out. If you pace yourself out, DMing can be much more sustainable as a hobby to do besides your job, school, or whatever else you've got going on. Definitely agree with the conclusion of the video though. Both of those extra issues are about finding what your sweetspot for prep lies.

My group introduced a routine a couple of years ago: at the end of each session we tell the DM where we plan to go next time. Essentially, if they give us two or three plot hooks we'll tell them which one we'd like to follow, and if we're already following a side quest etc. we'll tell them what our character's motivation is so they know how to keep it relevant/engaging. This means the DM knows how to plan the start of the session at the very least. Plus it gives us players some responsibility to keep the story going and not just wait for the DM to do all the prep for us. It's worked really well so far!

I was told "don't overprepare", but while preparing, I eventually realized that I do still need to prepare a lot, especially if I want to avoid railroading. If anything, I overprepared by looking up DM tip videos, like Matt Coville's video series, and read through the 3 base books (which I actually enjoyed overall. Lots of ideas). Like Ginni said, even if something you plan doesn't happen, you can still use it later. If the party goes off the path I planned, I like having ideas for side quests they might run into. My friend ran Strahd and one session was literally just us getting drunk in a bar. Nothing he planned happened, but we all had fun talking with the random NPCs he'd make up. Still everyone's favorite session.

The version of this advice that I took to heart was "never force yourself to prepare more than you must." It hold a lot more nuance than "don't overprepare," despite echoing a similar sentiment. It's a caution against World Builder's Disease, which can be a massive trap for new DMs. But it's more open, too. You can let yourself go wild thinking about the world and the intricacies, but if you find yourself trying to force things, chances are you need to take a step back.

i always took "don't over prepare" more as a reminder that there is no perfect amount of preparation so you shouldn't put to much pressure onto yourself to prep every single detail that is probably not even needed. What I tend to say to the new DMs I help with their first session is: it is hard to prepare for the actions that you dont' know yet(the actions of the player) but you it is much easier to prepare for the actions that you do know (the actions of and reactions of the world around the player). Of course I elaborate on it and explain what I mean.

Honestly, the prep is my favorite part of DMing. I find encounter constructing and world-building to be incredibly satisfying. I also do my prep in two tiers: Long term, which is very broad and flexible, and immediate, where I am prepping a single session or adventure in greater detail, often taking elements of my long term prepwork and defining and refining it into something more specific.

A few years ago, my daughter wanted me to run a campaign for her and her friends. What I did for her made her incredibly happy. She has read old story notes and completed chapters about a character I still use to this day, but she didn't know the early history of him. I took her and her party from Oerth to Kalar and stranded them there. The time period I sent her to was this character's earlier years. She played it very well, because she actually had personal knowledge of future events, but kept them all to herself. The reason this worked is because she was a tertiary character, meaning her presence or absence was not going to affect the time line, at all, and in a couple of instances, her presence explained a few events, but moreover, it gave her a chance to observe, first-hand, the rise, and fall of Mordaine, prior to his becoming a Lycan (essentially a werewolf elf. They are more able to control the lunar changes than humans). It even gave her the opportunity to see him in the eyes of one who might have seen him as less of a protagonist, and more of an antihero. She was a magic-user, whose powers failed when she entered Kalar. Mordaine instructed her how to use magic properly in Kalar. There was a lot of personal interaction here, something she was not used to in Dungeons and Dragons. Kalar is a very dangerous place, with many similar places to, say, Mos Eisley or Mordor exist. My first interactions with all the characters was indeed, interesting, because the gods of Oerth were not the same beings as the ones from Kalar. Though the language was similar, meaning Kalarian common v. Oerthian common were like the differences between British English v. Southern American English, the language of magicks were very different. What helped me with this is, how was I going to make this happen, what was going to happen to make this believable, and how far was I willing to take this. I ran this concurrent with events I already knew the outcome of in a parallel timeline, and I was pretty well-prepared on how to NOT add an irritant to the timeline. It took about 5 sessions for her to figure out, she was not the primary character in this time line. She was here to observe events of Kalar, not write them, though she would be writing out her own sequences of events, and even becoming associated with all those who aided and ultimately a couple who betrayed him. After what I wanted her to see was concluded, her party would have the option to attempt to return to Oerth, or stay on Kalar and write their own adventures outside the time line of Kalar. None of them wanted to leave Kalar. They are in the process of traveling south to the Ice Fortress of ancient wyrms to recover a holy sword for one of them because that character took on the mantle of Paladinhood. Maybe they will run into Mordaine again, one day. That will depend on where they go, and when. My advice is, at least have some idea what you want to see the party do. I know, I've heard it a thousand times, "let the players decide their destiny", but what you end up with is a bunch of players that constantly play in the sandbox, because they lack any form of direction. You have to offer the players REAL choices, not chores. Ok, chores have their place, but that is often not what the party signs up for. Careful being too ambitious, or handing out magic items too readily, especially if they were not earned.

I like to tell new DMs “Prepare as much as you feel comfortable with, but remember that what is said at the table is canon, and improved moments are equally as canon as pre-planned material”

Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Mike Shea/Sly Flourish is a great whole book that goes into detail on how to prep flexibly and just the amount you personally need to feel prepared, including a full customizable system. Definitely recommend! It's also got a bundle of holding right now to get it and other for just $6, though only for the next 8 hours.

"Prepare what benefits your game" - How to tell what prepping the right amount looks/feels like. Advice from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, it's a great book by Mike Shea/The Lazy DM where he breaks down prep into tangible steps to follow, highly recommend!

Getting comfortable with your own DMing style is particularly good advice, every DM has a different flavor. In my group every player is also a DM, we rotate between several campaigns with each of us running a different one. The other members of my group have a very loud and dynamic style (voices, sound effects, etc.), whereas I have a much more reserved style because I just can't do those things. It takes me out of my comfort zone and for a long time I felt like I wasn't "DMing right". However, one session when I expressed this concern the group actually said they love my style and that the matter of fact way I describe my world lends it its own kind of weight. An amusing description one person said was it's like Rod Sterling presents D&D, which lead to a joke where my group says they picture me in a suit smoking while walking around the party during my opening and closing narrations. "Imagine if you will, a world of high adventure..."

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Eisenhower

While I can't guarentee this for everyone, in my experience the worst sessions I've ever run were games that I prepped last minute. And when I say worst, I mean WORST. Be flexible with your preparation, but be sure to HAVE preparation.

"Don't overprepare" feels like something seasoned DMs learned for themselves after getting comfortable with prep and settling into a looser, more improvisational DM style, not something that should be suggested to total newbies. Literally more than a year and a half into DMing for the first time, I STILL don't feel ready for a session if I don't overdo my prep. Planning isn't the enemy if you're enjoying putting the work in.

I love this discussion. I'll be brief and suggest two inputs: First I have the players fill out a very detailed survey before even rolling up their characters. This is reviewed as part of my checklist for making sub-adventures in my campaign - the survey is not a "one and done" to be quickly forgotten, but one of my tools for making each adventure session. Second, I write a quick paragraph on what the adventure will be, with a short list of "to do" items like a stat block for the boss, sourcing (not making) a map, etc. Then it's much easier to focus on the story, and work the details when you have time. Helps link an ongoing, coherent and player-centric story into your campaign.

I don't know how its taken me so long to find your channel, but after binging around 8 hours of lore your channel was recommended. I immediately subscribed because your explanations are soo well grounded, well thought out and chill to digest. EVERY new or aspiring DM should WATCH THIS!!!

When I first gave DMing a try for a one shot I remember hearing that advice a lot. Thankfully I still prepared to my comfort level (or as much as I could ) since like you I feel anxious when not prepared and not confident if I went in with too little. Which just doesn't make an enjoyable time for me, and just because I was the dm doesn't mean my fun doesn't matter. I think another thing a lot of people mean when they give that advice is to "not overprepare and burn yourself out". I think moderation is important. Prepare all you want, just don't sacrifice your health and energy too much. Because at the end of the day dnd is a game that is meant to be fun and enjoyable for everyone.

I've always read "Don't Overprepare" as advice for new DMs as "Don't let the specter of prep scare you away from trying to DM", as in you don't need every corner of your world done and dusted, every plot thread ready, every NPC, every bit of intrigue ready day 1; a tavern, a kidnapped farmer's daughter and some goblins may be cliche, but it's enough to see if you even enjoy doing this thing. Finding your prep comfort level is important though, for both your sanity and fun, especially as levels begin to creep up and the possibilities of what trouble your players can stir up grows exponentially.

This reminds me of some advice I got during my final year project at uni which went: "don't ask too many questions." The implication being that any amount of questions could constitute too many and consequentially, I barely communicated with my supervisor at all which was extremely counterproductive. Looking back on it, what they meant was "don't rely on your supervisor to do everything for you and if you do, it will count against you."

You made a lot of excellent points, Ginny. When I say "don't overprepare" I mean don't kill yourself trying to prepare for every eventuality. If you prep until you're too stressed to think straight, it can be just as damaging as going into a session stressed about your lack of preparation. I think the advice should be, "Don't stress, you've got this!" I think it's good to look at prep a little like studying: it works way better in segmented intervals rather than one big cram session. As long as you realize as the DM that you only make half the story, (the players making the other half) things will go great!

“Don’t overprepare” is the worst advice, I have THE WORST memory and there are times when I’m either great at improv or need 5 minutes to think for every interaction😅 Plus I like to prep to make sure all players get their time to shine whether through rp, backstory callback, or quests/mini quests.

Godsdammit, Francis! Excellent breakdown of a topic many take for granted, Ginny. As usual, good advice.

Love your take on this. One thing I want to add is, if you ever prepare something your party goes in the opposite direction of (like NPCs, or that ship and its crew), you can always adjust it slightly and re-use it later. I find I often end up recycling unused prep later on down the line, and when I do, it's always nicer for me than having to improvise for those situations!

“But not too far north!” this is my life. ❤️ you so much. Thank you for your time and the video.

I would like to add a third interpretation of the "Don't overprepare" advice. Start learning how to DM by taking things 1 session at a time. You will most probably not be able to create a world and campaign like Matt Mercer, Matthew Colvile, Jason Carl, etc. If you're comfortable in running a single session, create a mini-campaign, then a full campaign, then a 10 year spanning epic. You want to try politics, experiment with it. Build the tools that you need from the ground up, taking managable steps one session at a time. Don't be paralised by endless worldbuilding and just start. Prepare what you need for that session (no matter how much that may be).

Ginny Di Fans: "Ginny is the purest, most wholesome and innocent being in all creation." Comment Section Ginny: (reads from Urban Dictionary, complete with hand gestures, 90% of content bleeped out) Ginny Di Fans: "So pure. So innocent."

I used to get SUCH anxiety for not preparing enough, but now im just radically optimistic and just feel relaxed in the chaos. Now I've learned to be at ease, coming up with things on the fly, only prepping what's absolutely necessary, and just throwing things in that I think of on the spot that I think fits.

I’m in my first real full length homebrew campaign as a DM. You exclusively make me feel safe to learn. Other channels make me feel incompetent or like I’m not in the club. Over the last few months since the campaign started, I watch one or two of your videos on session day to remind myself that players aren’t expecting Lord of the Rings level lore or new languages or huge world maps they won’t ever have time to see all of. You make me feel like I’m doing something right. Thank you.

Thank you! I’m a new DM & I went to Reddit for some advice about balancing an encounter I’d prepared just in case the party ended up in a fight with a certain NPC during a heist & rather than getting advice about the encounter, I was hounded with, “You’re over preparing!”, “This sounds scripted!”, “I’d not want to play in your game”, which was really disheartening. It took me a few days to disregard all that nonsense in my mind & just run the game I set out to run. I’ve not reached the specific encounter yet, but my group has played two sessions (& hoo boy - the heist is off to a terrible start, with a knocked-out butler, smashed windows & doors, a bed on fire, 3 alerted guards & a scared maid locked in a bathroom!) since I fretted about this encounter & they’ve really enjoyed themselves & I’ve been thankful to have my “over prepared” notes to look at in case of emergency. I’m not an actor, I’m not a theatre nerd, nothing - this isn’t a script I’ve got, this is just information I need to know to keep the world flowing in my mind & not hold up the game & I’ve never had to put a pause on a session. I’m a minute into this video but I’ve liked it already - more new DMs need to hear this. You don’t need a world history for every continent - heck, you don’t even have to have anything planned outside the city you’re in right now & heck, you don’t even need more than a couple buildings & businesses, but the “don’t over prepare” advice is levied at everyone & can come with even worse advice & weird attitudes tacked on. Prepare as much as you want, when you get into the game & start playing, you’ll find out for yourself what you need to prepare & what you don’t - just start! If you’re playing with friends, the nerves will fade away & so long as you’re all having fun, every NPC can be named fucking Mark in the end. If you want to have a custom stat block for a nobleman whose manor the party is raiding, just in case - fucking do it & don’t ask anyone else for advice, just balance around the parties level & roll with it. Prepare as much as you want, you’ll find your balance in time. You’ve just got to start playing, that’s the main thing, I was nervous, but that’s gone now & with two sessions banked, I know how much I need in the way of notes, what directions the party might head that I can flesh out further, etc.

As a DM who prepares by basically re-reading the entire adventure module before every game this video makes me feel both validated and called out. O.o

This is the Francis content we deserve!

As someone who has thought about dming, but gets really anxious when I don't feel prepared, I think this advice is super helpful. I agree too that when you give advice it is only helpful if you explain what you actually mean. Examples are really important. Great video.

When I started DMing a few years back, I used to "prepare" by writing down a few sentences at most, and maybe prepping combat encounters. My games felt superficial and frustrating, and I felt like my players were never having fun. I stopped DMing after that campaign was over. A few weeks ago I started a new campaign, going full out on preparation. Fleshed out an entire map with a political system, several play areas, multiple factions and competing agendas. I will spend multiple evenings pouring out notes in preparation for a session. The result? My players are happy and they seem to enjoy it a lot more. And the prep never feels like a chore, because I genuinely enjoy the creative process and I REVEL in the thought of how much my players are going to love what I prepare for them. Bottom line: prepping is not "bad" and there is not a "right amount" of it. Just experiment until you find what works for you

I think another thing that people mean when they say "don't over prepare" is that you don't have to prepare and create everything, and certainly not all by yourself. When my boyfriend started DMing he tried to prepare absolutely everything he could including maps, props, npcs, character portraits, all the town layouts, world history, storyline, item pricing, printing minis, music, etc etc. He obviously got very overwhelmed and stressed out about DMing, especially as a uni student! I told him that it was okay to find/buy maps, use town and npc generators, take storylines from popular media, etc. I think that really helped him and he looks forward to our sessions now instead of dreading them :) Though I do agree that "don't overprepare" is too simplified, it does have some truth to it! It just requires more nuance and people should consider that every dm is different and has a different level of prep preference, as well as time availability

I appreciate your videos so so much Ginny, they're helpful, insightful, and a good length for including enough information on the topics but not being too long.

ginny, i think this might be one of the best videos you ever made. Thank you so much this made me more confident in my ability to dm

That last part is how I would phrase it: Don't over- or underprepare. Experiment and find out how much or how little preparation works best for you.

My way of balancing prep and player motivation is by creating what I call modules: key moments in the story as little islands. I create these, but leave the pathways between them open to the players. That way, based on the decisions they make, I can slot each module into their path as opportunities arise to include lore, introduce NPCs, stage important sequences, and tell the story in an organic way.

So I know this is a 4 month old post at this point, and was skeptical when you started but it was spot on. As a DM for 25 years, saying don't over prep is easy for me to understand. On the other hand for new DMs this was a great and informational video. Much better than a lot I have seen. So much good advices like many of your other videos. It was especially how to prepare, but be flexible. Great Job!

THANK YOU, I'm glad someone said it, and you're absolutely right about it being specific to each individual's level of comfort. There's so much trepidation around DMing that there's an understandable motivation to reassure newcomers. It feels like over time that morphed from "Anyone can DM, don't let the rules scare you off!" to "DMing is SUPER easy and CHILL and you don't need to know or do ANYTHING beforehand" which just feels like a lie (however well-meaning).

First time DM, can confirm, this is useful. I def have “over prepared”, I made a bunch of NPCs and gave them names, jobs, races, and if they give a quest or not. I also have more that I didn’t do that for. I like to have as much info as possible. It’s nice to be able to go to a list and just see all the info I need for something

I always heard “Don’t overprepare” as meant to be interpreted by the receiver. I have an idea what my own tendencies are and what my overpreparation would be. I think it’s just meant to allow a DM to let themselves stop when they feel “prepared” and not feel the need to know everything ahead of time that they could possibly imagine knowing.

i know this was posted a year ago and i don't even know if you check notifications on old posts.. but seriously thank you. im a fledgeling DM with a big heart for world building. You're channel has been so incredibly helpful and I'm glad to hear you say "don't overprepare" is bad advice... because i definitely prepare a LOT. I have a calender that i keep for the campaign with major events happening (a town gets raided, an assassination attempt, etc.) and it all happens either in or out of the spotlight depending how my PCs play... and their actions always affect the global events... i lke to keep it thorough but fluid, holding everything with an open hand. Anyways you're easily my favorite online DM to learn from. thank you!

We are polar opposites in DM style, and yet I think this is a fantastic video ❤️ It really is all about finding your own way if doing things!

I once heard a variation on this that I really liked: figure out what the villain would do without the PCs and how they respond to the PCs interfering? (Do they have a rigid plan they'll obsessively try and stick to, a goal and very flexible plans, or something else?)

I'm just so very impressed with how far You've come. When I first started following you you were my favorite Jester. Now as a GM with more than 35 years of experience I enjoy and find something I can use in your Talks about Running the Game.

Just ran my first session as DM last week. LOVE this advice. Your videos have been great at putting me at ease as I prep for future sessions.

Something else that my DM does that helps them prep is comunication. I remember a session that was mostly our characters talking over our options and at the end we left it a little open ended so the DM just asked us. "What are you guys planning on doing next?" We talked it over a bit more then told him our plan so he could know what to prep.

This advice sounds like the "practice more" advice you get when asking how to draw better because they never elaborate on what to practice or even how

The better advice is Sly Flourish's advice to prepare what benefits your game, and discard the rest. Try things out and don't be afraid to discard advice that you find with experience doesn't add to your game. Your time is limited and is best spent on things that you find make your game better or more fun for you.

This's probably some of the most helpful advice I've gotten thus far. Thank you!

I feel this so hard, and honestly I'm still a really new DM. Hearing tis hot take makes me feel so much better and more comfortable sitting down for my sessions cause even the DM'S I've played under always tell me I over prepare, but it makes me feel confident and not to mention helps with the rules that i might be a little foggy on!

Maybe if we were to replace "Don't overprepare" with what we actually mean, it would be "Prepare to improvise."

This is great advice! I have a tendency to prepare a lot myself, but what I always take from "Don't overprepare!" isn't actually about preparation, but rather about player agency. It's great to have a ton of stuff prepared, it's just crucial that players are still influencing and driving the story with their characters and their choices.

I love your channel and your advice is top tier. Thanks for your hard work, Ginny!!!!

Great vid! The part on preparing flexibly especially -- as a GM of 27 years that's essentially my mantra.

I use "return of the lazy dungeon master" by Sly Flourish to prepare for my sessions. Works for me like a charm.

As someone who really wants to start DMing, thank you for this.

This video, especially the "prepare flexibly" section, is some of the best changes I've made to my prep since I've started as a DM. Creating declarative statements about your world that are provocative, placing things on your map and charting out what types of NPCs have knowledge of these things is the type of prep that allows me to sit back at the table and freestyle to whatever the players want to do. Even in the example of preparing a full ship crew and ocean adventures - okay, so the players didn't do this today, but I will always have my notes on a ship crew for when they DO decide to try it. And if they teleported to the other side of the map - hey! I know what's over there because I prepped the general area!

Thank you for this. I'm about to dm my first ever campaign and this has given me more confidence in my planning.

I've always played GM in a "seat of my pants" style. I have a lot of things prepared - tons of NPCs, tons of towns, tons of small encounters, etc. I have a lot of time put into prepping them and how the players can get to them. However, my players will always catch me off guard, so I just save a lot of it for later or for one shots down the road. I never feel /over/ prepared, I just feel ... prepared. Ezpz.

better advice would be “don’t overthink your preparation.” as in, make sure you plan an adequate adventure but like … relax. it’ll be fine. picking something and moving on is almost always better than stressing over an insignificant lore detail for two hours.

This is amazing advice. Thank you soo much for making this video. I've been a DM for years and have always encouraged my players to try writing their own games. I do my best to explain how I plan but you have done such an amazing job here. Tank you tank you GinnyDi

Just finding this channel, love the way you edit videos by responding to yourself from the "comment section"!

Thank you! I am definitely someone who needs preparation to run a good session and I have frequently felt like a failure when I see that advice everywhere

Finally, someone is brave enough to say this and of course it was Ginny (and also those other people as well I GUESS). And a solid twitter dig? That's edutainment folks.

You're doing great work with this channel, Ginny Di.

Your advice just gets better and better with time and your own experience! This is definitely good for new players to be told.

Thank you for liberating me from allegedly "overpreparing" 😭 I tend to prep a lot, and there are often things that go completely unused (totally fine with me) but like you, I feel way more confident if I have things thought out (maybe that's a way of distinguishing) than if I try to improvise off the cuff. But ESPECIALLY when it comes to lore, intrigue, or conspiracies! I didn't have the conscious thought until this but seriously--there's no way I could DM a compelling story without knowing wtf is going on.

Its interesting that this is one of the few videos youve made i disagree on. I certainly agree its oversimplified and that is a problem, but i think we have to take into context who this is most often given this advice: new dms. Over preparation can lead to not only delaying the playing of the game ( basically saying give me X amount of time before I have nailed out every detail), but also not having as clear an idea of what your players want out of a game. Most new Dms first sessions are going to be flawed and i think most players are reasonable enough to understand this. By saying don't overprepare to a new dm your basically telling them to work a little bit as they go rather than front loading all the work. I often addendum this advice with plan maybe a 1-3 session plot line and plan the rest afterward once you got the hang of it. New Dm's don't necessarily know the level of planning they need to be comfortable and by telling them to take it easy for at least the early portion of their campaign they can learn and become accustom to what sort of things they should prepare. I don't even think it means don't waste prep. It means don't worry about the minute details early on, not becuase it will lead to wasted time and railroading, but because you don't know what you need to even be prepared. New DM's face paralysis by choice and this sentiment is supposed get them to be become accustom to what they want from experience rather than be paralyzed. So when you say don't over prepare your saying just do the minimum for you to be ready to run sessions and build up from there. That's why its oversimplified. You do not prepare OVER what you feel you need to be able to run a session. I think it goes without saying as you go on you will find your level of comfort, but I think its improbable that people will know this from the start.

This may be the best D&D/RPG related channel I have found in a long time!

I am soooo happy I found your channel! This is helping me so much!

I "over prepared" for my campaign like months ago... Since I got lucky and the party just decided to basically follow every plot hook I had prepared at the start, all I had to do for many sessions in a row was just tweak encounters and reorganize them to for what my players were doing. Made my life so much easier to be prepared early on.

Yes! I love this advice. I'm definitely a DM that does better with more prep than less as then it makes it easier for me to come up with stuff on the fly as I know more about the situations they may end up with and can therefore adapt them to different areas or NPCs.

This is a great take on this. I think something important as well is that some people just really love doing the prep and encounter building because it is fun, not because they feel the need to for the game. That's personally not my style but I have friends who make full databases for their campaigns and they spend hours fleshing out things even though the players scratch the surface. Great video as usual! ✨

Such a good video! DM prep is soo different for every person, and the 'don't over prep' advice definitely confused me when I was starting out. I will say though, my favorite piece of DM advice has got to be from Matt Colville, when he talked about knowing would happen _without_ your players there (where NPCs are, what actions they'd take) and then reacting accordingly when your players decide to change one thing or another; definitely suits how I like to run my games :)

The worst directions all end with, "You can't miss it."

I like to put my prep time less into "here's something for the party to do/encounter" and more into creating characters, motivations, plots, important locations, and happenings in and around the city/town/forest that the players are within. That way there's stuff happening around them, whether the players interact with it or not. If the players miss a plot hook to deal with a necromancer raising the dead, maybe they return a while later to find that the necromancer has overrun the town. Maybe there are schemes to uncover with politicians running the city, and the players have the power to affect the result in a number of ways. The less there's a "right" and "wrong" choice and the more it's shades of grey, the better. And there's nothing more delicious than the players making a decision they thought was right at the time only to discover it wasn't so simple and they've made the situation so much worse.

"Don't overprepare" was the best advice I was ever given as a new DM. My biggest failing as a new DM was writing page after page of prepared story for my games only to have the players do something completely off the wall and go in a direction I hadn't even thought of! It annoyed and frustrated me as it blew huge holes in the narrative I had in my notes and mind. Gradually I learned to build a general outline for the game with an ultimate end goal and then work with what my players gave me on the fly. That way the players created as much of the story as I did. This habit has served me well even with pre written campaigns where thanks to my players creativity I end up rewriting half the ruddy adventure and love every minute of it! I always interpreted "Don't overprepare" as meaning don't expect your players to stick to your script. Be flexible and work with what the players give you. Otherwise you will either railroad your players or become frustrated at the wasted story prep you did.

I know this video has been out for quite a bit but I NEEDED to hear this! I've been actually scared to prepare a session, FOR MY VERY FIRST CAMPAIGN! I feel like if my playing party (one of whom is a DM) feels like I've "over prepared", they'll like, scoff at me or something. I was so underprepared I just revealed a key member of the BBEG group IN THE FIFTH SESSION! And I've been so stressed and nervous the entire time, and I don't feel confident enough to believe my players when they say they're having fun. I obviously need to reassess and make sure I'm actually ready for everything now, and I'll definitely be utilizing your tips. Thank you so much Ginny!

I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of giving out the no context "don't overprepare" advice. This way of explaining it, in terms of just not railroading and being prepared to evaluate how useful your preparation was seems like a much, much more useful way to give that advice. I will change how I talk to new DMs in this regard.

As a DM that's been running for a couple years now, I'm still figuring out what the perfect amount of prep is, sometimes I'll prep too much, sometimes not enough. It changes week to week even.

I clicked into this because this sounded really close to my #1 rule I teach new DMs. "Don't over-create; When you spend a lot of time creating something, you fall in love with it. Never put anything you love in front of a player. Assume anything you put in front of them will be killed, stolen, and/or set on fire."

"If your advice requires some hidden context to be understood, then your advice is worthless" That is one of the most valuable sentences and a life lesson on it's own. "be yourself" what does that mean? there are laws and human decency, FYI "just practice" practice what? how much? can I move on in a month or a decade? "revenge is never the answer" then what? I'm being consumed by this and I clearly need help "love yourself" how? there's clearly too much I don't like about me, how do I even start? "chase your dreams" then it's okay to neglect my responsibilities? what happens if I fail or if I grow and realize that I'm wasting my time? should I just double down? etc. etc. etc.