Ill have to preface my answer with a though on different types of gaming first; there is a difference between War Gamers and Roleplayers. War Gamers typically have a huge amount of maps and counters, and are very intricate about rules. If a rule doesnt exist for the situation, play stops until the matter is resolved. Roleplayers have a tendency to land anywhere from a style which is just a hair short of a War Gamer to near complete chaos with dice. I like to run my games a little closer to the chaos side myself.
I once heard Roleplaying described as a combination of a board game and acting, and took it to heart. Preparation for me includes many of the tasks listed above already, but I try to add more. I practice accents when no one is around. I think about how to play primitives or mentally unhinged NPCs. And I try to figure moods for NPCs, especially if it will yank the h*ll out of my player's heartstrings to do the right thing.
The 3x5 cards have been a friend for a long time. I have a collection of quite a few random encounters that I can use, and describing them a bit different each time hides the fact that there are only 50 or so.
Combat has to move fast. Make it seem like a movie. I know Ive said this before so Im sorry if Im putting anyone to sleep....but Ive seen D&D games where it took 15 to 20 minutes to resolve each attack. Unsat. I want my players to have quick gratification or disappointment. So I study the combat rules and try to memorize the more important charts. The faster the little facts get out of the way the faster players get to kill things or get killed, and a little dramatics is encouraged too. Have you seen the pic that General Pain has on his site with one of his players holding up a document tube like a LAW rocket? Perfect. And any combat rules that drastically slow the game or jerk player initiative out from under them? Out the window they go.
And I like to do something I started calling "Joe Cheese". Sometimes if things need to move faster or if players are getting bored with random encounters, Ill throw a piece of soundtrack score on and do a montage description of the little things that are happening around them, especially if events are NPC controlled.
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