Run a module and read each chapter ahead of time

Organize?

>>97099528
Can you be more specific?

>>97099528
Depends on what you're prepping.
I just write notes in some simple text editor and put different kinds of info in different tabs but I run some simple lightweight shit.

>>97099528
Wing it.

>>97099528
I try to use Obsidian to create notes, but my ideas change in my head and I am too lazy to go back and modify the docs. ergo, I wing it

>>97099528
Just make shit up.

>>97099528
read the module before playing. read the rulebook cover to cover, skim the shit that looks like you wont need it for the session but do not skip it.

>>97099811
This

>>97099528
Read the rules, you should know them better than the players.
Figure out the campaigns start and finish, fill in the places in between.
I usually have critical hooks / events that I'd include generic ways the party could stumble upon / discover / pursue, but did my best to avoid outright saying:
>now go to castle X and fuck Baron von Y
>>97099811
A huge part is improvisation, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and that's the party in this case.
They will fuck around.
They will ignore your plot points.
They will adopt Grimbo Grumbley and keep him for at least six sessions.
They will want to do things their way.

As far as actual documentation, I did everything in notepad++ because I'm psychotic.

Good luck, have fun.

>>97099528
The Alexandrian has written a lot about this, unfortunately there isn't just an "organization" tag on his site, so you'd have to do some sifting.

>>97100542
peak irony

>>97100542
It seems like the Gamemastery 101 category has like 60 articles in it, that's probably what he's looking for, eh?

>>97099528
Enemy statblocks copied down in the back of a notebook, NPCs in bulleted lists near the front. The middle is then filled with the environments and events. Anything noteworthy goes on sticky notes.

I do everything via paper book because copying it down by hand helps me memorize it. Also easier to flip to in a hurry compared to having multiple windows to scroll through on a laptop.

>>97099528
>Started to DM for the first time
>DM
Spotted your problem

>>97099542
>>97099759
>Implying OP started to run anything
Come on now...

>>97100916
>I rum meatgrinders
Grim

>>97100730
Yeah, 100 percent, especially if OP is a complete newbie, I just meant that I know Justin has written stuff specifically about how to organize prep, but I'm don't have those specific articles to link to.

His book is incredibly useful too, but I know it's anathema to suggest spending money on a product here. It's essentially the 101 articles but presented in a more linear fashion.

>>97099528
know rules. create cheat sheets for rules. if some fringe case comes up, make ruling based on how you understand rules.
have basic outlay or what you want players to accomplish, who's villain, who's who in region. have chart of names and basic descriptors if you need to introduce NPC on fly, and make note who/what they are and how interaction with PC went in case you need that npc again.
look some modules from other games, may be you'll find nice plot or idea you can reuse for your own game.
You have to find balance between prep home work and and making shit on the line as you can't really what what dumb shit your players will decide to do, unless you talked it out what is OK and what's not OK.
I run Vampire the masquerade and i have few important important NPC that do their own things in between player spotlight, so local prince and other power players could be used in case i need to nudge plot into one direction or another.
If running city/political stories is too complicated for you, you can always try for traditional "go to this case, and kill X to loot Y" and then add "quest giver decided to pull fast one on you and ran off to Z, go get him".

>>97099528
word document with session outline including combats I expect the party to get into (they generally tell me what they want to do next week at the end of each session)
word document with statblocks for those encounters
web browser page for a reference site and any other references I may need

>>97099528
I have a single piece of paper.
It contains 3-5 sentences of things that has to happen today.
It contains the names of recurring characters, usually 3-5 of them (I write down any new names that come up and their role, never more than 5 words)
I know how the system I'm running works. That means: I read it at least once cover to cover, and I re-read the important bits or the confusing bits.
I wrote myself a shorthand of game rules. It is now a cheat-sheet on the table, in at least 2 copies
The cheat-sheet is good when it fits all the important stuff on a single page of A4, standard text with 1.5 spacing. If the game is really complex, it's printed on both sides

That's literally it. Anything more than that (and the most effort is the cheat-sheet for players) is pointless waste of time that is literally wasted the second something you didn't predict happens.
Keep shit simple. By all means.

I'm highly intelligent, so it comes easy to me.

>>97099528
Alongside all the other advice you've been given in this thread, the biggest thing you should do is make sure your players know you're new and ask for patience on their part. You're not going to be perfect at DMing, your players are going to do things that are going to throw you so off kilter you're going to freeze, and that's totally okay. It's okay to say "give me a second" as you try and figure out how to respond to your party suddenly deciding they want to join up with the BBEG or something equally impossible to predict - this is something even seasoned DMs have to do at times, and your players won't suddenly lose interest in the game if you need a minute or two to get your bearings (hell, you can even frame it in a meta-narrative way - the players choose to do something drastic and crazy, so declaring a ten minute break for food/bathroom/whatever seems like a cliffhanger as far as the session's story goes, but in reality it's just you getting valuable time to think through your options). Above all else, don't be afraid to work with your players - you're all here to enjoy the game together, after all.

I also tried a few times, but I genuinely cannot figure out how to git gud. I wish players would do something on their own and I could react to it, instead every scene I have to figure out how to give them any idea on what to do next, or some sort of hook or whatever. It's exhausting and then time just kinda runs out so I have to rush to the climax/end and it of course doesn't work at all.

>>97107375
There's systems out there where the players shoulder some of the burden of "making up stuff" and I've found it flows much better for me. Like Most Trusted Advisors is a good one, try it out

>>97107388
I tried CoC, Apocalypse World and Monster of the Week so far. In CoC they fail their rolls and the story just stops, I have to figure out a way to drop them something to proceed.
In AW I didn't use any module, tried to wing it, turns out my ideas were pretty fucking terrible and it fell flat.
In MotW it was also relatively low prep module, but I prepped some additional ideas. It was going okay, but I left out a lot of ideas and had to rush the ending due to it being a one shot.
I'll check out the thing you mentioned, but I'm kinda losing hope. I might just be bad.

>>97107375
>>97107400
What do you mean by "had to rush the ending"? Can't you just make a czt and finish the ending another session? I never actually finished a one shot in one evening.>>97107388

>>97107665
Didn't know if we'd be gathering to play again

>>97107720
If you have a group of players that aren't engaging with the setting and constantly need to be prodded to actually do anything, then the problem isn't with you, it's with the players. Because that behavior sounds more like they don't even want to play.

>>97099528
Are you retarded or something? 12-year-olds in the 70s were able to play D&D

>>97101517
What the fuck are you talking about, retard?

>>97107375
It sounds like you're getting information behind rolls? Two of the three games you've run are investigation heavy games, the mistake most newbie GMs make (and many bad scenarios perpetuate) is that you think your job is to gate information from the players. You should always just give the players enough information to move forward. A failed roll shouldn't grind everything to a halt.

One way you can organize thing in a way that I like is to make a list of the information that the players need to find, rather than the vectors that they find said information. That way you can think on your feet and adapt as the players are going.

>>97099528
I have a binder to track my campaign with a series of preformatted sheets. Every session is about 5 pages. I'll prep what little I need and fill in the rest during the session. I have a few different sized stick notes for any retcons
>page 1: list of PCs played, retainers/animals/carts, NPCs, marching order and a brief summary of the last session / statement of the players goals to open it so I don't have to improv that shit
page 2: locations/hexes traveled, space to write the scenes in session, space for any new rumors/hooks, prerolled random encounters for day (wilderness)/night (wildnerness)/city/dungeon/blank space for more as needed
>page 3: blank for session notes
>page 4: treasure tracking and XP, monsters and XP, exploration goals and XP, the plan they decided for the next session
>page 5: torch and time tracking

>>97108208
>that you think your job is to gate information from the players
Yeah honestly in MotW I thought giving them the location of the monster was good enough but to be honest I've regretted being vague on the answers that I gave instead of just answering pretty directly. That eventually lead to me kinda infodumping in a boring way through an NPC
But maybe you're right I shouldn't give up on it