One evening of play, prepped on two pages

Prep that plans what the players will do is wasted by the first thing they do instead. Prep that lists what they might meet survives contact. This sheet is built the second way: one strong start you write out in full, and then lists you may never reach.

Before the session

Two sentences on where you left them, so the recap is read rather than remembered. Then the strong start, written out so you can say it cold while people are still unpacking dice. Then four lists: the scenes that might happen with a place and a question each, the secrets and clues with a note of where each one can land, the people with what they want, and the places with one impression apiece — the single sentence you would say if the party walked in right now.

Secrets get a column for where they can land because that is the difference between a clue and a bottleneck: the same fact written down three times, against three different scenes, cannot be missed by the party taking the wrong door.

In play, and afterwards

The second page is the one you write on. Countdowns with their steps and what happens when they fill. Threats with just enough numbers to run them and a line on how they behave. Rewards, including the favours and the information that are worth more than coin. A question to ask each player, answered in character. Then two boxes for afterwards: what actually happened, and what you owe them next time.

System neutral, A4 at 300 DPI as a PNG or a PDF, and a fillable PDF with a blank copy for printing a stack. A scene worth more than one line gets its own Scene Sheet, and the people on the list get an NPC sheet in your system’s own numbers.