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The No-Prep Gamemaster: Train Your Brain to Run Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Run D&D and RPG Sessions Without the Stress
Are you a game master who’s short on time, overwhelmed by prep, or tired of burnout?
The No-Prep Gamemaster is your solution.
This updated and expanded second edition of Matt Davids’ well-known guide offers a practical, inspiring approach to running unforgettable tabletop RPG sessions, with little to no prep beforehand.
Inside, you’ll A mindset shift that takes the pressure off GMingHow to improvise encounters and adventures on the flyTips for training your brain to generate ideas naturallyThe power of random tables—and how to use themWays to engage players without hours of planningPractical reflections to help you improve with every sessionWhether you’re a brand-new GM or a veteran looking to rekindle your love of the game, this book is packed with tools, insights, and encouragement to help you prep less and play more.
Let go of the guilt. Embrace the chaos. Run better games.
Are you a game master who’s short on time, overwhelmed by prep, or tired of burnout?
The No-Prep Gamemaster is your solution.
This updated and expanded second edition of Matt Davids’ well-known guide offers a practical, inspiring approach to running unforgettable tabletop RPG sessions, with little to no prep beforehand.
Inside, you’ll A mindset shift that takes the pressure off GMingHow to improvise encounters and adventures on the flyTips for training your brain to generate ideas naturallyThe power of random tables—and how to use themWays to engage players without hours of planningPractical reflections to help you improve with every sessionWhether you’re a brand-new GM or a veteran looking to rekindle your love of the game, this book is packed with tools, insights, and encouragement to help you prep less and play more.
Let go of the guilt. Embrace the chaos. Run better games.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2025
91 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 16, 2021
No Prep or No Story?
The author made the argument that the players may not choose to go the way that the GM intended while preparing the adventure, so instead of spending time preparing things that may never happen, why not just use random tables to completely make all story decisions and never prepare anything. This is going to result in a series of unrelated events, not a story with actual purpose, theme, mood, characterization, etc. While doing this occasionally as a diversion for fun might be reasonable, a campaign needs an actual overarching story to succeed long term. Having said that, the author makes a few really great suggestions to reduce your time preparing and let random events fill in the details so you can concentrate on overall story and major characters and not detail exact locations, enemies, loot, minor events, etc. The bits encouraging letting players have more agency in world creation and stories should definitely be heeded, and the author makes some very good suggestions on how to give the players more agency and let their own choices and random results dictate their characters fates. Some of this book feels like a thinly veiled advertisement for the authors other books of random tables, but there are some good suggestions here so it was worth a read.
The author made the argument that the players may not choose to go the way that the GM intended while preparing the adventure, so instead of spending time preparing things that may never happen, why not just use random tables to completely make all story decisions and never prepare anything. This is going to result in a series of unrelated events, not a story with actual purpose, theme, mood, characterization, etc. While doing this occasionally as a diversion for fun might be reasonable, a campaign needs an actual overarching story to succeed long term. Having said that, the author makes a few really great suggestions to reduce your time preparing and let random events fill in the details so you can concentrate on overall story and major characters and not detail exact locations, enemies, loot, minor events, etc. The bits encouraging letting players have more agency in world creation and stories should definitely be heeded, and the author makes some very good suggestions on how to give the players more agency and let their own choices and random results dictate their characters fates. Some of this book feels like a thinly veiled advertisement for the authors other books of random tables, but there are some good suggestions here so it was worth a read.
June 25, 2020
A good, concise, listing of advice for people who want to move away from what the corporate side of mainstream tabletop roleplaying game manufacturers have either stated or implied that gamemastering should be. Good tips on avoiding railroading, shortening your prep time, and on how to get the excitement back that was GMs used to feel when we sat down to game as players. The only reason my rating isn't higher is that it feels like a series of blog posts (which it may have well been) and I was hoping there would have been more content. Everything here is good, VERY GOOD - I had just wished there was more.
January 4, 2021
A short but helpful read. While the main games mentioned are Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons, the philosophy and tips in this book can be applied to other tabletop rpgs. I found this book to be encouraging and useful. I was worried that the format was going to be more like an essay or from an autobiographical stance, but the way it's written it's more like what you would see in a handy blog post or internet article; if any of that makes sense.
Definitely something I would recommend if anyone is planning on Gming a tabletop game.
Definitely something I would recommend if anyone is planning on Gming a tabletop game.
July 4, 2025
A very generalized set of tips and tricks to get you to DM without spending too much time prepping. I don't think this book really offers any groundbreaking advice that you probably wouldn't hear from the average, general DnD Tutorial video.
Maybe I'm just craving a book that actually goes into a stronger outline or a step-by-step process for how to build adventures, but this was a little bit of a disappointment for me.
I think a bit part of it for me is that I actually love the prepwork that goes into a DnD campaign, even when the majority of it isn't used I don't view that unused time as being wasted. I think there are some better tips that you can find to incorporate your prep material if the players avoid it during the planned sessions, or to find better ways to guide your players there.
Overall an okay read. I think this would be good for newer DMs who are terrified of the prep work that might go into a campaign. And I will say I am all for Random Tables, so I am in agreement part of the themes of this book.
Maybe I'm just craving a book that actually goes into a stronger outline or a step-by-step process for how to build adventures, but this was a little bit of a disappointment for me.
I think a bit part of it for me is that I actually love the prepwork that goes into a DnD campaign, even when the majority of it isn't used I don't view that unused time as being wasted. I think there are some better tips that you can find to incorporate your prep material if the players avoid it during the planned sessions, or to find better ways to guide your players there.
Overall an okay read. I think this would be good for newer DMs who are terrified of the prep work that might go into a campaign. And I will say I am all for Random Tables, so I am in agreement part of the themes of this book.
March 6, 2020
Roll on a random table.
Roll for everything on random tables. That is the books big advice. And the author just so happens to sell books of random tables.
There were a few pieces of good advice in this book, hence the two stars. However, the page count is heavily padded by how the author formatted the book. Lots of white space. Not worth the 3 bucks I paid.
Roll for everything on random tables. That is the books big advice. And the author just so happens to sell books of random tables.
There were a few pieces of good advice in this book, hence the two stars. However, the page count is heavily padded by how the author formatted the book. Lots of white space. Not worth the 3 bucks I paid.
May 30, 2022
One of the biggest obstacles when playing Dungeons and Dragons is prep time. There's no worse feeling than spending 20+ hours planning a campaign only to have the entire party cancel that day of your session. Putting in all that work only to have your friends bail on you can cause resentment. I know the feeling. So does Matt Davids.
In his book The No-Prep Gamemaster: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Random Tables, Matt Davids gives suggestions on how to enjoy DMing a game while avoiding the issues caused by prepping. Many of the suggestions Davids gives to avoid the burnout and resentment caused by over-prepping are practical and easy to implement.
Davids' most helpful piece of advice is not to be too rigid while running a game. This is an issue I know that I have. I try to railroad my characters into doing what I need them to do for the story I've prepped to continue. Otherwise, all the time I've spent prepping has been wasted. Davids suggests not writing a story that you want your players to follow, but setting up situations they can explore. Another aspect of being flexible is knowing the world you've created is not chiseled in stone. If you need your players to go into a specific room, change the location of the room. Rigid layouts are a burden, so give your world the same flexibility you give your players.
Davids gives two great ways to avoid railroading your players and allow more flexibility in your game. The first is roll charts. By creating roll charts that you can use for a variety of situations, you can do away with most of the time you would have spent prepping for a session. What's the name of the town your players are in? Roll to find out. Is your barkeep acting suspiciously? Roll to find out. By leaving most answers to chance, you create a world that acts more like the real world. Things on earth are chaotic and random, not rigid and predetermined.
Another fantastic suggestion Davids gives is allowing your players to roll for the outcome of a question. If the outcome is bad, the player has only themself to blame because they rolled that outcome. If an outcome is good, they are excited because their roll succeeded. This takes the pressure of making difficult decisions off the DM and allows the player to feel responsible for the game they're playing.
I've read some reviews that complain because Davids creates and sells roll charts. While this is true, Davids also encourages the reader to create their own roll charts. None of the advice Davids gives in The No-Prep Gamemaster requires any additional spending, making this complaint irrelevant.
Overall, I really enjoyed The No-Prep Gamemaster. I look forward to implementing many of the Davids' suggestions into the games I DM in the future.
In his book The No-Prep Gamemaster: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Random Tables, Matt Davids gives suggestions on how to enjoy DMing a game while avoiding the issues caused by prepping. Many of the suggestions Davids gives to avoid the burnout and resentment caused by over-prepping are practical and easy to implement.
Davids' most helpful piece of advice is not to be too rigid while running a game. This is an issue I know that I have. I try to railroad my characters into doing what I need them to do for the story I've prepped to continue. Otherwise, all the time I've spent prepping has been wasted. Davids suggests not writing a story that you want your players to follow, but setting up situations they can explore. Another aspect of being flexible is knowing the world you've created is not chiseled in stone. If you need your players to go into a specific room, change the location of the room. Rigid layouts are a burden, so give your world the same flexibility you give your players.
Davids gives two great ways to avoid railroading your players and allow more flexibility in your game. The first is roll charts. By creating roll charts that you can use for a variety of situations, you can do away with most of the time you would have spent prepping for a session. What's the name of the town your players are in? Roll to find out. Is your barkeep acting suspiciously? Roll to find out. By leaving most answers to chance, you create a world that acts more like the real world. Things on earth are chaotic and random, not rigid and predetermined.
Another fantastic suggestion Davids gives is allowing your players to roll for the outcome of a question. If the outcome is bad, the player has only themself to blame because they rolled that outcome. If an outcome is good, they are excited because their roll succeeded. This takes the pressure of making difficult decisions off the DM and allows the player to feel responsible for the game they're playing.
I've read some reviews that complain because Davids creates and sells roll charts. While this is true, Davids also encourages the reader to create their own roll charts. None of the advice Davids gives in The No-Prep Gamemaster requires any additional spending, making this complaint irrelevant.
Overall, I really enjoyed The No-Prep Gamemaster. I look forward to implementing many of the Davids' suggestions into the games I DM in the future.
July 5, 2022
Good and concise read with some great points and tools but contains a lot of information I don't agree with. Maybe this feels like the right approach for some people but it isn't for me and my games.
Maybe it's because of the type of Dnd games me and my groups play but I've never had the experience of spending 40 hours of prep for it to be all wasted when a session is canceled. I love random tables but I don't believe that they can be used to form a fulfilling long-term (50+ session) type campaign that we play through. For randomly disconnected one-shots, they might work but when my players have taken the effort of making complicated characters with rich backstories, I feel like I would be disrespecting their work by just showing up every week with no prep and throwing some dice to see what happens. I personally really enjoy preparing for sessions and if it happens that some of the prep doesn't get used because of what happened during the game, I don't consider the time wasted and just move it into a folder to be used later. I very much agree with Matt's notes about avoiding over-preparing your world and story which is a major trap for newer DMs or new groups but after playing with the same people for a while, I think I can predict what they might do. My approach is not to prepare the entire world but try to prepare a small sphere around where and when the players are and then keep fleshing out the world between sessions towards where or what interests them.
Matt also writes that he feels like all of his best sessions have been without preparation and I feel the complete opposite. Sometimes life comes in the way and I haven't prepared as much as normal and most of the time I feel those sessions don't really move the overarching campaign-level story forward and end up feeling a bit flat.
I also found it really annoying how much the book kept advertising the writer's other products and books. The book was fast and easy to read but could have gone through some restructuring for even better reading experience.
Maybe it's because of the type of Dnd games me and my groups play but I've never had the experience of spending 40 hours of prep for it to be all wasted when a session is canceled. I love random tables but I don't believe that they can be used to form a fulfilling long-term (50+ session) type campaign that we play through. For randomly disconnected one-shots, they might work but when my players have taken the effort of making complicated characters with rich backstories, I feel like I would be disrespecting their work by just showing up every week with no prep and throwing some dice to see what happens. I personally really enjoy preparing for sessions and if it happens that some of the prep doesn't get used because of what happened during the game, I don't consider the time wasted and just move it into a folder to be used later. I very much agree with Matt's notes about avoiding over-preparing your world and story which is a major trap for newer DMs or new groups but after playing with the same people for a while, I think I can predict what they might do. My approach is not to prepare the entire world but try to prepare a small sphere around where and when the players are and then keep fleshing out the world between sessions towards where or what interests them.
Matt also writes that he feels like all of his best sessions have been without preparation and I feel the complete opposite. Sometimes life comes in the way and I haven't prepared as much as normal and most of the time I feel those sessions don't really move the overarching campaign-level story forward and end up feeling a bit flat.
I also found it really annoying how much the book kept advertising the writer's other products and books. The book was fast and easy to read but could have gone through some restructuring for even better reading experience.
July 29, 2025
There are some good ideas in here, but the lack of polish hurts the text significantly.
For example -- Davids put in two youtube scripts wholesale, while acknowledging there is overlap in information. Why wouldn't he just edit the scripts to pull out the new information? Second, why add so many author's notes? The text is written in the author's voice, breaking into a side comment doesn't serve a purpose. Either incorporate the comment into the main text or keep it out. Third, it is fine to not know things. However, if you are writing a book, I hope some level of research is happening. When it comes to AI and why people don't like random tables, I wished Davids had at least tried to look at what other people were saying before giving up. Maybe he did, I truly do not know. I just know I was frustrated by the lack of nuance. Finally, I found it strange in the countdown section that Davids didn't mention Blades in the Dark or other major ttrpgs where that mechanism plays a large role. Maybe Davids came up with the idea on his own separately; I can imagine that, it's a straight forward enough mechanism. However, the lack of acknowledgement there makes it feel uncomprehensive of the wider field of ttrpgs.
I admire the gumption of a self-publisher and I do think there is good advice in here. However, the text itself reads like a rough draft.
For example -- Davids put in two youtube scripts wholesale, while acknowledging there is overlap in information. Why wouldn't he just edit the scripts to pull out the new information? Second, why add so many author's notes? The text is written in the author's voice, breaking into a side comment doesn't serve a purpose. Either incorporate the comment into the main text or keep it out. Third, it is fine to not know things. However, if you are writing a book, I hope some level of research is happening. When it comes to AI and why people don't like random tables, I wished Davids had at least tried to look at what other people were saying before giving up. Maybe he did, I truly do not know. I just know I was frustrated by the lack of nuance. Finally, I found it strange in the countdown section that Davids didn't mention Blades in the Dark or other major ttrpgs where that mechanism plays a large role. Maybe Davids came up with the idea on his own separately; I can imagine that, it's a straight forward enough mechanism. However, the lack of acknowledgement there makes it feel uncomprehensive of the wider field of ttrpgs.
I admire the gumption of a self-publisher and I do think there is good advice in here. However, the text itself reads like a rough draft.
January 14, 2024
If you believe running a tabletop roleplaying game requires an amount of planning similar to writing a novel or directing a play and you enjoy that process, this book isn't going to change your mind. It'll probably just make you angry. However, if you find extensive prep time to be unrealistic or unenjoyable and you wish you could run TTRPG sessions as spontaneously and casually as an ordinary board game, this book offers advice and permission to do just that. The helpfulness of the tips varies greatly, but like all TTRPG supplements, you can take from it what works for you and ignore the rest.
December 23, 2024
Jag tycker inte spelledandet blir bra med så mycket slumptabeller som författaren förespråkar. I så fall behövs slumptabeller som matchar spelvärlden och den kultur och geografiska ände av spelvärlden man är. En del spel har en del sådant och en del moduler harmonierar det men generiska tabeller tycker förtar färg i spelvärlden och gråar till den förutom att det kan vara fel, exempelvis förekomst av krut eller ej i en fantastikvärld. Å andra sidan så är jag en “culture gamer”.
Boken innehåller dock en hel del tips som kan hjälpa en till att bli en “low-prep gamemaster”.
Boken innehåller dock en hel del tips som kan hjälpa en till att bli en “low-prep gamemaster”.
March 25, 2022
This had a few nice pieces of advice but was mostly a giant advertisement for the author’s other products. A lot of what he wrote doesn’t really fit with my DM style but I did find a few interesting ideas and some things he writes may work better for other people than I think they’d work for me. There were also a lot of typos but that’s to be expected with self-published books. Not a bad book, but it wasn’t quite for me.
July 31, 2025
This author proposes that you can run TTRPGs without preparing. While he offers solid advice, my type A overprearedness will not let me internalize it.
Even with his advice I will stress out. How will I get maps if I don't prepare? How can I roll on the fly if I don't prepare the roll tables in advance?. If I just let the players choose the path of play, what do I do when they choose not to act?
See GMing is still too stressful.
Even with his advice I will stress out. How will I get maps if I don't prepare? How can I roll on the fly if I don't prepare the roll tables in advance?. If I just let the players choose the path of play, what do I do when they choose not to act?
See GMing is still too stressful.
January 20, 2023
This is a good and free book of gm advice. The one thing I would add to it would be some random tables, as the author talks about them a lot. I know he sells books of random tables, but I though it would have been nice to at least have one. I would recommend this to anyone who is running an rpg campaign.
November 21, 2021
a good little read good ideas on how to make things flow better
March 28, 2022
Lots of good advice for GMs on how to get out of the “plan everything” funk.
May 23, 2023
This one was actually pretty good.
This book feels like The best of "The best Tips for DMs" put together.
You should definitely check it out if you want to play any RPG.
This book feels like The best of "The best Tips for DMs" put together.
You should definitely check it out if you want to play any RPG.
July 27, 2025
It’s an okay book, the advice might be useful to some. If you’re a new GM looking for a framework I’d suggest looking at other things first. The scenarios and reading more advice are good though.
December 10, 2025
For me, this book has been an eye opener of what a GM is supposed to be.
Scratch that, it helped me see what kind of a GM I wanted to be.
I did a couple of games where I had cool scenes I hoped would happen. Stakes and direction of where I thought the story could go. All of this prevented me from giving the agency to the players to actually do what they want to do.
This book gives you some tools, tricks to adapt to players decisions but mostly it talks about the real preparation which is reading and watching movies. I applied a lot of these tricks in my last game and the players loved it.
It's not about having no story, it's about letting go a little bit and discovering what is the story about with the players.
Scratch that, it helped me see what kind of a GM I wanted to be.
I did a couple of games where I had cool scenes I hoped would happen. Stakes and direction of where I thought the story could go. All of this prevented me from giving the agency to the players to actually do what they want to do.
This book gives you some tools, tricks to adapt to players decisions but mostly it talks about the real preparation which is reading and watching movies. I applied a lot of these tricks in my last game and the players loved it.
It's not about having no story, it's about letting go a little bit and discovering what is the story about with the players.
January 21, 2020
A way to relax while DMing. I never thought is was possible.
March 29, 2022
This is a book of good advice for beginner GMs and those GMs who maybe feel like they're in a rut. All of this info could be fine for free online (I think the author even says this book is an expansion of a blog post he wrote) but sometimes it's just nice to have all of the info in one spot, I love physical books, and support independent creators.
I did think this would be a more step-by-step guide on what tables you should have ready to go and how to incorporate no-prep into a longer narrative. But it was just general advice. It's good advice but the book is not what I thought it would be.
I did think this would be a more step-by-step guide on what tables you should have ready to go and how to incorporate no-prep into a longer narrative. But it was just general advice. It's good advice but the book is not what I thought it would be.
September 8, 2022
Rating refers to How to Gamemaster by Berin Kinsman publ. by Lightspress Media (copyright 2016-22) 96pp.
As I’m no longer able to add books to Goodreads, I’m just using the closest existing approximation for my records.
As I’m no longer able to add books to Goodreads, I’m just using the closest existing approximation for my records.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews