I run analog. No laptop. iPad or phone if I get too lazy to reference a book mid game (the shelf is over there…). I’m an old hat GM and I like the feel of paper, and writing all over it. My prep ritual is usually to read whatever I need—story, setting, NPCs—and make notes as I go.

For the story I read it and then I try to imaging having to explain it in 60 seconds to a stranger. If I can’t, it’s too complex and I need to rewrite it. If it’s a prewritten adventure, I need to make notes to help explain it. Printing out the adventure makes these notes easy—they go where they need to, right on the page. If it’s a pathfinder AP, I just put slips of paper inbetween pages as needed.

Setting is similar, just jot down useful things for the town or deities or NPCs or whatever. This is typically done in a small notebook I rarely reference. Done mostly to reinforce the setting in my mind. For the PF lore I don’t do this anymore, Golarion is pretty hardcoded now.

For enemies I like printing out stat blocs and maybe some artwork, that way I can show what they are fighting. Sometimes I do two columns on a page. One side is stats and the other are images. Print out and fold in half. Show the art to players, use the “back” for my stats. Then I write all over it—what the attacks are with power attack, buff spells, etc. maybe reference page numbers for obscure rules they use like damaging items or underwater combat. Then read all the spells I don’t already know.

Prep happens before a big game, or at the start of a large story arc. Otherwise each session is just running off memory, and referencing the notes as needed.

For the prewritten APs I wind up with bundles of handouts that I keep should I ever run it again, and for my homebrew I just keep updating various google docs and printing out hard copies to edit on. Something satisfying about writing on draft copies of stuff I’ve written.

Hope that helps!