It’s December 23rd. Your aunt asks if you “still do that dragon game.” Your cousin’s kids are bouncing off the walls on candy canes. And somewhere between the grocery run and the presents you forgot to wrap, you said yes to running a Christmas one-shot. Tomorrow. For people who think a d20 is a weird marble.

You get 30 minutes to prep. That’s it.

Guess what? Thirty minutes is plenty. Not “plenty if you’re a genius.” Plenty if you treat prep like a speedrun: clear splits, no side quests, and zero reading the whole adventure like it’s a lore book in Skyrim.

Look, I know the math feels bad. In the American Psychological Association’s holiday stress study, lack of time was the top holiday stressor at 67%, ahead of money at 62%. And GMs start the season behind. On a normal, tinsel-free week, only about 10% of DMs prep a session in 30 minutes or less, according to a Sly Flourish poll of 3,663 DMs.

So fast prep is a real skill. The good news? You can learn it before the eggnog runs out. This post hands you the whole route, split by split. I call it the Festive Speedrun.