This is the start of our holiday storyline!  This story arc should run until about the end of the month, and by then you’ll have seen what the group has in store for Anna.

A quick update from a previous blog post I had written about two weeks ago: I’ve decided to run Pathfinder for the group I’m GMing. Cortex plus, while a robust and awesome system, didn’t grab me the way I thought it would (though I will be using their initiative system!), so I moved back to my comfort zone. It’s a cushy comfort zone though, one I don’t feel a need to leave in any hasty manner (it’s got lumbar support!).

I ran my game last week with absolutely no prep work beforehand (sorry guys!). I bought some time with the group by having them talk to a halfling that didn’t want to give up any details on anything, and in the meantime, I quickly thought up some plot points and had the NPC lead the group to said plot points, and it worked out pretty well. Of course, music prep was also largely off the cuff, and I lucked out on the songs I picked at random working out for the mood I was trying to set. I’ve been told my improvised sessions are pretty good, but I’ve never had the stones to try it out for more than one session. The NPC Codex will probably be needed before those hoop dreams come to fruition.

Speaking of books I want, I’m really looking forward to picking up Ultimate Equipment and Bestiary 3. I initially laughed off Ultimate Equipment based on the idea (and I know I’m wrong now, but bear with) of a book full of tables and charts for shit I already had in previous books was laughable at best, and punishable by law at worst. Of course, after looking through the book on my own accord I changed my opinion, and I feel like that and NPC Codex will be a huge boon to my prep-time, with Bestiary 3 being another thing to help spur story ideas (though I’ll admit I don’t know if they’ll ever make a book with something as cool and awesome as the Red Caps from Bestiary 2).

Prepping for a game is always difficult for me (and I’m sure many others) because I can never figure out if I’ve done enough work for the upcoming session. More than once my groups have plowed through the session faster than I had anticipated, and I’ve had to excuse myself from everyone and “use” the restroom to try and get a few ideas I could throw into the remaining session. Most of the time this works, though a few times I did came out and quickly forgot what the hell it was that came to me on The Porcelain Throne (not to be confused with it’s winter variant The Frozen Throne). On the rare occasion this does happen, I’ve found that honesty regarding the situation always works out well, with them being more than willing to take a quick break while I collect my thoughts.

Well, that about wraps it up for this edition of the blog post. Until next time, see ya.

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