It depends a whole, whole bunch on what exactly you do. Custom setting with great attention to detail and an entire campaign mapped out? Every possible semi-im

It depends a whole, whole bunch on what exactly you do. Custom setting with great attention to detail and an entire campaign mapped out? Every possible semi-important NPC with a biography and set of motivations and stats for every place they might go in the whole campaign? Yeah, shitloads of work, hundreds of hours, maybe thousands. Or you can have a basic setting and a little town with some adventure hooks, a few partially fleshed out items and NPCs, a few more randomly-generated ones for roles like “shop keeper” or “bar patron” when you don’t have anything better, crib some other setting’s gods and politics and what have you, and only fill more stuff in if the players take an interest. They really engaged with that random street juggler and are already trying to figure out how she fits into the plot? Well… she didn’t, but now she does! Time to pick a clue or hook to attach to her and put her in their path again. Only write enough runway to get through the next session, and take your writing & prep where the players go. Saves tons of time, doesn’t necessarily make for a less-satisfying game than an intricately constructed complete world (often, it’s better) Run a decent pre-written module? Usually not much work at all, just read the whole thing once then refresh yourself on the next one part before each session. Provided you’re already comfortable with the game and setting, anyway.