I usually plan the general details of the adventure sometime in the week before the session. This might involve point-form notes in some games, in others just reviewing the material, and in others figuring out which NPCs I want where.

Then on the day I game, I usually prepare myself a Vietnamese Iced Coffee and light a pipe just before the session starts.

RPGPundit

Most of my prepwork is done when I design the campaign.  

About an hour before the game, I get my head into zone.
*I review which scenes from which plotlines will be used tonight (to serve as a foundation, we all know that players are never predictable).
*Review rules that might come up today, and character sheets to see a players chance to do certain things using those rules.
*reading source material for the setting, inspirational material if any, or somesuch.
*Read a passage to set the GM's Voice for the game.
*Make sure everything in terms of equipments, books, and notes, are ready to go.
*Eat (if not already done so).

This is the Ideal.  I could run off the cuff, especially if I have been doing the reviews and such for a couple of weeks AND I knew where we were in the various plot cycles.

Totally off the cuff, that is fun too... just not for games with long continuities.

Before I read anyone else's answers:

What do you do, typically, before running a game?

If I'm unfamiliar with or rusty on the rules, read the bits I think are likely to come up.  If that takes ages, I don't run that game.  Right now, I'm prepping Space 1889, I was pretty rusty on it so have reread a fair bit of the book.  That's unusual, most stuff I run in BRP which I know backwards.

I've also given some thought to issues I might want coming up, not in a White Wolfy way but more I want to include some stuff about differing colonial powers' interests, I want to explore the war between the British colony and the Oenotrian empire and I want to explore some of the mysteries of Mars's past.  That gives me a fraework to think in.

How long does it take to prep the adventure?

A few hours for the first session, two to four usually, six tops.  After that an hour maybe for future sessions, maybe though just 20 minutes reminding myself what happened last session.  I try to set up situations rather than adventures, which makes the prep front loaded.

Is there anything in particular that you do on the day you're running it?

Break my balls trying to get out of work on time for it.  Every fucking week.

Anything special you do at the start of a session?

Shoot the breeze a bit, chat about computer games, books or what folk have been up to.  Relax from the rush from work, hand out sheets and then get started.

Quote from: Soylent Green;286105You read on fora such as this about so many GM's who are masters of their craft, who know exactly what they want and how to get it. I've never been one of those.

Me neither, and I suspect most of them are just coming across that way because they've typed up what they do in a brief post - stuff always looks neater that way.

I wouldn't let it worry you.  As long as the players are having fun and you are too, it's cool.

Re-read some of the game's source material, take long walks and daydream.

Seanchai

Sit with some headphones on, write some general notes about the campaign and general atmosphere (I am always amazed at how a thunderstorm can confound a group of players).

Download a few NPC's from the internet and figure out how to use them while having a drink of some nice beer.

I take some time to write down some notes on a notecard about the coming sessions events. Or make a new random table, or edit an old one. Or create and introduce a new NPC. It's usually a mess of notes that get refined in play and added to a wiki later.

I run with no little or preparation because players IME will vocialize one course of action and then do another.

Quote from: RPGPundit;286058What do you do, typically, before running a game?
How long does it take to prep the adventure?
Is there anything in particular that you do on the day you're running it?
Anything special you do at the start of a session?

RPGPundit

Preparing a campaign usually takes from 2 to 10 hours tops, chargen included. After the first session, I usually need 1-2 hours a week (including refreshing rules and all that).

Prep includes thinking on:
- what happened last session and how every NPC is going to react
- mapping / statting the most important places / persons (rough sketches will do)
- thinking on new twists I can add, and the best way of starting with a bang, and finishing with a bigger bang.
- listening to lots of music, some of it quite weird.

I don't do anything special per se just before gaming.

I read the next bit of the adventure I'm running during the 25 minute or so Underground train journey to the venue.

Basically I set it all up as a house of cards at the beginning of the campaign, if the PCs do nothing they'll all fall down in a certain way; if the PCs do stuff then they'll fall another way.

I sketch out major NPCs and a few minor ones for colour, and a few key locations. Aside from that, the game world doesn't exist more than an inch beyond what the PCs have seen. Sometimes it's hard to know where they'll explore next, so in the week between sessions I start or encourage chatty emails about the campaign, this gives me a sense of where the PCs are likely to go during the next session.

If players are not writing or responding to those emails, I take it as a sign of their not being interested, and that I need to jazz things up a bit. I think back to when that player did respond to things, and what they said when they created their character, to get an idea of what to put in so they will respond this time. Some never respond so I don't cater to them, they just want to be passengers, fine.

The campaign stuff is usually written out, but the week-to-week stuff is at most a few lines, most of it's in my head.