Sly Flourish
- VideoAssign Player Roles
Before we begin, I wanted to let you know that our book for building and running awesome monsters, Forge of Foes, is now available as an audiobook narrated by Colby Elliot! Colby has narrated other Sly Flourish books and each recording is outstanding. Pick up the Audible version of Forge of Foes today!
Games that harken back to the old days of D&D – often called "OSR" games or "Old School Revival" or "Old School Renaissance" games bring up an idea from these hallowed times – player roles. The idea being that players take specific roles for the game outside of just playing their character.
These assigned roles – scribe, cartographer, quartermaster, and caller – offer great benefits to GMs, players, and the whole game. Old-school games embraced these roles once again – best articulated to me in the fantasy RPG Dolmenwood.
Like the best Lazy DM tools, assigning roles serves multiple purposes – they help players better connect to the in-game world, they keep players engaged in the game, they help GMs and players track events from session to session, and they build artifacts for the campaign that can be held onto long after the campaign has ended.
Here are some examples of roles we can ask players to pick up:
Scribe
The scribe is the official notetaker for the game with an intention of sharing these notes with other players and the GM. These game notes keep the notetaker engaged in the game (as do the rest of these roles and activities) and also bring solidity to the game overall. Events really feel like they happened when they're captured in notes. These notes also help the GM remember where things are headed and what stuff the players paid attention to. These notes also serve as a lasting record for the whole campaign at the end.
Scribes can share their notes in a shared file like a Notion notebook or a Google Doc or email them around to everyone. Even hand-written notes can be sent as images to the group. Ideally every player and the GM should have a copy and keep them together so they can have a full chronicle of the campaign.
Cartographer
Traversing a dungeon and drawing how it connects helps keep the group grounded in the events of the game. It lets players really explore the dungeon, knowing where they've been and what they've missed. Drawing maps helps them discover how the dungeon works. Drawing maps can be tricky, because often the player's version of a map doesn't match the GM's version but that's ok. One need not be an expert cartographer either. A stick and box chart works just fine. Drawing maps isn't as necessary if you're using a virtual tabletop but for in-person games or games where screenshots of rooms are shared, a player-drawn map can help everyone keep the layout of a dungeon in mind.
Quartermaster
Who's keeping track of the loot? Who's telling everyone the split of gold? Where's that all-important magic item again? The quartermaster keeps a full list, maybe even using double-entry bookkeeping to note what loot was picked up and who it was distributed to. Without a quartermaster, stuff gets lost. Even with a quartermaster, players should still keep track of their own loot and inventory – that's the second part of the double-entry bookkeeping.
Like the other artifacts of this job, a loot list is best if it's shared with the group. A spreadsheet in Google drive is a great way to share it but even a digital or handwritten list will do. Keep track of the date, the item, and who it went to. Ask the quartermaster to periodically remind everyone of unclaimed loot which their character might want to claim.
The Caller
The caller is a new role for me. The caller's job is to adjudicate choices of a group and give the GM a final determination. They are a facilitator for the group, asking people's opinions, taking votes, working through disagreements, and coming to an answer they can give to the GM.
This role, more than the others, requires a player who's able to facilitate choices – keeping in mind the players feelings as well as an in-world understanding of what's happening to the characters in the game. It's worth a conversation with the caller to understand the delicate nature of this skill. It's definitely a people-focused role to take but a powerful one when assigned.
Jobs with Multiple Benefits
Assigning these roles to your players serves many benefits. Each role helps solidify what's going on in the game. They keep players involved with the game and the world we're all sharing. They keep players busy and assigning roles gives them a responsibility to their fellow players. In a world filled with distractions, assigning player roles is a fantastic way to keep players engaged in the game we're playing.
Have a mid-campaign session zero and talk about these roles and how they can help all of you enjoy your games even more.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Mork Borg Bundle of Holding
- Potbellied Kobold Bundle of Holding
- Dungeon Crawl Classics Humble Bundle
- Secrets of Magic for Fateforge
- D&D 2025 Starter Set Info
- What WOTC Products Matter for the RPG Hobby?
- Sci Show on Science of Scheduling a D&D Game
- Bob World Builder on RPG Kickstarters
- RPGs I Want To Play
- The Retreat Action
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Mork Borg Bundle of Holding
- Potbellied Kobold Bundle of Holding
- DCC Megabundle Humble Bundle
- Fateforge Secrets of Magic Kickstarter
- D&D Starter Set Video Official
- D&D Starter Set Demo at New York Toy Faire
- EN World Thread
- Sci Show on Scheduling RPG Games
- Bob World Builder on Crowdfunding Historical Trends
- The Retreat Action
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 Does Fog Cloud Work with Advantage?
- The Eight Steps with Big Dungeons
- Players Forgetting Character Abilities
- Dealing with Players Whose Characters Run Ahead
- DM Screen on Small Table
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Two Bandits Talking About the Characters and The Sunless Stream – Dragon Empire Prep Session 16.
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:
- Increase combat difficulty by adding more monsters.
- Speed up combat by increasing damage and lowering hit points.
- Let boss monsters spread damage to minions or suck out their souls for temporary hit points.
- Expect and prepare for characters to focus on the boss in any boss encounter.
- Limit long rests when needed through nightmares, premonitions, and unholy auras. “You won't find a long rest until..."
- Build dynamic dungeons where multiple factions battle each other while the characters explore it. Let them hear the chaos and witness the aftermath in other chambers.
- Flavor chambers with murals, frescoes, and bas reliefs revealing secrets and clues.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoBuild a Campaign-Unique Faction List
Build a list – or several lists – of the gods, factions, campaign icons, and historical figures of your campaign world. Roll on this list to flavor items, monuments, NPCs, or locations. Use these factions to flavor your world as your characters explore it.
Without the unique story and lore of our game world, one game can seem much like the others. Lore sets apart one campaign from another. It wraps the framework of our RPGs in tapestries depicting many worlds beyond this one.
Such rich lore can get away from us, though. We can feel like we have to fill three-ring binders with ancient histories, deep theologies, and interwoven political factions without knowing how this lore manifests in our game.
One lazy trick to manage this lore is to build a faction list. A faction list contains major individuals or groups that matter to the world and to the characters. Often this list includes gods, historical figures, major political factions, and world-changing icons.
Like Secrets and Clues, a faction list turn our world's lore to specific things the characters interact with during the game. Faction lists turns fuzzy concepts into a practical list we can use in the next game we run.
Here's an example faction list from the City of Arches:
- Arazuun, Fallen Prince of Revvia
- The Black Hand
- Elvenya the Star's Song
- The Archkeepers
- God-queen Sett
- The Hunger
- Ibraxus of Choul
- Karigulon the Dread Fang
- Lady Straythe
- The Lower Twelve
- Mother Avanta
- The Nameless King
- Predalion, God of Travel and Trade
- Sulin, Goddess of Light
- The Three Sisters
- Vithra the Serpent King
- Vrys the Fallen
- The World's End
- Xereth – Oblivion's End
- Xrake Fiendblood
Whenever the characters stumble across a monument in the Endless Warrens, I can roll on this list to flavor the monument. Maybe it's tied to the Hunger – the ancient elder evil lurking in the deep lake to the north. Maybe it has a connection to Oblivion's End or God-Queen Sett. Suddenly those static monuments become something more – something drawing characters into the history and world of the game.
For other example faction lists, see my 1d100 Eberron Factions or my 1d100 Forgotten Realms factions.
Mix your faction list with more general lists of random items, magic weapons, monuments, locations, NPCs, and more. Faction lists stack onto these other lists to make them something else.
If you want something more detailed, break out your faction list into separate groups: gods, political factions, historical figures, and big campaign icons. This separation lets you decide if you want a faction with an older or newer history – something that makes more sense for the location or object you're tying the faction to. If it doesn't matter, roll to see which table you roll on or build one big table containing everything when it doesn't matter.
To make your faction list even more useful, note what symbol or icon the faction uses. A noted symbol makes it easier to improvise what the characters see when they look at the object tied to the faction. That bloody defiled fountain of Saint Cuthbert can be identified because of the etching of Cuthbert's starburst on the side of it.
Whether running a published campaign setting or building your own setting – write a numbered list of factions you can roll on to inspire unique creations in the world. Use this list to flavor the specific objects or people the characters run into so that unique flavor is always in front of them.
Bathe the world in fantastic fiction.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- City of Arches in Markdown and EPUB
- Blog of Holding Monster Manual 2024 Stats in the Creative Commons
- Challenge Rating Deep Dive
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- City of Arches
- Blog of Holding 2025 Monster Manual on a Business Card
- What Does Challenge Rating Mean in D&D 5e?
- The Lazy Encounter Benchmark
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here is last week's question and answer.
Last week I also posted a YouTube video on the Shrine of Isis – Dragon Empire Prep Session 15.
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:
- Don’t be afraid to have out of game conversations about in-game character dynamics and relationships.
- Let players retreat from battles gone wrong, escaping with any downed characters but with a potential story loss.
- Run easy fights.
- Use tools that help you improvise during the game.
- Build battles first from what makes sense in the situation. Tune them for the fun of the game.
- Have the outcome of a TPK in mind when running hard battles. Where does the story go if the characters all drop?
- Write a list of ten to twenty factions you can roll on to flavor items, monuments, and encounters.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoWrite One Page of Prep Notes
When prepping my game using the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, I like to narrow my prep down to one page of notes. Lately I write my notes in Obsidian and have a custom stylesheet to export it to PDF in a nice single-page two-column format. I print this page out for each game – whether playing online or not. I don't include things like annotated maps in my one-page of prep – I print those separately. Some GMs may be able to stay down to one page of notes with a map but I'm more comfortable with a page of notes and a page with an annotated map for most games.
But for my prep notes themselves – I stick to one page.
Why is a single page of prep notes ideal?
It's Easy to Reference
When you only have a single sheet of notes, it's easier to find the things you need when running your game like the proper names of NPCs, towns, political groups, locations, and other stuff. It's easier to reference your secrets and clues when they're all on a single page. You can skim your notes quickly just before a game when it's on a single sheet.
It Limits Your Prep
Overprep is a common problem with many game masters. GMs often find themselves prepping a lot of material – too much for one game. I think the drive to overprep comes from the nervousness of being creative in front of our friends. When GMs overprep, however, many lament that the material they prepped never gets used. Limiting prep to a single page helps break this cycle. The more comfortable you are when keeping your notes to a single page and seeing how your notes support you at your table, the more comfortable you'll be recognizing how little prep you need to run a fun game for your friends.
It Gives You a Structure
The eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master aren't the end-all be-all of RPG prep instructions. GM books rarely offer a clear structure for game prep because they know there are so many ways to do it. Return offers the eight steps, but I recognize that this structure isn't the only way to do it. Structure for prep, whatever system you prefer, is important. Focusing on a single sheet ensures you find a clear structure that fits on that page. Whatever your own steps, you only have one page to fill.
It Focuses You on What Matters
One page isn't a lot of room so something has to be cut. Maybe you don't put in entire custom monster stat blocks. Maybe you don't write long paragraphs of read-aloud text. Maybe you don't describe every room in a dungeon. You must choose what to put on a page and those choices help you focus on the things most important for your prep. Limiting prep often forces you to eliminate non-essential things so you have the things you really need.
It Takes Less Time
Not having enough time to prep a game is probably the second biggest reason GMs have trouble running games – the first being finding and maintaining a great RPG group. When you refine your system of prep down to a single sheet, it has the beneficial side effect of reducing the time you take to prep. Less prep means your prep fits easier into your life and lets you run more games.
It's Fun
There's something fun about the constraint of writing all your notes on a single sheet. It feels refined. It sharpens your blade. It makes you feel like you have what you need and sets a boundary on the game itself – it doesn't need to be any harder than what you have on that page. It's a good feeling.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Kobold Press Black Flag SRD in Markdown
- Creating and Adapting Monsters for Shadowdark
- Mike Mearls on Dungeon Craft
- How Bonus Actions Changed
- GM-Focused Products as Advanced Software for Advanced Users
- Experiences with the D&D 2025 Monster Manual Adult Black Dragon
- Legendary Resistance Alternatives
- The End of One D&D
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Kobold Press Black Flag SRD in Markdown
- Creating and Adapting Monsters for Shadowdark Kickstarter
- Mike Mearls on Dungeoncraft
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 Frostmaiden with Shadowdark
- Additional Roles for Exploration
- Did I Negate Character Abilities and Take Away Player Agency?
- Should I Kill Shadowdark Characters with Big Backstory?
- Is Your YouTube Channel Dying?
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on The Top Tip for New GMs – Lazy GM Tip and The Red Portal Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 13.
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:
- Build scenes from locations, inhabitants, and situations.
- Be prepared for the characters to negotiate with even the worst villains.
- Assign a quartermaster to keep track of all loot and who received it. Have them share a spreadsheet.
- Give players additional roles like cartographer (mapper), quartermaster (loot tracker), scribe (note-taker), and caller (arbiter of choices).
- Be ready for characters to bypass combat encounters through subterfuge or negotiation.
- Use random tables during prep and play to shake up ideas and come up with unique situations.
Related Articles
- The Simplest Way to Annotate a Map
- Using the Lazy DM's Eight Steps At the Table
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoOffer Choices in Every Scene
I have two great reads for you today. The first is the chapbook Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for Any RPG by Robin Laws. This book inspired my series on adventure types, starting with Dungeon Crawls. You can find links to the others at the top of that article.
The second great read is a blog post from the Arcane Library called How to Design Exciting D&D Encounters. This article came at me from the Arcane Library newsletter – subscribe here.
Both pieces cover ways to ensure scenes and adventures in our RPGs excite our players and both cover one particular element we do well to consider – offering choices.
Choices are true actions of the characters in our RPGs. Characters can only make meaningful choices if there are other options they could choose but decide to skip. The more narrow this range of choices becomes, the more boring the game might become. When a character has three to five possible options in a turn during a battle – all of them viable – they feel empowered. If they only have one thing they can do ("I hit it with my sword") that's not much of a choice.
One reason combat takes such a prominent place in fantasy d20 RPGs is because combat choices are typically clear. Different attacks, different movement options, different bonus actions, different spells, different abilities – all these possible actions offer choices to players. They're intellectually stimulating.
Consider including such intellectually stimulating choices in all scenes. The characters go to town and meet an important NPC. The NPC tells them about the dangerous cave outside of town in which local treasure seekers sought a powerful idol but never returned. Will you brave adventurers go in there and seek it out? What choice is there? Sure? What the hell else are we going to do?
That's no choice.
But now our heroes come to town and meet with the local adventurers' guildmaster. "Hey, I have three jobs for you. Pick one. Pick another when you're done with that one. The last job we'll farm out to some other group." That doesn't sound particularly stimulating but it offers a choice. It matters which quest they pick and which they leave behind.
The characters come into town and meet a priest who wants to tell them about the marriage of the gods Rava and Volund. Ok, great. We'll sit here and hear all about these gods. That's not a choice. That's exposition.
Instead, a dwarf merchant is pissed off at the heretical priest's statements about this "marriage" between Rava and Volund and threatens to have his mercenaries beat the priest if the priest doesn't shut up. And that priest just can't shut up. What do the characters do? Who do they side with? What happens next?
That's a choice. That choice builds an interesting scene.
Whether your scene is delving through a dungeon, negotiating with a local thieves' guild leader, researching old magic in an arcane library, or fighting a horde of undead – ask yourself what choices you leave open for the characters and their players. Are there options here? Are they viable? You don't need to define each and every single choice but there should be some range of possible choices and players can certainly come up with their own.
Otherwise all we've done is offer a single path in which we spew forth our own narrative while our players sit back bored in their chairs.
Noting Choices During Prep
Consider identifying potential choices when prepping your game, perhaps during step 3, the "scenes" step, of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. When you jot down a quick description of the scene, maybe meeting the hag Lady Bloodnails in the dragon's grotto, ask yourself what options exist for the characters. Can they negotiate with her? Can they fight her? Can they sneak around her or learn something else about her from her environment? What can they do here? Three options are usually good. You don't always need an option. Maybe fighting Ourivax the Sallowsworn is really what everyone wants to do. But you don't want a series of scenes that all just lead to the next. Think about what options the characters can choose from and jot them down next to your short scene description.
So the next time you're prepping your game, ask yourself: what choices do you offer in each scene you intend to run in your next session?
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video. Lots of deep dives into the new D&D 2025 Monster Manual!
- Hexploration Decks
- Mike on EN World and Kobold Press Podcasts
- All Three D&D 2024 Core Books are Released
- 2025 Monster Manual is the Most Important DM-Focused D&D 2024 Book
- Is the 2025 Monster Manual Better than the 2014 MM?
- Is the D&D 2025 MM the Best 5e Monster Book?
- Could It Have Been Better? Of Course.
- 2025 Monster Manual Monsters Hit at Their Challenge Rating
- Other Designers on the 2025 Monster Manual Monster Math
- D&D 2025 Monster Manual Compared to Forge of Foes
- 2025 Monster Manual Effects Don't Negatively Impact Damage Anymore
- 2025 Monster Manual Vampire
- 2025 Monster Manual Requires Looking Up Spells
- 2025 Monster Manual Cultist Fanatic
- The Language of the 2025 Monster Manual
- 2025 Monster Manual Has No Orcs, Drow, or Duergar
- 2025 Monster Manual Static Initiative Scores
- 2025 Monster Manual Crappy Treasure "Tables"
- 2025 Monster Manual Crappy Ability Score Tables
- 2025 Monster Manual Awesome Contextual Random Tables
- 2025 Monster Manual Alphabetically Sorted Most of the Time
- 2025 Monster Manual What Else Is Missing?
- 2025 Monster Manual Day 1 Errata
- 2025 Monster Manual Final Thoughts
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- BackerKit: Hexploration Decks by Inkwell Ideas
- Mike on Morrus's Unofficial Tabletop Podcast (YouTube – MM starts at 1:18:00)
- Mike on Morrus's Unofficial Tabletop Podcast (Podcast Recording)
- Mike on Kobold Chat Talking About Doom Points
- Paul Hughes on 2025 Monster Manual on a Business Card
- Alphastream YouTube Monster Manual Analysis
- Bob World Builder on the Monster Manual
Last week I also posted a YouTube video on The Red Portal Part 1 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 12.
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:
- When it works for pacing, have minions flee or die when their bosses drop.
- Let some bosses suck the life out of minions for temporary hit points.
- Show players how many legendary resistances or doom points a villain has so they can see their progress at eliminating them.
- Give yourself a good 60 to 90 minutes to run a big boss fight.
- Add interactive terrain and monuments to big boss battles.
- Add 25% more HP to a boss for each extra character above four.
- Add roleplay or exploration scenes before a big boss fight where the characters can reduce the forces they have to fight.
Related Articles
- Are Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?
- Making the Most of the Monster Manual
- Rolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoDon't Get Lost in the Zeitgeist
If you're really into this hobby, like I am, it's extremely easy to get caught up in all the big news, scandals, conversations, and controversies that surround this (and any) big hobby. Gods know, I do.
It's important to remember that, when we think about reading and running RPGs, we're talking about a handful of books, dice, paper or digital tools, and the friends we have around our table to enjoy a fun game.
When the D&D 2024 books came out, I spent a lot of brain power on it. I watched and read everything I could. I talked with friends, RPG colleagues, patrons of Sly Flourish, and other fellow fans. I analyzed and hypothesized. I tested theories. I talked about it a lot on my talk show.
In the end, I can hold all three D&D core books in my hands. That's the entirety of the game – three hardcover books I can stuff into a backpack. That's it. Right there. That's the whole game.
We know the game is bigger than just the books themselves. RPGs mean a whole lot to many of us. I think RPGs save lives. When I'm sitting at the table playing games with my friends, it hits all of the most important parts of my life – relaxing and spending time with friends and loved ones together creating tales of high adventure.
That's why we get so focused on all the RPG news, debates, ideas, and attention applied to this amazing game. RPGs really matter to us.
But RPGs are also just a game.
RPGs are built from the books we use at our table, or load up online, once a week or so and spend a few hours away from the rest of our lives to enjoy some time in a world we all share in our minds together.
The zeitgeist surrounding the RPG hobby really doesn't matter that much. New products show up – some good and some bad. Some products we bring to the table. Others we skip. We and our friends decide what we want to play and how we want to play it. None of the rest of it actually impacts us directly.
It's easy to forget that, for each of us, the game at our own table is the only one that really matters. I forget this all the time. I spend hours on Discord or EN World debating the hobby, the products, the business, and all the rest, almost forgetting that I have a group coming over tomorrow night and maybe it's worth spending more of that time thinking about how to draw their characters into the game.
It can be fun to dive into news and discussions surrounding the larger RPG hobby but remember that the larger hobby doesn't dictate what happens at your table – you do.
Focus on the next game you're going to run for your friends around the table.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
I was away at Winter Fantasy last week so there was no Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast). Maybe take a look at previous episodes you missed!
Last week I posted a YouTube video on The Best Large Language Model for your RPG – Your Own Brain.
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:
- Puzzles and riddles are like tapping out songs with your finger. They’re totally obvious to you and no one else has any idea what you’re talking about.
- Have at least two ways to get past a puzzle.
- How did the creator of a puzzle door use it themselves? Why did they lock their door with a Sudoku?
- Let players roll all their dice even if you know it’s a fatal blow. Don’t take away their fun with the math rocks.
- If you love your players and their character does 52 damage, tell them the monster had only 51 hit points left. If you don’t love them, tell them their foe only had four.
- Let players use character shenanigans during skill challenges. Don’t force them to just make ability checks the whole time.
- Add beneficial and detrimental environmental effects to get characters moving around the battlefield.
Related Articles
- Being a Good Steward of the TTRPG Hobby
- How to Survive a Digital D&D Future
- Find Local Players for Tabletop RPGs
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoAre Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?
A friend passed me a post where someone described how their child, a GM, got feedback from their players stating "I think Matt Mercer would have done it differently".
This comment fired up a common question I've seen discussed for years now:
Are high production liveplay games like Critical Role and Dimension 20 building false expectations among players?
Probably not.
I have three main points on this topic:
- There still aren't enough GMs for all the players who want to play.
- Players generally enjoy the games they're playing in.
- Only your game and the expectations of your own players matter.
Let's start by examining points 1 and 2.
Feedback from 100,000 Players
Whatever people's expectations for a game, there continues to be too few GMs for the players who want to play games.
I asked David Christ at Baldman Games about this topic. Dave has facilitated tens of thousands of games run by hundreds of GMs at hundreds of conventions for decades. He gets surveys on each of these games – over one hundred thousand of them – and had two main points towards this conversation:
- He still has too few GMs to run all the games players want to play.
- Satisfaction scores given by players about the games he manages average 92%.
These games aren't just hard-core Adventurer's League games either where there's a fixed group of players who play AL differently than everyone else plays D&D. Most players, Dave states, are new to D&D.
Organized play adventures are almost the exact opposite of Actual Play games like Critical Role and Dimension 20. GMs usually don't know the players or their characters. Players often don't know each other. GMs often run multiple games a day which can be exhausting. GMs are limited in what table props they can use because they have to travel with them. The environment is far from the incredible million-dollar studios of actual plays – often a fold-out table in a big area with dozens of other tables.
And still, there are more players who want to play games than GMs able to run them and still their satisfaction with their games is high.
Only Your Game Matters
Now on to point 3.
No one put you in charge of ensuring that players across the world all have the right expectations for any given game and that GMs are sheltered from criticism stemming from expectations garnered from actual play shows. Your job is only to run great games for the players you have around your own table.
It doesn't matter that Baldman Games has a hundred thousand surveys with a 92% satisfaction rate. Only the satisfaction of your players matters.
That, of course, doesn't mean your players won't have false expectations based on actual play, but you only have to worry about them, not the entire hobby.
So how do you manage these expectations?
Talk to Your Players
Ask them what they want in the game. Ask them what they hope for. Ask them about their characters – their goals, their motivations, what magic items they're excited for. Use campfire tales and stars and wishes to get feedback throughout your campaign.
If their drives and expectations go beyond what you can provide – talk to them about it. Let them know what you're capable of. Let them know if you're likely not to hit on every thread of their character's backstory. Set these expectations during your session zero.
Listen to them too. Maybe there are things they want that you can bring into your game. It's not just a matter of telling players how it's going to be. Use that feedback to steer your game as well as manage their expectations about what you can provide.
It's Probably Not the Problem You Think It Is
I suspect the anxiety GMs feel to perform at the level actual play shows is self generated more than brought on by actual players. Most players just want to play. As long as you're not railroading their characters or being a jerk, your game is likely to be fine. Follow the top tips for GMs and things should go well.
Enjoy your time at the table with your friends sharing some laughs and fun tales of high adventure.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Horizons Magazine
- Alphastream on 2025 D&D Monster Manual Math
- D&D at Madison Square Garden
- Mike Mearls and Ray Winninger on the Past and Future of D&D 5e
- 2025 Monster Manual Initial Thoughts
- D&D 2025 Monster Manual Lich
- Avoid Getting Caught in the Zeitgeist
- Talk Show and Patreon Q&A Databases
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Horizons Magazine
- Alphastream on 2025 D&D Monster Manual Math
- Ray Winninger and Mike Mearls on Past and Future of D&D 5e
- Printable Heroes
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- What D&D Classes and Features Do I Ban?
- Making Flat Paper Character Minis
- Dealing with Agency-Stealing Effects like Stun
- Basic Rules or 5.1 SRD for New Players
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Instant Monsters for 5e & D&D and Ziggurat of Thoth-Hermes – Dragon Empire Prep Session 11.
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:
- Use long rests to ask players about their characters' backstories.
- Mix up easy combat encounters, hard combat encounters, and NPC roleplaying scenes.
- Introduce enough gods to keep your world unique but not so many your players can't keep up.
- Fill large locations with several factions – each of which might be allies or enemies of the characters.
- Mix multiple random encounters to build unique scenes.
- Roll a d6 for hostility and distance during random encounters. The lower the number the closer and less hostile they are.
- Bait dangerous situations with shiny treasure.
Related Articles
- Offer Choices in Every Scene
- Find Local Players for Tabletop RPGs
- Two Different 5e Games at the Same Table
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoTwo Different 5e Games at the Same Table
When we sit down to play a 5e game at our table, we're actually playing two different games with two different sets of rules, sometimes from totally different publishers.
Players play one game – with a focus on their characters and the rich mechanics surrounding them. GMs play another game – with a focus on monsters, treasure, scenes, situations, world building, and more.
These two games mesh together on a shared and agreed-upon baseline of rules. We can change both sides of the game significantly and still play a fun game at our table.
The easiest example of GMs playing a different game is when gamemasters use a different monster book than the default monster book for our chosen 5e system (likely D&D but possibly Tales of the Valiant or Level Up Advanced 5e). Switching monster books is common. We can use 5e monsters from lots of different publishers, including building and improvising our own. We can use simple and straightforward stat blocks like those in the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault or crunchy tactical monsters like the stat blocks in Flee Mortals. Even with vastly different design philosophies, these monster sources still work with other 5e systems.
It's not a huge revelation to note that GMs are playing one type of game at the table and players another type. But when we think of it this way, it opens further possibilities to change up and customize our game – getting back the modular feeling that 5e's designers intended in the 2012 to 2014 playtest of D&D Next.
There are many ways we can shake up the game on the GM's side such as
- including the journey rules from Uncharted Journeys.
- using safe havens and "supply" from A5e's Trials and Treasure.
- using doom points from Tales of the Valiant.
- giving out spells from Deep Magic 1 or 2 as special rewards, single-use magic items, or strange powers for monsters.
Likewise, we can talk to our players about changing things on the player-side of the game by
- selecting a different core sourcebook for character options such as D&D 2014, D&D 2024, the Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide, or the Level Up Advanced 5e Adventurer's Guide.
- offering multiple flavors of 5e on the player's side in the same game! It seems impossible but I'm doing it right now and it works just fine.
- replacing inspiration with ToV's "luck" system.
- allowing character options from books like Kobold Press's Tome of Heroes.
It's trickier to mess with the game on the player's side because changes we make there affect everyone and are permanent unless we pull them back. On the GM side, we can change things all the time. If we don't like how our change worked, we can throw it out and never use it again.
Thinking Differently About the Game We Play
Thinking of our game as a series of components – with a separate game being played on the player side and GM side – gives us lots of interesting ways to tweak and change things to fit the style of game we enjoy.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Weapons of Lore by Jeff Stevens
- Gate Pass Gazette by EN World Publishing
- Mike on Kobold Press Talking Doom Points
- Ray Winninger Interview with Stan! on YouTube
- No Roll20 Tales of the Valiant Character Builder
- Thoughts from the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo
- RPG Communities on Independent Spaces
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Weapons of Lore Kickstarter
- Gate Pass Gazette Annual 2024
- Mike on KP talking Doom Points and Monster Vault 2
- Ray Winninger EN World Discussion
- Ray Winninger on Stan!'s Show
- Stan!'s 50 Years YouTube Playlist
- Bring On the Discourse – Yochai Gal
- EN World
- forums.rpg.net
- Mastodon — dice.camp
- Mastodon — chirp.enworld.org
- Mastodon — mastodon.social
- Bluesky
- My Blueskky Starter Pack
- TTRPG Blogs
- RPG Blogroll
- ttrpg.network
- Top Rated RPG Podcasts
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
Last week I also posted a YouTube video on Blood Magic – Dragon Empire Prep Session 10.
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:
- Call on individual characters during online games.
- Clarify options and ask for decisions from each player.
- Assign a “caller” who gets consensus from the group.
- Assign roles to players including scribe (game notes), cartographer (mapping), quartermaster (loot tracking), and caller (choice consensus).
- Ensure each scene has choices and options for the characters’ to take.
- Have characters describe their new features to the group on leveling up.
- Keep narrative descriptions brief and focus quickly on the options in front of the characters.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - Notable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
A while back I wrote about Gems of the DMG in which I captured what I thought were the most notable sections of a book typically ignored or vilified among 5e D&D DMs. I think it's an underrated book but it's certainly a flawed book.
Now, with the new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide in hand, we can look for similar notable sections of this book.
I have good news. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is well organized and does a great job introducing new dungeon masters to the craft of running D&D games. That was its primary goal and I think it meets this goal.
But how much do we want to use the 2024 DMG at the table? How often will we refer back to it? What parts of the book should DMs, new and old, keep in mind to help us prepare and run our games?
Let's dig in.
First, a DM's Trick
Before we go in, I have a trick I really love. Use little adhesive tabs to mark your favorite and most-used sections so you can reference them easily at the table. Tabs run a couple of bucks at a drug store and make all your books far more table usable. Work from back-to-front, putting tabs along the edge opposite of the spine starting low and working up. This way, by the end, you have neatly organized tabs running from the top to the bottom. If you don't get anything else from this article – tab your books!
Notable Sections of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide
Ok, let's have a look at the 2024 DMG sections we're most likely to reference.
Dungeons – Page 65. A nice big list of dungeon quirks that can help fire up your imagination for the dungeons you want to prepare for your game. I wish there were more dungeon-focused tables, frankly. I feel like the 2024 DMG is missing tables to help inspire DMs to build out lots of different kinds of dungeons.
Running Mobs – Page 82. This section includes good information for running a large number of monsters. It has a cool table telling you how many monsters in a group succeed on a given attack roll or saving throw target number. This section also includes a table to determine how many targets are likely in an area when running theater of the mind style battles which I appreciate. It's only missing a way to handle hit points for lots of monsters other than letting low HP enemies just die. I use my own idea for pooling damage when running a lot of monsters. We offer other ways to handle lots of monsters in the Lazy DM's Companion and Forge of Foes that I think work better but this section works fine.
Common Names – Page 85. Everyone needs a good list of names and here they are in the DMG. Bookmark this page.
Poisons – Page 90. Poisons can be used in lots of different ways in your game. Heroes can acquire them. Bad guys can use them against your heroes. Traps can be poisoned with exotic poisons. It's a good section to remember.
Settlements – Page 93. These two pages offer lots of tables to help you build out settlements. I always love a good tavern name generator.
Supernatural Gifts – Page 98. It's easy to focus on tangible magic items but cool supernatural gifts and charms are a great way for the characters to be blessed by monuments or the will of the gods. Some effects permanent while others are temporary so they offer some good flexibility.
Traps – Page 100. These four pages of traps give you good models you can reskin into hundreds of different tailored traps for the lairs into which our heroes adventure. It includes specific traps with ranges for different levels and a trap-building table to build your own traps.
Adventure Situations – Page 107. Four tables offer ten to twenty different adventure situations for the four tiers of play. These tables are great when you need a quick sidequest or adventure idea and help us understand the types of adventures appropriate for characters at different levels.
Common Map Symbols – Page 109. Get out your Pathfinder Flip Mat or Chessex Battle Map and practice these simple and common map symbols to help you draw out awesome maps for your game. I wish they had included more of Chris Perkins's Map Fu article here.
Adventure Hooks – Page 111. Good tables describing the way characters can learn of the adventures they might undertake. These hooks are also good ways to reveal secrets and clues when needed.
XP Budget Per Character. This table to help you build and understand the threats of combat encounters is much improved over the convoluted two-dial system in the 2014 DMG. I would have preferred a system based on challenge rating that you can keep in your head instead of an experience-based table you must continually refer to and do a bunch of math with. Luckily, I offer such a CR-based encounter building system.
Monster Behaviors – Page 116. Good tables for monster hostility, personality, and relationships to shake up your random encounters. Too bad there aren't any random encounter tables in the book. Another big miss if you ask me.
Random Treasure Hoard – Page 121. An excellent and simple table built for session-based treasure hoards. Nothing fancy here and no tables to break out hoards into gold, bars, gems, jewelry and the like but enough to tell you how much gold you expect so you can break it out yourself. I love the simplicity.
Planar Adventure Situations – Page 179. I love these fantastic adventure hooks. While we often think of planar adventures as high-level adventures, some of these situations can work at mid-levels too.
Tour of the Multiverse – Page 180. The multiverse section of the 2024 DMG is about 30 pages long and this, along with the Greyhawk section on page 143, is where you can really dive into the lore of D&D. It's common to think you only care about this stuff when the characters are plane-hopping but this sort of lore can flavor dungeons and monsters at any level of play. It's worth the time to read through this whole section to fill your head with awesome D&D lore you can spout out during your games in all sorts of ways. Don't skip it.
Magic Item Special Features – Page 222. The 2014 DMG had this table too and I used it all the time. The creator and history tables are fantastic for any magic item. Who made the item? What is special about it? You can use these tables to flavor single-use magic items, trinkets, permanent magic items, and all sorts of other things. These tables are super-valuable. Keep them bookmarked.
Random Magic Items – Page 326. These tables are common in any good gamemaster's guide but always worth mentioning. Mixing up random magic items along with items tailored for the characters is the easiest and best way I've found to make players happy and make your game exciting. These tables break things up well and are easy to roll on to find interesting items for your characters. I wish they didn't mix consumable items and permanent items together. Sometimes I want to offer one without the other.
Maps – Page 365. I love Dyson maps for many reasons and I'm extremely happy to see a good pile of them at the end of the DMG. There are fifteen maps in here covering a wide range of common locations you find in D&D. These maps are fantastic for improvising adventure locations when time is tight. They include:
- Multi-level Crypt
- Small campsite
- Small village
- Ruined temple / Dragon's Lair
- Dungeon hideout
- Farmstead
- Keep
- Manor
- Mine
- Roadside inn
- Ship
- Spooky house
- Underdark warren
- Volcanic caves
- Wizards tower
A Useful Book to Have At Your Side
Often the trickiest part of using the Dungeon Master's Guide is knowing what's inside. When you have the time, maybe once or twice a year, go through it and remind yourself what you have. Mark it with adhesive tabs so you can easily reference useful bits while you prep and run your games.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
I was at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo the previous weekend so I didn't have any YouTube videos or podcasts this week.
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 a way to hack the dungeon such as secret passages, puzzle bypasses, and ways to get the jump on bad guys.
- Set up a goal and a situation and let the story unfold during the game.
- Avoid a series of hard combat encounters in a row.
- Improvise combat encounters by what makes sense in the story and then what is the most fun for the game.
- Tell the story of a location through the discoveries in each chamber.
- Layer histories in your dungeons. What was it before? What is it now?
- Modify dungeons as you play should they overstay their welcome. Cut off hallways. Collapse chambers. Move things around.
Related Articles
- Gems of the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
- Award Treasure and Magic Items in 5e
- Random Tables of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoRolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
When you need to adjudicate a whole bunch of checks — say rolling two dozen saving throws for a bunch of skeletons hit with Turn Undead — simplify the situation by assuming one quarter succeeds.
This quick rule-of-thumb is part of the Running Hordes section of the Lazy DM's Companion but it's a good tool to keep in our toolbox for lots of situations. Sometimes you need to roll a bunch of attack rolls against a single character. Sometimes you need to roll a big pile of ability checks. Sometimes you need a big group to make a bunch of saving throws.
Assume one quarter succeeds.
You can slide this scale up or down depending on the situation. If the creatures making the checks have advantage, assume half succeeds. If they're at disadvantage, assume it's one on ten. This calculation also works if the target number the roller would have to shoot for is particularly high or low. Keep the math easy.
If you want to add some variance, subtract three from the number of successes and add 1d6. This change shakes things up and shows players that there's some variance to the result instead of what feels like an arbitrary number.
This "one quarter succeeds" guideline is based on the idea that the creatures making the check need to roll a 16 or better to succeed. It assumes these creatures are generally weaker than the character they're attacking or the spell they're saving against. It's a skeleton (+4 to hit) versus an armored paladin (AC 20). Many times this guideline is in the favor of the characters (and the players) which makes it easier to accept.
Assuming one quarter succeeds lets you abstract lots of dice rolling and get back into the fiction and action in the world. Instead of rolling two dozen saving throws you get to say:
"Eighteen of the twenty four skeletons surrounding you are destroyed as your waves of radiant light turn them to dust! The remaining six claw forward and attack!"
If you're looking for more tricks for running hordes of monsters against the characters, check out Running Hordes: The Lazy Way to Run Lots of D&D Monsters.
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.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Monster Vault 2 by Kobold Press
- Crit Happens iOS Dice Roller
- Free5e
- Sly Flourish Newsletter Adventure Generator and One-Page 5e
- 2025 Monster Manual Videos
- What Do I Want From WOTC After the Monster Manual?
- When and How to Fudge Your Game
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Distance, Reaction, and Activity Rolls for Random Encounters and The Puzzle box – Dragon Empire Prep Session 9.
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:
- Choose monsters that fit the story and environment. Wrap them in historical lore.
- Swarm characters with lots of one- or two-hit low CR monsters. Let players enjoy their big area blasts.
- Include big brutes in battles who are intended to be banished or controlled.
- Give magic weapons or suits of armor a cool name, theme, history, and daily-use spell effect.
- Let mechanists and artificers understand how magical artifacts and arcane machines operate.
- Roll on behalf of characters attempting to detect traps so they don't know if they failed or if there was never a trap to begin with.
- Include several ways for characters to traverse a dungeon – vertical chutes, deep cracks, collapsed elevators, and so on.
Related Articles
- Free Dice Roller
- Let Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
- Lazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 » - VideoLet Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
My friend and Forge of Foes partner, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, wrote a great post called Embracing the Awesome (subscribe to his newsletter here!) extolling the virtues of letting characters automatically succeed at ability checks more often than we typically do.
Letting characters auto-succeed sometimes is a useful way to keep the pace of your game moving forward and showcase the characters' role in the world. When should you let your characters auto-succeed at a check?
- When it makes sense that they could just do it.
- When failure isn't an option or a failure is boring.
- When the task isn't very difficult.
- When doing so spotlights the characters' proficiency in the task.
Certain character capabilities make them more likely to auto-succeed on some tasks. These capabilities include a character's
- background.
- class.
- subclass.
- species, ancestry, or race.
- skill proficiencies or specializations.
- tool proficiencies.
- religion.
- family or regional background.
- ability bonus.
- feats.
- spells.
Focusing on these character features means we can spotlight individual characters and what they're good at.
"You Succeed but Roll Anyway"
Sometimes one or more of the characters are going to succeed on a task but we want to know how well they succeed. Those trained in history may know most of what they need about the gods of the underworld but those who roll significantly higher than the difficulty class (DC) can learn even more.
We often treat the d20 roll on a DC check as a binary pass or failure but there's no reason we can't think of it as an analog gradient. The higher the result, the more the characters learn or the better they succeed. The lower the roll, the more clumsy it is even if they succeed anyway.
Move Things Forward and Spotlight Characters
A friend of mine once described a game in which the GM had them rolling checks to put on every article of clothing before making it to the briefing for the actual adventure. All the characters came with a hodgepodge of shirts, pants, underwear, and one sock. Putting on one's pants does not a hero make.
Have characters automatically succeed on some checks. It helps you move the game forward when failure isn't interesting and spotlights characters and their unique roles in the world. Such powerful tools are the perfect addition to the lazy dungeon master's toolbox.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Twelve Types of Medieval Artwork for your fantasy RPGs and Unending Thirst Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 8.
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.
- Most Anticipated RPGs of 2025
- Two Year Anniversary of the OGL Fiasco
- Talk Show Database with 2,000 Topics
- Improvisation and the Eight Steps
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Most Anticipated RPGS of 2025
- OGL Article by Lin Codega on 5 January 2023
- The Story Behind WOTC's Blurring of D&D 2024 Videos – Lazy RPG Talk Show
- Lightning Rods – Showcase Powerful Character Abilities
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- Lightning Rods for Control Wizards
- Running for a Mix of Online and Offline Players
- Homebrewing Character Buffs
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:
- Break up long sequences of narration with clear opportunities for player-driven decisions.
- Call for ability checks to keep things moving.
- Let characters break out of debilitating effects by taking damage.
- Know the purpose of an NPCs appearance. Why are they in the scene?
- Review your prep notes right before your game.
- Break up a long series of roleplay scenes with exploration or combat.
- Offer multiple vertical connections between the levels of a big dungeon – sinkholes, collapsed floors, waterfalls, and, of course, staircases.
Related Articles
- How to Choose DCs for Your 5e Game
- Rolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
- Steal Character Archetypes from a Single Show
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- 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 »