Pretty sure it happened to everyone, you lacked time to prep tonight session, and now the first player just arrived
Bonus point if you explain how to do it when tired.
My players stumble upon an abandoned version of one of my Dwarf Fortress cities.
I already know the whole layout backwards and forwards without needing to work with a map, and it has traps, epic architecture, purpose to every room, little random stuff scattered through, and I can usually come up with some kind of theme or ending to the dungeon for if they get that far into it. Easy peasy.
Exactly this, but for my world building hobby. I’ve been setting on a fully formed civilization with clashing cultures, centuries of history, historical figures, folklore, and recipes for more than a decade now. If I don’t have a mission lined up in game I can just slot in my own lore.
Yeah. Or video game levels you love, or fiction, or anything. As long as it’s something you thought was badass when you were dealing with it, then you’ll probably have it fleshed out already in your mind so you can put your main focus into making it badass when your players are going through it, not just fumbling around with encounter tables or whatever.