Want to add some spice to your next session, but running low on time? There are many ways to use the detailed notes that GM Assistant provides to quickly come up with fun scenarios for your players to enjoy. Here are 5 of my favorite ways to switch things up when preparing for your next session, in under 20 minutes.
1) The Missing NPC
Check out the NPC lists from your GM Assistant notes a couple sessions back, and find an NPC the party hasn't seen in a while. Try to take that character, and plant them in the next session.
And if you have some more time, flesh out their story and come up with a plausible reason for them to be there, while still factoring in the player's actions and overarching plot.
Making background characters your players interact with come back every now and then can add more depth to the world and make players feel the weight of their actions. Additionally, it may also incentivize players to remember your characters and check in on them more often.
Example: A librarian the party helped is planning to propose and is now traveling to find the perfect ore to craft a ring.
2) The Unforeseen Consequence
Looking over your notes from the last session? Pick out a minor event that was brushed over, something your players did that didn't really lead to anything. It could be interesting to find some sort of consequence that the players might face because of what they did. Try to find an unexpected angle, you don't want to be too predictable, but keep the reaction proportional to the action.
Now, not everything needs to be impactful. There is a careful balance to be had, between too many consequences that feel overwhelming and predictable, and too few where the world feels static and railroaded. But if you consistently sprinkle it in, players will start to think about their choices more, because even the small ones matter.
Example: The goblins the party beat up a few towns ago have regrouped and are planning an ambush.
3) The Dusty Item
It's always fun to give players new items and spells to play around with. But the more they have, the more some of the niche items might get overlooked. One of the really nice things about GM Assistant is that you can easily look over the lists the items you've given out, and try to find some items that have been collecting some dust. It could be a fun exercise to design a situation that can be solved using that item in a clever way.
You may not want to make it obvious. It could be heavily hinted at, maybe even try to foreshadow its use, keeping the actual problem general enough that they could solve it in another way. Because even if they solve the problem differently, it can create a fun facepalm moment when they realize they had the perfect tool all along.
Example: A wide chasm can be crossed by a rickety bridge, or by using the Potion of Spider Climb they've been holding for three levels.
4) The World Map
One of many things that are tracked in your GM Assistant notes are locations your party has travelled through. And one way you can use these lists is to try to place them all onto a single, simple map. For now, just start by just plotting all the locations as points, you can always make it prettier later.
This simple exercise will help you visualize the world's scale and where the party travelled. It makes it easier to plot future adventures, and gives players a concrete way to revisit past locations. Also, once you have it, there are many professional artists out there which you could commission to make really pretty maps from your drawing. Once printed, these maps could be a nice prop that you can share with your players, or even as a novelty gift to your party at the end of a successful campaign.
5) The Trivia God
Finally, if you are feeling a touch of whimsy, consider introducing your party to the "trivia god". Scan your session summaries for small, specific details, and create a short trivia quiz. The next time the party rests, have some sort of disembodied voice or outlandish creature appear and offer rewards for completing this test.
This can be a fun way to reinforce the world's lore, and can lead to fun roleplaying opportunities, especially if the rewards and punishments are super silly.