Running a session with zero prep requires massive amounts of prior activity. One must know the rules backwards and forwards, have what some call book mastery to be able to find rules and tables, and finally one must have an exhaustive knowledge of the genre literature.
Even then the dungeon master needs to have the intellectual capacity to be able to weave all these things together and create a cohesive presentation.
Something that the players can latch on too and use their own imagination to discover what ties these things together.
Otherwise it's just solo Dungeons and Dragons with an audience. If you've ever watched someone play D&D solo on YouTube, then you know how excruciating it is to endure the roll-roll-roll & flip-flip-flip through the books looking for the tables they need.
My advice to anyone who is relatively new to the hobby, is to learn the literature of Appendix N, read your rule book, and do a good bit of campaign prep including a fairly detailed regional map.
Print out a few dungeons from donjon.bin and Dyson logos, and keep them handy for when your players discover something you haven't prepared.
A dungeon master going into a session without adequate resources is just as foolish as your characters going into a dungeon without adequate resources.
Running a session with zero prep requires massive amounts of prior activity. One must know the rules backwards and forwards, have what some call book mastery to be able to find rules and tables, and finally one must have an exhaustive knowledge of the genre literature.
Even then the dungeon master needs to have the intellectual capacity to be able to weave all these things together and create a cohesive presentation.
Something that the players can latch on too and use their own imagination to discover what ties these things together.
Otherwise it's just solo Dungeons and Dragons with an audience. If you've ever watched someone play D&D solo on YouTube, then you know how excruciating it is to endure the roll-roll-roll & flip-flip-flip through the books looking for the tables they need.
My advice to anyone who is relatively new to the hobby, is to learn the literature of Appendix N, read your rule book, and do a good bit of campaign prep including a fairly detailed regional map.
Print out a few dungeons from donjon.bin and Dyson logos, and keep them handy for when your players discover something you haven't prepared.
A dungeon master going into a session without adequate resources is just as foolish as your characters going into a dungeon without adequate resources.
There are videos of the author doing what you describe with solo play and yeah it isn't great.
Go play on traffic.
Found the illiterate