Is ‘Don’t Over-Prepare’ the Worst Advice for New DMs?

3 Wise DMs

DM prep: It can be the most important thing to putting on a good game or the biggest obstacle keeping you from getting back behind the screen. Some DMs say the most important thing to remember is to not over-prepare, but YouTube DM guru Ginny Di recently called this The Worst advice new DMs hear, and that it actually hurt her development as a young DM.

Is “don’t over-prepare” bad DMing advice? There’s a lot to dig into there. In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave take a close look at Ginny Di’s take, the different ways they approach prep, the pros and cons of trying to DM without over-preparing, and how new DMs can find the right level of prep for them.

2:00 “The worst DM advice that everyone gets” from Ginny Di

6:00 Lightening the game up: Where “don’t over-prepare” comes from and where it goes wrong

13:00 Should the DM be responsible for doing a ton of prep for each game? Is that fun?

18:00 Managing pre-game anxiety: When you’re not prepared, do you still enjoy running the game?

21:00 Learning what you need to prep to have a fun game

30:00 How appropriate prep is different in different types of games

40:00 The Tolantia Infiltration: The high-prep and low-prep ways to do a spy mission

46:00 Ways to prep more effectively and with less waste

53:00 How does a new DM find the level of prep that’s right for them?

63:00 Final thoughts