In regards to prep –

So, this past weekend I ran both Golden Sky Stories and Ryuutama. I am super allergic to railroads. I break out in don’t give a fuck, all over the place.

Instead, my “prep” was:
– Reading all of the flavor text/guide stuff for GSS
– Making a sortable spreadsheet of pre-statted Ryuutama enemies

The end! I improvise everything else, or I suppose you could say my prep happens during character creation. I ask the players what they want to see, and try to make that happen.

That’s how I handle games that encourage heavy prep, anyway.