Brad Murray started a potentially interesting thread on Story Games about prep people do for their games. I thought I’d join in by posting an image of my notes from my most recent session of Mouse Guard.

GM Notes for a recent session of Mouse Guard

I really enjoy a lot of things about Mouse Guard (and there are some frustrations, too). I’ve heard some people talk about Mouse Guard as a potentially no-prep game, but I think that’s nuts. The prep I do is a key component of my fun as a GM. When I lock in the scenario up front, I can act like an impartial referee and appreciative audience when I GM. When I try to dynamically scale the mission for the players I feel like the success of the mission and the fun of the session is all on my shoulders. I think no-prep games are valuable (the game I’m designing is no-prep), but it’s not a gameplay-neutral decision. Some games work better with prep.