Sly Flourish
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- VideoSeven Fantastic Tools to Play RPGs Online
More people than ever play RPGs online. Over the past few years the suite of tools to play RPGs has grown and improved as well. Today we're going to look at one "stack" of tools to run awesome games online. There are many such stacks, and some tools containing almost all of the features below in a single tool. This stack doesn't contain the most popular tools you can find but I recommend it none the less. It's a fantastic suite for the lazy dungeon master.
Game Prep: Notion
I've been using Notion for more than two years now and love it for campaign planning. If you've used Microsoft OneNote, this will seem familiar. Notion lets you set up a suite of interlinked pages with text, pictures, and other embedded items organized however you want to organize it. I've built a Notion template for Lazy DM prep and have used it for more than three hundred game sessions and I continue to love it. You can read my article on using Notion for Campaign Prep for more details.
If you're looking for something less commercial, less locked-in and more expandible; check out Obsidian. It's equally popular for RPG campaign prep.
Communications: Discord
Discord is an extremely common platform for communications with text, audio, and video. Over the past few years its audio and video functions greatly improved. You can set up a server for your game, with an audio and video "room" for the actual game and text channels for things like dice rolls, sharing pictures, and keeping a persistent game log. I have a Discord server you can clone to create your own RPG-focused Discord server and an article describing how to use Discord for online D&D games for more information.
Virtual Tabletop: Owlbear Rodeo
You can go far just sharing pictures of maps or art over Discord but if you want to actually move tokens around a map, Owlbear Rodeo is my favorite virtual tabletop. It's extremely lightweight with no game rules built into the platform. It's fast enough that I can prep a map in the middle of a game. It doesn't have the heavyweight features of bigger VTTs like Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, or Roll 20; but you and your players will love the speed and ease of use. Here's an article about using Owlbear Rodeo and a video on Owlbear Rodeo and how I set up all of Castle Ravenloft in Owlbear Rodeo in ten minutes.
Maps: Dyson Logos
As a lazy DM, I always recommend finding a good map instead of making your own. If you ever need a dungeon or overland map, my favorite maps are those by Dyson of Dysonlogos. There's over a thousand maps, mostly dungeons but some overland maps, we can repurpose for so many different locations. I've used them for Eberron, Midgard, Forgotten Realms, and Numenera. Because they're lightweight on theme, you can easily reskin them. The same map can be used for an ancient tomb or the ruins of an old tech power generator. Dyson maps, of course, work very well in Owlbear Rodeo.
Tokens: Token Stamp
Google's image search mixed with Token Stamp by RollAdvantage lets you build virtual tabletop tokens for just about anything in a few seconds. I often use it to build tokens in the middle of the game when I need one. I'm able to google for an image, take a screen shot, import it into Token Stamp, dump out the token, and import it into Owlbear Rodeo in about a minute.
Making custom tokens in Token Stamp lets you pick a particular style you like and stick with it. I, myself, like big face-focused tokens instead of full-body shots that are harder to recognize. Token Stamp lets me stay with that style whatever monster I need.
Music Sharing: Kenku.fm
A good musical backdrop can add a lot of atmosphere to a game but sharing music online can be tricky. The fine people at Owlbear Rodeo built a music sharing application called Kenku.FM. With Kenku you can share music through Discord as though it's another member of your audio channel. Setting it up is tricky, requiring that you set up your own Kenku bot in Discord to allow the streaming. The folks at Kenku have a good instruction page to walk you through the process. You'll want to warn your players that they can control the volume level of the Kenku service themselves by right-clicking the Kenku member of the audio channel and setting their own preferred volume.
Kenku lets you stream anything you can find over the web including Tabletop Audio, YouTube, and others. If you can hear it over the web, you can stream it to Discord.
For an advanced trick, let one of your players manage the Kenku service and DJ your game for you.
Rules and PDF Sharing - Google Drive
If you're playing D&D, [D&D Beyond] is the most likely way you'll want to share material with your players. However, if you're using third party material or playing other RPGs, there's a great way to legally share PDFs with your players using Google Drive. Upload the PDF you want to share to Google Drive and share it specifically with your friends in your group identified as "viewers". Before you exit the window, click the little gear icon on the upper right corner of the share window and un-check the option for "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy". This way your players can view the PDF through Google Drive but can't download their own copy or print it out. It's the digital equivalent of handing a book around a table and far safer (and more legal) than sharing the PDF directly with your friends. Here's more about restricting sharing on Google Drive.
Build Your Own Stack
The above tools are my own personal and recommended stack of software but it's far from the only one. Each of us can decide which tools serve us best. Choose the tools that help you and your friends enjoy the most of this game we love so much.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on the Cure to the OGL Blues and Scarlet Citadel Session 12 – Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- OGL 1.2 Feedback and Suggestions
- The Industry Responds to the attempted OGL 1.0a Deauthorization
- Rebranding the Lazy RPG Talk Show
- I'm Here For You Whatever RPG You Play
- Curing the OGL Blues
- Deep Magic 2
- Two Huge Bundles of Holding and Humble Bundles
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Keeping Your Games on Track
- Running Games for Seven Players
- Introducing Lots of NPCs at Once
- Fueling Creativity
- Identifying Relics and Single-Use Magic Items
- Improving Representation in Older Material
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Occasionally run big multi-wave battles where the characters defend a ruined keep or fortified town or some defensible position.
- Add a starving vampire trapped in an oubliette and see how the characters respond.
- Bathe monuments in interesting lore, religions, and histories of the region.
- Ask your players what character options they're excited to use.
- Let any player (and yourself) use "pause for a minute" to break character and clarify things as players around the table.
- Write down page numbers in your prep notes.
- Use a mixture of theater of the mind, abstract combat, and big tactical encounters. Don't limit yourself to just one style of combat.
Related Articles
- Owlbear Rodeo: A Simple D&D Virtual Tabletop
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
- Shared Experiences Playing D&D Online
- Play D&D Over Discord
- Sandwich Mechanics with Story
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 30, 2023 - 6:00 am - Top Ten Notable 5e Products for 2022
Over on the Lazy D&D Talk Show I spotlight 5e products — primarily third party products but also those published by Wizards of the Coast.
Looking back, here are the top ten 5e products that caught my attention over 2022. This is just my view, of course. There are many products I never got a chance to look at and many products you may love more than the ones I outline below. Like everything I produce, hang on to this list with a loose grip.
These are also listed in alphabetical order — not in order by quality or preference.
Crown of the Oathbreaker by Elderbrain
Elderbrain, the publisher of Crown of the Oathbreaker used a survey of over 2,000 respondents to guide the construction of this massive 917 page hardcover and PDF adventure book. Both versions include extra digital books with player options, location gazetteers, maps, and more. It's a dark fantasy adventure with a focus on twisted histories of former noble families, fallen celestials, and other grim figures. The art is fantastic and the layout is excellent. A steal at $25 digitally and $75 for a digital and physical version.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim by the Dungeon Dudes and Ghostfire Gaming
A collaboration between the Dungeon Dudes and Ghostfire Gaming, Dungeons of Drakkenheim is an excellent campaign adventure for dungeon masters by dungeon masters. It's built by DMs who know what DMs need to run the campaign. The story is a mixture of dark political intrigue and horror-themed dungeon delving — definitely a dark fantasty focused adventure. The quality of the book is excellent with grim artwork, a solid design, and lots of accessories should you choose to buy them and run it.
GMs Miscellany Dungeon Dressing for 5e by Raging Swan Press
Raging Swan puts out amazing books of inspirational tables and tools to help us fill out our fantasy RPGs. The GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing for 5e is the 5e version of the more system-agnostic Dungeon Dressing book but includes pre-rolled 5e-compatible treasure parcels and other 5e focused material. It's an excellent book from an excellent publisher and well worth a DM's money to help fuel ideas for future adventures.
Level Up 5e Monstrous Menagerie
A drop-in replacement for the standard Monster Manual, the Monstrous Menagerie is one of the three core books of the Level Up Advanced 5e RPG system. Developed by Paul Hughes of the Blog of Holding, the mathematics behind the monsters in the Menagerie is top-notch — far better balanced than what you'll find in the Monster Manual. The monster design leans towards complexity, so if you prefer simpler monsters, this might not be for you. Advancements like epic monsters gives you true powerhouse boss monsters sure to put your heroes on their toes. This book is absolutely packed with awesome monsters and gets my personal award for best 5e product of 2022 even though it came out in late 2021.
Path of the Planebreaker by Monte Cook Games
Monte Cook Games's take on worlds like Planescape and, to a smaller degree, Spelljammer; Path of the Planebreaker gives us a high-fantasy sourcebook with dozens of worlds the characters can explore along the path of a multi-planar moon crashing through the cosmos. Monte Cook Games's products are always exceptionally produced with amazing high-fantasy artwork, an excellent physical design and layout, and a wonderful approach towards indexing and cross-referencing that I wish every book included. My only complaint is that 5e design, both for monsters and magic items isn't MCG's strength. Often monster design is head-scratchingly bad and requires a lot of work if you want to use it. Easier is taking their story concepts and wrapping them around monster stat blocks from other producers. Regardless, Path of the Planebreaker is an awesome book with an awesome theme and one I highly recommend.
Planegea by Atlas Games
A massive 380 page sourcebook set in the stone age, Planegea shows us how far we can take 5e's design into campaigns and worlds beyond those published by Wizards of the Coast alone. Another "for GMs by GMs" sourcebook, Planegea includes awesome reskins of existing classes and races, a wonderful awe-inspiring setting, and tremendous artwork and design. If you're looking for a very different setting in which to run your 5e games, definitely give Planegea a look.
Southlands Worldbook by Kobold Press
Set in the south of Kobold Press's massive Midgard setting, the 300+ page Southlands Worldbook includes ancient tombs, powerful villains, old gods, detailed cities of intrigue, and vast histories. With a clear inspiration from our real-world middle east and Africa, three cultural consultants helped steer the Southlands Worldbook from potentially problematic topics such as racism and colonialism. The book's descriptions of slavery, however, warrant a solid discussion during a session zero. The Southlands Worldbook is an awesome spotlight and deep dive into a major region of Midgard — one that can lead to years of campaigns and adventures.
Tal-Dorei Reborn by Darrington Press
The latest refresh of the Tal-Dorei setting popularized by Critical Role, Tal-Dorei Reborn is an amazing and beautiful sourcebook of Matt Mercer's fantastic setting. The nearly 300 page sourcebook is packed with incredible artwork and a modern world design ripe for adventures. Clearly this book appeals more towards fans of Critical Role. It's a wonderful gift for a Critter whether or not they play D&D but for DMs it offers a wealth of ideas to either harvest into your own world or a whole world you yourself can set your adventures.
Tome of Beasts 3 by Kobold Press
Probably my favorite monster book to date, Tome of Beasts 3 is packed with fantastic monsters using the latest 5e design style of Monsters of the Multiverse. Unlike Multiverse, high challenge monsters in Tome of Beasts 3 have real teeth to challenge high level characters. A new set of NPC stat blocks offers tremendous reskinning potential and the rest of the 418 page book is packed with more than 400 monsters to drop into your 5e game and scare even the most grizzled veterans who can describe every feature of a shambling mound.
Venture Maidens Campaign Guide
Written by Celeste Conowich and developed for the Venture Maidens liveplay game, the Venture Maidens campaign guide builds a high fantasy world of epic quests in a land where the borders of the world grow thin. The Venture Maidens Campaign Sourcebook includes all new character creation and mechanics for following the epic quests held in the hearts of our heroic characters. The book expands out into some excellent gamemaster suggestions sure to improve any game. It's a beautiful book encapsulating a wonderful realm of high fantasy and the heroes who walk within it.
Tremendous Books Bringing Life to D&D for Years to Come
Looking over these ten books I'm amazed by the amount of material we have for this game we love. Though we sit less than two years away from a new version of the game, we still have tons of settings, campaigns, and monsters to fill out our 5e games as long as we want them to run. Because may of these books focus on settings and campaigns, we can be sure to find value in them regardless of which system we choose to run.
Pick up one of these books, sit back, and fall into another world.
Related Articles
- Notable Third-Party Products for D&D
- You, Me, and the D&D Open Game License
- A DM's Reading List
- Wolfgang Baur on Worldbuilding
- How to Read Your D&D Books
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 23, 2023 - 6:00 am - Feedback to WOTC on the OGL 1.2 Draft
Wizards of the Coast released a new draft of their "Open" Gaming License version 1.2 including releasing the core mechanics of the original 5e System Resource Document version 5.1 under a Creative Commons license. That's pretty great but it's still not as good as what we had and expected to keep with the OGL 1.0a.
Today they opened a survey for feedback and now is our opportunity to provide that feedback.
Most of us aren't lawyers or have any background (or interest) in contracts like this. So I've talked to a lot of people, including lawyers, to try to get a consensus of these licenses and the feedback we can provide to WOTC.
Thus, here's the feedback I plan to provide:
Don't attempt to "deauthorize" the OGL 1.0a. The best way to begin to repair the D&D brand is to not attempt to "deauthorize" the OGL 1.0a. It's not even clear it's legal to do so and it certainly goes against WOTC's original intent of the agreement we shared. WOTC's using a one-word loophole in ways several attorneys say is questionable or even unlawful.
Further, "deauthorizing" the OGL 1.0a has tremendous downstream consequences for publishers who trusted WOTC and used the OGL to share their own material downstream. If the OGL 1.0a is deauthorized, it means they can't share the material they intended to through the OGL 1.0a.
Don't attempt to deauthorize the OGL 1.0a.
Release lists of the names of species, spells, magic items, and monsters in the 5.1 SRD under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. WOTC releasing anything under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 is a huge step forward. It's a well used and well trusted license. In WOTC's OGL 1.2 draft they state their plan to release the core mechanics of 5e except for classes, species, monsters, magic items, and spells.
Include the lists of names of species, monsters, magic items, and spells. This is very likely material we could use anyway under copyright law but it helps if we know that WOTC agreed. Releasing these lists under the CC BY 4.0 helps considerably when writing 5e compatible adventures and campaigns.
Even better? Release the entire 5.1 SRD under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.
Use independent third party arbitration for hateful content. There's no way WOTC should have the sole right to decide what is hateful content. WOTC themselves had trouble with this within the past four months. There's no way WOTC should have full authority over what is hateful and no way that a licensed publisher should have no recourse to defend themselves. The world also changes. Material considered obscene years ago is now embraced and vice versa. This is such a complicated topic it's probably best removed completely.
Add "Royalty Free". The current draft OGL 1.2 does not describe itself as a "royalty free" license. The license should declare itself to be "royalty free".
Make it Truly Irrevocable. As written, the OGL 1.2 redefines irrevocable to mean that the license can't be revoked when applied to a product but not that the license itself can't be revoked. This license, on its own and applied to their system resource documents, should be irrevocable. This is the whole reason we're in this problem to begin with. I, for one, never want to have this conversation again.
Rewrite the termination clause. As written, the termination clause in the OGL 1.2 is far too wide. Who determines if a licensee has infringed on WOTC's intellectual property? How is that arbitrated? This whole statement over-reaches and can be used by WOTC to penalize just about any creator if they want to.
Rewrite the severability clause. As written, the severability clause in 9(d) almost certainly gives WOTC the ability to invalidate the license. Given that WOTC intends to attempt to deauthorize the OGL 1.0a on a technicality, I have no faith WOTC won't try it again here.
State that if any provision is ruled illegal or unenforceable, the remainder of the license's provisions remain in effect. Also if the agreement or any provision is ruled illegal or unenforceable in a specific jurisdiction (e.g. country or state) the license and those provisions remain in effect for all other jurisdictions where they have not been ruled illegal or unenforceable.
Other feedback:
Section 3(a) - Strike language prohibiting creators from seeking injunctive relief.
Section 6(e) - Strike or rewrite to account for international laws. A creator in the US can't be expected to abide by laws in other countries and vice versa.
Section 7(b)(ii) - Expand time to cure to 180 days and better define what actions are sufficient to cure a breach.
Not Covering the VTT Stuff
This feedback doesn't cover the VTT policies described in the OGL 1.2 draft which are significant. See the feedback provided by Foundry for a better understanding of how this affects virtual tabletops.
Related Articles
- You, Me, and the D&D Open Game License
- Dnd Tip Tweet Archive
- Random Trap Generator
- What I'd Love from the Next Iteration of D&D
- Random Mundane Magic Item Generator
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 20, 2023 - 6:00 am - You, Me, and the D&D Open Game License
On 5 January 2023, Linda Codega of Gizmodo described a new leaked version of WOTC's Open Game License. This new license heavily impairs third party publication of D&D compatible material. Worse, it attempts to "deauthorize" the current (and actually open) Open Game License almost all third party publishers of D&D-compatible material used for over twenty years. It's a complete fiasco. No, not the fun one.
Wizards of the Coast released a statement walking back royalties but saying nothing about the worst parts of the license: revocation of the 20 year old OGL 1.0a, requirements to register products, and the ability to change or terminate the agreement at their will.
For more details of the OGL situation; what it is, what it means, and what you can do about it; check out my Thoughts on the OGL.
But what does the OGL horror show mean for you and me?
D&D is Still Ours
I still love D&D. I'm hurt by WOTC's decision to cause so much stress and harm to the creators who pour so much of their time, money, passion, and energy into making this game so great. It's been an awful couple of weeks.
But I love D&D anyway. WOTC can't take D&D away from us. We own the books. We own our dice. We own our ideas. We can always play D&D. Maybe that D&D is 5th edition. Maybe it's Old School Essentials or Numenera or Shadow of the Demon Lord.
It's all still D&D to me.
You don't have to quit playing D&D. The custodians of the D&D brand have made good choices and bad choices for 50 years. 5th edition was a great new direction that brought D&D to the height of its popularity. The potential release of this new OGL is clearly terrible, alienating tens of thousands of D&D's biggest voices and biggest fans.
But we can still play D&D.
If you want to use this opportunity to help third party publishers and try some other RPGs out, now's a great time. Here's a list of some awesome RPGs — some similar to D&D and some quite different.
- 13th Age
- Blades in the Dark
- Fantasy AGE
- Fate Condensed
- Index Card RPG
- Ironsworn
- Level Up Advanced 5e
- Numenera
- Old School Essentials
- Shadow of the Demon Lord
Many of these systems offer free previews to give you an idea what they're like.
If you want to keep running 5th edition, here are my favorite third-party 5e products over 2022.
- Crown of the Oathbreaker
- Dungeons of Drakkenheim
- GMs Miscellany Dungeon Dressing for 5e
- Level Up 5e Monstrous Menagerie
- Path of the Planebreaker
- Planegea
- Southlands Worldbook
- Tal-Dorei Reborn
- Tome of Beasts 3
- Venture Maidens Campaign Guide
We can play a whole lot of D&D without needing WOTC's permission.
What About Sly Flourish?
I'm not sure how this affects Sly Flourish yet. So far, not much. I'll continue offering advice to help you run your games, D&D or otherwise. I'll still talk about D&D but I'll probably focus more on advice suitable for any fantasy RPG.
My books and the material on the Sly Flourish Patreon are all pretty system agnostic. Pivoting away from the OGL won't be hard.
The Lazy D&D Talk Show might change. I'll probably cover other RPGs more than I have and keep my focus on third party products you might not have heard of. I'll probably stop promoting WOTC books if they're not interested in others even existing.
I'm Here For You
I always focus my drive and attention on you, the GMs running games for your friends and family. You're the cornerstone of this hobby, whatever system you run and whatever products you use to support it. Big companies don't matter. Brands don't matter. You matter. Your game matters. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to run awesome games. I'm not veering from that purpose. WOTC chose their path — one of greed and hubris and condescension for their best customers, biggest supporters, and greatest fans. My path is not theirs and neither must it be yours. Your game matters. Not theirs. Whether you use their system or not. It's your game. And I'm here to help you run it.
Related Articles
- Feedback to WOTC on the OGL 1.2 Draft
- Top Ten Notable 5e Products for 2022
- What I'd Love from the Next Iteration of D&D
- Notable Third-Party Products for D&D
- Identify Good D&D Adventures and Products
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 16, 2023 - 6:00 am - Three Tips for Being a Great D&D Player
Regularly on the Sly Flourish Patreon I get a question from DMs who find themselves in the player seat. There are many variants but it almost always comes out to:
"How can I be a good player?"
I offer three tips for any D&D player, DM or not, on how to be a great player. These come from my own experiences on both sides of the table and from hundreds (thousands) of conversations, posts, videos, and other sources of feedback on the topic.
Take Notes
By far, one of the best things you can do to be a great player is take notes. Whether it's by hand in a notebook or a note in your Notion notebook, taking notes keeps you engaged with the game. It lets you ask the right questions to your DM. It lets you share information with your fellow players. It gives you a diary of events so you can look back fondly on the details of your campaigns years later. Even if other players are likewise taking notes, there's no reason you can't take notes too.
Seriously, take notes.
Build a Character Around the Campaign
If you really want to help your DM out, build your character around the theme and story of the campaign. Before you fill out your character's backstory — thinking all about who your character is, where they came from, and what they want to do — talk to your DM about the campaign. Read your DM's campaign notes and descriptions. Play a game of "what if" with your DM, riffing back and forth with them until you have a character you love who's also wired into the story of the campaign. Even if you're already in the campaign, leave some blanks in your character's backstory to add new elements or new histories as you learn more about the story of the campaign itself.
Build a Supporting Character for the Group
I got this one from DM David and it's awesome. Instead of building a stand-alone character, build one intended to support the group. You can do this both mechanically and in the story of the game. Choose a class like bard or cleric and choose spells and abilities that boost up other classes. You'll make friends for life regularly casting haste on your paladin.
You can also support the group in the story of the game too. Listen to the stories of the other characters and see how you might fit in with a supporting role in that story. Talk to them about it. Think about how you might be connected. During the game, boost them up as they tell their own part of the tale. Be Robin or Alfred to their Batman.
Be a Part of the Group
It's easy to focus on your own character in a D&D game. You have a big pile of mechanics in front of you. You have a big story in your head. You want to focus on all that stuff but you're also at the table with a bunch of other people who feel the same way. The DM has a story they want to tell. Each of the players has a character they want to portray. Above all, work with these people. Learn their stories. Boost their characters. Take notes and share them. Support the story expanding at the table.
Related Articles
- Building a Great D&D Character
- Common D&D DM Mistakes
- Reach Satisfying Campaign Conclusions
- How to Handle Missing Players in D&D
- Using Notion.so for Lazy D&D Campaign Planning
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 9, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoSandwich Mechanics with Story
Sometimes, when we're elbow-deep in the mechanics of our game, it's easy to forget that we're sharing a story. The more complicated the mechanics, the more tools or systems we use, the more we forget to stop for a second and imagine what's happening in the world.
When running your game, try sandwiching your mechanics with in-world descriptions. Begin by describing the situation going on in the world, then the mechanical situation or effect, and then the result back in the fiction of the world again.
You can often do this in one sentence. Here's a damage description for example.
"The ogre slams his club into you for 12 points of damage as your arm buckles under the blow."
Other more complicated situations might look like this.
"Bitter End hurls out a blast of lighting tearing through Aury, Intimidating Cake, and Tarch. Each of you need to make DC 15 dexterity saving throws taking 28 damage on a failure or 14 on a miss as the lighting blast hammers through you and into the back wall, racing along conduits of metal embedded in the wall."
Some DMs feel like such descriptions waste time. Combat can already take a long time, let's not bog it down with flowery narrative, they argue.
But this narrative is the point of the story. It's the result of the mechanics, not something to be tossed aside.
You might extend these descriptions to the beginning and end of each turn as well, narrating what's going on for each character from their point of view before their turn begins. This gives you a chance to reinforce things the player may have forgotten but the character surely hasn't.
The next time you're running your game, sandwich your mechanical descriptions with the narrative of the story happening in the world. It's a great way to remind everyone, yourself included, that our game is more than just dice rolls and math — we're creating worlds together.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on How Many Hit Points should a Monster Have and Chronicles of Eberron by Keith Baker.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- 13th Age Bundle of Holding
- How to Skip Content you Don't Want to Hear
- The WOTC OGL 1.1 Announcement
- Alternate Objectives by Sneak AttackPress
- Favorite Product of 2022
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Connecting Published Adventures
- When to Use Which Dials of Monster Difficulty
- Thoughts on Owlbear Rodeo 2.0
- Making Failure Interesting with Ability Checks
- Performing Mid-Campaign Check-Ins
- Revealing a Pointcrawl Map
- Using AI Generators like Chat GPT and Midjourney
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Set up musical playlists based on relaxing scenes, sinister and suspenseful scenes, and action-packed combat.
- Don't forget what makes this game great -- spending time with our friends and family creating awesome stories together.
- Spend extra prep time on the characters; their gear, their hooks in the campaign, and the secrets they haven't yet discovered.
- Keep a set of generic tokens (either physical or for online VTTs) handy for improvised combat scenes.
- Common D&D tropes become unique and fantastic with the lore we wrap around them.
- Bathe in the lore of big world sourcebooks. Take the ideas you love and drop them into your own campaign.
- Customize your campaigns with a focus on particular character options.
Related Articles
- Build Cities Around the Characters
- Reinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
- Seven Fantastic Tools to Play RPGs Online
- Write Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 2, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoA Simpler Checklist for Jaquays-style Dungeon Maps
Good dungeon designs include loops, multiple paths, multiple entrances, an asymmetrical design, secret doors, and short cuts. Keep these concepts in mind when choosing dungeon maps for your own games.
For a video on this topic, see Jaquays-Style Design for D&D Dungeons and Overland Travel.
Justin Alexander at The Alexandrian has an excellent series of articles describing and breaking down the "Jaquays-style" map. The concept comes from the D&D cartographer Jennell Jaquays who did the maps for a number of early D&D adventures. Justin breaks down the principles of Jaquays's maps into a large list of concepts including:
- Loops
- Mutliple level connections
- Discontinuous Level connections
- Secrets and unusual paths
- Sub-levels
- Divided levels
- Nested dungeons
- Minor elevation shifts
- Midpoint entry
- Non-Euclidian geometry
- Extradimentional space
Not every Jaquays-style map includes all these features. These concepts focus on large multi-level maps. For smaller maps, we might focus on:
- Non-linear asymmetric layouts
- Multiple ways to enter the dungeon
- Looping paths throughout the dungeon
- Multiple paths to get from the beginning to the end
- Secret hallways and chambers to discover
- Short cuts to loop back or skip rooms
We might use these concepts to draw our own maps except...
We Don't Need to Draw Maps Anymore
With so many maps available online, there's little need to draw our own. If you like doing it, go with the gods, but I doubt you'll come up with an idea so unique that Dyson hasn't already done something close in Dyson's 1,000+ maps. If you're lazy, it's far easier to grab a map and reconstitute it for your game than it is to draw one from scratch.
A list of good map criteria doesn't just help you draw your own, it helps you identify good maps from bad.
An Example Bad Map — Isle of the Abbey
In 2019 I ran Ghosts of Saltmarsh and loved it except for one adventure: The Isle of the Abbey. I ran this adventure twice for two different groups and it sucked both times. After studying its design, I started to figure out why. You can read my suggestions for running Isle of the Abby to learn more. It wasn't just the design of the dungeon that sucked, but that was a big part of it. Let's look at the map for Isle of the Abbey.
First, this dungeon has one entrance and it leads straight into a big room with eight other rooms one door away. There's no other entrance a group might use to sneak into this place and no way the occupants in those other rooms won't hear you if you start a scrape in the main room.
Even if, somehow, you didn't alert the occupants in the adjacent rooms, going door to door to see what's behind them is boring. Jaquays-style dungeons are designed the way they are because it's entertaining to explore them. They surprise you and delight you when you figure them out. This is why the level design in Dark Souls is so interesting. It's a delight to realize that, after hours of crawling through the ruins of Lordran, a single elevator takes you to your home base.
Continuing with Isle of the Abby, after we clear out the eight rooms surrounding the central room in the first half of the dungeon, we're treated again to a single doorway to get into the rest of the dungeon known as the Winding Way. The Winding Way appears to have some elements we're looking for. It has loops, it's asymmetrical, and it has secret doors. In many cases, though, the loops are too tight. Having a hallway bend around itself in a 15 foot square isn't a loop. It's boring and uselessly complex. This part of the map could be a lot better if it was bigger and more spread out. It could also do with less traps. Winding your way around a long hallway only to find a dead end with a crossbow trap at the end isn't fun. This whole dungeon is a series of downward beats without any upward beats to offset it.
The intent of examining and contrasting Jaquays-style maps with maps like this isn't to turn you into an expert map designer but to help you identify good maps from bad. Luckily for us, Dyson knows their stuff when it comes to map design so we're unlikely to find a truly bad map; only one that likely doesn't fit our need.
Keeping an Eye Out for Great Dungeon Design
By keeping Jaquays-style dungeon design principles in mind, we can better select dungeon maps. Fun dungeon maps include an asymmetric design, multiple entrances, loops, multiple paths, secret doors, and shortcuts. Keep these criteria in mind while hunting down maps for your next D&D game.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on How Many Encounters per Adventuring Day and Session 10 of Lazy DM Prep for Scarlet Citadel.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Rolling Lots of Checks with a Single D20
- Chronicles of Eberron
- How I Baseline D&D Monsters
- Designing MCDM's Flee Mortals Vampires
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- What Are My DM Weaknesses?
- Handling Pacing in D&D Games
- Describing Old School Essentials to 5e Players
- Handling Large Exposition and Descriptions
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Revel in the joy of playing a game with your friends and family. It's a rare and wonderful thing.
- Instead of building a combat encounter, think about what the enemies what and what the characters might learn from them.
- Push well-rested characters with waves of combatants.
- Give players options for magic items. A strand of the witch queen's hair might weave a ring of fire resistance, a suit of resistant armor, or a flametongue blade.
- Develop battles you know are going to happen and prepare to improvise those that may happen.
- What fantastic feature defines the town or city the characters visit?
- What locations in a town are most likely to interest the characters?
Related Articles
- The Only Dungeon Map You'll Ever Need
- Kitbashing Dungeons
- Running a Dungeon Crawl
- The Best Paizo Flip Mats
- Building Lazy Dungeons
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 26, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoExperiences Running Wild Beyond the Witchlight
I had the distinct pleasure of running the Wizards of the Coast hardcover adventure Wild Beyond the Witchlight for my home group and I loved it. I don't think I really understand what an adventure brings to the table until I run it and wanted to share these experiences and offer a few tips for making the most of it.
If you prefer videos, here's a YouTube playlist with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
Note, this article contains spoilers for Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
Modify What You Want
Moreso than other hardcover adventures, I didn't feel like I needed to modify much of Wild Beyond the Witchlight. I changed it plenty, but the changes I made were ones I wanted to make; not ones I felt like I had to make. This, to me, is the difference between a good adventure and a bad one — how much do I have to change an adventure to make it playable instead of changing what I want to change just to customize it for my group.
The only exception to this might be chapter 5: Palace of Heart's Desire which I describe later.
Let the Characters Drive the Adventure
From the first session zero of our campaign, my Wild Beyond the Witchlight game focused on the characters. I changed NPCs. I shifted plots around. I wanted the story to focus on the characters, their drives, their motivations, and their lost things. This carried through the whole adventure and paid big dividends in the end.
For example, in chapter 1, the characters met a bunch of kids who wanted to get into the carnival but didn't have tickets. The characters gave their tickets to the kids who later also got pulled into Prismeer and replaced the Getaway Gang. This gave strong NPC connections from the first session that paid off to the end.
The story of Witchlight is loose enough to give you lots of opportunities to build it around the backgrounds, drives, and motivations of the characters.
Consider Dreadful Incursions
As written, every combat encounter in Witchlight is optional. This might be a fun change of pace from other combat-heavy adventures but you and your players may miss it. One option, which worked well in my game, is the inclusion of "Dreadful Incursions". I talk about these in my Dreadful Incursions article but the gist is that the domains of dread from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft are leaking into Prismeer due to Zybilna's absence. These domains bleed in as either an encounter, a dungeon, or maybe whole realms through the mists between the lands of Prismeer. Twisted horrors from these domains cause havoc in the land of whimsy and wonder. As a DM, you get to decide how much or how little to use these dreadful incursions and can use them to add another layer to the story along with some combat encounters without moral consequence.
Choose Your NPCs
Witchlight is packed with NPCs. You don't have to use them all. Choose the NPCs you like and focus on those. Drop a few NPCs in front of the characters and see which ones the players enjoy. Keep those in mind, bringing them back into the story as it evolves instead of introducing tons of new NPCs. Regularly ask your players which NPCs they're digging and which they'd like to see more of so you know which ones to focus on.
Streamlining the Palace
Reading this Reddit thread clued me in to some strange organization of the Palace of Heart's Desire. Instead of what's written in the adventure, I skipped 90% of the palace when my characters arrived. I was ready to get to the big conclusion so I had the characters fight the jabberwock out in the gardens, see the main villain of my campaign kill the other main villain in area 31, and then fight the main villain (the Dark Lord Vladeska Drakov of Falkovnia in my campaign) in area 22. While I ended up skipping a huge amount of this chapter, I didn't feel robbed and the conclusion was a fun one for my players.
Don't be afraid to make huge cuts to your published material for the fun of your game.
A Fine Adventure of Whimsy and Wonder
I loved Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The feeling of high fantasy with a good deal of humor was a perfect break from Rime of the Frostmaiden and Descent into Avernus. Though I added in a dark streak with Dreadful Incursions, the overall theme of the adventure still brought a smile to my face and those of my players.
I highly recommend Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Jaquays-Style Design for D&D Dungeons and Overland Travel and Scarlet Citadel Session 9 – Lazy D&D DM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Tome of Beasts 3 Monster Cards by Inkwell Ideas
- Blades in the Dark Bundle of Holding
- Free Monstrous Compendium 2
- Arcadia 22 Heroic Champions
- GMs Miscellany Dungeon Dressing for 5e
- AI for DM Inspiration
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Tips for Running 20th Level One-Shot Games
- Campaign Hooks for West Marches Style Games
- Running Hordes and Minions
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Write a secret and clue built around each character. What bit of lore ties each character into the next game?
- Let the characters find interesting ways to avoid combat.
- Make every magic item unique. Each one is a vehicle for a secret, clue, or piece of lore.
- Don't forget about those tag-along NPCs!
- Kick yourself out of a creative rut with random tables.
- Sharpen your tools and clean your toolbox. What works for your game and what can you discard?
- Think about what ties your characters into the world, not what you think they'll do in the next session.
Related Articles
- Add Dreadful Incursions to Wild Beyond the Witchlight
- Reinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
- Build Cities Around the Characters
- A Guide to WOTC D&D Published Adventures
- Build Resilient Campaigns
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 19, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoBuilding Stronger Friendships through D&D
Keotep, a Patron of Sly Flourish asks:
Online tools, like Discord, create amazing opportunities to meet and play D&D with many new people from literally everywhere. Do you have any top tips on building online D&D friendships?
I truly believe that, not only is D&D important, but that D&D saves lives. Friendships are critical to our health — as critical as exercise and more critical than career advancement.
D&D is a fantastic way for us to build and reinforce friendships. It gives us a catalyst to get together regularly, break away from other real-world commitments, and get together to play.
2020 and 2021 saw many of us physically isolated. For many, playing D&D online became the way we continue with the hobby. Playing online helped maintain friendships around D&D even when we couldn't get together physically.
But it's hard to build deep friendships online. While social media makes us feel more connected, the bonds we create there are often weaker than those we make in-person.
So how can we build new friendships online and strengthen those bonds? I offer my own thoughts in this article.
If you're looking to build a group, read my article on Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group.
Prioritize Friendships
Pay active attention to your friendships. Deep friendships can sometimes just happen but in today's disconnected world and constant state of busyness, it can be hard. We can start by making it a conscious activity to build, develop, and maintain friendships. This means doing something, every day, to build and strengthen a friendship. Just like exercise. What can we do?
- Call a friend on the phone or in voice chat.
- Make a list of your friends. See who you haven't talked to in a while. Then call them.
- Schedule a one-on-one game with a friend.
- If you're not avoiding physical meetups, ask someone to grab a coffee.
- Schedule games with two or three people who haven't played before.
Help People
Volunteering is a fantastic way to meet people in a friendly and giving way. There are lots of ways to volunteer in the world of D&D including signing up to run games for online conventions, helping organize such conventions, or hanging out in Discord channels with the specific intent of helping solve peoples' problems. It's possible to meet other people who also like helping people. The friendships formed between those who regularly run or organize games for the Adventurer's League come up often. The AL organizers are a tight-knit group who have formed their own community.
It's really easy to fall into the pit of cynicism when dealing with people online. Put your cynicism away and become an ambassador for the hobby. Bring new people in. Be positive. Don't debate or argue. Run games for them. Find and befriend others who do likewise.
Track Casual Friends
When meeting people online, it's easy to lose track of them. When you meet someone in a game you enjoyed playing with, make a note of them somewhere. Write their username (and real name if you got it) somewhere so you'll remember it. Send them a note a day later and thank them for the chance to play with them. Maybe ask to join together in future games or offer to run a game for them sometime. Send a note to check in later, see how they're doing or bring up an interesting bit of news. Check to see if they're playing in other online conversations. If they're not getting back to you or you get the sense they're not as into the connection as you are, that's fine. Let it go.
Remember the people you enjoyed meeting. However you choose to do it, take note of them so you'll have the chance to meet them again.
Take the First Step
Building and reinforcing friendships can feel weird sometimes. It feels invasive for us to reach out to someone we're just getting to know. But it can be worth it to create a closer bond. Build up the courage to take that first step and reach out. Be aware that reaching out may result in no real connection and that's ok. It's still worth doing. Send a note to them. Ask them how they liked whatever game you played with them. Find a specific topic to bring up. See how the conversation goes.
Talk To Them
It's really hard to build meaningful friendships in just text chat. It can happen but there's a lot getting missed. Find a way to chat voice and, ideally, video. We're physical creatures and we build a stronger relationships with those we see and hear. Texting and online chats seem easy and comfortable but they're not building a strong bond. Really talking and seeing someone builds a stronger bond.
Playing games online together is a great catalyst for this. We want to use audio and video when playing online. It's easy to feel self-conscious about it and it takes courage to take that step of putting ourselves out there but it helps.
Run Games
Player's lament how hard it is to find a good group. That goes away when you become a DM and run your own games. Now, especially online, many players are looking to play games. Finding the players who gel with you and your style may be hard. Find out other tricks for building a great group in my article Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group.
Don't Be That Guy
Speaking to my fellow men here, building friendships isn't about seeking a romantic partner. Women often feel over pursued by men in situations like this. Many men often engage with woman stating they want to be friends, then get angry if the woman isn't interested in a romantic partnership. Be clear and genuine about wanting to build friendships. Don't reach out to people as a friend if what you're really looking for is a romantic partner. Don't be a creep.
Take the Effort
Take the effort to meet people, re-connect with people, and build stronger friendships. In today's world we're ever more connected and yet easily overcome by loneliness. Building friendships is important. It's worth our time as much as eating right and exercising. Give friendships the attention they deserves. Our lives will be better for it.
Special thanks to Dr. Megan Connell and Dr. Michael Mallen for their help with this article.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Empire of the Ghouls Chapter 2 Tips and Game Prep and Seven Fantastic Tools to Play D&D Online.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Leaving Twitter for Mastodon
- Chronicles of Eberron by Keith Baker
- Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen
- WOTC's Non-Answer About a One D&D SRD
- Tomb of the Twilight Queen
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Incorporating Random Encounters
- Running Pointcrawls with Flying Characters
- Supporting Players Who Roll Poorly
- Making Friends from Online D&D Games
- Favorite Cult and Why Cults?
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- What choices can the characters make in each scene in your next game?
- What lore can the character learn about in your next dungeon crawl?
- What's the history of that new magic item the characters picked up?
- Who inhabited this lair before the characters showed up? Who before that?
- What non-hostile NPC frequents this dark lair?
- Why are the monsters here? What do they do when they're not busy eating characters?
- What traps did this dungeon's occupants set up? Who else ran into them?
Related Articles
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
- Shared Experiences Playing D&D Online
- Interviewing New D&D Players for Online Games
- Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group
- Reach Satisfying Campaign Conclusions
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 5, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoWhat Does Challenge Rating Mean in D&D 5e?
If you take nothing else from this article, consider this:
A monster's challenge rating is a loose approximation of a monster's difficulty. Many factors not included in challenge ratings often affect the difficulty of a battle. Use the lazy encounter benchmark and dials of monster difficulty to build and run fun encounters and don't be afraid to run easy battles sometimes.
The 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons uses "challenge rating" (hereby referred to as CR) as a measure of the challenge of a monster. Every stat block for a monster or NPC has a challenge rating. Here's the description from the front pages of the Monster Manual.
A monster’s challenge rating tells you how great a threat the monster is, according to the encounter-building guidelines in chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Those guidelines specify the numbers of adventurers of a certain level that should be able to defeat a monster of a particular challenge rating without suffering any deaths. An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat a monster that has a challenge rating equal to its level without suffering any deaths. For example, a party of four 3rd-level characters should find a monster with a challenge rating of 3 to be a worthy challenge, but not a deadly one.
Monsters that are significantly weaker than 1st-level characters have a challenge rating lower than 1. Monsters with a challenge rating of 0 are insignificant except in large numbers; those with no effective attacks are worth no experience points, while those that have attacks are worth 10 XP each.
Some monsters present a greater challenge than even a typical 20th-level party can handle. These monsters have a challenge rating of 21 or higher and are specifically designed to test player skill.
I've highlighted a couple of key sentences. The first highlighted sentence is the one we should pay the most attention to. A monster should be a worthy challenge — but not a deadly challenge — for four characters of an equal level to the CR of the monster.
That's not a terrible rule of thumb, but it's not terribly useful. Many factors go into whether a particular battle is going to be challenging beyond just the challenge rating of a monster and the levels of the characters. These factors include
- How many monsters there are in the battle compared to characters
- Who wins initiative
- How well rested the characters are
- What spells the characters have access to
- What magic items the characters have
- The environment in which the battle occurs
- How well the characters work together
and more.
What's important to note from the CR description above is that a single monster is roughly equivalent to four characters of an equal level to their challenge rating. That doesn't help us understand how multiple monsters work out, though. Which is why the Dungeon Master's Guide has it's crazy two-dial system for figuring out combat difficulty — a system both overly complicated and inaccurate in its results.
Challenge rating is a loose guide at best. Not only does monster difficulty vary significantly within a given challenge rating but monster difficulty also changes as challenge ratings go up. CR 1/2 creatures, for example, are much more deadly to 1st level characters than CR 5 monsters are for 10th level characters.
An Average of Multiple Statistics
Challenge rating is an aggregate score of several statistics in a monster's stat block. A monster's challenge rating is the average of two measurements: offensive challenge and defensive challenge. Each of these two categories have various characteristics, measurements, and weights affecting their final calculation. You can find a full breakdown of these characteristics and measurements in the "Creating a Monster" section of chapter 9 in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Sometimes these weighted characteristics dramatically change a monster's challenge rating but might not come into play in an actual battle. Other times, particular characteristics are overweighted, giving a monster a greater challenge rating than the actual threat it brings to a battle.
I often complain that high challenge monsters aren't nearly the threat that lower challenge monsters when compared to appropriately leveled characters. I argue that the characteristics of higher challenge monsters are weighed too heavily — high CR monsters need those abilities to challenge high level characters. An example is "legendary resistance" which counts as increasing the hit points of a monster but the whole reason a monster has "legendary resistance" is because it's going to be a huge target of "save or suck" spells. It needs those resistances because of the role legendary monsters play in the game. That's one example of many.
It's not important to break down every characteristic to see why a monster landed at the challenge rating it did. Instead, note the most important conclusion of this article:
Challenge rating is, at best, a loose approximation of the difficulty of a monster.
How do you make sure high CR monsters fight at their challenge rating? Bump up their damage.
Tools for Encounter Measurements
Two online tools help calculate encounter difficulty using the math from the Dungeon Master's Guide: Kobold Plus Fight Club and the D&D Beyond Encounter Builder. Both use the DMG math which, as noted, isn't particularly accurate in a vacuum. I'd argue "hard" encounters by these calculations aren't actually hard above level 7 or so given what characters bring to the table.
CR Guidelines to Keep In Mind
If you're looking for easy measurements of combat challenge you can keep in your head, consider the lazy encounter benchmark. This benchmark doesn't break down "easy", "medium", "hard", or "deadly" levels. Instead, it focuses on identifying potentially deadly encounters. Encounters below that benchmark are easier and things above it are harder. Here's the benchmark:
An encounter might be deadly if the total of monster challenge ratings is greater than 1/4th of the total of character levels, or 1/2 if the characters are above 5th level.
These are loose measures at best. Due to all of the factors described earlier in this article, this comparison is only a loose gauge. Various circumstances and criteria change an encounter's difficulty dramatically.
The Higher the Level, the Swingier Things Get
High level characters have so many resources at their disposal that combat gets even less predictable. In the original Monster Manual description above I highlighted the section talking about CR 20+ monsters being significant challenges for 20th level characters. That's certainly not been my experience. I've watched high level characters eat through challenges far greater than a single CR 20 monster.
So What Does CR Mean Again?
Returning to the main question, what does CR actually mean?
Challenge rating is a loose approximation of the difficulty of a particular monster compared to the level of the characters. Only when combining it with some encounter building math can we figure out its true relationship to the characters and those results are, at best, a loose approximation of encounter difficulty. Many factors go into the difficulty of a battle and thus it's up to each of us DMs to gauge each encounter and the potential difficulty it brings to the table.
What can you do with challenge ratings? Use the lazy encounter benchmark to gauge a potentially deadly encounter and use the dials of monster difficulty to tune monsters to suit the situation and pacing of the game.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos including the Lazy D&D Talk Show and Session 7 of my Scarlet Citadel Lazy DM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Level Up Advanced 5e on Bundle of Holding
- Justin Alexander on Pointcrawls
- Morrus on One D&D and the Open Gaming License
- Dragon+ Goes Offline
- Is Takhisis Tiamat? Who Gets to Decide?
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Using Side Initiative
- Reading an Entire Campaign Adventure
- Making a Campaign World Feel Alive
- Curing Lycanthrope with a Wererat PC
- Focusing Over-Preparing
- Non-Lethal Attack Options
- Making NPCs Stand Out in Online Games
- Player-Driven Character Motivations
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Leave blanks in your story and setting. Fill them in as the campaign moves forward.
- Don't get too wrapped in the zeitgeist of D&D. Focus on what helps you and your friends enjoy the game around the table.
- It's easy to get overwhelmed with how awesome this game is. Remember it's just a game and focus on what will make it fun at your next session.
- Build overland travel like a dungeon with paths and locations instead of hallways and chambers.
- Increase the detail of a location only when you know the characters are going there.
- Add interesting side locations to your overland travel. Fill them with interesting lore and treasure to discover.
- Playing D&D one-on-one is a fantastic way to focus the campaign around a single character and much easier to schedule. Give it a try.
Related Articles
- A New Dungeon Master's Guide For Building Encounters
- Building Encounters in Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons
- D&D 5e Numbers to Keep In Your Head
- Thoughts on Unearthed Arcana's Encounter Building Guidelines
- The Lazy Encounter Benchmark, a Simple Measure for D&D Encounter Deadliness
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 28, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoReinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
Campaigns like Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Rime of the Frostmaiden, and Descent into Avernus all have themes to them. Your homebrew campaign has a theme to it. We can best try to articulate this theme by defining it with a short phrase or even a single word. Here are some examples:
- Rime of the Frostmaiden: Isolation
- Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Whimsy
- Descent into Avernus: Redemption
You may not agree with the themes above. That's cool. Reinforce the themes you want for your campaign. Perhaps, instead of "redemption" for Descent into Avernus, you prefer "fall from grace". You get to choose.
Defining the theme of your campaign gives it focus. Every strong start, every scene, every secret or clue, every location, every NPC, every monster, every piece of treasure; every component of our prep and story reinforces this theme.
Wild Beyond the Witchlight doesn't just have bullywugs, it has bullywugs in a silly court of constant betrayal all while wearing funny hats and frocks. Descent into Avernus doesn't just have death knights, it has death knights who once were members of an angel's army and now serve her after her fall knowing how far she has fallen. Rime of the Frostmaiden doesn't just have a ruined city, it has a city trapped under the ice for thousands of years.
Here are two questions to ask yourself right now:
What is the one-word theme of your current campaign?
How do the components of your next game reinforce this theme?
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos including "Describe D&D Character Abilities on Leveling Up" and "lazy DM Prep for Scarlet Citadel Session 6".
Patreons of Sly Flourish got lots of cool new things this past week:
- A biography and stat block for the assassin-priest Brother Cavel for the City of Arches PDF.
- A greatly expanded section on the Worlds Beyond the Arches for the City of Arches PDF.
- A new Lazy DM Generator with random generators for all sorts of people, places, items, and worlds.
Check out the November Patreon preview in the Lazy D&D Talk Show. Patrons can find them in your Patreon rewards post.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- November Patreon Rewards
- WOTC's New Inclusivity Review
- Jaquays-Style Design for Dungeon and Overland Travel
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Keeping Villains Alive in Combat
- Using Paper Notes for In-Person Games
- Mourning the End of a Campaign
- Deciding on a Campaign to Run
- Using Time Flies Rules from the Midgard Worldbook
- Tips for Promoting Paper Character Sheets with Players
- Scaling Up Monsters and their Stories to 11th level
D&D Tips
Each week I ponder what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Prep scenes with fantastic locations, interesting NPCs, potential secrets to unravel, and a situation to unravel.
- Expose history and narrative in small bites over the course of an adventure.
- Don’t take away magic items.
- Keep a list of potential magic items that fit the characters. Award them when it fits the situation.
- Make each magic item unique with a history and, if it makes sense, a once per day spell effect.
- Be wary putting the characters up against undefeatable foes. It’s a downward beat before it even begins.
- Dot your maps with small lairs and old ruins to explore as sidequests.
- Draw simple pointcrawl maps by hand. Be a kid again!
Related Articles
- Experiences Running Wild Beyond the Witchlight
- Tying Characters to a Campaign's Theme
- Build Cities Around the Characters
- Write Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
- Sandwich Mechanics with Story
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 21, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoPrep Lazy D&D With Handouts
Handouts are a valuable and under-appreciated element of D&D game prepration. Building and delivering handouts for our D&D games serve many purposes.
- They help us focus on what's important in the game.
- They hand over import names of NPCs and locations in a permanent format. * They clarify the current drive of the game to both you and your players.
- They give your players something physical to hang onto and read — something that looks like it's right out of the world we're playing in.
- They're easy to make.
For a video on this topic, see my YouTube video on Building Fantastic Handouts for D&D.
We don't often think about how building handouts helps us prepare our game, but they surely do. Thinking through a handout helps us understand what's happening in the game and in the world we share with our players. It tells us what's important. It forces us to think about things in concrete ways. We need real names, real places, real plots to fill in our handout.
A handout might include details of the characters, descriptions of coming events, secrets of the villains, location names, the names of important NPCs, descriptions of potential monsters, and potential treasure — components of all eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. In this way, the handout itself is our game prep.
Often a handout is a note found by the characters (and thus handed to the players). Such notes might include:
- Instructions from a boss to an underling.
- A journal or diary entry.
- A lost letter from an NPC.
- An order of goods or services.
- A formal proclamation.
- A contract or signed agreement.
- A local newspaper article.
- A final confession.
- A note to remember something.
- An inventory.
Each of these can give valuable information to the characters, and thus to the players.
Construct a Cool Handout
To build a handout, use any word processor with fancy fonts. Google Docs works just fine for making handouts and has a bunch of fonts that work well for fantasy fonts including:
- Aguafina Script
- Alex Brush
- Bilbo Swash Caps
- Monsieur La Doulaise
- Nothing You Could
- Rock salt
- Rouge Script
- Unifrakur Maguinta
Other word processors and the website Dafont also have hundreds of potential fonts to use for our handouts. Select a font that makes sense for the writer. A drow high priestess is going to have a fancier and more beautiful font than a ratfolk ruffian.
Print your handout on fancy copper parchment resume paper to make it feel like cool parchment. A 500 pack of fancy resume paper lasts a long time. For a cheaper solution crumple up and soak normal paper in coffee. It's cheaper but takes longer.
Tear the edges of the page to make it look unique and non-uniform. Crumple it up and flatten it back out to make it feel even more rustic.
Use Handouts in Online Games
If you're like many DMs and running your games online, you can still make great use of handouts. First, you can still make it physically and share a photo of the handout in your online platform of choice. Photos of physical things still give players the feeling that this handout is real even if they can't touch it themselves. Instead of, or in addition to, sharing a photo of the physical handout, you can send the handout as a PDF or a screenshot so players can read it. Instead of printing it out on resume paper, you can use textured backgrounds for the documents to give them the same rustic feel even online.
Write a Great Handout
When writing handouts, keep these thoughts in mind:
- What would the author write down in such a handout?
- What information do I, the DM, want to give to the players?
Balance both of these questions when writing your handout. What would the author put down on paper? Lean towards revealing too much. Players only grasp half of what you're throwing out so being too coy and secretive means they're going to miss stuff. Instead, lean towards revealing clear and useful information in your handout.
Second, ask what information helps the player and put that in the handout. Fill your handout with specifics. Don't be too abstract. Say what's really going on. Use proper names. Use specific location names. Use nouns and verbs. Give important details. Pack your handout with clear information useful to the characters. If you want to make it even easier, bold the important words in a note to make it easy for the players to reference them.
Keep your handout to one page. Any longer and it'll be too hard to grasp. Fancy fonts can be hard to read so make sure the font is big enough to represent handwriting.
Prep With Handouts
Writing handouts isn't just about building an accessory we hand to our players. Writing handouts helps us prepare our games. It helps us get our hands around the story — identifying what's important and where the focus of our story lies. Handouts don't just help the players focus on what's going on, they help us focus on what's going on too.
Handouts are a fantastic high value element of game prep. Write an awesome handout for your very next game.
Sly Flourish Patreon Releases
The Sly Flourish Patreon had a lot of big releases this past week.
First, I added a new NPC villain biography and stat block for the priest-assassin Brother Cavel. I also greatly expanded the "Worlds Beyond the Arches" section with new adventure hooks and more narrative descriptions. Patrons can find this in the City of Arches PDF.
I also released a new random generator for items, monuments, locations, treasure, encounters, and adventure hooks that flavor the results with factions from different worlds including Eberron, Midgard, Forgotten Realms, and more. The link for this generator is on your main Patreon rewards page, pinned at the top of the Sly Flourish Patreon homepage along with all your other rewards.
Patrons also get a sneak preview and playtest of a new project I'm working on with Teos Abadia and Shawn Merwin. The most recent Patreon post has details.
The Sly Flourish Patreon is packed with lots of fantastic stuff. If you're not a Patreon, you should really check it out.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Mastering Dungeons Goes Independent
- D&D on ESPN??
- Heretics Guide to Devotion and Divinity
- Ultimate Guide to Foraging, Harvesting, and Natural Discovery
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Managing Pacing with Heavy Roleplay Scenes
- Does Writing Help You Become a Better DM? No.
- Players Coordinating Leveling Up
- Magic Items for Higher-Level Pregen Characters
- Feelings on Boxed and Read-Aloud Text
- Heroes and Anti-Villains
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips. What tips did you learn in your last game?
- Build fantastic locations from random tables and your own imagination fueled by fantastic fiction.
- Use monuments, items, and locations to tell small pieces of the history of the world.
- Print or screenshot pictures of NPCs or monsters to hand out during the game.
- Look for opportunities for roleplaying and discovery even in the thick of a battle.
- Pull on the characters’ backgrounds during NPC roleplaying. How do the NPCs act based on the characters’ history?
- Note new character features, magic items, and wish lists in your character notes. Review before every session.
- End on a cliffhanger. Give yourself a strong start next session.
Related Articles
- Making Great Handouts
- Things Worth Preparing
- Spending a Whole Day Preparing a D&D Game
- Write Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
- Reinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 14, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Dragons of Stormwreck Isle – The 2022 D&D Starter Set Adventure
Wizards of the Coast released a new D&D Starter Set with a brand new adventure — Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. This article intends to help DMs, both new and veterans, make the most of this excellent starting adventure.
Choose Your Format
These days, more DMs than ever run their games online. Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is available on the three most popular online platforms for running D&D games:
The digital version on D&D Beyond gives you everything you need to run in other virtual tabletops such as Foundry, Owlbear Rodeo (my personal favorite), Above VTT, or even directly over Discord.
Of course, you can play Dragons of Stormwreck Isle in person using the D&D Starter Set box. To do so, you'll want some other tools and accessories to make the most of the game. Zipperon Disney has a fantastic YouTube video showing how to fill out the Starter Set with some fantastic crafted accessories for under $20.
Top Tips for Running Stormwreck Isle
Here are my top tips for running Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. These are detailed further in this article.
- Combine the "additional encounters" together to build interesting dynamic situations.
- Be ready to deal with the zombies' "Undead Fortitude" ability. It can drag the fight.
- In Dragon's Rest, focus on a few NPCs instead of trying to introduce every one of them.
- In any given location, feel free to move creatures from one room to another, remove them completely, or change their hostility to support the pace your game.
- Lean in on the lore presented in the adventure. Let the characters learn about Sharuuth, Bahamut, Tiamat, and Orcus and the draconic battles plaguing the island for centuries as they explore the island.
Read the Initial DM Tips
The beginning of the Stormwreck Isle adventure book includes a short section of tips for new DMs. Whether new or experienced, it's worth reading over these tips to refresh yourself. If you're looking for more tips for new DMs, see my Getting Started Playing D&D article.
Drowned Sailors
The first scene in the game has the characters witness a handful of zombies coming up the beach. This is a great encounter to get the characters into the action but gives them the option to leave well-enough alone if they choose. I expect most players fight the zombies. This isn't a difficult fight, and perfect for a Starter Set adventure. All too often published adventures throw 1st level characters against extremely difficult battles. This is a fresh change.
Note that the zombies start far enough away from the characters that the characters have a round or two to fire arrows or prepare for the attack. The zombies begin 30 feet away which means on their turn they must dash to reach the characters if the characters don't charge up first.
Choose How to Run Combat
You have options for how you want to run combat in this and every D&D encounter. This battle is simple enough that you can simply describe what's going on without any tokens, maps, or visuals — a style known as the "Theater of the Mind". You can, instead use tokens or miniatures to represent monsters and characters. See my Lazy Monster Tokens guide for building nice tokens to represent monsters and characters or, again, check out Zipperon Disney's video to see how to make tokens out of glass beads. If you want a more tactical 5-foot-per-square grid, check out the Pathfinder Flip Mat.
If you're playing online you too have the choice of running the battle in the theater of the mind or using an online virtual tabletop for gridded play.
Saved by Runara
Pay attention to the sidebar in chapter 1 called "Runara Saves the Day!". Should the characters fail in this adventure, they don't simply all die. Instead they awaken back at the temple under the care of Elder Runara. You can use this feature everywhere in the adventure, ensuring that a "total party kill" never ends in full defeat. Runara likely wouldn't describe exactly how she saved them, only that she was in the right place at the right time. This can further allude to her true origin as a bronze dragon.
Choose Your NPCs in Dragon's Rest
Chapter 1 is packed with NPCs to introduce to the characters. Instead of introducing every single one, choose the most important ones for the adventure so you and your players can keep them in mind. This includes:
- Elder Runara
- Tarak
- Varnoth
- One of the kobolds. I'd recommend Myla who has a connection to chapter 3.
Dive Into the Lore
Dragon of Stormwreck Isle is a largely traditional and straight forward D&D adventure. It's simple in its structure but heavily enriched by the lore presented in the text. Expose the characters to this lore as they talk to NPCs and explore the island. The histories of Bahamut and Tiamat, even the epic poem in the beginning of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, can tell the characters more about the lore of dragons.
The lost effigy in the Cursed Shipwreck can likewise reveal information about Orcus, demon prince of undeath.
Lean in on the lore. Let the players discover this lore as they explore the island and its inhabitants. Such lore binds the actions of the characters to the world around them.
Move Things Forward
There isn't a sense of urgency going on at Dragon's Rest. Give the characters time to explore the place, enjoy a dinner, and talk to NPCs. Then be ready to move things forward if the characters don't start exploring. The kobolds, for example, can push the characters to ask Tarak and Varnoth about their quests. Too much sitting around the temple can get boring fast so be ready to move things forward.
Combining Additional Encounters
Dragons of Stormwreck Isle includes three additional encounters you can run as the characters explore the island. Consider combining the "Kobold Renegade" and "There There Owlbear" encounter into one single situation. The characters might be tracked by two of the kobolds early on who decide they're not enough to take on the characters. Later, the kobolds run past the characters as the owlbear crashes in. You can combine these two encounters however you like to build a fun crazy situation the characters can get involved in. Mixing and matching encounters like this is a great way to keep situations unique and interesting.
Tips for Seagrow Caves
Like all of the chapters in this adventure, Seagrow Caves runs well without much modification. The one major tip I'll offer is to choose which battles you want to run and which you want to skip. As written the characters could face one battle after another between the plant octopus, the violet fungi, an the stirges. Feel free to skip or move around these encounters to pace the game so you're not throwing battle after battle at the characters which can get stale fast. Move both the violet fungi and the stirges around to suit the pacing of the game.
One fun detail I added to the two Stormwreck adventures I ran is to give the guardian plant octopus one of Tarak's boots. Not only can it whack someone with a tentacle but bonk them with a boot as well. Don't be afraid to give the octopus another melee attack as long as it's against a separate target. This makes it a more dangerous threat when facing four or five characters. Tarak will be happy to get his boot back when the characters defeat the octopus.
Lean in on the idea that the myconids, as afraid as they are, aren't hostile. Stage things carefully so it doesn't end up a mushroom bloodbath.
In the final battle against the fume drakes, let them share information about Sharuuth's tomb or prison beneath the island. Let the players ponder whether Sharuuth is alive or dead and what power she may possess but make it clear that answering such questions is better for another day far away.
Tips for the Cursed Shipwreck
The Cursed Shipwreck is an excellent derelict ship dungeon crawl. Like Seagrow Caves, be ready to move combatants around to suit the pacing of the game you want to run. Add or remove zombies and ghouls to increase or decrease the threat the characters face based on what feels right for the fun of the game.
Let the characters learn more about Orcus and his terrible realm of Thanatos based on the characters' religion checks when they discover the effigy and its accompanying note.
Tips for the Clifftop Observatory
Depending on how the characters approach it, there may not be a lot of combat in the observatory. If this fits the pacing of the game you want, that's fine. Otherwise, you can use the kobolds and flying kobolds as your combat dial — making them more aggressive and clearly villainous if you want an extra fight or more goofy and easily intimidated if you want to focus on the final battle with Sparkrender.
The puzzles in the observatory can be a little tricky so freely offer up clues to the more perceptive characters in the group if it helps keep things moving. Pacing such situations is always key. Don't be afraid to tell the players what their characters would notice.
When it comes time to run Sparkrender, a variety of circumstances can make the battle either easy or hard. Thus, you'll want to have your hands on the dials, changing up Sparkrender's hit points, number of attacks, and any allies who help him. If you have more than four characters you may want to add one or more flying kobolds into the battle to harass back-line characters. You can also give Sparkrender an additional claw attack if he doesn't seem very effective. Use his bite attack but change the piercing to slashing and don't include the lighting damage. Increase his hit points if you think he's going to go down too fast.
The fight against Sparkrender should feel epic but not completely deadly. Be ready to change things up to keep that danger high without completely wiping out the characters.
Continuing Your Journeys
Should you wish to continue your journeys, you can have the characters return to the Sword Coast by boat. I've written a bridge adventure in partnership with Scott Fitzgerald Gray and Jeff Stevens called Stars Over Stormwreck. This adventure connects Dragons of Stormwreck Isle with Light of Xaryxis, the adventure in the D&D Spelljammer boxed set but you can use this same adventure to tie to any adventure going on in Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Luskan, or elsewhere on the shores of the Sword Coast.
If you want to set Stormwreck Isle in the lands of Exandria, the world of Critical Role, you can connect Dragons of Stormwreck Isle with Call from the Netherdeep by placing Stormwreck Isle in the Emerald Gulch Sea and having the characters catch a boat that takes them to Jigow and the beginning of the adventures in Call from the Netherdeep which begin at 3rd level.
Stormwreck Isle is a fantastic adventure for both new and veteran DM's alike. Hopefully these tips help you run this adventure for your family and friends.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week on YouTube I posted my Scarlet Citadel preparation of session 4 and a tip video on How Surprise Works in D&D.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Free MCDM RPG Safety Toolkit
- The Gloaming Wild 5e Survival Horror
- Running Ravenloft 2022 with Level Up 5e Vampires
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Keeping Big Battles from Being Boring
- What Other RPGs Do You Recommend?
- Filling In the Gaps During the Game
- Faction Ideas from Blades in the Dark
- Targeting Loot for the Characters
- Better Level Draining and Exhaustion for Vampires
- What to Get for Staring Out with Numenera
- Comparing Midgard to the Forgotten Realms
- Including Every Character's Story Arc
- Showcasing High-Level Abilities
- Building Open World D&D Games
- Building Problems Without Solutions
- How Many Encounters Before a Long Rest?
- Offering Headquarters and Lair Upgrades to the Characters
- Secrets in Clues for Dungeon Crawls and Combat-Focused Games
D&D Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last D&D game and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Build motivations for the characters to enter the room in combat to avoid the dreaded doorway fight. Flaming walls, hordes of skeletons, necrotic gas. Whatever works.
- Build encounters from the story first and challenge rating second.
- Paint your adventures and locations in short descriptions of lore, history, and setting.
- Double-check spell descriptions. If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.
- Tie third-party spells to single-use magic items. If the spell is broken, it only works once.
- Let tag-along NPCs handle their part of a battle off-screen. Keep the focus on the characters.
- Give the characters secret paths and side quests during travel sequences.
Related Articles
- How to Play Dungeons & Dragons
- Build Cities Around the Characters
- A Guide to WOTC D&D Published Adventures
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
- Write Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 7, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoBuild Cities Around the Characters
Introducing cities can be tricky in D&D. Even small ones have lots of locations and lots of NPCs. Big ones, like Waterdeep, can have hundreds of notable locations and thousands of NPCs. How can we introduce cities to the characters and their players without overwhelming both them and us?
For a quick minute-long video on this topic, see How do you introduce players to big cities in Dungeons & Dragons?.
As difficult as it is for you to make up or internalize so many locations in a big city, it's just as hard for the players to remember those locations. The minute you describe the eighth location the characters see, they forget the first one.
Instead, focus on the important locations. These might be the home base for the characters — a place to hang their hat. It might be the place they pick up quests, like an adventurer's hall or the local bulletin board. Maybe there's a clear adventure location like the old abandoned well, the creaky house no one goes to anymore, or the ruined watchtower out in the bay everyone says is haunted.
After these main locations build your city by thinking about what locations fit the characters. Where would they want to go. Bards like taverns, dance halls, and theaters. Clerics and paladins like temples or monasteries. Wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers might like a shady library or an arcane guildhall. Druids and rangers might like an overgrown wild grove with a grumpy caretaker. Fighters and rogues like shops where they can "buy" stuff or sharpen their weapons.
When you're building out a story, build from the characters outward. What do they want? What would interest them? This helps focus down to just a handful of places. Here's a quick checklist of the locations you might want to focus on in your next town or city:
- Places to pick up new quests.
- Places to rest, recuperate, and call their own.
- Places their particular character might want to visit.
When you're introducing a story, focus on the locations designed to draw the characters into the rest of the story, adventure, campaign, and world.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a video on Running Dragons of Stormwreck Isle with Tips for New DMs and my Scarlet Citadel Session 3 Prep video.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Under the Harvest Moons
- Venture Maidens Campaign Guide
- D&D Lead Designer Ray Winninger Leaves Wizards of the Coast
- One D&D Expert Playtest Feedback Survey
- One D&D Ideas We Can Use Right Now
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Using NPCs as Assets in D&D Games
- Using 5e Rules with Numenera's Ninth World
- Props, Decorations, Accessories, and Themes in your D&D Games
- Filling Out Big Climactic Boss Battles
D&D Tips
Each week, after my Wednesday game, I try to think about what I learned from that game and offer them as tips. Here are this week's D&D tips:
- Prep interesting and unique magic items for each of the characters. Reward them when the time and situation is right.
- Build scenes from interesting set pieces, creatures, and situations.
- Offer a couple of meaningful choices for paths of overland travel.
- Use monuments as the backdrop for a scene.
- Make random encounters meaningful with interesting lore and the revelation of secrets and clues.
- Describe fantastic features of a city and the locations of most likely interest to the characters and their players.
- Tie monuments to the history and theology of your campaign world so the players can learn about it a piece at a time.
Related Articles
- Write Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
- Reinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
- Running Dragons of Stormwreck Isle – The 2022 D&D Starter Set Adventure
- Sandwich Mechanics with Story
- Experiences Running Wild Beyond the Witchlight
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 31, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoWrite Down Page Numbers on D&D Prep Notes and Character Sheets
Add page numbers to your preparation notes and character sheets. This is a tip for both D&D DMs and players. For 1,500 years people have learned how to create the equivalent of digital hyperlinks in physical books by referencing locations in an index.
While many of us prep our games or run our characters using online tools, sometimes we're using PDFs of products which still have page numbers and no easy way to hyperlink specific locations. For others running in-person games using physical books, writing page numbers in your notes or character sheets speeds up referencing spells, powers, character abilities, magic items, monsters, locations, NPCs, campaign information, and just about everything else in D&D right at the table.
For players, think of your physical character sheet as an customized index of specific options in the books you use to make your character. Write down the book's abbreviation and page number next to spells, feats, class features, and anything else you might reference. Write down the page number while building your character. It'll save you considerable time during play.
If you're a dungeon master, write down page numbers next to monsters, magic items, locations, NPC descriptions, or anything else you think you might reference during the game. You can do this in your notes whether they're digital or physical. You can also recommend and help your players write down their page numbers as well.
Writing down page numbers pays huge dividends in gameplay. No longer do you have to rifle through the Player's Handbook trying to figure out how big the cone of a cone of cold is (PHB 224). No longer do you have to page through Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts to find the empty cloak stat block (ToB 176). No longer do you have to scramble through your copy of the Midgard World Book to learn more about the dwarven canton of Grisal (MWB 71)
Use technology proven over 1,500 years. Write down page numbers in your character sheets and game prep notes.
Other Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a video on customizing your Lazy DM Notion Template and recorded my preparation for session 2 of my Scarlet Citadel game.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- New Patreon Adventure - The Silver Grotto
- Midgard Sale - 30% Off
- Apocalypse - The Complete Guide to Ending the World
- Torrents of the Spellhoarder
- Elder Brain 5e Survey
- Experiences Running Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Differences Between DMs and Players and Tips for DMs Becoming Players
- Adventure for New Local Game Shop Group
- Modifying Published Adventures with a Different Map
- Injecting Horror into our Adventures
- Pontification on RPGs Moving Towards Digital
- Warlock Patreon of Evil God?
Last Week's D&D Tips
Every week I ponder what I've learned from my last game and put them into some D&D tips. Here are last week's tips! What did you learn from your last game?
- Build two-stage bosses that turn into their final form after their first defeat.
- Add environmental features that weaken bosses. Destroy the four unholy glyphs to remove the boss's advantage on all attacks and saving throws.
- Reward lots of healing potions for groups with limited healing spells.
- Clarify the lack of urgency when traveling so players can go off the trail sometimes and enjoy the sites.
- Every few sessions ask your players what they're enjoying about the campaign and what they want to see more of.
- Every few sessions run a "campfire tales" scene in which the players describe what their characters think of the current situation, their hopes for the future, and what it reminds them of from their past.
- Combine multiple random encounters together to build something rich and unique.
Related Articles
- Build Cities Around the Characters
- Reinforce the Theme of your D&D Campaign
- Reach Satisfying Campaign Conclusions
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
- Running Dragons of Stormwreck Isle – The 2022 D&D Starter Set Adventure
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 24, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoReach Satisfying Campaign Conclusions
K. Ivan R., a Patreon of Sly Flourish, asked:
Most of the games I've run and played did not have a satisfying conclusion. This jives with what I've heard talking to every gamer I've brought this up with, and received wisdom I've heard from people online: Maybe once in your life will you get a campaign that goes every week for multiple years, only a handful of times in your life will a campaign come to a satisfying end, and for every campaign that ends, five or more will fizzle out before anything major happens. And yet, you run campaign after campaign, straight bangers - two campaigns a week and every man jack (??) of them ends properly. How do you do it?
I wasn't sure I agreed with Ivan's assessment of the situation so I ran a YouTube poll and the results astounded me:
Question: This is a poll for D&D players and dungeon masters. How often do you reach a satisfying conclusion to your D&D campaign?
YouTube poll posted 25 August 2022, 2,600 respondents.
Response % of total Almost Never 26% Rarely 21% Sometimes 31% Often 14% Almost Always 7% About half of polled players and DMs rarely or almost never have a satisfying campaign conclusion. That's appalling.
I had lots of thoughts about how more groups might reach satisfying conclusions but I wanted to get a better gauge on why this is the case. So I hit up Twitter, asking why people didn't reach satisfying conclusions. You can read the Twitter thread here.
Scheduling was, by far, the number one reason. There were others, though, including:
- Getting excited for the new thing
- Changes in players and groups
- DM burnout
- Conflicting playstyles
- A general lack of interest
- Lack of campaign clarity
- TPKs
I've managed to run two dozen successful campaigns since 2014 and a good handful of campaigns before I started counting. I've rarely had a campaign fizzle out before a solid conclusion, but it has happened.
It's clear survivorship bias to assume the the things I do in my game more likely lead to a successful campaign. Having read peoples' experiences, however, I do believe the following things helped me run as many successful campaigns as I've run. So I humbly share my ideas for reaching satisfying campaign conclusions:
Run Six Full-Time Players and Two On Call
Finding and maintaining a D&D group is the hardest part of D&D. One way to manage a group once you've put it together is by keeping an on-call list. Try to have six regular players who can make it most of the time and have two "on call" players who know that, when available, they're standing in for one of the open seats if someone can't make it. Then be ready to run even if you only have four players. This way it takes five people cancelling before you can't run a game. Ensure you bring in new players should anyone step away from the group. If one of the regulars steps out, ask the on-call players if they want to step in. If on-call players tend not to be able to make it, extend your list of on-call players.
Run Shorter Sessions Weekly at a Regular Day and Time
I run regular games on Wednesday nights from 7pm to 10pm and Sunday's from noon to 3pm. The Wednesday game has gone on for about fifteen years. The Sunday game for about eight. We don't schedule these games — that's when they happen. When games happen at a regular time they become part of people's weekly rituals. Their lives get scheduled around the game, not the other way around.
Run Short, Focused, and Flexible Campaigns
The longer a campaign goes, the more likely it is to fall apart for any number of reasons. Shorter campaigns are more likely to reach a clear conclusion. I tend to run campaigns of roughly 12 to 14 months — about 50 three-hour sessions. These are good meaty campaigns but have a clear ending. This solves a few problems I saw from those who described why their campaigns fell apart. It's easier to stay interested and still move on to the new cool thing if your campaign is short enough to accommodate this.
A focused campaign keeps you and the players engaged. You all know there's an ending and you know where things are generally going. This doesn't mean railroading but just knowing there's a single focused goal.
Keep these campaigns flexible. Avoid focusing on one character only to have the player of that character leave. Do your best to incorporate the stories of the characters into the game but ensure the campaign, or even a specific session, isn't so wrapped around one character that it can't go on if that player is there.
And what do you do if that character's missing? Just let them fade into the background. Everyone knows why the character isn't there.
Each session ask the players who attended the last session to summarize what's happened so players just coming back to the table can catch up.
Ask For "One Year Later" Character Conclusions
It's really easy to blow a good conclusion by trying to turn the story on its head. Instead, give players what they want in the conclusion. Let them fight the big bad. Let them enjoy a tremendous victory. Let them tie up their loose ends.
How do you ensure each character gets the ending their player wants? Let them narrate that ending. I call this the One Year Later montage. Warn your players before your final session that you're going to ask them to talk about where their character ends up one year after the end of the campaign. Then, when the campaign closes, ask each player to talk about where their character ends up one year after the final conclusion of the game. I've done this for dozens of campaigns and every time the stories delight me. It's my favorite part of the campaign and it ensures the players get what they want out of their characters arc. It's one of my favorite lazy tools for awesome campaign conclusions.
Run Games Online
I love in-person games but having spent the past two years learning how to play D&D online, it's clearly made attendance at my games more consistent. Online games fit easier into peoples' lives. They don't have to travel anywhere. They can keep an eye on the kids. It's just plain easier.
Playing online also opens up your potential pool of players by many orders of magnitude. Instead of only those who can make it to your gaming space, you can recruit players from, literally, all over the world. You can seek players who best fit your style and can commit to the times, leading to more consistent games.
Nothing beats the fun of playing in person but solid and reliable online games are better than inconsistent in-person games.
Send a Reminder Email
Even though we've played for more than a decade, I still send out a weekly reminder email two or three days before our game. This gives players a weekly reminder to get their affairs in order and make it to the table — or let you know they can't make it with enough time to do something about it. I schedule a reminder to myself every week to send reminder emails to my friends for our upcoming games.
Continual Efforts
Keeping games going takes continual effort. Game scheduling and attendance doesn't happen on its own. Getting people to your table and keeping them coming week after week takes regular work.
Building and maintaining a solid D&D group is the hardest part of this hobby. Hopefully this gives you a few ideas to keep your own group going and let you finish more awesome campaigns.
Last Week's Sly Flourish Stuff
- Last week I posted my prep for my first session of Scarlet Citadel to YouTube.
- Patrons of Sly Flourish received The Silver Grotto. A 10 page 7th level City of Arches adventure written by my friend and long-time colleague, Scott Fitzgerald Gray.
- Enjoy my D&D tip video on Prepping Awesome D&D Handouts on YouTube
D&D Tips
Here are some quick D&D tips I learned this week.
- Fill travel with interesting situations with choices to make and lore to discover.
- Watch carefully for players having a poor time from bad luck. Find ways to give them an upward beat.
- Maps, minis, and terrain work as well for exploration and roleplaying as they do for combat.
- Bathe in the lore of your world, whether your own or published.
- Write down page numbers in your notes for quick referencing at the table.
- Offer tactical suggestions for hard battles. The characters know more than the players.
- Offer multiple paths with clear choices during travel.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Stars Over Stormwreck Released on the DM's Guild
- Dread Thingonomicon by Raging Swan Press
- Grimoire of the Grave by 2C Gaming
- Dungeoncraft Review of the Lazy DM's Workbook and Lazy DM's Companion
- New Senior Vice President of D&D
- Keeping D&D Resilient for Us and our Groups
- Other Commentaries on the One D&D Experts Playtest
- D&D Lego Contest
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer some of the questions I get on the monthly Sly Flourish Patreon questions and answer thread. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- New Lazy Combat Encounter Benchmark for One D&D?
- How to Destroy Artifacts
- Managing Dungeon Crawling and Offering Useful Options
- Good Material from Older Editions
- Changing Character Personalities with Magic Items
Related Articles
- Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group
- Managing Player Attendance with an On-Call List
- Ending Campaigns
- Two Years Playing D&D Online
- Interviewing New D&D Players for Online Games
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 17, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoTwo Years Playing D&D Online
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I went from running D&D exclusively in person to running D&D exclusively online for more than two years. Though the circumstances are terrible, this was an opportunity to re-learn how to run D&D games — this time online — and I found it tremendously valuable.
I wrote a few articles one these experiences including:
- Shared Experiences Playing D&D Online
- Playing D&D over Discord
- Owlbear Rodeo: A Simple D&D Virtual Tabletop
- Call on Individual Players During Online D&D Games
I also took to Twitter to see what other DMs learned.
Today, with more than one hundred online games under my belt, I wanted to share my experiences running D&D games online.
It takes more to engage players
Digital distractions abound and not being in front of other people makes it easy to stray away from the game. The whole internet is one tab away and that's hard to compete with. I definitely notice, both as a player and a DM, how easy it is to get distracted from the game.
It takes work on the part of the DM to keep players engaged. Calling on individual players for questions instead of dropping general questions to the whole group helps. So does reiterating the current situation in the game. Don't shame players who get distracted. Summarize what's going on and ask them how they want their characters to respond.
Communication lag is a real problem
Voice lag over the internet definitely causes a social change in how we talk to one another. Even sub-second delays can make it sound like everyone's talking over one another or no one wants to talk at all. Ginny Di offers excellent suggestions for dealing with this social communication change and I touch on the topic in my article, Call on Individual Players During Online D&D Games.
Sharing maps and images is easy
I became so spoiled with the ease of sharing portraits of NPCs, images of events, and maps of locations online that it made me question how we ever managed to do it in physical play. The idea of hand-drawing maps after spending two years dropping Dyson maps into Owlbear Rodeo feels like the difference of writing out a novel long-hand and typing one up in a word processor.
I'm not done with physical maps or terrain at a physical table but I sure look at the problem differently now that I've had two years doing it easily online.
Games are more consistent
I've definitely had better attendance at games, both as a DM and as a player, with online play. This comes as little surprise. Committing to three or four hours in front of a computer in our own home is much easier than committing to a drive across town. Online D&D fits better into many peoples' lives than in-person play. I'm not abandoning in person play, but playing online definitely became a regular way I play D&D from now on.
I can play with people all over the world
I've had the great joy of playing in D&D games run by Ennie-award-winning DM Paul Gabat multiple times — a DM who lives in the Phillipines. During 2021, one of the players I used to play with in person moved half-way across the country yet we still continue to play weekly. I've attended multiple gaming conventions, playing as many games as I used to play in person, without leaving the comfort of my own home.
Playing games online immeasurably improves your access to players and DMs. Instead of only being able to play with people within five to ten miles, you can literally play with anyone on earth. Being comfortable playing D&D online exponentially improves your access to players and games.
Prep times vary between DMs
I find lazy DM prep easily fits online play. The stack of tools I use (Discord, Notion, D&D Beyond, and Owlbear Rodeo) are easy to prepare and easy to run during the game. This isn't true for everyone. For those spending a lot of time tinkering with maps, lighting, tokens, and integrations in thick VTTs like Roll20 or Foundry, prep time is still an issue. I've heard DMs say that it takes them about 1.5x as long as a session to prepare a game. For me it's about 30 to 60 minutes for three hours of gameplay.
We each decide how much time we spend on prep and where we spend that time. If setting up custom maps with dynamic lighting is important enough to you to spend the time doing it, go with the gods. If you're looking to speed up you're prep, there are ways.
Digital accessories are much cheaper than physical and scale much better
Digital tools, products, and assets offer a tremendous value to DMs running games online. If I want four balor miniatures, I'd have to pay about $180 on the miniature market. Four balor tokens for my virtual tabletop? Essentially free. Hell, forty balor miniatures are basically free.
Searching the internet for an image and then banging out a token with Token Stamp is fast, free, and extremely powerful. It's fast enough that I can do it during my game for improvised situations.
Even with a tremendous heirloom-level collection of physical miniatures, I still struggle to find the right miniature for the right situation in a physical game. In an online game, I can build a token for any monster in under a minute (I actually timed myself).
The same is true for maps. Getting a full color map of Loomlurch from Wild Beyond the Witchlight would run like $50 for a full-sized color map. Online I can grab the map from the D&D Beyond version of the adventure and throw it into Owlbear Rodeo in no time at all. Yes, the adventures run about $30 on D&D Beyond, which isn't nothing, but $30 for every map in the adventure is pretty cheap. Third-party versions of maps are often far cheaper.
Technology offers a lot but we must be selective
There are many options for digital tools we can use for our online games. There's a plethora of different virtual tabletops with different features, sources, and levels of complexity. There are tons of sources for online maps, music, visuals, and sound effects.
As DMs, we must be selective about which tools we choose to add to our toolbox. Some offer a wonderful experience for us and our players — often at the cost of time spent preparing.
Seek those tools offering the most fun for you and your players.
I still miss, and prefer, physical games
As much as I love running D&D games online, I desperately missed my in-person games. I've only recently returned to playing games in person and I still much prefer it. The first time my friends gathered around the table laughing, eating chips, rolling dice, and enjoying the game — I almost cried. I was so grateful to have them back at my table again and, whenever possible, I try to run my games in person.
That said, running games online offers me a powerful alternative and wonderful option I have no intention of ever stepping away from.
Some of my favorite sites and tools for online play
Over the past two years I've come to the following stack of software which I regularly use and love.
I'll give an honorable mention to Above VTT, a Chrome plugin that lets you run a full virtual tabletop atop D&D Beyond. If you're running official modules in D&D beyond, its fantastic. I've not fully incorporated it into my stack because I'm just comfortable with Discord and Owlbear, but it's a fantastic option and worth checking out.
Thankful for Online Options
I can't think of what it would have been like not to play D&D over the past two years. As terrible as the last two years have been for many of us, having the options to play D&D online not only made it bearable but showed me an entirely new way to play the game — one I plan to use for the rest of my life.
Other Sly Flourish News
- Last week I released Stars Over Stormwreck, a bridge adventure between Dragons of Stormwreck Isle from the new D&D Starter Set and Light of Xaryxis from the D&D Spelljammer Boxed Set. Watch the release video!
- I discuss my Numenera campaign finale and offer tips for D&D DMs from Numenera and tips for GMs considering running Numenera.
- I recorded my preparation for my Scarlet Citadel Session Zero for my brand new campaign focusing heavily on Kobold Press 5th edition material.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Free Drowned Sailors Encounter from WOTC
- Stars Over Stormwreck Adventure Coming This Week!
- The One D&D Experts Playtest
- Dungeoncraft on Why D&D Editions Don't Matter
- Teos Abadia on Freelance Rates
Patreon Questions
Every week on the Lazy D&D Talk Show I answers D&D-related questions from the Sly Flourish Patreon. You too can join in the conversation by becoming a Patreon of Sly Flourish.
Last week's questions and answers came out in two videos with links to each question below:
- Your Thoughts and Plans for Patreon
- Practical Jokes with Tiny Hut
- Experienced Player Tips for Inexperienced DMs
- The Three Most Useful Third-Party Products
- What's In Front Of You When You DM?
- How Do You Choose and Run Lots of Campaigns?
- Helping New Players Avoid Bad Choices
- Charismatic Players with Non-Charismatic Characters
- How to Get Value from Purchased RPG Material
- Is a Focused Campaign Railroading?
- Drawing Quiet Players and Barbarians Into Political Intrigue
- The Morality of Killing Cultists
- Running Lotsb of Allies in Combat
- Coming Up with Exploration and Social Encounters Instead of Just Combat All The Time
- Verifying The Difficulty of Third Party D&D Monsters
- Balancing D&D in our Lives
- Can Three Villains Work in One Organization?
- Tips for Game Prep from Adventure Writing
- Dealing with the Characters of Abscent or Missing Players
D&D Tips for the Week
Every week I write down seven tips I learned in the last game I ran. Here are this week's D&D tips.
- Give players meaningful choices when exploring a dungeon.
- Address the characters of quiet players.
- What ten secrets and clues might the characters uncover in your next game?
- Focus your game around the plotlines you enjoy the most.
- Embrace third party material. Expand your selection of campaigns, adventures, monsters, and character options.
- What can the characters learn about the activities of the villains behind the scenes?
- Write and email short flash fiction between games to keep players engaged.
Related Articles
- Shared Experiences Playing D&D Online
- James Introcaso on Running Great D&D Games with Roll20
- Seven Fantastic Tools to Play RPGs Online
- Building Stronger Friendships through D&D
- Owlbear Rodeo: A Simple D&D Virtual Tabletop
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 10, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoDealing with D&D Pre-Game Nervousness
We all feel it. It's game night and your friends are coming over (either in person or online). We feel it in the pits of our stomachs. Will this be the one? Will this be the game we drop on the floor? Are we stuck like Carrie White hearing a voice in our head repeating "they're all going to laugh at you!"?
For some who have not yet DMed a D&D game, even getting the confidence to run a D&D game is difficult. But even for those of us who have been doing this for years or decades, the nervousness of running a game doesn't go away.
Many DMs feel this pre-game nervousness, regardless of their skill or longevity in the hobby. It's common and it's ok. We're about to engage in a complicated performance. We're going to be spinning a lot of plates and throwing out words to build worlds no one has ever seen before. We're going to be mananging rules and adjudicating complicated mechanics and, somehow, keeping it all together so at the end of the session our friends walk away with a smile on their faces. That's a lot to manage and not feel anxious about it.
This feeling is normal. It's ok. We all feel it. I feel it every time I'm getting ready to run a game. This nervousness is an old friend and I know where to put it. Sure, I'm nervous, but it will be ok.
If it helps, you can check out my five minutes to D&D pep talk or "You Are Not Prepared" - Battling the Resistance videos on this topic.
Here are some things I try to remember when I feel this nervousness before a game:
- My friends want me to succeed in this. They'll help me out. No one is out to get me.
- Soon I'll be laughing alongside my friends in an activity we all enjoy.
- I know what I'm doing. I've done it before.
- I have what I need to run the game and go where the flow takes it.
- Every game is an accomplishment.
- Running a game helps my friends as much as it helps me.
- My friends have been coming for years and keep coming back.
These little sayings help keep my nervousness in check. They remind me that my doubt is often self-created — something trying to keep me from making art.
Trust Your System
I think Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is popular because it gives DMs a system — any system — that works well enough to prepare and run games. I never claim that the eight steps in Return are the end-all be-all of dungeon master prep, but the system can work and does work for lots of DMs, myself included. I feel like Return is a piece of boyant driftwood in a raging river of untamed creativity. It gives us some structure to build our games around.
Having a system, any system, helps tame pre-game nervousness. We can channel that nervousness into our game prep. If we don't have a system, such prep becomes a bottomless hole into which many DMs fall. They prep and prep and prep, taking their nervousness and thrashing about in all sorts of directions — many of which have no value to the game they plan to run. They wire whole sessions so tightly that there's no room for the story to twist, turn, and breathe as the game travels into new directions.
A framework like the eight steps helps us feel prepared for a game but not tie it so tightly together that we freak out if the game goes in a direction we weren't ready for.
Whatever system you choose, keep it focused on what you need and ensure there's an end to your prep other than burning every hour you have until its time to run the game.
Find Your Tricks
What helps you break past the pre-game nervousness you feel? What sayings do you have? What rituals do you conduct? Know that your nervousness will be there before your next game and know what you need to do to deal with it. Whether it's a set of preparation steps or a handful of mantras to remind you that we're all just here to have a good time, keeping these tools in mind will help you deal with your pre-game nervousness.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- WOTC D&D After-School Program
- Good Digital Tools for WOTC + Third Party Product Use
- Sharing Third Party PDFs With Your Players
- Running Wild Beyond the Witchlight for Tier 2 Characters
- When Is It Appropriate To Hit Downed PCs?
- Advice I Regret from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Dealing With Player Optimizing Away From Fun
- Why Do NPCs Not Use Character Classes?
- Is 5e Too Complex?
Related Articles
- Battling the Instinct That Wants You to Fail at D&D
- The Hard Parts of DMing D&D
- Gaining Confidence to Run D&D Games
- Managing D&D Tips
- 2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master Questionnaire
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 3, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoConvert and Scale Published D&D Adventures
With thousands of adventures written before the release of the 5th edition of D&D, we have a huge legacy of content we can use in our games. All it needs is some conversion.
Luckily, converting adventures to 5th edition is easy enough to do. It mostly come down to replacing the monsters in the adventure with monster from the Monster Manual. Choose the one closest to the one described in the adventure and you're done. If a monster in the adventure doesn't have a 5th edition equivalent (and I'd be surprised, there are literally thousands of 5e monsters these days), take the mechanically closest monster you can find in 5e and reskin it into the one described in the adventure.
1st and 2nd edition D&D adventures are likely easiest to convert over to 5th edition. They're style aligns closely to the adventure style found in 5th edition. If you're worried that battles are too hard once you've done the conversion, use the lazy encounter benchmark to check what a deadly encounter might look like. If things are easy, you may want to beef up boss battles, but you can likely leave the rest of it alone.
What about scaling adventures up or down in level? This is a little tricker. Again, using the lazy encounter benchmark and monster dials, you can do a lot to change up the difficulty of an adventure.
There's one area where leveling an adventure up or down can be a problem though, and it has nothing to do with mechanics, it has to do with theme.
The Right Theme for the Right Tier
In Tier Appropriate Adventure Locations I offer a list of the types of locations that make sense for characters of a given tier. When I describe choosing the monsters that makes sense for the situation, we don't choose monsters based on the level of the characters. Instead we choose quests, locations, and overall situations that make sense for the current status (level) of the characters. You don't ask 1st level characters to drop into Thanatos and kill Orcus. Nor do you ask 18th level characters to go down into Uncle Ed's cellars to take care of his giant rat problem. (I've often considered a quest in which Uncle Ed sends 18th level characters into his basement to take care of his Orcus problem.) Quests should match the character's capabilities and station in the world (often represented by level) and this all has to do with story, not mechanics. Here's a quick breakdown of what that looks like:
- 1st level (tier 0). Small problems. Rats in the basement of the local inn.
- 2nd to 4th level (tier 1). Local problems. Bandits, thieves, local evil mercenaries.
- 5th to 10th level (tier 2). Regional problems. Evil kingdoms. Rampaging dragons. Invading undead armies.
- 11th to 16th level (tier 3). Global problems. World-ending magic. Lichs. Ancient dragons. Invading planar beings. Evil moons.
- 17th to 20th level (tier 4). Multiverse problems. Planar doomsday weapons. Demon princes. Archdevils. Archlichs. Invasions of the Nine Hells. Abyssal apocalypses.
When you're scaling an adventure for the characters, ask if the theme of the adventure fits the level of the characters using the breakdown above. Is this the kind of job they should be doing? Are they too powerful and important to deal with such things? Are they too weak to take on a big job? Matching the theme of an adventure to the power of the characters matters.
Can you change the entire theme of an adventure to fit the characters? Maybe, but that's probably not worth the effort. Better is to find an adventure that makes sense for the characters.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Amazing Encounters and Places by CZRPG
- Apocalypse Keys by Evil Hat Games
- D&D Beyond, Limiting Character Options, and Third Party Products
- The Sly Flourish Stream Bingo Card
- Running the Same Campaign for Multiple Groups
- D&D Plots and Inspiration from Westerns
- Conflicting Secrets and Clues? No Thanks!
- Describing Your DM Style to New Players
Related Articles
- Tier Appropriate Adventure Locations
- Building 1st Level Combat Encounters
- Choose Monsters Based on the Story
- Running Dragon of Icespire Peak from the D&D Essentials Kit
- Scaling the Story to the Level of the Characters
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: September 26, 2022 - 6:00 am - VideoPause for a Minute
Sometimes we need a way to quickly break character and check in with the players. This might be part of a set of safety tools to make sure everyone's ok with the content of our game at any given point or it might be a way to arbitrate the results of a decision by speaking to the players instead of the characters.
The X-Card by John Stavropoulos is one of the more popular safety tools often used to indicate one's discomfort with a given situation in a non-confrontational way. It's popular enough that Roll20 integrated it directly into their game platform.
The X-card is an excellent tool but it's not the easiest thing to incorporate in an online game. Instead, we can look to one of the elements of Beau Sheldon's script change. In particular the element of "pause". I call this "Pause for a Minute" and here's how it works:
- At any point, any player or the DM can say "pause for a minute". All in-character and out-of-character conversations stop.
- Whoever paused can either talk about their current thought, ask for a break, or ask to talk to the DM privately.
- When the situation is resolved, the DM can say "game on" and the game returns.
Players or DMs can call for a pause for any of the following reasons:
- They're uncomfortable with something going on in-game.
- They're not happy with a decision getting made by the characters.
- They want to clarify that everyone else is ok with what they're doing.
- The DM wants to ensure everyone's ok with the direction things are going.
- They want to figure out where everyone is in the story or catch up after losing track.
During a session zero DMs can discuss how to use "pause for a minute" and what it means for the DM and the players.
For more on this topic, see the following:
Not Just For Safety
The most important use of "pause for a minute" is to make sure players and the DM are ok with the content or situations going on in a game. It gives everyone a way to say "hang on, I'm not digging this" and stop it before it cascades into something worse.
But another use for "pause for a minute" is to ensure everyone's having a good time and on the same page. This is a great way to break out of the dreaded "it's what my character would do" situations. Pausing for a minute doesn't have to be matter of emotional safety; it can just be a way for the players to break away from the drives of their characters and make sure those drives align with the other characters and the game itself.
"Pause for a minute" helps us deal with in-character conflicts like rogues stealing from the group or wizards fireballing their allies.
"Pause for a minute. Rex, are you ok if Elfuel fireballs you to kill all the skeletons around you? Yes? Cool! Game on."
Use It Frequently
Because "pause for a minute" can be used for a wide range of situations, DMs should regularly use it to get players comfortable with using it themselves and to make sure players are good with the game.
"Pause for a minute. Is everyone ok with Gor using animate dead on the dead drow warriors? Oh yeah, I forget you all had a zombie ogre carting around your loot for the last eleven months. Game on!"
The more comfortable everyone is using "pause for a minute", the easier it becomes for someone to use it when it is a matter of emotional safety. As long as it's always respected — everyone breaks character and stops conversations to hear what the pausing player has to say — using it frequently only makes games better.
Try It Out
Some DMs find the whole concept of safety tools strange or somehow insulting. I urge you to keep an open mind. I didn't often use or integrate safety tools into my games and I regret it. It doesn't have to be a group of players you don't know. Someone you've known and gamed with for 20 years could be affected by something happening in-game and be upset by it. Do you really not want to offer an opportunity for someone to avoid feeling bad?
Beyond that, a tool like "pause for a minute" just helps a game run smoother. It's a great way to step away from the characters and talk to your players. It's a great way to re-baseline and move forward with the awesome adventures to come.
Add "pause for a minute" to your session zero or even talk about it with your players in the middle of the campaign. Tell them how to use it. Tell them what it's for. Use it to help steer your game in the right direction, and enjoy the tales you all share around the table.
Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Wastes of Chaos by Kobold Press
- New Lazy D&D Talk Show Topic Database for Patrons
- Anatomy of an Adventure by MT Black
- Path of the Planebreaker by Monte Cook Games
- Dealing with Secret Truths of a Campaign World
- AI-generated Art and the Lazy DM
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
- Read more Sly Flourish articles
- Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Watch Sly Flourish's YouTube videos
- Subscribe to Sly Flourish's Podcast
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- The Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Fantastic Lairs
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: September 19, 2022 - 6:00 am