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Despreparado? Nunca! O Guia Completo dos Mestres para Preparação de Sessões
Seja você novo à arte de mestrar, ou mestra a mesma campanha desde 1974, Despreparado? Nunca! O Guia Completo dos Mestres para Preparação de Sessões irá ajudá-lo a preparar suas aventuras mais rápido, evitar erros comuns, e ainda se divertir no processo. Este é nada menos que o primeiro livro inteiramente dedicado ao processo de preparação para aventuras de RPG.
141 pages, ebook
First published July 1, 2012
22 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 10, 2017
A very good book for GMs who simply don't have tons of free time to design their scenarios/campaigns.
The author covers making free time and using it efficiently.
Overall, a very good read with some good ideas.
OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
The author covers making free time and using it efficiently.
Overall, a very good read with some good ideas.
OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
February 9, 2021
Not the book I expected, but the book I definitively needed. So this year I've started DMing for my kid and I needed some inspiration. This book does not give you that. What it gives you is well designed and tested method for prepping, with major as well as tiny advice for making a good session and campaign. This is essentially a book about making notes, brainstorming ideas, and searching your database, which are useful tools for every day.
August 10, 2016
May have to revisit this book eventually. It's filled with lots of good material. I may even check out some of the books he referenced. Already read one of them and it is among my favorites (The War of Art).
December 6, 2024
Herkese farklı şekillerde yardımcı olabilir, bazılarında daha anlamlı bir içeriktir belki, ama benim için kitabın çoğu hali hazırda bildiğim şeylerden oluşuyordu. Biraz didik didik etsem, bu kitabı okumaya harcadığım zamanın yarısı kadar sürede buradan "işime yarar" diye aldığım fikirleri internet bloglarında da bulabilirdim
Gene de "hiç gerek yontu" demeyeceğim. Ortalama bir kitaptı işte.
Mevzuları tam bir analitikçi gibi, algoritma kurar gibi, adım adım işliyor. En en basit şeyleri bile bilmediğinizi varsayıyor, ya da eseri kitap boyutuna getirebilmek için sözcük kasıyor.
Gene de "hiç gerek yontu" demeyeceğim. Ortalama bir kitaptı işte.
Mevzuları tam bir analitikçi gibi, algoritma kurar gibi, adım adım işliyor. En en basit şeyleri bile bilmediğinizi varsayıyor, ya da eseri kitap boyutuna getirebilmek için sözcük kasıyor.
August 5, 2020
This is one person's overview of preparing for a role playing game, and an incomplete overview at that. It glosses over 5 stages of prep (brainstorming, selection, a misnamed conceptualization step that should be named filling out or building ideas, documentation, and review).
I'm a little concerned that brainstorming is something that you can do while driving. I really don't want to share the road with someone who is recording their ideas for their next game, let alone not concentrating on the very important task of SAFELY OPERATING A DEADLY MACHINE. Given the way people drive near me, perhaps mine isn't a common opinion...
Anyway, the section on brainstorming, for instance, provides rather basic advice, but without delving into various ways you could brainstorm. It's good at what it does: capturing the author's way of planning. But if you don't think like the author, you may find this more an act of frustration than help.
I'm a little concerned that brainstorming is something that you can do while driving. I really don't want to share the road with someone who is recording their ideas for their next game, let alone not concentrating on the very important task of SAFELY OPERATING A DEADLY MACHINE. Given the way people drive near me, perhaps mine isn't a common opinion...
Anyway, the section on brainstorming, for instance, provides rather basic advice, but without delving into various ways you could brainstorm. It's good at what it does: capturing the author's way of planning. But if you don't think like the author, you may find this more an act of frustration than help.
May 20, 2013
after reading only half of this book (more on creativity and inspiration, the later chapters are on separating wheat from chaff and organizing your notes) I was inspired to put together a sandbox for my players that I think would have run great. Unfortunately we had to move away and I only got to run one session using Everway and Mythic for very off the cuff creative play. I thought what little we played worked well.
Anything by the Gnome Stew guys is great, so if you know you like them, pick this up immediately!
Anything by the Gnome Stew guys is great, so if you know you like them, pick this up immediately!
August 8, 2012
Very interesting read. Gaming prep tips from a true pro. Project Developer. Some of this was very familiar from Lean/SMART but I never considering applying it to gaming. I will be doing up a full review but really want to put some of it to practice before writing it up full and see if my games really do improve.
September 11, 2015
Not bad. A quick read, as you might expect. Also it contains a number of URLs to the author's online posts, which gives it a very short shelf life. But it's a useful elucidation of the preparation process ... I might turn this concept into a prewriting guide for my students.
April 9, 2024
Well written. Got a lot of good ideas about work flow and time management from this. Definitely worth reading.
October 9, 2019
The best parts about this book weren't really about gaming at all, but about finding time in your life for the things you want to do. The exercises on scheduling your time and heat-mapping your creativity were unique aspects not covered in other books on DMing. Though much of the book gives definition to things that are already familiar, in the end the definitions are needed to fully understand Phil's overall lesson. I found it more helpful than other books on DMing I've read, but not among the best.
June 25, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It presents game prep in a manner that is organized and should facilitate a better use of time getting game sessions ready. I doubt any game master will use everything this book suggests, but that is the point, making game prep work for the individual game master. I would recommend this book to any serious game master who is trying to fit gaming into a busy adult life.
May 14, 2020
It is an excellent resource for new and experienced DM's alike. Every G/DM can learn from this book in some form or another. it picks at every side of being a game/dungeon master and asks are you good at it. if you are great if you are not, it then says try this and this to get better. Usually something you are not doing or if you are how to do it better. I wish I would have had this book years ago when I started game mastering.
June 20, 2020
This book was not made for me in mind and it is fine. There is no one way to prep and this is made for some people in mind and this will be a useful resource for them. I have found certain parts of gm prep very tedious and I've found tools to address those and I'm always trying to find better tools, unfortunately I did not find them here but what I found instead was a story of a man trying to find a time for his beloved hobby which was a ok read. A bit patronising though.
February 4, 2024
I like the framework he presents here for preparing RPG sessions. Some of it may be a little obvious to some people, but I still consider myself a pretty new GM and giving a name and a system to this process will be helpful to me. The book does seem to assume you're running a pretty traditional, plot-driven game, but maybe that's just a result of the time it was written in. Most of the advice is pretty timeless, I think. I'll be keeping this stuff in mind for my future sessions.
August 24, 2021
As someone new to DMing and a bit overwhelmed by the idea of running my own campaign, this put my mind at ease because its helped me know how to cover all the bases needed to do a good job with running a game.
September 3, 2023
Um conteúdo bastante interessante e valioso, mas que infelizmente não passou por um bom trabalho de tradução/revisão. Por isso nota 3 e não 5. Oportunamente quero tentar ler o original para poder reavaliar a nota.
February 12, 2017
נושא שכל כך ממעטים לדבר עליו. ספר חובה לכל מנחה, ובמיוחד כאלה שלחוצים בזמן. גם אחרי 25 שנות הנחיה, היה לו מה לחדש לי.
June 17, 2017
I love this book. I've been doing my game prep in an unorganized, stressful way. Now I'm an organized DM. HIGHLY recommended.
August 1, 2019
Some very smart ideas and ways to organize your preparations for running games.
August 2, 2019
A little basic and a little long-winded, but it does have some good advice.
August 23, 2019
Does what it says on the tin really.
Been a gamer for 30 plus years and still picked up loads of tips i’d not thought about.
Been a gamer for 30 plus years and still picked up loads of tips i’d not thought about.
January 30, 2025
Orientações bem interessantes. Podia ter uma síntese. Se arrasta muito e se repete.
July 29, 2013
I picked up this book in anticipation of becoming better prepared as a GM so that I can run pick-up games/can cram more adventure into a given game session. I also want to cheat at writing and preparing session notes seems like an excellent backdoor into writing fantastic paperback adventure novels with lurid copies that will sell 200 copies exclusively in suburban Ohio, which would put me one step closer to my goal of being on a panel at a comic-book convention with an actor that plsyed a C-string character on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (aiming for either the football player who turned out to be gay in Season 3 or the female werewolf from Season 4).
Back to this book: I am terrible at preparing as a GM. However, I am incredibly quick on my (mental) feet and I can typically work from a thin outline and improv a multiple-hour session without too many hiccups. I figured with better preparation I could maybe work an extra scene or two into a session/make much more intricate/complex plots for my players.
Phil, on the other hand, doesn't appear to do improv. He meticulously lays out his method for preparation, which is based heavily on David Allen and productivity theory, and walks you through how to arrange your schedule so you can spend between 3 and 6 hours (!!!) on session prep each week.
Which brings me to my chief complaint: This book needed a second author. I think a lot of GMs work like Phil, and this probably works really well for them. However, there's a whole other school of GMs (and players) that won't get much from this. I think Phil's worked with one of the lazy, already-read-everything, rabbit out of a hat improv GMs on a later text, so he's probably already figured this out.
If you're a "plotter" you should pick this up because the productivity stuff will turn your adventures into robust powerhouses that will anticipate and stand up to whatever abuse your players throw at it, keeping you from sweating and saying "uh, you want to do what?"
If you're a "seat of the pants" person you should still skim this and pick up some ideas. Abstracting out maps (which you might already be doing) is a fantastic idea, and the prep-lite notion (pretty much lists and tags, focused on your weaknesses as a GM) is something you should be doing because let's face it you drink too much to remember all the cool shit about that flying castle you thought up in the shower last Tuesday.
This gets a 2 star rating (which isn't negative, it's neutral) because for $20 I expected more than what I got. Add a second author that focuses on flying by the seat of your pants and flexibility and you're right where you need to be.
This review seems negative upon review, but I want to stress that I liked this book. I think most GMs do most of this stuff in some form or fashion, and having it codified allows you to find your weak points and gives you a framework for improvement. Definitely worth it if you're way more plan and structure oriented.
Back to this book: I am terrible at preparing as a GM. However, I am incredibly quick on my (mental) feet and I can typically work from a thin outline and improv a multiple-hour session without too many hiccups. I figured with better preparation I could maybe work an extra scene or two into a session/make much more intricate/complex plots for my players.
Phil, on the other hand, doesn't appear to do improv. He meticulously lays out his method for preparation, which is based heavily on David Allen and productivity theory, and walks you through how to arrange your schedule so you can spend between 3 and 6 hours (!!!) on session prep each week.
Which brings me to my chief complaint: This book needed a second author. I think a lot of GMs work like Phil, and this probably works really well for them. However, there's a whole other school of GMs (and players) that won't get much from this. I think Phil's worked with one of the lazy, already-read-everything, rabbit out of a hat improv GMs on a later text, so he's probably already figured this out.
If you're a "plotter" you should pick this up because the productivity stuff will turn your adventures into robust powerhouses that will anticipate and stand up to whatever abuse your players throw at it, keeping you from sweating and saying "uh, you want to do what?"
If you're a "seat of the pants" person you should still skim this and pick up some ideas. Abstracting out maps (which you might already be doing) is a fantastic idea, and the prep-lite notion (pretty much lists and tags, focused on your weaknesses as a GM) is something you should be doing because let's face it you drink too much to remember all the cool shit about that flying castle you thought up in the shower last Tuesday.
This gets a 2 star rating (which isn't negative, it's neutral) because for $20 I expected more than what I got. Add a second author that focuses on flying by the seat of your pants and flexibility and you're right where you need to be.
This review seems negative upon review, but I want to stress that I liked this book. I think most GMs do most of this stuff in some form or fashion, and having it codified allows you to find your weak points and gives you a framework for improvement. Definitely worth it if you're way more plan and structure oriented.
August 28, 2013
I'm a low-prep gamemaster. Both my style and inclination is to wing things rather than to plan them out ahead of time. This has been reinforced by my tendency to gravitate towards games designed for little or no prep. Thus, I didn't expect to get a lot out of this book about session prep despite it coming recommended by a friend.
It turned out that shortly after starting this book I did start running some games that required a bit more prep than was normal for me, and some of the ideas presented helped me out.
The bulk of the book breaks down the session prep process into five phases: Brainstorming, Selection, Conceptualization, Documentation, and Review. It goes into each phase in detail, including a questionnaire to evaluate your own skill level in each area, and techniques for getting better.
Other topics covered include evaluating the tools you use in your prep, organizing your time, preparing templates for your prep, and dealing with the inevitable crises that disrupt your prep.
Overall, I think it's a well thought out book, and while I don't need to organize my prep to the degree suggested, it has still given me some things to think about as I prep for my games.
It turned out that shortly after starting this book I did start running some games that required a bit more prep than was normal for me, and some of the ideas presented helped me out.
The bulk of the book breaks down the session prep process into five phases: Brainstorming, Selection, Conceptualization, Documentation, and Review. It goes into each phase in detail, including a questionnaire to evaluate your own skill level in each area, and techniques for getting better.
Other topics covered include evaluating the tools you use in your prep, organizing your time, preparing templates for your prep, and dealing with the inevitable crises that disrupt your prep.
Overall, I think it's a well thought out book, and while I don't need to organize my prep to the degree suggested, it has still given me some things to think about as I prep for my games.
January 28, 2016
I didn't find this book particularly helpful. The author shares his method for creating adventures that basically boils down to a few key principles: brainstorming, selection, conceptualisation, documentation and review. Every part of his process is explained in detail in the book and I don't doubt that a great adventure can come out after all that work. However, in my opinion, it's a very clunky method that requires a lot of personal organisation skill and good tools. There are some good bits of information here and there, but for the most part felt like reading a book on personal productivity rather than a book on how to create engaging and exciting sessions.
August 2, 2013
This is a great book for gms. It is about using your time efficiently and managing your tools well, which doesn't really sound like an interesting read. However, this was one of the best books on being a gamemaster that I have read. I will be using many of the author's techniques and I also foresee myself re-reading this book many times.
September 26, 2013
A well done book and maybe the only one of it's kind. Yeah, I'm a game master and the funny thing is I just started getting good at session prep which prompted buying this book. It's well done and I like the concepts. I plan on using the concepts and I can see where they would be helpful. Maybe I'll write a follow up review in the future.
December 2, 2013
For me, this book was required reading. A lot of the advice is common sense, but it's presented in such a way that it becomes immensely useful to anyone who dreads the "homework" that comes along with running any sort of tabletop RPG. A lot of very good advice for making your process more efficient and less like the chore it doesn't really need to be.
September 13, 2014
A great primer on how to prepare your sessions as a Game Master, as well as good questions about what you are doing and how you can improve. As someone who's ran dozens of campaigns over 12 years, my style of GM has changed, and I've gained new roles and obligations, I can clearly see how thinking about my prep will let me keep gaming.
May 4, 2016
A manual on how to prepare role-playing game adventures, applicable to any sort of interactive presentation. A way to find the joy and the time to enjoy the storytelling endeavor of tabletop role-playing games as you grow more responsible and have less free time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews