Sly Flourish
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- VideoRunning Adventures – Mashups and the Undefined
Over the past couple of months I've written articles defining adventure types – how we prep them, how we run them, what pitfalls we might run into, and how to mitigate those pitfalls. These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Know the Rules then Break the Rules
Now that we've defined adventure types, it's time to throw them away.
You see, these adventure types often don't line up with the actual adventures we run at our table. Our adventures might span across multiple types, or they might not be defined by any adventure type at all.
Our romp through Ironfang Keep might feel like a dungeon crawl, a heist, or an investigation. Our traversal across the ghoul city of Vandekhul might feel like travel or intrigue. Our battle against Camazotz might start as a major combat session but turn into roleplaying.
Adventures just don't fit cleanly into any given adventure type.
So why did you bother to read all those articles? Why did I bother to write them?
Because understanding adventure types can still help us run awesome games.
Actual adventures and sessions might not fit perfectly into one specific adventure type, but when we break down the elements of these adventure types, they give us a possible framework to build off of. They help us identify pitfalls and mitigation strategies for the elements of our game that do fit.
Which Adventure Type Best Fits?
When preparing or running our game, try to identify which adventure type or types best fit our game and use the preparation, execution framework, and tips for pitfall mitigations that make sense for the adventure you're running. Dungeon crawls, heists, defense, roleplaying, and combat situations can all come up during our campaigns or even in the middle of a session. The type tell us how we might switch modes and run that style of game.
If we're not sure what we need when prepping our game, we can ask ourselves which adventure type best fits what we're looking at and aim our prep around that type. Sometimes finding a suitable adventure type means taking a fuzzy concept and defining it within the bounds of the adventure type. "This situation at the castle feels like both defense and intrigue – let me look at those adventure types."
Absorb Adventure Types, Then Let Them Go
The more proficient we are running adventures, the more we can absorb the concepts for these adventure types and then set them aside when we're running adventures outside the bounds of any one adventure type.
Adventure types help identify different modes of play in our fantasy tabletop roleplaying games. Like many generalities, they often break down when you apply them to the actual games we run at our table.
Yet we don't have to throw away the underlying adventure type concepts in how we prep, how we run, the pitfalls we might face, and how to mitigate those pitfalls. Those concepts hold up even if the defined shapes of an adventure type doesn't perfectly fit the adventure we run.
Build Your Own Frameworks
These articles offer one perspective on adventure types. Through your own experiences you might find other adventure types or choose to redefine them yourself. Your own steps for preparing, running, identifying pitfalls, and mitigating pitfalls might be far more useful to you than the advice in this series of articles. That's fine. That's awesome. Define your own adventure types. Ask yourself what you need to prep, what you need to run them, what pitfalls you often run into, and how you can mitigate those pitfalls.
Find the adventure types that best fit your actual adventures and use the tools within to run awesome games.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Using the 8 Lazy DM Steps at the Table and Swamp King Fronk – Lazy RPG Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Robert Schwalb on La Taberna de Rol
- DM David Compares MCDM, Daggerheart, and 5e
- Wandering Tavern by Homie and the Dude
- Infestation at Devil's Glade by Jeff Stevens
- Restless Encounters by Inkwell Ideas
- 13th Age Megabundle on Bundle of Holding
- Dyson Logos Commercial Map Packs
- Cairn 2 Character Builder Open Sourced
- Readings and Reflections with Sly Flourish Podcast
- JP Coovert's video on Indie RPGs
- Split Up Your Prep
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- How Often to Level Characters?
- What to Prep When You Have a Long Time
- Accounting for High Power Characters with the Lazy Encounter Benchmark
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Give characters and players a warning when they’re facing a foe beyond their capabilities.
- Use rolls for distance and motivation to change up random encounters.
- Improvise connections between random encounters and the larger story through secrets and clues.
- Build your own 5e from the sources that bring you the coolest options for your game.
- Clarify options and choices.
- Print maps and write down one- or two-word descriptions right on the map.
- Build encounters, secrets, NPCs, monsters, and treasure from the characters outward.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: April 22, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Combat-Focused Adventures
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
For a far more in-depth look at running monsters in combat encounters, please check out Forge of Foes, our book on building and running fantastic monsters for your 5e games.
Understanding Combat Adventures
Good fantasy RPG sessions most often include mixtures of exploration, roleplay, and combat. Adventures or sessions focusing on only one pillar of play may bypass players' preferences for the other elements.
But, on occasion, we find ourselves with a session focused almost exclusively on combat.
Completely combat-focused sessions may occur when characters face a big battle at the beginning of the session and we know this battle is going to take up most of the session. Other combat-focused sessions might happen when the characters face a gauntlet of battles, one right after the other, whether they're exploring a dangerous dungeon, defending a location, or otherwise find themselves with a series of battles staged in sequence.
Combat-focused sessions should be rare. The best sessions include scenes and situations with opportunities for roleplaying, exploration, and combat. We want situations where the characters make meaningful decisions to move the story forward.
But combat-focused sessions do happen and thus are worth examining.
Preparing Combat Sessions
During prep, GMs can prepare combat sessions by
- understanding how these combat encounters begin and where they occur.
- deciding on a style for combat. Are you going to run it in the theater of the mind, on a combat battle mat, or run abstract combat?
- choosing a goal for the combat encounter. Sometimes the battle isn't all about killing the monsters but achieving another outcome.
- selecting monsters for each combat encounter. Rich combat encounters often include two or more different monster types with some synergies between them – big brutes up front and nasty ranged attackers in the back for example.
- choosing the environment surrounding the encounter. What larger environmental effects might be in play in the combat arena?
- selecting interesting terrain features the characters and monsters might use (see Anatomy of an Environmental Effect – Chernobog's Well)
- planning potential shifts in the encounter. What events might change the course of the battle?
- outlining the transitions between each combat encounter. What takes the characters from battle A to battle B to battle C?
- building out, drawing, or preparing your battle map – either digital or physical.
- gathering miniatures, tokens, or digital assets if you're playing online.
Running Combat Sessions
For 5e games and other fantasy d20 games, combat tends to be the most well-articulated and refined style of gameplay. For combat-focused sessions, GMs need only start the session and get into the first battle. Between combat encounters ensure the sinew is there to connect one battle to the next. The rest falls on the rules of combat for our chosen system.
Depending on the complexity of the encounters, the number of characters, and their level, combat encounters may be easy or difficult to run. The higher level the characters – the more power and capability they bring to the battlefield – the trickier it can be to maintain a consistent challenge. The dials of monster difficulty can help balance such a challenge.
When running combat, continue to draw the players into the fiction of the world. Describe the situation from the point of view of the characters. Describe what attacks and hits look like. Ask players to do the same. Reveal secrets and clues when appropriate. Include opportunities for roleplaying with NPCs and enemies before, during, and after the battle. Avoid getting lost in the mechanics of combat and remember the story going on in the world.
Pitfalls of Combat Sessions
Here are several potential pitfalls when running combat-focused adventures and sessions:
- Too many hard combat encounters becomes repetitive and tiresome.
- Combat goals aren't clear. Players don't know why they're fighting.
- Combat focuses exclusively on the mechanics with little focus on the story or fiction.
- Combat encounters are tactically boring.
- Players resent encounters built to contradict their characters' capabilities.
- Battles take too long. Players who enjoy roleplaying and exploration miss out.
- It's easy to forget important monster mechanical details when running lots of monsters, more complicated monsters, or both.
Mitigating Pitfalls
GMs can help mitigate these pitfalls by
- mixing up easy and hard encounters or waves within a single encounter. Let the characters shine while fighting weaker foes as stronger ones come on later.
- clarifying encounter goals. Tell players how things work in the encounter so they know what they need to do.
- continually describe what's happening in the fiction of the game. Ask players to describe their actions including attacks and killing blows.
- include different monster types and terrain features to keep encounter tactics interesting.
- include lightning rods – monsters intended to show off the powerful capabilities of the characters.
- include elements of roleplaying and exploration during combat. What do the villains say? What do the characters discover about the world and situation as they fight for their lives?
- read over monster stat blocks before play and run simpler monsters for those who don't really matter, saving mechanically crunchy monsters for bosses and lieutenants.
An Uncommon Adventure Type
Combat-focused sessions are best held for big battles against boss monsters. Other session types in this series of articles offer a better balance of exploration, roleplaying, and combat. Combat-focused sessions are prevalent enough, however, for us to internalize what makes them fun and what we can do to avoid common pitfalls.
Build fantastic and intricate combat encounters and let the characters shine.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos including Build Your Own 5e and Add Black Flag's Luck to your 5e Games.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Offer opportunities for roleplaying even in the depths of the darkest dungeons.
- Mix up battles with several smaller foes and fewer large foes.
- Build encounters first from the fiction. What makes sense?
- Add motivation and distance rolls to random encounters for unique experiences.
- Include interactive monuments in bigger battles.
- Write down connections between the characters and the next session you’re running.
- Single monsters are at a significant disadvantage against a group of characters. This disadvantage gets worse the higher level the characters are.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: April 15, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
In adventures focused on roleplaying and intrigue, the characters primarily talk to NPCs to accomplish goals or learn information. Intrigue adventures often overlap with Investigations and Mysteries with less of a focus on location-based clues and expanding the goals beyond uncovering mysteries.
Example goals in roleplay and intrigue adventures might include
- convincing royalty to commit military forces in a war.
- exposing treachery in a royal court.
- saving the life of a condemned prisoner.
- pitting two enemies against one another.
- learning the location of a secret treasure vault.
- getting permission to enter a closed city.
- asking priests to hand over a powerful artifact.
Roleplay and intrigue adventures are often built around a set of linear or networked scenes. In these scenes, the characters talk to one or more NPCs learning something or attaining a goal that leads them to the next scene.
Preparing Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
During preparation for roleplay and intrigue adventures, GMs can focus on
- clarifying the goal of the adventure.
- fleshing out the backgrounds of notable NPCs.
- finding artwork they can show to players for each notable NPC.
- writing down what NPCs know and what they want.
- defining secrets and clues the characters might uncover when talking to NPCs.
- adding other adventure elements as needed from the eight steps.
Running Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
Roleplay and intrigue adventures can begin with a strong start to bring the players into the game, clarify the goals of the adventure, set the stage, and let the players begin interacting with NPCs.
During play, the GM thinks as the NPCs would think given their backgrounds and goals as they interact with the players. As the conversation goes on, the GM may decide how NPCs react based on what the players say or they may have players roll ability checks if there's a meaningful chance for failure that doesn't end the adventure in a brick wall.
GMs can use ability checks to determine how easily or how difficult it is to acquire information from an NPC or shift the NPCs attitude without shutting off entire paths if the adventure on a single bad check.
Other elements from typical adventures may come up in these sessions including exploring locations or getting into a fight, even if the overall focus is on talking to NPCs.
Pitfalls of Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
Roleplay and intrigue adventures might suffer from the following pitfalls:
- Players don't understand what they're doing or why.
- Too many roleplay scenes in a row can bore action-focused players.
- The characters blow important rolls or engage in the wrong approach and shut off critical paths for the story.
- Players don't understand how best to engage the NPCs.
- Characters have better social skills than their players have or vice versa.
Avoiding Pitfalls
GMs can avoid or mitigate these pitfalls by
- Clarifying the characters' goals regularly.
- Including other action-focused scenes in the adventure such as combat encounters or location exploration.
- Ensuring the whole story doesn't get shut down on bad rolls or poor approaches and instead leads the story down a different, potentially harder, but still interesting path.
- Use the result of a roll as a scale of how well or poorly something went instead of a hard success or failure. See 1d20 Shades of Gray.
- Offer suggestions to players who have a hard time understanding how to engage with characters. Don't let them make foolish mistakes their characters would know better than to make. Show them opportunities their characters would recognize.
- Use a high-charisma character's charisma as a baseline, recognizing that their character might be better at negotiating than the player is.
- Use a charismatic player's approach as a baseline even if their character has a lousy charisma. Don't always call for a roll.
A Common Sub-Adventure Type
Roleplay and intrigue adventures might often slide into or be shuffled into other larger adventures. As one of the core pillars of roleplaying games, roleplay and intrigue scenes appear often throughout campaigns and can drive the story forward as much, or more so, than other adventure types.
Clarifying the goal, building rich reactive NPCs, creating interesting paths forward regardless of the outcome, and delivering the other elements of gameplay can make roleplay and intrigue adventures as exciting as the most explosive combat encounters.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running Evil Cities and 175 Free Tokens for Owlbear Rodeo.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Dungeoncraft on Getting Cheap Miniatures
- Monsters of Drakkenheim
- Cairn 2e Boxed Set
- Tales of the Valiant Wight
- Why CR3 is the best CR
- New Search Engine for Sly Flourish!
- The Two Different Games at the Table
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Lazy DM Steps in an Online VTT World
- Handling Failure at the End of Campaigns
- Handling Flying Characters
- Feeling Bad After a Big Battle
- When to Give Out Magic Items
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Challenge high level characters by attacking several points — AC, saves, death saves, exhaustion, hit points, cumulative -1 penalties, and so on.
- Build big arenas for big boss battles with interesting terrain and layers of monsters.
- Offer weapon enchantment gemstones any character can affix to a weapon or armor to make it magical.
- Let the characters glimpse their final villains. Make villains and boss monsters ever present.
- With six regular players and two on-call players, five people have to cancel before you can’t get four to the table for a game.
- Print maps, pen in one- or two-word room descriptions, and make a list of potential inhabitants.
- Roll up treasure horde parcels and jot them down in your notes. Distribute them when it makes sense.
Related Articles
- Running Dungeon Crawls
- Running Defense Adventures
- Running Overland Exploration and Travel Adventures
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: April 8, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Defense Adventures
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Defense Adventures
In defense adventures, the characters defend a location and its inhabitants from invaders, bandits, or monsters. This adventure type is structured similar to infiltrations and heists in that players spend significant time planning for the attack before the attack itself. I often refer to defense adventures as Seven Samurai adventures because of how well the model of Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai movie fits as a fantasy RPG adventure.
The typical scenario for a defense adventure includes:
- The characters are recruited by townsfolk (or someone similar) to defend a location.
- The characters plan and prepare the location and inhabitants for the coming attack.
- The attack begins with the invasion of a large enemy force.
- The characters focus on their part of the attack while NPCs defend their locations off-camera. Things might change, forcing the characters to move around.
- There's an aftermath.
Defense adventures don't have to follow this model perfectly but this scenario is a common approach.
Preparing a Defense Adventure
GMs can prepare for a defense-style adventure by
- defining the theme. Who are the attackers? Who are the defenders? What's the location like? What themes or flavor can we wrap around the adventure?
- finding or creating a suitable location for the defense and ensuring it has the right characteristics for a good defensible position.
- further defining the "villagers". Who asks the characters to defend them? What's their secret?
- preparing a menu of options the characters can choose to prepare the defense including training NPCs, fortifying defenses, spying on the attackers, preparing weapons or spells, or engaging in other activities to aid in the defense.
- outlining the villains. Who are they? Who leads them? Where do they come from? Where are they located before the attack? How many are there? How will they attack?
- preparing the remaining eight steps as needed.
Running a Defense Adventure
Like a heist adventure, the players plan their defense during the first half of the adventure. Give players time to plan their defense, talk to NPCs, scout the villains, and engage in other activities to prepare for the attack. Improvise ability checks to see how well their defenses hold up.
When the attack begins, focus the spotlight on the characters and their part of the battle. Describe the results of the larger battle based on the defenses the characters put up and how well they did on their checks but keep the spotlight focused on the characters.
Pitfalls of Defense Adventures
Defense adventures might suffer one or more of the following pitfalls.
- The characters' defenses don't come into play – they wasted their time.
- The characters' defenses are so good there's no threat from the villains.
- The players don't know how to prepare the location. They don't understand how they should defend the location.
- The location is too hard to defend. It's too wide open with no good choke points or defensible positions.
- The characters split up instead of staying together making it harder to run the whole adventure.
Avoiding Pitfalls
GMs can avoid or mitigate these pitfalls by
- ensuring the characters' defenses come into play by improvising the descriptions of the villains' attacks.
- ensure there's enough variance to the attack of the villains to still make it a threat even with a very solid defense.
- ensuring there's a clear list of options the characters can choose from to build up the location's defenses.
- during prep, ensuring the location has clear defensible positions and choke points like ravines, rivers, swamplands, walls, towers, and other defensible positions.
- Push players to keep their characters together during the fight so you don't have to run split battles all over the location.
A Fantastic Situation for Heroic Tales
Defense-based adventures stand as an excellent adventure style to give the players agency to shape their own story. It's a perfect example of situation-based adventures in which the GM sets up the situation and the characters navigate it. GMs and players play the situation out together, building a story at the table neither side could have guessed before it began.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos including a Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands Deep Dive and 5e Travel Systems.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Jim Ward Passes Away
- Bob World Builder's Survey of D&D and WOTC Popularity
- Legos and Sneakers and Hawaiian Shirts
- Tome of Beasts 2023 on D&D Beyond
- The SF Patreon Q&A Database
- Larian says No BG3 Expansions or BG4
- Reach and Run Awesome Campaign Endings
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Too Much Comedy and Joking at our Serious D&D Game
- How Much is Gold Worth? Function Economies in our D&D Games
- Lazy Encounter Benchmark for Multiple Battles in a Day
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Give players the option to avoid monsters if desired.
- Test future boss fights with similar but reskinned interim battles.
- Think about the hooks between each character and elements from the next session.
- Give big monsters a way to threaten back-line characters.
- Give characters a painful option to break out of effects that take away their actions.
- Mix and match 5e elements from several published sourcebooks.
- Bathe your dungeon crawl in interesting lore.
Related Articles
- Running Dungeon Crawls
- Running Infiltration and Heist Adventures
- Running Roleplay and Intrigue Adventures
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: April 1, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Missions and Quest Chains
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Missions and Quest Chains
In mission-based adventures the characters accomplish several goals across a series of scenes. The scenes may be linear or run in a network where players choose different paths leading to different future missions.
Often mission-based adventures take several sessions, perhaps an entire campaign, to complete. Each leg of the mission might be its own adventure.
Each mission or quest of the quest chain might be small – like killing a fire giant boss at a burned out watchtower, acquiring one of several needed items, or getting information from the shady vendor in the Lower Reaches. In a series of wartime missions, the characters accomplish specific missions while war rages around them.
Missions might also be built so the characters attempt to accomplish tasks before the bad guys, or the characters face a rival group attempting to complete the same or parallel quests. This competition results in an ever-changing situation as both groups follow their chains of quests.
Some example missions include:
- Collecting three keys (out of 5) to open the vault of Ibraxus.
- Destroying the four sub-lieutenants of King Lucan the vampire lord.
- Disabling the four obelisks to prevent the opening of the doorway of the Black Cathedral.
- Conducting four missions to thwart the hobgoblin armies of Lord Krash.
- Recovering four powerful artifacts required to defeat Orcus, Lord of Undeath.
Preparing Mission-based Adventures
GMs may prepare for mission-based adventures by
- determining the overall goal of the mission or quest chain.
- building an outline or tree for the quests in the chain.
- filling out the adventure details of the next quest or mission in the chain with the eight steps such as locations, NPCs, monsters, and treasure.
- outlining which quests might follow the next one.
- determine the path and progress of rival groups following these same quests if any.
Running Missions
When running mission-based adventures or campaigns, the GM should
- clarify the goals of the overall quest chain.
- clarify the paths the characters can take and choices they can make when conducting their missions.
- run the current mission or quest as its own typical RPG scene or adventure.
- offer the choices for the next possible quests in the chain.
Mission or Quest Chain Pitfalls
When running mission-based or quest-chain adventures, GMs might encounter the following pitfalls:
- The choices aren't clear. Players don't know which mission to follow next.
- Players forget why they're following these quests.
- The mission paths don't offer meaningful choices. Characters just follow the steps in a predetermined order.
- Large chains of missions can be thwarted when only one mission is accomplished (see all or nothing collection quests).
Avoiding Pitfalls
GMs can avoid these pitfalls by
- regularly clarifying the goal of the mission or quest chain.
- clarifying the options the characters can take and ensuring each option is meaningful.
- not running too many missions.
- ensuring each leg of the quest chain shows clear progress towards the goal.
- ensuring the success of a single mission doesn't thwart the large plans of the villains or characters by using the three of five keys quest model.
A Common Adventure Style
Mission-based adventures are one of the most common styles of adventures. Hopefully these guidelines help you keep your mission-based adventures on track with meaningful choices, clear options, and dynamic situations.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Roll Twice and the Elven Orb – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 24 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Dungeon Crawl Classics Humble Bundle
- Worlds Without Number SRD in CC0
- WOTC's "Do You Like Me" Survey
- Hasbro's Chris Cocks on D&D and AI
- WOTC Partners with StartPlaying.Games
- Daggerheart Open Beta Available
- Lazy DM's Companion On Sale!
- Dungeon Chambers
- Challenging High-Level Characters
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Show players the results in the world of the choices they made.
- Show players how powerful their characters have become.
- Throw in lots of low CR monsters to fireball or turn or otherwise blow away.
- Always lean towards putting meaningful choices in front of the players.
- Clarify goals selected by the characters often -- at least once per session.
- Bring old NPCs back and show how they’ve changed.
- Mix your adventure types. Dungeon crawls, heists, and intrigue all work together into a unique mashup of an adventure.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: March 25, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Overland Exploration and Travel Adventures
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Travel Adventures
For the sake of this article, overland exploration and travel adventures follow the characters as they travel from one place to another, usually over significant distances across the surface of the world.
Sometimes the characters know clearly where they're headed. Other times they might only be following vague rumors. The paths they follow might be well known or something they discover as they go.
Travel adventures might be run as hex crawls, pointcrawls, or linear paths of connected locations. They could be a quick journey during a single game or run over several sessions.
Resources for Travel
Your chosen RPG might include material for running travel scenes. Two books offer excellent guidance and systems for running travel adventures for 5e games: Uncharted Journeys by Cubicle 7 and Trials and Treasure for Level Up Advanced 5e by EN World publishing. Uncharted Journeys offers a solid system for travel and a huge range of potential encounters. Trials and Treasure includes excellent random encounter tables, character roles, weather options for various climates, and more. If you choose only one book, start with Trials and Treasure.
Preparing Travel Adventures
Preparing for an overland exploration or travel adventure might include
- defining the starting point, the destination, the distance, and the path.
- understanding how you plan on running the journey – point crawls, hex crawls, a linear series of encounters, or a single encounter during the journey.
- defining potential paths.
- preparing a list of roles and activities the characters engage in during travel.
- preparing a random weather table.
- writing down potential encounter locations along the journey for each node in the pointcrawl or within one or more of the hexes along the journey.
- preparing a list of encounters – random, fixed, or a mix of both.
- writing down secrets and clues, NPCs, or treasure the characters might discover along the journey.
Running Travel Adventures
Like dungeon crawls, travel adventures can follow a particular model of gameplay. This procedure includes
- clarifying the starting point and destination for the journey.
- asking each player to select a role for the journey – scout, pathfinder, quartermaster, etc. Characters might instead choose to aid someone else.
- roll on a weather table each day to determine what weather the characters deal with that day.
- expend daily resources such as food and water.
- have the characters roll ability checks based on their role. A scout may notice creatures before the creatures notice the characters. A pathfinder may stay on course or get lost. A quartermaster may give the characters temporary hit points or lose resources.
- roll for monuments or other notable features as they travel or use one of your predetermined locations.
- roll for random encounters. Even if they don't encounter something, you might roll to see what came by recently or what might be coming. You might roll twice and mix two encounters together.
- move on to the next day.
Pitfalls for Travel Adventures
Here are some common pitfalls for travel adventures:
- Too much time is spent on travel when the real story is happening at the destination.
- Too many downward beats or hard encounters – it feels like a slog.
- Travel feels like a needless chore or time-wasting filler.
- Travel doesn't offer meaningful choices or actions.
Avoiding Travel Pitfalls
Here are some ways to keep travel on track.
- Drop in relevant secrets and clues the characters discover during their journey to tell them about the world, its inhabitants, and elements of the larger story.
- Include interesting monuments to solidify specific locations and encounters and act as catalysts for secrets and clues.
- Include roleplay and exploration scenes, not just combat encounters.
- Run some easy encounters the characters can resolve many different ways.
- Let characters get the drop on monsters and give them the choice to fight them or not.
- If travel isn't interesting or challenging, shorten it or skip it completely and get to the more important scenes the players care about.
A Bridge Between Other Adventures
Travel adventures are often a bridge between one part of the story and the next part. With careful planning and execution, travel can offer stories just as interesting as other types of adventures.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted YouTube videos with Thoughts on Obsidian for TTRPG Prep and the Lazy DM's Companion Sale.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Last Week's Sly Flourish RPG Newsletter
- Planestrider
- Surviving Strangehollow
- Lazy DM's Companion On Sale
- NASA Releases a 5e Adventure
- Chaosium RPG Design Contest
- Taking Notes During and After the Game
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Running City of Arches as an Open Table Game
- Villainous Plans and the Three of Five Keys Model
- Introducing New Players to RPGs
- Secrets and Lore as Character Knowledge
- Secrets and Clues in Dark Sun
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Challenge high-level characters by attacking several vectors: AC, various saves, area attacks, advantageous terrain, flippable environmental effects, and so on.
- Benchmark encounters with the Lazy Encounter Benchmark: A battle may be deadly if the sum total of monster CRs is 1/4 the total of character levels; or half of character levels if they're 5th level or above.
- Tweak the Lazy Encounter Benchmark based on what you know of the characters. Really powerful? Pretend there is one additional character of the party's level.
- Warn players when they're going to enter a long fight. Change the fight midway and keep up the story to make long battles interesting.
- Include switchable terrain that works against the characters at first and for them later on. For example, an unholy effigy gives evil creatures advantage but gives characters advantage when turned into a holy effigy.
- Level characters after significant accomplishments in the story.
- Damage is the biggest threat a monster offers that doesn't take agency away from the characters. Want a bigger threat? Do more damage.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: March 18, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Investigations and Mysteries
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Investigations and Mysteries
In investigation and mysteries, one or more previous events have occurred which have led to the current situation. The characters spend their time in the adventure learning what happened and potentially changing the course of future events based on what they find. During investigations, the characters talk to people, explore locations, uncover clues, and face those foes who seek to thwart them.
Mysteries are difficult to run because, unlike narrative fiction, we don't know where the characters are going to go, what they're going to investigate, or what clues they might pick up. They could identify the key villain in the first scene or pursue tangents away from the clues you expect them to follow. Both of these situations need to be accounted for in your prep and play.
Preparing Investigations and Mysteries
These steps can help you prepare to run an investigation or mystery:
- Develop the starting situation. What happened? Who did what? What is the timeline of previous events?
- Develop your strong start. How and when do the characters get involved in the situation? What hooks them into the mystery?
- Develop a list of NPCs the characters can talk to. Who are they? What was their involvement in the situation? What do they want? What are their goals? Avoid introducing the main villain too early if you're trying to keep them a secret.
- Develop locations the characters can investigate. Where can they go? How can they uncover the clues they eventually need? What happened at these locations?
- Develop a list of secrets and clues. Keep them abstract from their place of discovery so you can drop in these clues when it makes sense based on the investigation undertaken by the characters. In investigations and mysteries, you may need more than ten.
- Write down monsters and treasure for the more traditional adventure elements.
Running an Investigation or Mystery
The following list provides a structure around running investigations and mysteries:
- Use your strong start and sink in the hook so the characters, and their players, want to dig in and figure out what's going on.
- Introduce NPCs helpful to the characters who can give them a push in the right direction.
- As the characters investigate, drop in clues that lead the characters to other locations, meeting other NPCs, and discovering more clues and so on.
- Throughout the adventure, expose clues until the players can piece together the whole scenario.
- Add henchmen or other hostiles to add some combat as desired.
- When the time is right, drop in your villain and have a big confrontation.
Common Pitfalls for Investigations and Mysteries
Investigation and mysteries may sometimes include the following pitfalls. During prep and play, keep these pitfalls in mind so you can avoid them and run a fun evolving game.
- There's only one way to find the right clues and the characters don't follow it.
- The characters discover the villain or source of the mystery too early.
- The characters never discover the villain or figure out the mystery.
- The GM leads the players on too much – making it clear the players didn't figure it out but had the results spoon-fed to them.
- The pacing gets tiresome. Players who want to crack some skulls end up bored.
- The mystery is too complex. Players can't figure out all the important details.
Avoiding Pitfalls
Consider the following ways to avoid the pitfalls listed above.
- Keep the clues needed to uncover the mystery abstract from their location of discovery. Drop in clues along the path the characters take during the investigation.
- Don't introduce the villain too early. Keep them a blank spot in the story until it's time for their revelation.
- Provide the right amount of information for the players to be able to piece together the puzzle themselves. Don't spell it out for them.
- Clarify that the characters are the ones discovering information and piecing it together – not you the GM.
- Have multiple ways to uncover the truth. Don't let discovery of the mystery hinge on a single element the characters might miss.
- Include combat and skirmishes to keep combat-focused players interested.
- Keep in mind that players only grasp about half of what you reveal. Keep mysteries simple enough that players can actually piece them together.
Build Situations, Not Mystery Novels
A key to running a good investigation and mystery is not to assume you know how the players will discover the truth. Build and set up the situation during prep and let the characters follow their own path to their ultimate discovery.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
The Lazy DM's Companion is currently on sale for 50% off the PDF and 20% off the PDF and softcover version! If you don't have this book, now is a fantastic time to pick it up! The Lazy DM's Companion includes tools, tables, and tips for running awesome fantasy D20 games. Grab it today!
Last Week's Lazy RPG Newsletter
I had a cold last week and didn't record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast). Instead, I wrote a text-version of the talk show in the Lazy RPG Newsletter for 3 March 2024 with news, tips, and Patreon questions and answers.
I did post a YouTube video on Using Paper Character Sheets.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Name villains and sentient opponents. Make each one unique.
- Have players identify monsters with interesting physical characteristics.
- Add an interesting usable environmental object or effect into significant combat encounters.
- Tie clues, treasure, and MacGuffins to the backgrounds, knowledge, and history of the characters.
- Reveal the world through the eyes of the characters.
- Ask each character what they think about from their past and their current larger goals during short or long rests.
- Show the characters the results of their actions in the world.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: March 11, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Infiltration and Heist Adventures
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Infiltration Adventures
In infiltration adventures, the characters often have significant information about their goal, the location in which they must accomplish the goal, and knowledge of the inhabitants of the location. Heists are a common form of infiltration adventure but many infiltrations involve doing something other than stealing something.
Infiltration adventures differ from dungeon crawls because the characters often know more about the location they're infiltrating and spend more time planning their approach. Goals for infiltration adventures can vary, even if how we prepare and run them remains mostly the same. These goals include:
- Stealing something
- Kidnapping someone
- Rescuing someone
- Hunting down a bad guy
- Performing a magic ritual
- Disrupting a magic ritual
- Uncovering war plans
- Recovering blackmail evidence
- Uncovering evidence of a plot
- Planting evidence
Preparing Infiltration Adventures
Preparing infiltration adventures focuses on the following activities:
- Clarifying the goal and ensuring it's something important enough that the characters are willing to risk their lives for it.
- Choosing a map. Unlike dungeon crawls, there's a good chance we'll give a copy of this map to the players.
- Filling in the location with details. I like printing out a Dyson map and writing a couple of words per room or area right on the page.
- Listing out inhabitants and understanding their behaviors. What are they doing when the characters aren't there? Unlike dungeon crawls, inhabitants of a location in an infiltration adventure are often more mobile.
- Listing potential complications. What unknown events might shake things up? Make a list of a handful to either choose from or roll on during the infiltration.
- Ensuring there are multiple paths to achieve the goal. Do they sneak in an upper window? Pretend to be servants? Delve in through the sewers below?
With that material in hand, we're ready to run our infiltration adventure.
Running Infiltration Adventures
Infiltration adventures often break down into the following phases:
- Planning. Unlike other adventures, players spend a lot of time planning their infiltration.
- Choosing roles. What jobs are each of the characters taking on the infiltration? Is someone acting as the "face" character? Is someone the muscle? Is someone sneaking around and spying on things from a higher floor?
- Execution. This is where the real adventure begins. The characters start doing the things they planned.
- Flashbacks. A concept taken from Blades in the Dark gives players an opportunity to flash back earlier in the story to set something up or acquire something they need. Inspiration or luck may be a good mechanic to allow for adjustments or additions to the party's plan.
- Complications. Things never go according to plan. What changes? What complications do you throw in from your list of potential complications? Or do you roll it? Complications don't always have to go against the characters.
- The climax. What happens when the characters achieve their goal? What happens if they fail or partially succeed?
- The escape. How do the characters get out afterwards?
Infiltration Adventure Pitfalls
Infiltration adventures might go wrong for the following reasons:
- Players spend too long planning.
- The plans go out the window too early.
- The characters aggro the entire location, making the job impossible to complete.
- A single bad check affects too much of the outcome.
- Too many complications disrupt the whole plan.
- The changing situation makes it too hard to adjudicate.
Pitfall Mitigation
What can we do to help ensure these pitfalls don't crud up our fun session?
- Arbitrate conversations and get the players to a consensus so the game can move forward. Ensure the players you're not pushing them down one path or leading them to utter destruction.
- Keep a balance on consistency and chaos. Some things should go to plan, some things should go haywire. Don't disrupt or destroy the whole plan too early.
- Use Blades-style "clocks" to escalate tension based on failed checks rather than everything going bad all at once.
- Give leeway in choosing when adversaries become aware of the characters. It should take multiple failed attempts before the characters are discovered and it shouldn't chain out to every adversary in the whole location.
A Framework for Countless Adventures
The infiltration style adventure is a popular and flexible model we can use for many different adventures. Change the goal, the location, and the situation and you have something fresh every time yet still have a consistent framework around which to build your adventure.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on High Value Prep and The Marrow Fiend – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 23 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Rascal.News for TTRPG News
- Ginny Di on D&D with ADHD
- Shadow of the Weird Wizard Released
- The Benefits of Character Factions
- The Many Right Answers of TTRPGs
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- WOTC and Table-Usable Maps
- Selling Magic Items -- Info and Inventories
- Tying Backgrounds to Curse of Strahd
- How do I Feel about AI in TTRPGs?
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Write your own map key on a printed map.
- For dungeons, focus on one or two word descriptions for each chamber. Save longer descriptions for complicated set-piece chambers.
- Build your own binder with your favorite reference pages in it.
- Stuck for an idea? Write down ten and pick the best one.
- Need inspiration? Take a walk and let your mind wander.
- Find a suite of tools for your prep that you love and you'll be drawn to use it.
- Put dialog-friendly NPCs in the deepest dungeons – talking statues, paintings, magic items, or ghosts. Everyone wants a friend!
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: March 4, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoLazy RPG Newsletter – 3 March 2024
A nasty cold knocked me on my ass so instead of a YouTube and Podcast recording of the Lazy RPG Talk Show, I'm going to deliver the same info to you in beloved HTML!
New Maps Features on D&D Beyond
Wizards of the Coast released a video of new D&D Beyond Maps features. They've updated a lot since the last time I played around with it – token naming and re-naming, a spectator view, a drawing tool, and a pointer. I spent some time on Twitch mucking around with the new features and I like it a lot. WOTC is definitely taking a lighter-weight Owlbear Rodeo approach which I appreciate. I'd love to see them let people upload custom tokens and add text-based notes to the map. It's far more functional now than it was a couple of months ago.
For those running WOTC adventures with WOTC character options, it's a great tool.
It's interesting that WOTC / Hasbro chose to hedge their bets by investing in both a lightweight 2d map-based VTT and a heavy-weight expensive 3d VTT. I'll bet the former is more popular than the latter.
Marilith Preview for the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault
Kobold Press released a preview of the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault Marilith and I think it looks awesome. It hits hard, has a simple stat block, and still has interesting crunchy features befitting this high-power demon. I'm eager to see the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. It's going to be wild to have four different core monster books by this time next year: the 2014 D&D Monster Manual, the 2024 D&D Monster Manual, the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault, and the Level Up Advanced 5e Monstrous Menagerie. We have lots of core monsters to choose from and no limitation on which monsters we decide to use at our tables.
Bob World Builder on GM Regrets
Bob World Builder has an awesome YouTube Video on GM Regrets. I don't think it's useful to fixate on our regrets but we can learn a lot by listening to the regrets of others. I don't have many GM regrets. I'm happy with how things turned out in my TTRPG life. I do regret not playing OD&D in the early 80s with my oldest friend Scott – a friend I've had for almost half a century. I talked to him yesterday about it and we both had a laugh. We both barely remember the time anyways.
Dread Laironomicon
Raging Swan released the Dread Laironomicon, a tome standing side-by-side with the Dread Thingonomicon to fill in the details of one hundred lairs from the Cultists' Hidden Fane to a Roper's Cave. Each lair includes seven lists of ten details to fill in such lairs. This book is an excellent source of inspiration for filling in the details of a location during prep – making such places come alive. If you're a fan of the excellent works of Raging Swan Press, you will not be disappointed. My only complaint is a lack of higher-focus lists of chambers in such lairs but the major and minor features lists largely fill in that need. I received a review copy of the Dread Laironomicon for this spotlight.
Dune on Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle currently offers a 17 book digital package for Modiphius's Dune RPG for $18. Such bundles are a great way to dive into an RPG for a low cost. I don't intend to run it but after awaiting Dune part 2 and re-reading the original Dune books, it's great fun to delve into the artwork and read the lore behind the RPG. If you love Dune and want a taste of the RPG, this is a great deal.
Being Good Stewards of the Hobby
Based on an excellent conversation with Graham Ward on Mastering Dungeons, I was inspired to consider what we can do to be good stewards of the TTRPG hobby. I asked folks across several platforms and got many excellent responses which I'll put together into a longer article. For a quick preview, here are some things I think we can all do to be great stewards of the TTRPG hobby:
- Embrace the diversity of our hobby, both in the games we play and the people playing them.
- Learn from everyone, whether they are new to the hobby or a grizzled veteran.
- Welcome new players. Teach them how to play and learn from their experiences.
- Focus on the fun we can have at the table with our friends.
- Support peoples' love for their chosen systems, even if those systems aren't for you.
- Avoid gatekeeping with jargon, how one came to the hobby, the games one chooses to play, or how long one has played games.
- Share our love of the hobby openly.
Simple Online Combat Tracking with a Text Editor
I've been playing a mix of online and in-person games recently and return to the simple text editor as a great way to track combat when playing online. Using Notepad or whatever text editor you prefer you can track initiative, positioning in theater of the mind combat, damage done to creatures, and more.
Here's a quick example of the text I had for a battle I ran last night:
23 Chartreuse 12 Crimson Lotus 71 > Chartreuse 12 Blackguard Wight 10 > Voxi 12 Blackguard Wight 49 > Helm 7 Voxi 7 Zaffre In the Back 6 Helm 5 Radon 3 Eldrox
The above has the characters and creatures in initiative order. The left-hand numbers are their initiative roll. The right-hand numbers are the damage done to the creature. The angle brackets indicate that a monster is adjacent to a particular character. You can type status effects, multiple adjacent characters, or any other notes next to a creature's name to keep track.
Using text editors for combat tracking is fast, easy, cheap, and independent of RPG system or digital tools. I love it.
Page 12 of the Lazy DM's Companion has more tricks for tracking theater of the mind combat in a text editor that differs from the above but both can give you ideas how to easily track combat in a text editor.
Patreon Questions
Every month, Patrons of Sly Flourish can ask any question in a special monthly Q&A. I answer every RPG-related question each Friday morning. Here are some highlights for this week. Please note these questions have been edited for length.
Announcing a Villain's Plans and Progress
From Jason. I was curious how you balance multiple story arcs throughout a campaign. The villain in our campaign, who is progressing his own plans, is coming to a point where some of those plans will come to fruition. I'm struggling with "announcing" those plans when the PC's are in the middle of another story arc. I'm worried that may seem railroad-like if I throw a hook out there that they will feel inclined to investigate and move off of what they are currently on. My goal with the villain's plans was to keep him going in the background, and thus in the PC's consciousness, instead of having everything happen at the very end.
Sometimes we get stuck between revealing interesting information and such information ending up as an adventure hook. It's important to clarify to the players that not all information is actionable. Such information isn't something they can or should feel pressure to do something about right now.
Secrets and clues can help characters learn about the escalation of villainous quests without immediately changing their current direction to chase them down. If characters choose to chase down such a situation, and have the opportunity to do so, perhaps that's the way the story should go. Otherwise, make it clear to players when they receive information about an escalating villainous quest that they can't necessarily do anything about it right now. Tell, don't show.
Published Adventures Don't Require Less Work
From William J. What do you think of the amount of work published adventures expect the DM to do? I'm normally a homebrew campaign kind of guy, but recently picked up a Wotc published adventure (shattered obelisk). The idea being that I was paying a professional writer to do most of the "prep" for me so with very little notice, I could almost just pick the book up and play. However I have been left rather disappointed. Am I being unrealistic with my "pay to prep less" expectation?
It's a misconception that published adventures require less work. That's certainly not the case and, sometimes, they take more work than a homebrewed adventure because you have to internalize a published adventure in a way a homebrew adventure is already internalized. Almost always, they require different kind of work – more of a focus on reading, absorption, and modification instead of thinking things up from scratch.
We shouldn't buy published adventures expecting them to be easier to run. Instead, we should buy them for the depth and quality of material we can't create ourselves. Stories, backgrounds, artwork, maps – these are components of good adventures we simply can't create at the same quality of a published adventure.
I think it actually works better to build homebrew adventures in published settings for the best of both worlds. A published setting gives you a great depth of lore and quality of materials along with the flexibility of building the adventure you want in that world.
Letting Non-Magic Users Use Relics
From Robert. Any house rules for letting non magic users use magic items/relics? If one of my non spell casting PCs picks up a relic, I’d like them to have a solid chance of it actually working (at least the same chance a magic user would have) and the existing rules for say, scrolls, don’t really cut it.
I don't expect a single-use magical relic to be limited to magic users. Relics should be identifiable and usable by anyone who picks them up. That's what makes them fun. Let players know what a relic does and let any character use them.
Adding CR to Published Adventures
From Ryan. I find for me one of the minor speed bumps that prevent me from improvising a monster is if I’m adapting a published module. If it says “4 skeletons”, I have to look up the skeleton stat block to see what the CR is to figure out what I’d replace it with or what the FoF baseline is that I’d swap in for an easier time stat line to run with just some flavour or a single monster power. I think for me the missing piece would be if an adventure said “4 skeletons (CR 1/4)”. Thoughts? Maybe when I first read an adventure I should just mark up all the CRs.
That's a great idea and something I'll consider for future adventures of my own. You can use the "monster stats by CR table" in Forge of Foes to benchmark any monster in any adventure against the "example 5e monsters". The intention of that column is to help you identify a monster's CR by comparing it to those examples. Is it less or more powerful than an elemental? What about a frost giant? Understanding what sorts of monsters have which CRs is a great way to use that table to build monsters you need as you use them.
Introducing Cursed Magic Items Without Removing Player Agency
From Garry. One of the players has just picked up a magic item which while useful, is cursed. If he attunes to it, it will slowly turn him evil and lure him towards the BBEG and his cult of monstrous followers. While this is good, the original text explicitly explains that the previous user (high level cleric) went mad and killed all his followers with everyone turning to wraiths. That player tends to dominate the direction play by force of personality from time to time, but he is usually very fair minded. I'm reluctant to have the whole curse thing in case he runs wild with it to the detriment of the game. Should I just change the properties of the item? Any advice?
Yeah, change the properties. My absolute favorite "cursed" magic items are intelligent items that continually make offers to the characters in exchange for information or power. The best cursed items are those the players know are cursed and still use them anyway.
You're right to be concerned about taking agency away from the player. Don't do it. Instead, let them know the sword is cursed and have it steer them with continual offers, dancing that dangerous line. It's great fun. A smart magic weapon knows how to manipulate its user and the whole thing is much more fun when everyone is in on it. Of course, "pause for a minute" to make sure everyone's still having a good time.
Introducing Rivals Who Aren't Instantly Killed
From R. Scott W. I want to introduce a rival team into the mix since my PCs are so competitive. How do I keep the party from killing off the rivals so that they can have a long term impact on the game?
Let the characters, and the players, know about these rivals without having them get within sword-swinging distance. If you put the rivals and the characters in the same room together, swords and spells may fly. Instead, what if the characters hear about and see the results of these rivals without getting close to them. Maybe they meet them in a bar sometime if you think it isn't going to end up in bloodshed. Eventually things might come to blows but even more fun is when those rivals end up becoming allies instead.
Another Great Week for TTRPGs!
Thank you for digging into this week's tabletop RPG news! Sorry I couldn't do it on a video but hopefully this newsletter gave you the taste you desire. See you next week and keep on rolling those 20s!
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Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: March 3, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Dungeon Crawls
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and examine
- how we prepare them.
- how we run them.
- what pitfalls we might run into.
- how we avoid these pitfalls.
These articles include:
- Dungeon Crawls
- Infiltrations and Heists
- Investigations and Mysteries
- Overland Exploration and Travel
- Missions and Quest Chains
- Defense
- Roleplay and Intrigue
- Combat
- Mashups or the Undefined
Your own adventure types and how you run them may differ from mine. That's totally fine. There are many right ways to enjoy this game.
Robin Laws's book Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for any RPG inspired my thoughts on this topic.
Understanding Dungeon Crawls
In dungeon crawls, characters travel room-by-room through a relatively unknown maze-like location to accomplish one or more goals. Such dungeons can include crypts, caves, caverns, castle ruins, derelict ships, ruined towers, planar nodes, old temples, and other room-and-hall-based locations.
Preparing Dungeon Crawls
Consider the following steps when preparing a dungeon crawl:
- Choose a map (I love dysonlogos maps.)
- Fill in location details – just a word or two per room. You can handwrite these notes right on a printed copy of the map.
- Write down potential traps and hazards.
- If using a published adventure, read over the rooms in the dungeon from the adventure.
- Write a clear goal to reinforce with your players. The goal should be important enough to offset the danger of going into the dungeon.
- Write out ten secrets and clues the characters might find in the dungeon. You don't have to set these clues in specific locations. Drop them in when it makes sense for the characters to learn them.
- List out potential monsters. Some monsters may be location specific but many might be wandering around.
- List out potential NPCs. They might reside in one room or wander around.
- List out treasure the characters might find. Feel free to place this treasure wherever it makes sense.
Running Dungeon Crawls
At the beginning, perhaps as part of a strong start, make sure to state or reinforce the goal. Why are the characters going into the dungeon? Why is it worth risking their lives?
When the characters are in the dungeon, set up how the dungeon crawl works by asking the following questions:
- Who's up front and who's in the back?
- What sort of lighting do the characters have?
- Who's keeping an eye out for monsters?
- Who's checking for traps, hazards, and secret doors? How are they checking?
- What paths do the characters want to take when they come to forks in the dungeon?
As the characters explore, dungeon inhabitants might move and react to the characters activities or the GM might roll for random encounters to shake things up.
Dungeon Crawl Pitfalls
The following common pitfalls can suck the fun out of a dungeon crawl. Be aware of them and account for them in your prep and play.
- Too many downward beats.
- A boring or overly complicated dungeon design.
- Too many hard battles.
- No clear goal or reason to go into the dungeon.
- No place to rest after expending all the characters' resources.
- Few opportunities to roleplay.
- No real choice or useful information when picking a path.
- The monsters always surprise the characters.
Offsetting Dungeon Crawl Pitfalls
Try the following ideas to offset potential pitfalls.
- Fill out exploration of a dungeon with secrets and clues.
- Include upward beats like finding secret passages or getting the drop on unsuspecting foes.
- Include safe places for a short or long rest.
- Select maps with engaging dungeon designs including loopbacks, secret passages, multiple paths, and asymmetric designs.
- Ensure there's useful information to inform the characters' choices.
- Include non-hostile NPCs with whom the characters can roleplay.
- Mix easy and challenging battles that make sense for the situation, not just those tuned for the characters' level.
The Most Common Adventure Type
Dungeon crawls are one of the most common adventure types, going back to the origins of D&D 50 years ago. With the tools above, we can use a common structure for preparation, gameplay, and avoiding pitfalls to run an awesome game for our friends.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Awarding Treasure in 5e and Roots of the Marrow Tree – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 22 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- D&D 2024 Core Book Release Dates
- Call the New Books "D&D 2024"
- D&D 2024 on Roll20
- Humblewood on D&D Beyond
- How D&D Began Video
- Best of Sly Flourish 2013-2023
- Different Steps for Different Circumstances
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands Campaign
- A Player's Version of Forge of Foes. Forge of Heroes?
- Favorite Three RPG Mechanics
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Give each monster type one cool unique defining ability.
- Draw quick maps to orient players during a dungeon crawl.
- Ask one player to act as the cartographer.
- Ask one player to manage initiative.
- Ask one or more players to be the official note taker. Ask them to share their notes with the group.
- Include a friendly NPC the characters can talk to.
- Run a mix of easy and challenging encounters.
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- Dungeon Crawls Versus Situations
- Running Overland Exploration and Travel Adventures
- Running a Dungeon Crawl
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 26, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoUsing Advantage and Disadvantage in 5e
"Advantage" and "disadvantage" are fantastic improvisational tools for 5e GMs. They give you incentives and discouragements to steer things towards the fun. Always remember that you have the ability to assign advantage and disadvantage in your toolbox to make the game more fun.
Many situations in the game already apply advantage or disadvantage. Being invisible or being unable to see applies such effects. Attacking someone within 5 feet who is prone gives you advantage while shooting at them from range gives you disadvantage.
Setting DCs and Offering Advantage or Disadvantage
It's important to understand when to raise or lower a DC and when to use advantage and disadvantage. Here's my lazy rule of thumb: You set a DC for a given situation regardless of the character performing the action. Breaking down a door might be a DC 18 but it's a DC 18 for anyone. The DC doesn't change based on who's doing it.
Advantage and disadvantage can change depending on who's performing the action. A circus performer might have a better chance at calming down an owlbear who used to work at the circus. Not only do they use their Wisdom bonus and add their proficiency with Animal Handling but their own special background makes them particularly good at this one specific thing. You might decide that their past experiences grants them advantage.
DCs are fixed based on the situation – advantage and disadvantage are circumstantial to the characters performing the action.
Advantageous Situations
There are many other places we can offer advantage. Here are a few:
Terrain features. High ground might give characters advantage against targets down below. Fighting in a big mud pit might provide disadvantage.
Cinematic Action. Performing a fantastic acrobatic feat might provide advantage if you make the right check (see "Cinematic Advantage" for details).
Superior knowledge. A character's background, upbringing, species, or some other part of their history might grant them advantage on particular ability checks alongside their skill proficiency.
Incentives for Dangerous Choices. We can use advantage to incentivize players to draw characters into danger. Often we'd do this through inspiration, giving them inspiration for being willing to accept a risk they might not otherwise take but we might also offer direct advantage in the situation. Hugging the door isn't enough to get a great view of the arcane pillar but if they get right on top of it, they'd have advantage on the check.
For superior roleplaying. Often we hear about the situation in which a player does an amazing job roleplaying a situation but rolls a 2 on their Charisma (Persuasion) check. We can offer a player advantage if they do a particularly great job attempting to convince the viceroy of their need to speak to the queen. If a player does an amazing job roleplaying, maybe they automatically succeed.
Encouraging Teamwork. Lean in on characters helping one another by providing the character with the best overall bonus advantage as one or more other characters use the "help" action (see chapter 9 of the Player's Handbook) to help them succeed. Don't look for ways to stop two characters working on a problem – leap at the chance.
Steering Away with Disadvantage
We probably want to invoke disadvantage less often than we offer advantage. For every ten times we offer advantage, we may invoke disadvantage once. We can use disadvantage to steer characters away from things that clearly wouldn't work and we can declare it ahead of time. If a character is attempting something clearly too difficult, we might give it a high DC and disadvantage.
Often we invoke disadvantage with the expectation that the character simply changes their mind. That's totally fine.
Your GM's Helper
Advantage and disadvantage are powerful and easy tools to shift the direction of the game. Give them freely and use them to steer the game towards the most fun.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Last Minute RPG Prep and Journey to the Marrow Tree – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 21 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Ginny Di on One-on-One D&D
- Crown and Skull by Runehammer
- City of Arches Updates
- 1d100 Monuments
- Build Custom Faction Lists
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Watch out for the long monologue. Get to character decisions quickly.
- Let players customize improvised home bases.
- Make it clear when social chatter has stopped and the game has begun.
- Clarify the need for player consensus on in-world conflicts.
- Use table tools and notebooks you love to connect you to the joy of the game.
- Have an easy way to take notes during the game.
- A weird trans-dimensional home base is a great way to bring in irregular characters.
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- Improvising Combat Situations with Advantage, Disadvantage, and Inspiration
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Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 19, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoTell, Don't Show
"Most readers are in trouble about half the time."
- E.B. White
In 1990, Elizabeth Newman at Stanford University earned her PhD with an experiment. She had one participant tap out the rhythm of a popular song with their fingers while the other participant tried to guess what it was.
The tappers expected that 50% of the time respondents would be able to guess the song. It was actually 2.5%.
We GMs build rich worlds in our heads. We think through complex situations. We imagine NPCs living their lives, villains moving through their plots, vast dungeons buried beneath ancient mountains, and monsters lurking in the depths.
We do our best to describe these worlds and situations and adjudicate the results of the actions of the characters to our players. We love to imagine that the world we've built in our heads is the same one living in the heads of our players.
It's not.
Players understand about half of what we describe to them.
For a video on this topic, watch my Tell, Don't Show YouTube video.
A lot of the time, players don't really grab what's going on and we see this manifest in lots of ways.
- Players don't realize the danger of their situation.
- Players miss a potential quest hook they'd be interested in.
- Players misinterpret an NPC's motivation or mannerisms.
- Players grab onto a piece of lore thinking it's a main quest when it's not.
- Players go after a minor villain and ignore the major one.
- Players make a poor choice on where to defend or where to rest.
- Players miss an obvious safe path and follow a more dangerous one.
- Players fully expect a trap when it's perfectly safe.
- Players think a location is perfectly safe when it's obviously trapped.
Don't Hold Your Cards Too Close
Many DMs hold back information, thinking it's too much to tell players what's going on. They think it should be a surprise or the players need to say the right words to get the information they need. They think telling too much is leading the players or taking agency away from them.
But, when we realize players aren't always grasping the situation, we should put those cards on the table. Explain the situation. Reiterate things we think we've already said. Repeat ourselves. Emphasize what's important to understand.
The Players Are Not Their Characters
The characters in our games are full-time adventurers. They have eyes and ears and fingers most of the time. They're there in the situation. Our players are not. Players aren’t adventurers. Their lives aren't on the line. They're busy people with lives and jobs and families sitting at our table for an evening of fun. They're not really seeing what's going on the same way their characters are. Don't assume players understand what's going on.
Help players see what their characters see. If a player makes a bonehead decision, don't punish them for it. Reinforce what their character sees and what their character knows. Assume their character acts appropriately for their experience and their place in the world.
Assume players aren't grabbing what you're describing and help them out.
Tell, Don't Show
Sometimes, instead of waxing colorful metaphors, just tell players what's going on. Here are some situations where it might make sense.
- A monster is clearly out of the characters' league.
- A monster is legendary and has legendary resistances.
- What happened the turn before in combat impacts the situation surrounding the character now.
- The characters exhausted all of the information they're going to get from an NPC.
- The characters thoroughly checked a room for traps, secrets, and treasure.
- A character will provoke an opportunity attack if they move.
- The three paths that stand in front of the characters.
- The characters' current goal in the area they're exploring.
- The characters don't have the item they need to progress further.
- The characters learned everything they can about a new magic item.
- When the characters act on a misunderstanding or follow a red herring too far.
Many of these things may seem obvious. You've given them the signs. You've seeded the secrets. And yet they're not grabbing on.
Just tell them.
Tell Them Colorfully
We don't have to fully break character when we tell them what's going on. We can keep our flowery narrative. Here are some in-world ways to make it clear to the players what's going on:
- Looking at Xartherex the Balor, you are confident that this foe is beyond any of you.
- Behold! You face Hellmaw, the legendary ancient red dragon.
- After a thorough search, you are confident you've learned everything you can in this room.
- After careful study, you are confident you've learned everything you can about this magic sword.
- Study as you might, you can't get your head around these runes. You think only another primer or a more learned sage can help you.
- After a thorough examination, you don't believe spell, lock pick, or the mightiest hammer swing will break this massive door.
Feel free to keep your language colorful and stay in the world but state clearly what the characters know, or should know, about the situation. Give players the information they need to have fun.
Tell players what's going on.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Fantasy RPG Adventure Structures and Stuck Between a Gelatinous Cube and Two Air Elementals– Shadowdark Gloaming Session 20 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- D&D on Foundry
- D&D Beyond Isn't Destroying the 5e Hobby
- Shadowdark Print Books For Sale
- When To Use Simple or Complicated Stat Blocks
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- XP Loss on Death in Shadowdark
- Why No Shapechange for Flee Mortals Vampires?
- Looking Back on Old Secrets
- Teaching New Players 5e through D&D
- Quest Continuity in Shadowdark
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Pool damage in one tally for large groups of monsters. Each time it has enough damage to kill a monster, remove the last monster hit.
- Roll once for several attacks or saves for large numbers of monsters. Choose a number of rolls and divide total damage by the number of rolls.
- For quick skirmishes, go around the table or alphabetically instead of rolling for initiative.
- Ask players to describe new features to the group when they level up.
- Let characters build their own safe haven for resting even in the darkest dungeons.
- Feeling overwhelmed? Boil your next session down to its most necessary elements: a strong start, a map, some monsters, and some discoveries.
- Improvise monsters with core stats and an interesting feature or two.
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- Ask Players to Describe New Character Abilities
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
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Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 12, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoTune Monsters with Extra Attacks
Not all monsters are created equal for their challenge rating. Some monsters don’t hit very hard at higher challenge ratings. Others hit well above their weight class.
I’ve talked about the four dials of monster difficulty before:
- The number of monsters in a battle
- A monster's maximum hit points
- The number of attacks the monster has
- The amount of damage those attacks inflict
We can tweak monsters, either before or during a fight, using these four dials. Has a battle overstayed its welcome and gotten boring? Drop those monster hit points. Is an otherwise fun and challenging battle becoming boring because it's too easy? Jack up that damage.
If this topic is of high interest to you, please check out our book Forge of Foes with tons of great advice and tools to help you run monsters in your 5e games.
Adding or reducing the number of attacks a monster has is an easy and powerful way to change the difficulty of a monster. We don't have to do any complicated math or calculations in our head for this modification. We don't have to roll more damage dice. Instead, we just have a monster attack again or have it make one less attack.
This "number of attacks" dial has a big impact. If a monster only has one attack and you give it two – you're doubling its potential damage output. If a monster attacks three times but you only have it attack twice, you're removing 50% of its damaging threat. It's a big dial but it's an easy one to turn and create a big effect.
Normalizing the Action Economy
We might turn the "number of attacks" dial to account for a big delta in the action economy. Four characters versus a single monster has a big sway in the action economy – the number of actions (attacks) the characters have versus the number of attacks the monster has.
In a case like this example, giving the monster more attacks helps even out that delta. We probably don't want to have the monster make all of its attacks against a single target, though, instead spreading them out to other members of the group.
Reducing the Threat
Likewise, if a particular monster proves too deadly for a group, it can attack less. Just because Agdon Longscarf can make two branding iron attacks doesn't mean he has to every round. Maybe he does so if he's surrounded. Maybe he does a jaunty dance instead of that second attack. Monsters don't always behave optimally.
Fixing Sub-Par Monsters
Often higher CR monsters hit below their challenge rating. I think this is due to overweighting the extra abilities these monsters have. I argue these monsters need those extra abilities to challenge higher level characters. The result of these overweighted abilities is a reduction in damage. It's not uncommon to find lower challenge monsters hitting at 10 damage per challenge rating (the thug hits at 20 per CR!) but higher challenge monsters hit for 5 or 6 damage per CR. Their extra abilities don't make up for that drop in damage.
If a monster isn't holding up its end of the fight, give it another attack.
Think About Why You're Doing It
It's important to know why you're adding or subtracting attacks. Are you really adding to the fun of the game or just making yourself feel better? I like to imagine the dials have resistance to them. They like to spring to the average. They need force to move. We don't just move them willy nilly. We need a good reason. What are some good reasons?
- A monster is significantly outclassed in the action economy.
- A monster hits below the challenge it represents in the fiction of the game.
- A big boss is really only threatening one character instead of almost all of them.
- The amount of damage the monster inflicts is boring.
- A lower challenge monster faces higher level characters and would otherwise be completely useless without more attacks.
- We want to increase the threat without making battles longer.
Why shouldn't we give a monster more attacks?
- We're mad at the players.
- We want to punish the characters.
- We're sad our monster rolled so many failed attacks.
An Easy Tool for the Toolbox
Of all of the dials of monster difficulty, adding or removing an attack to a monster's arsenal might be the easiest to implement and have a significant impact on the situation. Keep this tool handy and use it to tune your game for the most fun at the table.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Vault 5e Crafting and Alchemy by Cubicle 7
- Making Your Lore Optional by PHD20
- Bob World Builder on 15 Different RPGs
- Kelsey Dionne and Baron de Ropp on RPG Design
- Tegan J Gaming on a Defense of Dungeons & Dragons
- Dwarven Forge VTT Backdrops
- TTRPG Tips from Baldur's Gate 3
I also posted a YouTube video on the Tomb of Kytheros – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 19 Lazy GM Prep.
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Are Casters Better than Martial Characters in 5e?
- Running Single-Session One-Shot Games On Time
- Running Too Many NPCs
- Writing Adventures as Good as Published Ones
- Wolfgang Baur on Worldbuilding
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Keep the situation dynamic in big battles. Change up the tactics and environment.
- Roleplay villains in combat. What do they say? How do they react to the characters?
- More monsters are a bigger threat than big monsters.
- Boss monsters almost always have allies.
- Intelligent magic items are tag-along NPCs who don’t take up the spotlight.
- Did a character die? Give their player an NPC to control.
- Set up hard set piece battles with lots of monsters and then lean in on cool character ideas.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 5, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoLazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
This tip is a trick I first heard attributed to Chris Perkins. I've used it a lot and love it. First, I'm a huge proponent of using static monster damage. It's fast, easy, and moves the game forward at a good clip. It's super lazy.
Some don't like how static damage is so, well, static. So here's a trick to add variance without a lot of work.
Subtract 3 from the static damage of a monster and add 1d6.
It adds just enough variance to make the damage feel different but needs only a single d6 and the math is easy.
What About Critical Hits?
For critical hits, double the static damage, subtract 3, and add 1d6. Sure, crits hit harder than usual but monsters can use the love.
Ignore for Lower Dice Damage
You really only need this trick if rolling monster damage uses two or more dice. If it's a single die and a modifier then subtracting 3 and adding 1d6 isn't making things easier. When a monster inflicts two or more dice worth of damage – often on a multi-attack – rolling all those dice slows things down.
That said, if you want to use a d6 for everything, you can still subtract 3 and add 1d6 to every static damage value you come across.
Give it a try!
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Building Fantastic Monuments in D&D and 5e Combat and a Forge of Foes Deep Dive.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Tales of the Valiant Gamemaster's Guide
- Gate Pass Gazette 2023 for Level Up Advanced 5e
- What Is 5e?
- Using the Eight Steps At the Table
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- How Many Battles in a Dungeon?
- Should We Demand Players Read the Books?
- Player Rolls or Player Skill for Puzzles?
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Expect single monsters to be taken out with a single ability above 7th level.
- What did this location used to be?
- The enemy of their enemy may be their friend.
- Be very careful taking agency away from a character.
- Go around the table for quick initiative during small battles.
- Use a d6 as an oracle die to determine things like guard patrols or other random events.
- Ask players to discuss new abilities when they level up. Write them down.
Related Articles
- The Case for Static Monster Damage
- Use Static Initiative for Monsters
- How Do You Feel Rolling a Crit?
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 29, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoReplacing 5e's Inspiration with Luck
In the Tales of the Valiant 5e RPG and their Project Black Flag system reference document, Kobold Press introduces us to the Luck mechanic – a direct replacement for the standard 5e "Inspiration" mechanic. Here's how it works.
The Luck System
- Every time a character misses an attack or a saving throw, they gain one luck point.
- They can only hold up to five luck points. If they gain a sixth luck point, they roll 1d4 and that's how many luck points they have now.
- They can spend one luck point to get +1 to a D20 roll after they roll.
- They can spend three luck points to re-roll a d20 check.
GMs can award luck points for good roleplaying, brave behavior, and other times we might award inspiration but players will primarily gain luck with missed attacks and saving throws (not ability checks.)
I've used this luck mechanic in my 5e games for a while now and I love it. It takes the burden off of the GM to award inspiration, something I often forget. For players, it takes the edge off of the disappointment of rolling a missed attack or saving throw. It's an entire system managed primarily by players and yet we GMs can still offer luck points to incentivize heroic deeds. We can also use luck points as bargaining chips with players when they want to do something risky but are worried about consequences of failure.
Introducing Luck
If we do decide to bring in luck, or any other new mechanics into our game, it behooves us to have a conversation with our players about it. Ask them if it's something they're interested in. Maybe give it a trial run and see if people like it before using it regularly.
Expanding 5e's Mechanics
Luck is one of the many new mechanics we're seeing designers bring into the larger 5e space. Because it's encapsulated, we can remove inspiration and replace it with luck and nothing else needs to change.
I think we're going to see a lot of cool ideas like this one come out over 2024 and I'm excited to see them. Not every variant needs to work for all groups – you may not like the luck mechanic, and that's fine. But you might like some other mechanic like Level Up Advanced 5e's "Strife" condition or its use of "Supply" for exploration and resting. You might like the way exhaustion worked in the early 2024 D&D playtest where each level of exhaustion was -1 to D20 checks.
With all of these variants and sub-systems coming out, we can build the version of 5e we want for our own table. None of them need be the same. If it works for you and your group – it works.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Blocking Rooms in Owlbear Rodeo and Mummy on the Bridge.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- City of Arches Update
- Jennell Jaquays Passes Away
- Don't Throw Away 5e Because of Hasbro
- Weapons of Legend for 5e by Jeff Stevens
- Add the Black Flag Luck System to your 5e games
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Pacing Quests for Villainous Plots
- Pricing Magic Items
- Best Quest Vehicles in City of Arches
- Preparing Players for a 2e Campaign
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Write out a loose outline of scenes even if you know they could go off track.
- Prep NPCs with appearance, mannerisms, and motivations. What do they want? What would they be doing if the characters aren't around?
- Avoid chains of hard combat. Throw in easy fights, conversations, and elements of exploration.
- What can the characters learn in your next game?
- Use maps and minis for conversations. Use theater of the mind for combat.
- Let characters knock bad guys into their own traps and make your players love you forever.
- Put choices and options in front of your players near the end of a session so you know what to prep next.
Related Articles
- Alternative Standard Arrays for 5e Ability Scores
- Describe your GM Style
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 22, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoMy Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
Over 2023 I've been lucky to look at a lot of various tabletop roleplaying game products and I wanted to give you a list of my favorite five for 2023.
First, I have some disclaimers. I didn't see everything published and I didn't even read everything I've received. I'll likely find new gems in all the stuff I've picked up the further I get into them. Second, this list is just my opinion. If you disagree, that's totally cool. If you have favorite products not on this list, that's also cool. We each get to decide what we love.
Without further waffling, here are my favorite five RPG products of 2023.
Shadowdark RPG
Wow. Shadowdark. This book nails its intentions of "old school style, new school sensibilities." Anyone familiar with 5th edition D&D can easily understand the stripped-down mechanics of Shadowdark but its style of play is very different from 5e. Shadowdark is grim. It's dark. Characters die...a lot. The characters struggle with inventory. They struggle with travel. But they mostly struggle to stay in the light. I've been running a regular Shadowdark RPG for seventeen weeks now and my players and I love it. I ran it with the original I6 Ravenloft and thought it fit perfectly with the classic 1st edition D&D adventure. Shadowdark is an opinionated RPG. It's not about clean character arcs, deep background stories, or character growth over a campaign. It's about diving into dangerous holes in the ground and finding treasure before you're murdered by a bugbear.
Flee Mortals
MCDM's monster book exploded on Kickstarter and the results do not disappoint. Flee Mortals is what I like to call an opinionated RPG book. It wants to do certain things a certain way and it focuses on those things. Monsters in Flee Mortals all have unique and interesting things they do. Many of them can replace monsters you'd typically find in a core 5e monster book but not all of them. I don't really think of it as a replacement to a core monster book the way I think of the A5e Monstrous Menagerie. It has the best examples of Matt Coleville's "action oriented" monsters and a unique style for creating and running minions. I'm clearly biased in my opinions of Flee Mortals – I had the awesome opportunity to write the vampires in here along with consulting on the book's encounter building guidelines.
Uncharted Journeys
Cubicle 7 got a lot of praise for the exploration system they put into the Adventures of Middle Earth roleplaying game. They took that experience and put it into the more world-neutral Uncharted Journeys. This thick book focuses on creating and detailing exploration scenes, encounters, and journeys. It has a section on the four roles characters can take while exploring but the bulk of the book focuses on the details of various regions and tables of potential encounters for different types of beats like "a chance meeting", "monster hunt", and "a place to rest." It's a big book with a lot of ideas so it's best used to help you fill out scenes during prep – not during play. With hundreds of different potential scenes, there's a lot to dig into in this book.
Zobeck Clockwork City
Zobeck Clockwork City is a book put together from the previous material Kobold Press published on the city of Zobeck from their Midgard campaign, stretching back to earlier Pathfinder material and including stuff from Warlock magazine. It's an awesome city sourcebook adding life and depth to this central city in the world of Midgard. If you're planning on running Midgard and beginning your campaign in Zobeck, this book is an excellent resource to fill it out.
Tome of Beasts 1, 2023 Edition
Kobold Press revised their first book of monsters and updated them into the new style we're seeing for 5th edition monsters. But, more importantly for me, the new book is printed on beautiful glossy paper instead of the more rough matte paper of the original book. The old paper didn't carry darker colors nearly as well as the new one. The new monster designs are great, but if you have the old one, you don't need to buy the new one unless you really want to. If you don't have it, however, Tome of Beasts 2023 is an excellent book of monsters.
Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Our hobby is rich with awesome products, these days. I don't think there's ever been a better time to enjoy the full breadth of what the TTRPG hobby has to offer. Keep yourself open to RPG material from lots of different publishers. These five products are only a small sample. Keep your eyes open and enjoy the wealth of materials so many creators have to offer.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Use the Lazy DM 8 Steps At the Table and Vault of Shune – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 17 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- A Player's Primer to Level Up Advanced 5e
- GM Screen for Lazy GMs Portrait Mode
- Ben Riggs on the Fall of 5e
- Making 5e Your Own on the GM Side of the Screen
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Tracking Alternative Endings for Combat
- Getting Shadowdark Treasure Right
- Best Designs for Published Adventures
- Secrets and Clues and the Quantum Ogre
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Find ways to get the characters into the room. Hallway fights are boring.
- Build a series of rooms together as one big multi-dimensional encounter.
- Use GM rulebooks and sourcebooks from many different 5e publishers.
- The Trials and Treasure book from Level Up Advanced 5e is a fantastic drop-in replacement for the DMG.
- Give characters the chance to craft interesting magic items.
- Build environments that showcase character abilities.
- Build your own game from your favorite components behind the GM screen.
Related Articles
- D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast, 5e, and You
- Notable 5e Products
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 15, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoBathe Your World in Lore
Lore matters. The histories and backgrounds of the worlds we run in our RPGs makes them unique among all others. We don't need to write a thousand pages of lore for our world but we need enough lore continually flowing during our game to make our world and our campaign stand apart from every other fantasy world out there. The lazy trick is to take lore from published settings. If you're making your own world, be ready to keep digging ever deeper into the lore of your world: gods, history, people, factions, and empires. Continually reveal these facts of your world through secrets and clues as the characters explore the world around them.
Setting Our Games Apart
Without the lore in our games, each game would feel very similar. You delve in dungeons. You walk across dangerous lands. You have hard conversations with people. You pick up treasure. You fight monsters. What keeps us going week after week, year after year, for decades?
The story. The lore.
It's not just a dungeon – it's a lost laboratory of the shadowy Netherese. It's not just a ruined tower – it's a ruined watchtower of Thrakus the Witch King. It's not just another noble fop – it's Artinias Faine, whose bloodline goes back over fifty generations to the empire of Vorigan.
Lore Matters
When we talk about spiral campaign development we talk about focusing worldbuilding around the characters and their location. You don't need a full pantheon of gods, fifty thousand years of history, and a detailed atlas of the twelve empires ruling across the world.
Or do you?
Well, not really, but it sure helps to have enough details to set your world and your campaign apart from every other generic fantasy world out there. This is why secrets and clues are so powerful – you can take a bunch of lore and break it down to ten one-sentence bits you can drop into your game wherever you need it.
Embrace Published Settings
In a previous article I talked about running homebrew adventures in published settings and I think using lore from published settings is the most valuable lazy way to ensure your world is set apart. Your typical adventures of dungeon delving, overland exploration, and NPC interaction feel completely different if you're running them in Eberron, the Forgotten Realms, Midgard, or the Gloaming. The setting makes our adventures unique and published settings have already done the heavy lifting. They have the pantheon, the history, the people, and the empires all written up and ready for you to break down into secrets and clues the characters discover in the game.
Staying One Step Ahead
But maybe you're stubborn and want to run your own world. You don't have to write a 400 page sourcebook to do so. You can start small – keeping the focus on what the characters find around them. You don't need all the gods, just the ones the characters follow or the gods followed by those individuals and groups who oppose the characters. You don't need a world history, just the history of the local town and the dungeon below it.
Focusing on just the stuff around the characters keeps you one step ahead without needing to overprep. Each session you'll want new pieces of the world you might reveal that slowly teaches them (and you!) what this world has to offer and what makes it unique among fantasy worlds.
Don't Forget the Importance of Lore
Lore is easy to forget. We get caught up in the game's mechanics, the stories of our individual sessions, the actions of the characters, and all the rest. It's lore, however, that makes our adventures truly unique and noteworthy in the sea of fantastic worlds in which we surround ourselves.
Bathe your game in lore.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Balancing Encounters with Waves of Combatants and A Troll Named Barborog – Shadowdark Session 16 Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Adding Free Monstrous Menagerie Tokens to Owlbear Rodeo
- CORE20 RPG Playtest
- 5e Artisanal Monster Database
- A Look Back at 2023
- Sly Flourish 2024 Calendar
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Best Adventure to Learn Shadowdark RPG
- Using The Books We Buy
- When Will You Run Drakkenheim?
- Leaving a Game Gracefully
- Dealing with Missing Players in Character-Focused Adventures
- What To Do with Players of Dead PCs?
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Build complex combat encounters with two or three complementary monster types.
- Use simple stat blocks for lieutenants of more complicated boss monsters.
- Use environmental effects that either side can turn to their advantage.
- Focus on the flavor of spells more than their mechanics.
- When your players come up with something awesome, lean into it.
- Print maps, write simple descriptions.
- What would be going on at this location if the characters weren't around?
Related Articles
- Spiral Campaign and World Building in D&D
- Five Ways to Integrate Characters Into Your Campaign
- Build from the Characters Outwards
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 8, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoAlternative Standard Arrays for 5e Ability Scores
Here's an easy house rule to help players more easily select ability scores when building characters in 5e games.
Instead of using a mixture of point-buy systems and either racial or background-based ability bonuses, suggest the two following standard arrays, applying them to the player's abilities of choice. These standard arrays already include any potential racial or background bonus:
16 (+3), 14 (+2), 14 (+2), 12 (+1), 12 (+1), 8 (-1)
or
16 (+3), 14 (+2), 14 (+2), 12 (+1), 10 (+0), 10 (+0)
These standard arrays work for whatever flavor of 5e you happen to be playing including the 2014 D&D Player's Handbook, Tales of the Valiant, or Level Up Advanced 5e. Each of these 5e variants has their own ways to handle ability scores and bonuses but they're all close enough to these standard arrays that any differences don't really matter.
Experienced players who want to get into the weeds can use the ability point-buy rules of your chosen 5e flavor and apply additional bonuses based on whatever ability bonus points the system provides.
New players, and players who just want to get on with their adventures, may find these all-in standard arrays much easier to understand and apply without needing to worry about any complex point-buy systems and ability bonuses from other parts of character creation.
Add these standard arrays to your session zero guide to help players more quickly build their characters.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Music for RPGs and Owlbear Rodeo for Lazy GMs.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Numenera Bundles of Holding
- Kobold Guides Bundle of Holding
- Detailed Random Encounters with A5E's Monstrous Menagerie and Trials and Treasures
- PJ Coffey's Intro to Level Up Advanced 5E
- Patreon Discord Server
- Travel Options from 5e Books
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Tips for One on One Games
- What To Do with Weeks of Prep Time?
- How Much is Too Much for Describing Scenes?
- How Much Do I Need to Get Buy-In from Players on a Future Campaign?
- Offering Feedback to Other DMs
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Never forget — your goal is to have a great time laughing and sharing stories with your friends.
- Keep things simple. Focus on prepping a fun session for your friends.
- We each get to decide what D&D is to us. Don't be afraid to make it your own.
- Focus characters around factions for deadlier games so character motivations continue even when characters die.
- Don't let others determine your happiness with your games.
- Boil your next game to the essentials and build up from there.
- Ask questions. Write down answers.
- Read your sourcebooks.
Related Articles
- Ask Players to Describe New Character Abilities
- Describe your GM Style
- Lazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 1, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoHard Conversations
Whether we like it or not, whether it's fair or not, GMs often find themselves in the position of needing to have hard conversations with people. Maybe it's a player who isn't fitting in well with the group. Maybe it's someone upset with the way the game is going. There's lots of reasons but beyond just running the game, we often find ourselves in the position of managing the group. Group Management is hard for anyone – not just GMs. But when we find ourselves in this situation, it's best to have some ideas for how to handle it.
Address the Problem, Not the Person
First, we need to understand the problem. What's really going on? What are all the sides and views? Focus on the problem, not the people. If we attack the person, we're not going to get anywhere. It's not our job to fix people. It's our job to get our game running in a fun direction. What are the behaviors and the circumstances causing problems? Address those issues directly.
Don't attack the behavior of the person themselves. Focus on the situation and its causes affecting the game at the table. Look at the situation objectively and separate it from the individuals. Certainly people are responsible for their actions at the table but it's the situation you're trying to correct, not the person.
Know Your Goal
What do you want your hard conversation to accomplish? Maybe write down your goals and objectives and the things you need to reach them. What are you aiming for with your hard conversation? Are you trying to modify behavior? Are you trying to have a player demand less of the spotlight? Are you trying to avoid arguments during the game? Are you trying to give quiet players more attention? Are you trying to make sure you're having fun at the table too? Write down, review, and try to really understand the goal of your hard conversation. What would it look like if it all worked out?
Recognize Your Own Bias
All of us approach situations from an angle. None of us has objective truth. There are many variables we're not seeing. We are not the people we're talking to. We don't walk in their shoes. So we know that what we're seeing is our own observations and our own feelings. It's best to conduct the conversation recognizing this view. This is where the idea of stating how you feel and what you're seeing is better than dropping "truths". People often simplify this idea to statements like "sometimes I feel like X" where X is the problem going on. It's cliche but it can work.
Handle It One-on-One
You might be tempted to have such hard conversations in a group but public confrontation is almost always a bad idea. Handle hard conversations one-on-one. Step away from the group. Talk in a separate channel if you're online or in a separate room if you're in person. Have such conversations either in person, with face-to-face video, or in an audio call. We're always tempted to have such conversations in text or email because it's much easier but it's almost always the wrong way to handle it. It's hard but direct conversations are best.
Be Honest and Direct
Given your own recognition that what you're saying isn't objective truth, it's still best to be as honest and direct as you can. Tell them what's going on. Be specific. Tell them what needs to happen for the game to continue and what happens if it doesn't work out.
If you're dealing with a situation and, after you've done your deep dive into the cause, recognize that the only way forward is for a member to leave the group, it may be best to just go your separate ways.
"I'm sorry but having you in this game isn't working out. I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave the group."
It's easy, in the stress of the situation, to fill the air with lots of words, get into arguments, and so forth but it's often best to just say it and move on. Let them say what they're going to say but stand firm if you really think it's not going to work out.
No one likes being kicked out of a group. As social animals, we have hundreds of thousands of years of evolution fighting against leaving a group. That's all going to come up with situations like this. Defensiveness, anger, remorse, bargaining; all of it may come up but, if you feel it's not going to work out, best to just focus on the goal and move on.
Handle Big Problems Right Away
Sometimes things can get really nasty during a game. As a GM, unfortunately, it's your responsibility to shut down harmful behavior fast. These behaviors might include racism, misogyny, sexual harassment, violations of safety tools, or anything that hurts the game or the players playing it. You don't have time to step back and ponder the matter. You need to handle it right away. Pause the game. Talk to people one-on-one. Do your best to keep your own emotions out of the situation. But, above all, handle the situation as best you can at the moment before more damage is done. It’s not easy to do but it’s important.
An Unfair but Necessary Job
It's not fair that GMs get put in this position but we're often in it. It's our game. We're the ones invested enough to bring everyone together. Anytime people get together there can be conflicts. Taking as objective a view as we can and trying to get to a solution we can all live with is the best we can do. We won't be perfect but maybe we can resolve issues with as little damage as possible.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Lazy Magic Items and Deadly Bridges – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 15 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Last Hours of the Lazy DM Bundle of Holding
- Hasbro Lays Off 1,100 Workers
- Get Exponentially More Value out of Random Tables
- Readings and Reflections Podcast
- Favorite RPG Products of 2023
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Mix up small improvised encounters with big set-piece battles.
- Don’t worry about saving time — focus on appropriate pacing.
- Steal ideas from movies, books, TV shows, and video games.
- Reveal information in the second person. What do the characters discover?
- Use initiative when characters split up. Keep the spotlight moving.
- Avoid linear maps. Give players meaningful options. Steer them towards the fun.
- Never forget — your goal is to have a great time laughing and sharing stories with your friends.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 25, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoD&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast, 5e, and You
Wizards of the Coast continues to expand D&D Beyond's dominance in 5e tabletop roleplaying games and they've proven they don't always act in the interests of the larger 5e tabletop roleplaying hobby. It's up to us to ensure our handle on the 5e TTRPG hobby remains strong and beyond the whims of any single company.
We can do two things to strengthen our hobby:
- Show WOTC how they can better support the larger 5e TTRPG hobby.
- Make our own use of 5e products resilient to the whims of any one company.
Don't let D&D Beyond determine your happiness with 5e.
In addition to this post, you can watch my YouTube Talk Show on the subject or listen to me, Jessica Hancock, and Russ Morrissey talk about it on the Unofficial Tabletop Podcast.
WOTC Built a Resilient 5e
Earlier this year, after the OGL fiasco, Wizards of the Coast released the 5.1 SRD into the Creative Commons. This made the core concepts of D&D available to 5e publishers big and small. Not only can people write 5e compatible materials, but they can write D&D-style games with all of the nomenclature of D&D and not worry about getting sued.
They also released the 5.1 SRD in French, Spanish, Italian, and German. By doing so, they helped creators all over the world build 5e products in languages other than English.
Download these documents and save them on your hard drive so they'll be available forever.
Releasing 5e into the Creative Commons makes the larger landscape of 5e publishing extremely strong. Any of us can publish products compatible with 5e (not just the 2014 D&D but all other 5e compatible products and systems) without needing anyone's permission.
That's great for print products and static digital products like PDFs.
But the landscape for digital tools is changing.
Growing Their Walled Garden
WOTC's expansion of D&D Beyond, including adding products from other 5e publishers, gives WOTC further control over the larger 5th edition TTRPG hobby – the very control they hoped to acquire when attempting to violate their own contract by deauthorizing the Open Gaming License. That failed, and, in return, the 5.1 SRD is now under a Creative Commons License.
Digital play of 5e continues to grow. Just shy of 40% of the 3,300 GMs and players I surveyed on YouTube regularly use D&D Beyond (yes, I know such polls are flawed but polls do give us a sense of what trends are emerging). The more players and GMs depend on D&D Beyond to run 5e games, the more they depend on WOTC to dictate what that game is and how it's played. If you're reliant on D&D Beyond,
- you're stuck with whatever options are available in D&D Beyond and don't have access to nearly all 5e material published by other publishers.
- players often expect that everything in D&D Beyond is "official" and anything else is not.
- you're stuck with their version of 5e, not any of the others like Level Up Advanced 5e or Tales of the Valiant.
- WOTC can change material on D&D Beyond without notice and with no way to roll back to previous versions.
- the more you buy there, the harder it is to jump to a competitor.
- you must live with it even as WOTC changes their business model however they want.
- WOTC can shut it down at any time, for any reason, and you lose everything you "bought". This isn't hypothetical. They shut down the 4th edition D&D character builder ten years ago.
What Can WOTC Do?
WOTC greatly strengthened the 5e hobby by releasing the 5.1 SRD into the Creative Commons. Here's how WOTC can further strengthen the hobby.
- Let us download PDFs of our purchased material on D&D Beyond. WOTC is one of very few publishers who doesn't offer PDFs of its books.
- Let us import structured versions of subclasses, spells, items, and monsters from other sources into our D&D Beyond homebrew collections. This access would allow the community to offer open content in a structured format we can import directly into Beyond.
- Give us an official API to export structured versions of characters, class features, spells, items, and monsters we paid for so we can use them in other tools if we want to.
- Continue to release D&D products on Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.
- Release D&D products on Foundry, Shard, Demiplane, and other character builders and VTTs as they come up.
- Continue to make physical books the primary product of D&D.
- Follow through on your promise to release the 3.5 SRD into the Creative Commons and release updated 2024 D&D material into the Creative Commons.
Make Your Hold on the Hobby Resilient
WOTC may or may not follow through on any of these things but there are things we can do to strengthen the resilience of our 5e TTRPG hobby.
- Buy physical books and PDFs from other 5e publishers on their own store even if they're on D&D Beyond.
- Back Kickstarters. Help fund the development of new 5e products from independent publishers.
- Offer character options to players from other 5e publishers.
- Try other online tools such as Shard, Demiplane, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, and Roll 20.
- Steer players towards using pencil and paper character sheets. Tug on their nostalgia for a disconnected analog game.
- Try other systems like Shadowdark RPG, Numenera, 13th Age, Shadow of the Demon Lord. You don't have to leave 5e forever but try some other games every so often.
- If you're a techie, get your hands dirty converting open gaming content into structured data formats so more tools can use them. Join Open5e and their Discord server to see how you can help.
WOTC's Role in the 5e Community
WOTC is in the unique position to bring more people into the hobby. I want them to spread the word of D&D far and wide. I want D&D postage stamps. I want movies. I want critically acclaimed, popular AAA video games. I want them to bring in every person they can into this hobby, show them how the game is played, and show them the value it can have in our lives.
I want them to bring those people into the larger community and show them that there's more. There are other options, other monster books, other sourcebooks, other adventures – thousands of products published by hundreds of publishers – all in support of this larger hobby we love.
These games enrich our lives. They saves lives. I want us all, WOTC included, to make this hobby as strong as it can be.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running Monsters in Dynamic Situations and Saving Barborog – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 14 Lazy GM Prep
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Sly Flourish Bundle of Holding!
- MCDM's RPG
- One Dollar One-shot by Penny Dragon Games
- Game Master Screen for Lazy GMs
- Mike on EN World's Podcast Talking D&D Beyond
- Level Up Advanced 5e Adventurer's Guide
- Tips for Using Paper Character Sheets
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Secrets and Clues Creating Too Many Adventure Hooks
- Running a Prequel Campaign
- Preparing a Big Campaign Adventure
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Continually expand and contract the aperture of your lens to keep the focus on the fun parts of the game.
- Know the capabilities of the characters. Showcase their strengths.
- You're the architect of your game. The books and rules are tools you can use or discard to serve that game.
- Use paper character sheets.
- Buy physical books.
- Support independent publishers.
- Don't let your game depend on any digital tool.
Related Articles
- What 5e in the Creative Commons Means to You
- My Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
- You, Me, and the D&D Open Game License
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 18, 2023 - 6:00 am