Do Easy Prep While Walking

The Tiny Prep group hit a milestone the other day. We’ve got a streak going of 150 consecutive days! Congrats to the GMs getting their campaigns ready for next session, five minutes at a time.

Speaking of Tiny Prep, I saw this question on the Discord from Game Master EwokTaintPuncher (ahem):

Doc recently told me I need to do two 20 min walks a day. I have an even, no traffic, non-obstructed place to walk. How do I use this time for Tiny Prep with limited surface to roll a die on, no paper, no screen, etc.?

I don’t have to watch where I’m going so much, so I could totally use a clipboard or my phone. Any brighter minds than mine have inspiration here?

The Sherpa RPG

If you’re looking for a system built explicitly for outdoor gaming without carrying dice or paper, check out Sherpa by Steffan O’Sullivan.

It’s a classic rules-light RPG designed in the 90s specifically for playing while hiking. You use a stopwatch as randomizer, and character sheets designed to fit on index cards.

Walk & Talk

@Harebrained Tom shared this advice:

I would suggest recording it, then using something like Gemini or GPT to transcribe it for you and organize your thoughts into concise notes.

Or of course listen to podcasts about gaming that might spur your thoughts.

Reflection

Great idea, Tom. Many devices and operating systems now come with voice-to-text features. Dictate thoughts straight into Campaign Logger or your source of truth. I’ve had success doing this myself.

And to get the most value out of walking while prepping, we need to untangle the core habit of Tiny Prep from the physical activity of the walk itself.

Tiny Prep

Tiny Prep is a 5-minute daily GM habit that helps you develop your campaign consistently and get ready for sessions.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in just 1d5 minutes each day. And tying Tiny Prep to your walk serves the Trigger component very well. Walk & Prep.

Note though, that Tiny Prep is specifically meant to be quick, simple, and frictionless. It’s a way to trick your brain and your internal critic to sit down, behave, and stop the self-sabotage for a while.

If you turn Tiny Prep into big prep, you’re going to face The Resistance, as Stephen Pressfield calls it. Your brain will buck at the imminent energy cost of you being creative, and it will try to sabotage your effort. Willpower alone does not work.

As taught in the book, though, restricting Tiny Prep to quick, easy, and effortless prep tasks tricks our brain into staying calm and working with us instead of against. We don’t need to rely on willpower to be ready for next session.

So I would avoid making the Tiny Prep portion of your walks more than what the book recommends: a quick and fun task you’ll enjoy doing that helps you get ready for next game.

As Tom suggests, use your device’s voice-to-text feature to dictate your daily Tiny Prep as you start each walk

Puzzles

I started doing daily walks, as well, during covid. And I found starting each walk with a question, problem, or puzzle works well.

Pick a friction with your GMing, a gap in your planning, or mystery in your setting that needs some GM attention.

I found the best approach is forming a question and answering it on the walk. That way, each walk solves a problem. I aim for 1d3 15-minute walks a day. So that’s 3 problems solved each day, or at least explored with deep thought.

For example, last week I noodled on how my Mechanism of Destruction actually works, and solving that unlocked the rest of its prep. I also mulled on my character backstories approach, and the backstory for a new character starting next session. And I thought about how steam mephits could become an interesting island faction.

Thinking’s hard. Writing something you’ve already decided on or thought through is easy. So solving problems while walking helps me grapple with the hard stuff while giving me some exercise and fresh air away from eye-straining monitors.

Tiny Prep Coupon

Something counter-intuitive I’ve proven from doing daily Tiny Prep is that action creates motivation.

You’d think it was the opposite. Get excited, then make a decision, then do something. 

That’s often the approach we take. And it’s why we don’t get stuff done and are stress-balls come game-day.

But it turns out that knocking off a tiny, fast, useful task that starts with a d6 roll gets you excited. It motivates you to keep going and to show up and do it again tomorrow. It builds momentum like a Warhammer 4E combat, and win-streaks like a rust monster in a corridor full of paladins.

This week I’m offering a 33% OFF coupon to get Tiny Prep to help you start your own campaign and session prep streaks.

Click here to get your Tiny Prep deal coupon.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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