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Dungeons are probably my favorite structure for fantasy RPG adventures. There's a fixed location, interesting options, clear goals, and a nice flow for the game.
In the context of focusing on the minimum prep we need for a night of adventure, we're going to look at a simple way to prepare specifically for dungeon adventures.
Here's a quick summary for preparing a dungeon adventure:
- Define a clear goal and session start. An NPC asks the characters to do something at a location. Alternatively, skip right to the dungeon explaining the job they've already accepted.
- Pick a location. Choose a map from Dyson Logos to fit the type of location you need. Pick the first map that fits the overall purpose of the dungeon you want to run.
- Write down brief chamber descriptions with one or two words. You can print your Dyson map and write the descriptions on the printout yourself with a pen or sharpie.
- Write down inhabitants. These inhabitants can be a mix of monsters and NPCs. Who might the characters run into? Make sure to include some non-hostile or friendly NPCs.
- Write down ten secrets and clues the characters might discover in the dungeon.
- Roll for random treasure the characters might acquire such as a pile of gold and gems, a couple of consumable items, and one or maybe two nice permanent magic items.
Keeping Things Simple
It's easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about your next game. This game is so vast, how can we not get lost in the deepest reaches of our imaginations? But what if we focus down on simply running a fun dungeon delve? How can we refine the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master around this focus?
Here's an example of that refined list. For our dungeon delve, we need
- a goal.
- a location.
- inhabitants.
- secrets and clues.
- treasure.
An NPC Offers a Job
An NPC offering a job to the characters is an easy strong start. There's lots of different potential jobs. Page 12 of the sample chapters of the Lazy DM's Companion has a list of potential goals from NPCs. When considering your dungeon delve, pages 12 and 13 of the sample (pages 6 and 7 of the Lazy DM's Companion itself) have lots of tables to inspire you.
But the easiest way to get started is for an NPC to give the characters a job to do at a location. Fill in those blanks and you're ready to go.
Alternatively, you can skip this part and jump straight outside of the dungeon and describe the job the characters already accepted. This pre-assigned mission works great for single-session and short-session games. Skip the process of receiving and accepting the job and jump right to the dungeon with quest in hand. Just tell them what their quest is and you're off to the races.
Prep the Dungeon Map
Now we need a location. Personally, I grab the first Dyson Logos map that fits the concept of the location. Dyson has over a thousand maps with just about every type of dungeon location you can imagine. Scroll through until you find the first map that suits your needs both from the style of location (worked stone versus natural caverns) and the general number of rooms you need. Don't be picky. Grab the first one that works.
Now fill in room descriptions with one or two words. One easy way is to print the map on a piece of paper, grab a pen or sharpie, and write in one or two words to describe each chamber. Don't use long descriptions. A couple of evocative words does the trick. If you need a digital version, take a picture of your hand-annotated map and put it back in your digital notes.
Alternatively, write down location descriptions in a list with a vague idea about where they might go on the map. Creating this list is easier than trying to digitally edit the map to add your own annotations.
Choose Inhabitants
Now create a list of potential inhabitants. These inhabitants might be monsters. These monsters might be intelligent bad guys, mindless minions, or hungry beasts. They might be good guys or potential NPCs to talk to. If you're using a monster book of some sort, write down the page number of the stat block for the monster on your list.
If you want to go really light, write down their CRs and use the Forge of Foes monster stats by CR and monster powers to build monsters as you need them.
You don't have to decide where these monsters reside in the location. You can decide encounter locations during play. Some monsters may make sense for specific locations while others might wander about.
Include friendly NPCs as well as monsters. Offer opportunities for roleplaying. Remember your story beats.
Write Down Ten Secrets and Clues
This tip is a direct lift from the eight steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. The characters need to learn things as they explore the dungeon. Maybe it's knowledge about the location's history. Maybe it's the villain's secret plans. Maybe it's the history of the gods. The characters should gain knowledge as they explore the dungeon and interact with its inhabitants. Secrets and clues are the treasure of exploration.
Write Down some Treasure
While secrets and clues may be the treasure of exploration, it won't buy you a hot bowl of stew and a tasty beverage at the local pub. Players love loot, so give it to them. Roll up random loot from your favorite GM's guide or use one of the many online treasure generators (Sly Flourish Patrons have access to the Lazy GM's Generator with some awesome random loot options).
Include coins, interesting jewels and art objects, consumable magic items, single-use magical relics, and one or two permanent magic items suited to the characters. Like inhabitants, you can decide later where to drop this loot – often after fighting a big boss or discovering a hidden treasure vault.
What We Skip
This outline skips a few of the eight steps including:
- Review the Characters. You still want to do this review if you can, but it's not any different for a dungeon delve than any other game. Reviewing the characters (and the players) is a great way to focus on what you can include that may resonate with them and what styles of play you want to reinforce during the rest of your prep.
- Outline Scenes. Dungeon delves give characters the option to explore any direction they wish. Thus, we don't have a linear set of scenes. We can often omit this step for dungeon delves.
- Develop NPCs. I wrapped this step up into inhabitants because you'll likely have more monsters than NPCs in a dungeon delve.
Sometimes you can skip the steps above. Other times they make sense even for a dungeon delve.
A Simple Checklist for Limitless Options
Dungeon delves give us a solid adventure structure with lots of variability. Who gave the party the job? What does the job entail? What larger purpose does the job serve? What makes the location and its inhabitants unique? Like the Seven Samurai adventure model, the dungeon delve is a fantastic framework around which to build a fun and unique session.
Hopefully, with the steps above, we can get past the nervousness we all feel and prep an awesome night of high adventure.
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This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos titled Does D&D Need High Production Value? and A Forest Dragon Wants Beer – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 12 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:
- Free WOTC D&D After-School Materials and Adventure
- This Is What We Want WOTC To Do
- Practical 5e Digital Interoperability Today
- Lazy GM's Random Generator
- Prepping on a High Stress Short Timeline
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:
- Give new characters the "Heroic Spark" and avoid the tiresome "who the hell is this guy" moment of their introduction.
- Understand and reinforce what motivates the characters to risk their lives in such dangerous places.
- Print maps and annotate with a pen.
- Your prep notes are just for you. They don't have to be fancy or complete.
- Write notes to spark your memory and imagination not to publish.
- Choose monsters that make sense for the situation. Then check to see if that might inadvertently wipe the characters.
- Know the play structure of various situations like dungeon delving or overland exploration. How do these situations play at the table?
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: November 27, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoDo We Need a New D&D Player's Handbook?
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One Word Summary
No.
Two Sentence Summary
There's no need to discard the millions of existing copies of the 2014 Player's Handbook. A frank conversation with our players can move us past the game's rough spots and keep us playing this fantastic version of the game for the rest of our lives.
Longer Article
If you're wrapped up in the D&D zeitgeist, you know that Wizards of the Coast plans to publish new D&D core books in 2024. It's not 6th edition, they remind us, or even 5.5. The best name we have for these new books is the "2024 Revised D&D Core Books." I can live with that name.
But then I think about how many copies of the 2014 D&D Player's Handbook are out in the world. Over the past ten years, more people played D&D than at any other time in the history of the game. More people started playing D&D in the past five years than all previous players since 1974. There are likely millions of copies of the Player's Handbook out there and the game plays just fine.
Do we really need new ones?
It seems like a tremendous waste to discard millions of fantastic books and replace them with new ones.
But if we stay with the 2014 books, don't we need to fix them?
Not really.
From Nerfs to Open Conversations
I discussed this question at length with fellow lazy DMs over on the Sly Flourish Discord server, available to Patrons of Sly Flourish and shot a YouTube video called [House Rules for the 2014 D&D Player's Handbook]. What do we need to do to "fix" the 2014 D&D Player's Handbook to keep it vibrant and useful for the next ten years (or twenty or fifty or two hundred)?
I came up with a big list of changes for spells I didn't like banishment, heroes' feast, force cage, counterspell, shield, and the various conjure spells. But this list was just a bunch of nerfs. Sure, some of these spells are either overtuned, clunky, or make life for a DM harder, but do they really need to be fixed?
What if, instead, we just talk to our players about why these spells are burdensome and how they disrupt the game. Maybe we can come to an agreement about them.
For example, a common issue with a lot of spells is how effective they are against boss monsters. Banishing one of four giants is one thing. Banishing the big bad evil guy is a whole different story. Legendary resistance helps but only if they have it and typically we don't see monsters with legendary resistance before CR 11 or so.
What if we gave more bosses legendary resistance and also the ability to use legendary resistances to break out of other effects like the chain-stunning of a monk, a force cage, or other effects that are simply too effective on bosses?
And we can just explain this to our players. "Look, a lot of the things you might use to lock down monsters won't work on boss monsters." Every major video game figured this out. You don't pin down bosses in World of Warcraft or Diablo with a single ability. Game designers nerf the minute they prove to be overpowered.
Conjure animals gives a single player up to nine turns in a round if they summon eight wolves each with pack tactics and a knockdown ability. That's 27 possible d20 rolls on a single player's turn. How about we ask our players, for the sake of the enjoyment of the game, to not summon more than one or two creatures.
Those people I discussed this with resonated much better with this approach than just a bunch of direct nerfs. It's addressing the actual problem instead of just the mechanics of a single spell.
The drive to optimize around the mechanics exists in any player who's interested in those mechanics. But maybe if we explain how the combination of those mechanics ends up disrupting the game for the other players and the DM (whose fun is as valid as anyone else's), maybe we can skip the mechanical nerfs and just ask our players not to do it.
Discuss During a Session Zero
If you're going to have this conversation, have it during your session zero, before players start making characters. This way they know what's acceptable and what isn't. A player considering an enchanter might think differently if they know they can't pin down every boss in the game with a well-placed hypnotic pattern. Most importantly, your requests won't come as a surprise in the heat of things. Have a rational conversation before the game begins so no one is surprised.
So Does the 2014 PHB Need to be Fixed?
Maybe we don't need to fix anything in the 2014 D&D Player's Handbook. Every time I suggested fixes to the 2014 Player's Handbook, people told me it works just fine for them. Many groups still run and enjoy even older versions of D&D. Given the sheer number of 2014 Player's Handbooks out there, I expect many groups will continue to play 2014 D&D for a long time.
Above all we shouldn't forget that the important part of this game is getting together with our friends to enjoy some laughs while sharing tales of high adventure. As long as we agree on it, we can have fun with any RPG.
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This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Movable Torchlight in Owlbear Rodeo and Mugdulblub – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 11 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:
- Fantastic Deals on D&D and 5e Books
- Roll 20 D&D Character Builder Outside the VTT
- A D&D Digital Utopia
- Build Monuments of Power for Big Battles in 5e
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:
- Only have a few minutes to prep? Plan a strong start and write ten secrets the characters might discover in the game. Add in anything else you really need such as locations, monsters, treasure.
- Need a map in a hurry? Grab one from Dyson Logos!
- Rely on random treasure generators to inspire your rewards.
- Add a daily-use spell to typical magic items for a unique treasure your players will love.
- Narrow your campaign down to the big final scene as you get close to the end.
- Build monuments in battle like monsters. Choose their CR, AC / DC, hit points, and damage if needed. Successful skill checks apply damage equal to a portion of their HP such as 1/2 or 1/3.
- Choose the components you want to build the D&D you want at the table. Only you and your players get to choose what you want to run.
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- How Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
- Ask Players to Describe New Character Abilities
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: November 20, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoRunning Towns in Fantasy RPGs
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
When the characters reach a town or other large settlement, the pacing of our D&D game changes — and not always in a good direction. Towns are tricky environments to run. They have a wide range of locations, oodles of NPCs, and often too many options for things to do.
"You enter the village of Redtower. What do you want to do?" can be a game-killing introduction.
So how do we ensure when the characters reach a town, it's as interesting as the rest of our game? Let's take a look.
Identify a Fantastic Feature
What makes this town unique or interesting? What noteworthy feature grabs the characters' attention when they enter the town? What famous or infamous landmark lies near the town? Add at least one of these fantastic features and probably no more than three – enough to define the town in the eyes of the characters and your players.
Here are ten examples of notable features:
- The town surrounds a huge sinkhole with a river flowing down into its depths.
- The town surrounds the skull of a huge twisted beast half-buried in the ground.
- The town floats on an earthmote one hundred feet above the edge of a vast canyon. Rope bridges connect smaller floating earthmotes providing a path to the town.
- The town surrounds a single obsidian spire piercing out of the ground.
- The petrified form of an ancient dragon snarls in the town square.
- The town always appears to be in the darkness of night with an alien moon above.
- An ancient portal to an alien world lies dormant, only opening every five hundred years.
- The horns of a sleeping tarrasque pierce out of the ground beneath the town but no one can be bothered to move it.
- The marble statue of a priestess shining a wand into the heavens stands in the center of town, the light of the wand seems to reach a golden star above.
You can find more fantastic features, and generate your own, using the "Random Monuments" table on page 12 of the Lazy DM's Workbook or the "Core Adventure Generators" tables on page 6 of the Lazy DM's Companion.
Set Up a Situations
When the characters enter the town, it works best if they get involved in something right away. Try launching into a situation just as they walk into town. Such situations help define the town and offer interesting choices. Here are ten examples of situations the characters may encounter in town:
- A trained owlbear gets loose.
- A pair of ogres wander into town, demanding their yearly promised wheel of cheese. The vendor who promised them the cheese has long since moved away.
- A mob accuses an old man of witchcraft.
- Villagers scream as three giant vultures fly off with two haunches of meat and a bemused child.
- An escaped prisoner runs down the street throwing spells with the local battle-mages's wand of wonder.
- A sinkhole into an unknown tomb collapses and begins belching out ancient skeletons.
- A recently unearthed vampire walks into the local bar offering 200 gold pieces for a suitable drink.
- A ghost asks the characters to avenge her death. The locals say she's been asking for revenge for a century but she was run over by her own ox cart.
- A giant crocodile crawls out of the well and attacks but the local priests beg the characters not to hurt the holy creature.
- Local toughs start trouble with the characters and challenge them to a dance-off.
Come up with your own list of potential encounters as the characters first travel into the town. You don't need one every time they return but something to set the stage always helps. The "Framing Events" table in chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide is a great go-to, as are the "Random Town Events" table on page 15 of the Lazy DM's Workbook and the "Settlement Events" on page 37 of the Lazy DM's Companion.
Clarify Options Customized to the Characters
When the characters come to town, they might have twelve to twenty options or more. Do they go to the inn? Visit the blacksmith? Talk to the local mining guild? The decisions can be paralyzing. Instead of building a huge town and offering the whole thing to the characters we can start with the characters and build the town around them. What sorts of locations would they be interested in? Here are ten examples:
- The fighter might be interested in the local mercenary company headquarters.
- The paladin might be interested in the local temple or the citadel of guardians.
- The cleric might be interested in the local temple or the observatory of the gods on the mountaintop above.
- The rogue might be interested in the seedy bar or the thieves' den they hear about.
- The bard might be interested in the local theater or music hall.
- The sorcerer might be interested in the strange floating obelisk of power hanging over the pond.
- The warlock might be interested in the house of the coven who follows their patron.
- The wizard might be interested in the local sage's tower.
- The barbarian might be interested in the local fighting pits.
- The druid might be interested in the wild grove just outside of town.
These locations of interest are based on classes but you can do the same thing with races or backgrounds. Perhaps the mushroomfolk character finds a local compost heap where others of their kind hang out, enjoy the meal, and share rumors. Perhaps the clockwork character is interested in the local Temple of Rava — deity of the clockwork folk.
When you're preparing to introduce your town, write down locations you think may directly interest the characters based on their class, race, background or interests.
Towns – Locations of Adventure
It's hard to think of a town as another location of adventure but that's what we're trying to do. Instead of running a town with an open end of possible directions and decisions, focus your town to make it an interesting place to run a session.
- Give it an interesting feature.
- Include situations in which the characters can get involved.
- Highlight locations that suit the characters.
By giving the characters interesting things to see, interesting places to go, and interesting things to do, a town can be as exciting as any other location they visit in their games.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on RPG Adventure Pitfalls – What are GMs Doing Wrong? and Gelatinous Cubes! – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 10 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:
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 I Feel about D&D 2024
- Where to Get D&D News
- Encounter Builiding for Waves of Monsters
- Running Gladiatorial Arenas
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:
- Give bosses strong protections and include easily disrupted lackeys.
- Tie the history of magic items to the story, the wielder, and the character who may acquire it.
- Build interesting environmental effects into boss fights.
- Have a good handle on the mechanics of unique combat monuments like godly statues protecting boss monsters.
- Damage is the strongest dial in combat.
- Note the many types of combat: big boss battles, set-piece battles, small skirmishes, conversations-gone-wrong, etc. Know how best to run them and what tools you need to do so.
- Give characters a single-use nuclear bomb. See what they do with it.
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- Offer Secret Paths in Dungeons or Overland Journeys
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: November 13, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoHow to Choose DCs for Your 5e Game
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
Here's a quick way to determine the difficulty class (DC) when characters attempt to accomplish a risky endeavor in your 5e RPG.
Think about the situation in the game's world. Then ask yourself, on a scale of 10 to 20, how hard would this action be to pull off? Pick a number and go with it.
Between 10 and 20
DCs can go as low or as high as you want, but there are practical limits. Below 10 and it's not worth rolling – just let the characters accomplish their goal. Above 20 might make sense when an objective is really hard but still possible. Trained characters with high ability scores can still hit DCs above 20, but not often. Sometimes it's better to just say something's impossible if it's really not possible.
Otherwise, picking a number between 10 and 20 works just fine.
Advice from the Dungeon Master's Guide
Buried way in the back on page 238 of the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide, we find useful advice on choosing DCs:
If you’ve decided that an ability check is called for, then most likely the task at hand isn’t a very easy one. Most people can accomplish a DC 5 task with little chance of failure. Unless circumstances are unusual, let characters succeed at such a task without making a check.
Then ask yourself, “Is this task’s difficulty easy, moderate, or hard?” If the only DCs you ever use are 10, 15, and 20, your game will run just fine. Keep in mind that a character with a 10 in the associated ability and no proficiency will succeed at an easy task around 50 percent of the time. A moderate task requires a higher score or proficiency for success, whereas a hard task typically requires both. A big dose of luck with the d20 also doesn’t hurt.
If you find yourself thinking, “This task is especially hard,” you can use a higher DC, but do so with caution and consider the level of the characters. A DC 25 task is very hard for low-level characters to accomplish, but it becomes more reasonable after 10th level or so. A DC 30 check is nearly impossible for most low-level characters. A 20th-level character with proficiency and a relevant ability score of 20 still needs a 19 or 20 on the die roll to succeed at a task of this difficulty.
Don't Overthink It
Don't get your head too wrapped up around DCs. Go with your gut. Think about the difficulty of the situation in the world and choose a number.
Don't Set DCs Based on the Characters
Don't set your DCs based on the characters, their proficiencies, or other abilities they have. If they're good at something, let them be good at it. Choose DCs regardless of who's attempting it. An approach might change a DC. If you're trying to intimidate the lich (DC 32), that may not work out very well, but flattery might (DC 14)! Just because the bard has a +12 in Persuasion doesn't mean the lich becomes harder to flatter.
Keep Your Head in the World
This advice feeds into a bigger tip – keep your head in the game's world. Think about things from inside the world. What is it really like there? How hard are the situations the characters attempt? What are the NPCs really like?
5e games are about building a world and wrapping it in DCs against which the characters attempt actions using their ability bonuses, skill proficiencies, and a d20 roll. Every rock, every crevasse, every locked door, every scowling bar bouncer – they all have little DCs floating over them. All you have to do is look at them in the context of the world and read what they say.
Imagine the situation in the world and choose a number between 10 and 20.
Helping Jennell Jaquays
Esteemed D&D designer Jennell Jaquays, the inspiration for many fantastic dungeon design principles, is battling some difficult medical conditions and could use your help. Please help her out on the GoFundMe set up by her wife.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running I6 Ravenloft with the Shadowdark RPG and Prepping Mysteries with the 8 Steps.
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:
- Arcane Library Bundle of Holding
- Level Up Advanded 5e SRD in the Creative Commons
- Planescape Adventures in the Multiverse
- The Mortuary
- Lazy GM Screen Sheets and a Forge of Foes Monster Stat App
- Music Playlists for Your 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:
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:
- Use the 13th Age “escape” rule. The group can run from combat, avoiding further attacks and collecting downed allies but at the cost of a significant shift in the story.
- Let enemies retreat when you think it makes sense to them to do so.
- Use the simplest tools you need to help you run your game.
- Take a deep breath. Your friends love you and want to have a great time. You’re all on the same side sharing an awesome story together.
- Worry less about the TTRPG industry news and the larger zeitgeist and focus on running an awesome game for your friends.
- Spill too many secrets.
- Clarify out of game what the characters learned in-game.
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- Converting Adventures Between Systems
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
- 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: November 6, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoFocus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
Whenever we're looking at our game prep, it's useful to consider what's valuable and what isn't valuable for the fun of the game. What matters? There's not a perfect answer — each of us chooses what matters the most for us and our group — but there are common areas we can focus on.
Almost everything we do to tie the characters to the world, the story, and the game provides tremendous value in our prep. As much as we might enjoy pondering the 7,000 year history of our city or hunting for the perfect battle map, it's important to find new ways to tie the characters to the story and draw our players deeper into the game we love.
Maybe you're done with your prep (as much as we're ever done.) Maybe you still feel some anxiety about it and have some time. Where do you spend that time?
On the characters.
Here are ten things you can do during or after your prep to better tie the characters into the game.
- Add one secret or clue tied to each character for your next session.
- Look over the characters' current magic items and think about what they might want to find next.
- Think about each character's specialty in combat and think about a way to let them shine in one of your upcoming conflicts.
- Think about the NPCs players really liked and how you can bring them back into the story.
- Think about a home base the characters might acquire or ways to modify their existing home base.
- Write some flash fiction about one of the characters and email it to the group.
- Develop a handout describing one or more of the characters and the impact they had on the world.
- Tie one of your upcoming locations to the backgrounds of the characters.
- Plan a prophetic scene for one of the characters with an arcane or religious bent.
- Think about the motivations and actions of an intelligent item currently carried by the characters.
Whether you're having trouble digging into your prep for your next session or you're done with your prep but want to dive in a little more, think about what character-focused ideas you can drop into your next game.
Every moment spent thinking about the characters and their connections to the world, the story, and the next session provides great dividends for you and your players.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Get Characters to Move in D&D Combat and Mutant Catfish! – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 9 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:
- Black Flag System Reference Document
- A Comparison of Cult Fanatics
- Lazy Tricks for Making Great Magic Items
- Defining Adventure Types
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:
- Change up the themes and feeling of your adventure arc by focusing exclusively on a new monster book.
- Prep in the space where you’re going to run your game. Visualize what it’ll be like to play. Fill in the gaps.
- Build three musical playlists to run during your game: Relaxing, sinister, and battle music.
- Worry less about the larger D&D and RPG zeitgeist. What do you want and need to have a great time playing games with your friends?
- Run small experiments.
- Ask players what mechanics they’re eager to see play out in the game. Build encounters to show them off.
- Great table aids: blue sticky tack, index cards, adhesive re-usable bookmarks, generic tokens, Pathfinder flip mat, dry-erase markers, big flat acrylic sheet.
Related Articles
- How Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?
- Build from the Characters Outwards
- Five Ways to Integrate Characters Into Your Campaign
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: October 30, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoThe Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review
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Since 2018, Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master has helped thousands of GMs improve their tabletop roleplaying games and focus on what matters most for their games. The core of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is the eight steps for game prep offering a flexible and modular outline to help GMs
- focus on what matters most for the game,
- prepare what they need to improvise at the table,
- and keep the pacing of the game flexible and fun.
Today we're going to review the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master for those who haven't yet seen them and offer a refresher for those who have used them over the past five years.
The free Lazy GM's Resource Document includes descriptions of the eight steps and many examples along with other material from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, the Lazy DM's Workbook, and the Lazy DM's Companion. It's available to read, copy, or use, even commercially, under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Give it a look if you want to dig further or include these ideas in your own work.
And now the steps.
Step 1: Review the Characters
In the first step, we focus our attention on the players' characters. The characters are the single interface between players and the world we're sharing together. We spend this part of our prep remembering who they are, what they want, and what connections they have to the world. It's the first of the eight steps so we can keep them firmly in mind while running through the other seven steps.
One fantastic way to work the characters into your prep is to ask yourself
"What hook can I include in the next session to draw this character into the game?"
and do this for each character in the game.
Step 2: Create a Strong Start
The strong start draws players out of the real world and into the game. The key driver for the strong start is "something happens." Maybe the characters get attacked (a typical but potentially overused favorite). Maybe they meet a long-lost NPC. Maybe there's a festival in town. Maybe a sinkhole opens up in the road leading to the depths below. Something happens, and it draws players into the world. The strong start often leads to the hook to draw the characters into the adventure if there isn't one already.
Step 3: Outline Potential Scenes
This step is entirely designed to help GMs feel good about their prep. It sets the potential boundaries for the session. The key question is "what scenes might occur in this session?" These scenes might be in a linear sequence or potential branches based on the choices or actions of the characters. They might be small and focused scenes or big plans like "explore level 3 of the Scarlet Citadel." Your outline of scenes should be small and brief – just a few short sentences in a list. Don't overdo it. Keep it brief and flexible and be ready to throw these scenes away if they don't actually come up in the game.
Step 4: Define Secrets and Clues
This is the heart of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Whatever steps you decide on for your prep, "secrets and clues" may be the main one you want to include.
These secrets and clues have a few criteria that make them powerful:
- They're short. Usually just a sentence or two.
- They're relevant. They focus on things the characters may want to know like the history of the location or the plans of a villain.
- They're abstracted from the location of their discovery. We don't determine how the characters find a secret. We focus only on the secret itself and then improvise how characters find them as we run the game.
This last point is tricky to understand and critical to their value in our prep. You decide which secrets the characters uncover during the game itself. Maybe they learn it from an NPC. Maybe they learn it by examining a fresco on the wall. Maybe a secret comes to them in a divine vision. The Lazy GM's Resource Document includes ten different ways secrets might be discovered in four different categories.
Originally I recommended starting with a fresh slate of ten secrets every time you prep. Recently, many GMs, including myself, find it easier to review your last session's secrets and bring forward any secrets that have yet to be uncovered and are still relevant to the game.
Step 5: Develop Fantastic Locations
Fantastic locations serve as the backdrop to the scenes we run. What locations might come up during the game? Locations might be small, like the master bedroom in a manor or a prison cell in a dungeon. They might be large backdrops for a scene like the dank alleyways of a city or an ancient fountain in the plaza at midnight. We decide how much detail we need for a location based on how important it might be in the game. For some locations, all we need is a name like "bloody torture chamber" or "master bedroom of shattered mirrors."
We usually want enough of a description to help us improvise locations during the game but we often don't need more than a sentence. If we think a location is going to be the backdrop to a big set-piece battle, we might add one to three fantastic features to a location so it looks like this:
- Hall of storms. Large pit dropping into the sky below, huge crumbling pillars, lightning-charged throne.
Those "aspects" of a location gives the characters something to mess with during a scene.
If you're running a large dungeon, you might not need anything more than the titles of the rooms in a list. If you're running a published adventure, you might not need anything at all.
Step 6: Outline Important NPCs
In this step, we write down the names and any important notes for NPCs that might come up in our next session. These NPCs could be people the characters might meet, villains they might face, or even intelligent magic items the characters carry.
Often the hardest part of preparing NPCs is remembering their names. Writing down their names might be all we need. We might want to build NPCs from characters in popular fiction so we have an instant set of mannerisms, dialects, and appearances. More detailed NPCs might have goals and quests they follow to accomplish those goals. To keep your NPCs fresh, switch their genders and appearances. If you can, grab artwork to show your players what the NPCs look like.
Step 7: Choose Relevant Monsters
What monsters might the characters face in the next session? Typically, GMs prep whole scenes with locations and monsters together. In these eight steps, we separate out our list of monsters so we can drop them in anywhere. We may still build big set-piece boss battles by combining monsters with locations (and secrets, NPCs, and treasure) but most of the time we just list potential monsters. This gives us the freedom to improvise combat encounters based on the situation in the game's world and the pacing of the game itself.
When we're looking at the locations the characters might explore, what monsters make sense for those locations? During the game we use upward and downward beats and the dials of monster difficulty to help us build fun and engaging combat encounters.
When thinking about what monsters might make sense for the next session, it helps to write down the lazy encounter benchmark so we know where the line is between a potentially challenging encounter and a potentially deadly one.
For boss battles or big set-piece battles, we might go with the more traditional way of setting up a detailed location with a specific set of monsters. This method works well when a big battle might be our strong start.
Step 8: Select Treasure and Magic Item Rewards
Players love getting loot. Thus, it's worth our time to consider what loot they might discover. We can use two different methods to select loot:
- Choose magic items that fit the characters.
- Choose treasure and magic items randomly.
We can mix these two methods. Sometimes we select specific magic items useful for particular characters. Other times we roll randomly to see what they get. There are many different ways to roll for random loot including tables in the Lazy DM's Companion, the Dungeon Master's Guide, or using a variety of online tools like Donjon's treasure generator.
Choose Your Own Style
The eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master are intended to be modular. You can choose different steps depending on whether you're running homebrew or published material or whether you're running a single-session game or a long campaign. You may have other steps you find vital to your prep not included here or find that some of these steps don't serve you and are easily skipped. That's perfect. That's how the Lazy DM style is supposed to work.
Focus on what matters and omit what doesn't.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Minimum Viable Prep and Bittermold Keep – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 8 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:
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 easy battles, hard battles, interesting conversations, and exploration throughout your adventures.
- Let mid-bosses be destroyed by good player tactics, surprises, and good luck. You can always whip up another boss.
- Use non-core and lesser known spells as powers for single-use or once-per-day magic items.
- Shake up battles. Include big single or duo monsters sometimes, huge hordes another time, one-on-one wolfpacks another time. Run easy fights, hard fights, and multiple waves of combatants.
- Pathfinder flip mats offer great table-usable and re-usable locations you can use for years.
- Cull your tools. Keep those that help you run awesome games and get rid of the rest.
- Reveal secrets anywhere — carved into old dead trees, whispered among tavern patrons, or shouted out from villains as you engage them in combat.
Related Articles
- Prepping a Dungeon
- Prepare a D&D Game in 15 Minutes
- Choosing the Right Steps from the Lazy DM Checklist
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: October 23, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoDungeon Crawls Versus Situations
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Sometimes the line between running a dungeon crawl and running a larger situation – like a heist – isn't so clear. They both have locations. They both have goals. They both have inhabitants. But both styles of games run differently. Each type has a structure we follow when we're preparing them and running them.
It behooves us GMs to compare these two structures. What defines the difference between a dungeon crawl and a larger situation-based adventure?
The answer is: goals and circumstances.
Different Types of Dungeon Goals
Characters should always have a goal when delving into a dungeon – be it a series of caverns, an old temple, a ruined castle, an ancient crypt, or a mysterious manor. Maybe it's to find treasure. Maybe it's to find information. Maybe it's to kill a nasty boss. There are always reasons to go into a dangerous dungeon — otherwise, why go into such a horrible place?
Sometimes these goals require crawling from room to room, avoiding wandering monsters, checking for traps, worrying about lighting and visibility, and so on. Other times these goals mean finding the main room, getting in, doing your job, and leaving before something terrible happens.
A scenario in which the characters must light the four braziers of Set to open the obsidian door to the shadowed vault likely requires crawling through a dungeon to find said braziers and locate the door.
A scenario to rescue the king's nephew from the cultists of Set before they sacrifice him to their serpent god might not require so thorough a dungeon crawl. Find the chamber, free the prince, and escape.
Example Goals
Here are five examples of more dungeon-crawly goals. These goals lend themselves towards adventures in which the characters travel through a larger part of a dungeon seeking one or more things without a big time constraint.
- Light four magical candles to illuminate a hidden fresco.
- Find three of five keys to open a gateway to another world.
- Destroy four anchors of a hellish portal.
- Find a powerful foe-slaying weapon.
- Lay a tormented soul to rest.
And here are five examples of more situation / heist-style goals. These goals focus more on a single specific quest taking place in a larger location. These goals are more focused on getting in, accomplishing the goal, and getting out.
- Dismiss a powerful fiend.
- Steal invasion plans of the nearby city.
- Rescue a reluctant hostage.
- Recover a dangerous artifact.
- Steal the key to an aerial warship.
Different Types of Circumstances
Circumstances also dictate whether the characters approach a dungeon as a crawl or as a situation. Are there lots of wandering patrols? Is something important to the story happening soon? Would crawling through every room take the characters away from their goal? Are events changing while the characters might be exploring? Any of these circumstances might shift the characters away from crawling room to room and drive them towards the main goal instead.
Do the characters know the layout of the dungeon? If they know the layout, they know where to go to accomplish their goal. If they don't have a map, they'll have to crawl the dungeon and learn where to go. Sometimes the characters have a partial map devoid of secret hallways, hidden chambers, or underground tunnels. They know most of the location, but not all of it.
Know Your Adventure Structure
When building an adventure or running a published adventure, you may not know right away whether you're running a dungeon crawl or a more dynamic situation. In Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the Palace of Heart's Desire looks like a big place to explore with 51 areas to investigate. In reality, the characters may only visit a handful of rooms depending on how you run it and the choices the characters make.
When preparing a location for your game, ask yourself if the characters are going to treat it like a dungeon crawl or treat the whole thing as a situation. Then choose the approach that fits the structure.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Moving Things Forward and Journey to Bittermold Keep – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 7 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 Playtest on Bastions and Cantrips
- The Vault of Life Well Lived by Cubicle 7
- Secret of Summervine Villa
- Prepping and Improvising Pacing
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 note some RPG tips I learned from my last game. Here are this week's tips!
- Let monsters get crowd controlled. Have enough that it doesn't completely remove the threat.
- Tell players when they may accidentally trigger multiple groups of monsters.
- Set up a whole location with small groups of monsters who move around and may or may not become aware of the characters.
- The dungeon crawl and the heist are two common adventure models. Know how they work and build around their strengths.
- Embrace shenanigans!
- Throw mixtures of low and high CR monsters at your characters.
- Use more monsters and let them get thrown off pits and ledges or banished to the forbidden zone.
- Use random generators to spark your creativity.
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: October 16, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoUse Dyson's Maps
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
DMs often overprepare. Drawing our own maps is typically one such activity. You may be tempted to draw out your dungeon maps and, if you enjoy it and have the time, go with the gods. But if time is tight or you feel like your time may be best spent elsewhere, use existing maps instead.
Dyson Logos Maps
Dyson Logos, the cartographer responsible for numerous maps in published Wizards of the Coast adventures, has more than a thousand maps available on Dysonlogos.blog. Instead of drawing a map, grab one from there. I've used Dyson maps for all sorts of locations in all sorts of worlds whether it was Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Shadowdark, or Numenera.
If you have an idea for a location, keep the general location in mind and scroll through Dyson's maps. When you find one that fits your needs, stop, download it, and stick it in your notes.
Dyson's maps are easy to use in a VTT, easy to replicate on a hand-drawn battle map, and cheap to print large-scale as blueprint maps at your local printer. They follow the best practices of Jaquays-style maps including multiple entrances, multiple paths, loop-backs, asymmetric designs, elevation changes, and secret passages.
Tips for Using Dyson Maps
Here's a handful of other tips for making the most of Dyson maps:
- Dyson's maps often have gridded and gridless versions. Try the gridless version in your VTT of choice, adding the VTT's grid on top of it if needed.
- Resize Dyson's maps to suit the size you want for rooms and hallways. Make sure there's plenty of room for those fire giants.
- Aim for maps that fit the size you need. Dyson maps can go from five rooms to dozens (even hundreds) of rooms. Choose the size that best fits the length of the delve you have in mind.
- Collapse halls to shrink down larger dungeons if needed.
- Write down evocative names for major chambers. Keep descriptions short – just a word or two – enough to give you what you need to improvise it during the game.
- Write room descriptions in a list moving clockwise around the map if you don't want to annotate individual rooms.
- If needed, print and draw in room numbers. Take a picture and put it in your digital notes. It's often faster than annotating it with an image editor.
- Keep a handful of your favorite Dyson maps downloaded locally in your notes so you have general-purpose maps handy when you need them.
An Invaluable Tool for Lazy DMs
The next time you're tempted to draw out a map, grab a Dyson map and put your prep time into other high-impact areas like building encounters around the characters, making interesting or unique treasure, or thinking through the eyes of your villains.
Dyson's work is funded through Patreon. Dyson's maps are an incredible resource for the TTRPG hobby. Please give Dyson your support.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on my Uncharted Journeys Spotlight and Drusilla's Hut – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 6 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:
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Alternatives to Legendary Actions for Legendary Monsters
- WOTC Changing Legendary Actions to Reactions
- Buying or Leasing Material from D&D Beyond or Demiplane
- Safest Place to Buy Digital RPG Content
- Going Off the Path on Published Adventures
- Good Advice I Don't Follow
- Handling Villagers in Protect the Village Situations
- Managing Sandbox Situations with the 8=Eight Steps
- Overcoming the Need for High Production Value D&D
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:
- Keep the characters at the center of your prep.
- What hooks do you have for each character in your next session?
- Cut the boring middle.
- Use spells as interesting rewards on single or daily use magic items.
- Draw out and show players the layout of the location for a heist-style adventure.
- Design magic items around the characters.
- Let monsters get crowd controlled. Have enough that it doesn't completely remove the threat.
Related Articles
- The Only Dungeon Map You'll Ever Need
- Using Maps for In-Person Games
- A Simpler Checklist for Engaging Dungeon Maps
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: October 9, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoHow Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?
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The answer? Don't worry about it.
Ok, you probably want more advice than that.
Recently Hayley M., a Patreon of Sly Flourish asked:
Combat encounter length: It depends, of course, but do you or your players have a base expectation of how many rounds feels too few or too many for a main story-related fight? You often talk about buffing hit points on monsters and villains, is that because you expect them to last a minimum number of rounds?
I don't know if there's a base expectation. I think many DMs and players expect the answer of roughly "three" – maybe more for big story-moving fights like boss battles.
Like many aspects of the game, I tend not to think about how many rounds a battle should go. Like Gandalf, I think a battle should end precisely when it means to.
As Hayley says, it depends. You don't want a battle with two bandits outside of a hideout to take three rounds. That encounter can be over in the same amount of time it'd take you to roll initiative. You also don't want your massive three-phase pinnacle boss battle to be over in three rounds. Climactic multi-phase battles might go six or nine rounds.
I don't think it's useful to worry about how many rounds combat takes. Instead, I think it's better to focus on the feeling, the pacing, and the beats of your game. Keep your hands on the dials. Know when monsters have overstayed their welcome and turn that hit point dial to 1. Don't just "call it right here."
GMs tend to worry too much about aspects of the game that really don't matter to the fun and story of the game. The number of combat encounters per long rest, the exact details of encounter balance or combat difficulty, or how the characters might bypass an encounter we intend for combat – these details aren't the critical criteria for a great session. They build a desired but often stale structure around an otherwise free-flowing game.
Ignore things like the ideal number of rounds and focus on building interesting situations for the characters to explore however they choose. Maybe a battle takes half a round. Maybe it takes nine rounds over an entire session of the game.
The real question is:
Are you and your players having fun?
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running Cities in D&D and The Wardenwood Caverns – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 5 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:
- Wanderer's Guide to Enchanted Emporiums
- VTT "Maps" in D&D Beyond
- Monstrous Compendium 4
- Mire's End 4th Level Adventure
- Adventure Structures
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:
- Note the characters' resistances. Attack them with those resistances.
- The higher level the characters go, the more monsters you'll want to throw their way.
- Single monsters typically can't stand up to a group of characters above 6th level.
- Give characters several meaningful paths through a location.
- Highlight the story and game effects of notable features in big combat arenas.
- Build vertical combat arenas.
- Give each magic item a story and unique property or effect.
Related Articles
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
- Offer Secret Paths in Dungeons or Overland Journeys
- Describe your GM Style
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: October 2, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoShare PDFs With Your Players
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
There are times when we're running our RPGs where we want to be able to share PDFs of game materials with our players. Maybe we're including 5e published material not available on D&D Beyond. Maybe we're running an entirely different roleplaying game. In either scenario, it can be either expensive for players to buy the material themselves or we'd be breaking the law (and generally behaving badly) by sharing copies of our RPG PDFs directly with players.
It isn't reasonable to expect each of our players to drop $20 to $60 on PDFs for one campaign or one run of a new RPG and not every game offers cheap or free alternatives. I expect a lot of GMs send players copies of these PDFs but doing so is illegal and risky. Many of these PDFs are watermarked to the person purchasing the PDF. Should the watermarked PDF be widely distributed, the original purchaser could be under considerable risk. It's also morally questionable. Don't bootleg PDFs.
So here's a better way – a free and safer way to share PDFs with your players. This content-sharing method follows the same content-sharing model used by D&D Beyond and Roll20. Just about all popular VTTs with roleplaying content allows this sharing model. This method, however, doesn't require a VTT – just Google Drive.
If you'd rather watch a step by step video on this tip, please check out the Share PDFs With Your Players YouTube Video.
This trick uses Google Drive so you and your players each need to have a Google account to use it.
These steps are for the person sharing the PDF to others.
- Create a "shared PDF" folder in your Google Drive folder.
- Open that folder and upload the PDF or PDFs you want to share with your players.
- Select the files you want to share. Right click and press "Share".
- Add the Google email addresses for each of the players with whom you want to share the PDF. Make sure they're selected as "Viewer".
- In the upper right corner of the share window is a little gear "settings" icon. Click that icon.
- Ensure that "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy" is not selected. This ensures that the viewer can't download or print the file.
- Save your settings and notify your players that you shared your file.
For the reader, they can go to their Google Drive and see that these PDFs are now shared with them. As long as the person sharing the file continues to do so, they'll be able to read the file through their browser on Google Drive but can't download it or print it.
Sharing PDFs using Google Drive is an extremely useful trick to keep on hand anytime you want to give the players new character options, player guides, or entire rules to a game without worrying that they'll get out there to the open internet and without requiring each player to drop a lot of cash to get the materials you want to share. When you're done with the campaign, remove their access.
Pass this tip, the article, and the video to anyone you think will find it useful!
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a YouTube video on the Return to Wardenwood – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 4 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:
- Chris Perkins's DM Tips
- Level Up Advanced 5e Starter Set by EN World Publishing
- Monstrous
- Correction on A5e Counterspell
- Run Really Hard Battles and Let Player Get Away with Stuff
- Dwarven Forge VTT Backdrops
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Prepping Adventures While Visually Impaired
- Reciting Session Recaps and Previous Session Summaries
- GMs Bringing More Energy to the Game
- Best Starting Adventures for New Players and 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:
- Ensure there's a choice and multiple outcomes in every scene.
- Strong starts need not be combat but they should draw the characters (and the players) into the game.
- What's your minimum viable set of tools and prep to run a great game?
- Discard NPCs that don't resonate with the players.
- Let the characters' exploits follow ahead of them as they meet new NPCs.
- Give gods "masks" – alternative personas they wear while engaging in the world of mortals.
- Give each monster you run an interesting flavorful move or power that defines them in the world.
Related Articles
- Seven Fantastic Tools to Play RPGs Online
- Twenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social Media
- Organizing Digital RPG Materials
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: September 25, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoLimit Sources While Using D&D Beyond
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Over the lifespan of D&D 5th edition Wizards of the Coast released dozens of sourcebooks including new races, subclasses, spells, backgrounds, and feats. Allowing access to all features from all sources for every campaign can result in strange character combinations fitting no particular theme and create weird game-stressing results at the table. The expansion of materials leads to players choosing the same optimal selections regardless of the direction a campaign takes (I'm looking at you, Toll the Dead) .
Limiting sources lets you focus a campaign around a theme. For a draconic-focused campaign you might limit sources to the Player's Handbook and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. For a more gothic horror-focused campaign you might add Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. However not every sourcebook fits in every campaign.
D&D Beyond's Limitations
D&D Beyond doesn't do a good job of limiting sources or identifying where material comes from. If a player owns a particular sourcebook, the options from that sourcebook appear in the character builder even if a DM limits sources in the campaign manager.
The character builder itself has limited functions to filter out Magic: The Gathering and Critical Role content but books it considers "core" sources (I don't know whats included in that category) are always available if a player owns them. Thus, if a player owns Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, all options from that book show up.
Even though the introductions of many of these supplemental D&D books state that their rules are optional and at the DM's discretion, D&D Beyond includes them automatically regardless of what you select in the character builder.
Thus, if we want to limit source material (and I argue we do), it's up to us to communicate clearly to our players how to choose from limited options.
During our session zero we want to clarify which sources are allowed, which sources are not, and how to use D&D Beyond with these limitations in mind. Here's an example list we might offer to players during our session zero of a dragon-themed campaign:
- This campaign uses a limited set of character options from specific sourcebooks. We do not use every option available in D&D Beyond.
- Races for this campaign include those in the Player's Handbook and those in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
- Character options and spells for this campaign can be selected from the Player's Handbook,, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. We also use the "Customizing Your Origin," "Changing Your Skill," "Changing Your Subclass," and the "Optional Class Features" from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (but not its subclasses or most of its spells).
- We'll replace the Players Handbook "conjure" spells with the Tasha's "summon" spells.
- Please note that D&D Beyond doesn't clearly display which options are from which sources. There's no good way to limit sources in D&D Beyond. Thus, pay careful attention to which races, subclasses, spells, and feats you select and ensure they're coming from the sources above.
- When selecting features, look up subclasses, spells, and feats from the sourcebooks above. Don't browse options in the character builder. It displays every option available and doesn't make it clear where a source came from.
- Likewise the "Game Rules" links often show all available sources such as every subclass for a given class. Instead, read the sourcebooks mentioned above under "sources."
- Once you've selected the features you want from the sourcebooks directly, select those options in the character builder.
Here's a potential shorter explanation suitable for a one-page campaign guide:
This campaign uses limited sources. When using D&D Beyond, ensure you browse and select options from the sourcebook directly before choosing options in the character builder. The character builder does not filter out options from other sourcebooks.
Selecting from limited options in D&D Beyond is an arduous process but without a good way to filter sources, we have to work with our players to help them select only the features available in the sources we want for our campaign.
You might ask again if it's worth the trouble to limit sources in your campaign. I argue it is. Limitations fuel creativity. Selecting specific sourcebooks lets every campaign we run feel different from the others, with new and often undervalued options available to players who might otherwise focus on the most optimal options regardless of the theme of the campaign.
With some work on our part and that of our players, we can weave a rich tapestry of unique campaigns we run for years to come.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on The Idol of Unduluk – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 3 Lazy GM Prep and Choosing Perfect Monsters.
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:
- 2024 Players Handbook Playtest 7
- I Hate Counterspell
- Side Quests and NPC Decks by Inkwell Ideas
- Demiplane Gets 5e Content
- Adventure Pitfalls -- Where Do Our Games Fail to Be Fun?
- The Lazy RPG Talk Show Database
- Baldur's Gate 3 Ability Checks
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Does Baldur's Gate 3 Match the D&D Experience?
- Fudging Monster Stats Feels Bad
- Tips for Rules Versus Rulings in OSR Games
- Only Using Half of your Prep Notes
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 big scenes involving combat, exploration, and roleplaying all mashed together.
- Think about your dungeons in three dimensions. What's above and what's below?
- Throw in lots of extra monsters and let your characters get away with all sorts of shenanigans.
- Let players hurl bad guys off of cliffs.
- Provoke opportunity attacks.
- Are your characters particularly powerful? Throw more monsters at them.
- Avoid stereotypical intelligent creatures. Derro aren't "crazy", they see multiple worlds simultaneously!
Related Articles
- Ask Players to Describe New Character Abilities
- Twenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social Media
- Focus Your Campaign
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: September 18, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoRun Homebrew Adventures in a Published Setting
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Running your own adventures in a published campaign setting offers the best benefits from both – the freedom to customize homebrew adventures with the high production value and depth of lore of a published campaign setting.
Mixing Two Common Approaches
According to polls I’ve run, most GMs run their own adventures in their own campaign worlds while those who run in published campaign worlds often run using published adventures in that world.
Today we're going to look at the benefits of mixing these two approaches – running homebrew adventures in published campaign settings.
For a video on this topic, see this Lazy RPG Talk Show segment on homebrew adventures in published settings.
Benefits of Homebrew Adventures
While published adventures offer the benefits of a highly-produced product, it’s hard for a published adventure to adapt with the backgrounds, motivations, directions, and actions of the characters. They also don’t easily adapt with our own ideas – we have to modify the adventures to fit our own new paths. Adventure publishers encourage GMs to make published adventures their own by customizing adventures to fit the game taking place at the GM’s own table, but that’s still a lot of work to be done.
Homebrew adventures have none of these problems. Homebrew adventures are exactly what you want them to be. You decide their story, their villains, their locations, and their style of play. You can build entire adventures around your specific characters. As things change during the campaign, you can shift your whole direction to flow where the story takes it. That’s often not an option for a published adventure unless you throw a lot of it away.
Benefits of Published Campaign Settings
Published campaign settings don’t force any one style or path of adventure. Campaign settings give you well-produced material, often with excellent artwork, deep histories, ongoing political turmoil, piles of NPCs, fantastic locations to explore, and, hopefully, lots and lots of adventure seeds.
Some example campaign worlds fitting these criteria include:
The Best of Both Worlds
Running homebrew adventures in published campaign settings gives you the freedom to let your adventure go where you and your players take it, but with the well-produced framework of a published campaign setting. As a GM, you don’t need to worry about building your own theology, history, geography, or global politics. A whole team of designers, developers, editors, and publishers did that for you.
Understanding the Shared World
Running in a published campaign world has the added benefit of being potentially familiar to your players. If you’re playing in a common setting, players who recognize the world already have their feet on the ground. They may already know the pantheon or the state of global politics. It's already familiar.
Some GMs might see this as a disadvantage, particularly if the players know more than the GM does. The best way to deal with this is to bring them on board. Count on their knowledge to help share information with you and the other players as you play. Build off of their knowledge - don’t fear it or dismiss it. You’re all on the same side watching the story expand as you play.
Not for Everyone
This isn’t to dismiss running published adventures. I’ve run dozens of published adventures for years and still tend to grab onto them when it’s time to start a new campaign. The games I’ve shared with my players have been wonderful. But the times I look back at the homebrew adventures, it brings back fantastic memories and stories. Those twists and turns couldn't be accounted for in a published adventure.
Mix It Up
If you tend to run published adventures or tend to build your own adventures in your own campaign world, think about running a homebrew adventure in a published campaign world. You may find great value in being able to run custom adventures in a rich campaign setting and have a lot of fun with your friends around the table.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Shadowdark RPG Prep: The Ruins of Black Marrow and dndblogs.com and the TTRPG Fediverse.
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:
- Old Town Saga by MT Black
- Weapons of Legend by Jeff Stevents
- D&D on Death Row
- Tomb of the Red Headsman
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- The Eight Steps for Call of Cthulhu and Investigative or Mystery Games
- Incentivizing Moving Around During Combat
- Thoughts on Anti-Colonial Chapter of Forge of Foes
- Player-Focused Tasks and Roles
- Where to Drop In the Three Choices For Future Sessions
- Fitting a Strong Start Into a Three-Hour Game
- Where Does Treasure Make Sense?
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:
- What choices can the characters make in each scene you prepare?
- Double-check those NPC names to make sure they're not silly.
- Build environments with fun z-axis features. Build with height, not just length and width.
- Focus your prep on the characters outwards.
- Add upward beats when all seems grim.
- Are your players enjoying the theme of your campaign? If not, change it up or move to something new.
- Set up situations instead of combat encounters.
Related Articles
- The Case For Published Adventures
- Using Published Adventures
- How to Customize Published Campaign 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: September 11, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoRe-Using Secrets and Clues
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In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, I recommend writing down ten fresh secrets and clues during your prep for your next session. In Chapter 6, I state:
Sometimes your unrevealed secrets will make their way to your next session’s list. Other times, they simply fade away. You might be tempted to keep a huge list of past secrets, but that can end up being unwieldy. The world is a dynamic place, and it’s fine if you throw away old secrets. Just make sure you come up with a fresh list of ten new secrets and clues for every session.
I've often recommended that GMs not keep a big list of previous secrets and clues, but often during my Lazy RPG Prep shows, I find myself copying secrets and clues over from a previous session to a next session. I initially considered this reuse a violation of the rule, but now I think it's better to amend the rule.
Transferring relevant secrets from a previous session to the next session is a practical, lazy trick to speed up prep.
There are some caveats. We should keep certain things in mind to ensure we're maximizing the true value of secrets and clues.
First, make sure the secrets you transfer are still relevant. Do they still matter to the characters? Are they still something that could be true?
Second, confirm you haven't already revealed a secret you're considering moving forward. It's worth the time to review your previous notes and see which secrets you revealed. I typically reveal about half of the ten secrets I prepare for a session. It's fine to reinforce a secret already given if you think the players forgot it or it wasn't as clear as it could have been. Don't fill up your ten secrets with things the characters already know.
Third, avoid stockpiling secrets and clues. At some point, a massive list of unused secrets becomes a burden. You won't want to read through a list of 200 previously unreleased secrets before each game. It's simpler to start fresh. Assess the current situation in the game and determine what secrets are relevant for the upcoming session. Cluttering up our GM toolkit makes it more difficult to find what we need when we need it. Instead, stick to just reviewing and moving unused and relevant secrets from your last session to this one.
Moving secrets forward isn't a violation of the ways of the Lazy Dungeon Master – it's a shortcut that helps us more easily prep for our game.
Review your previous notes, identify unused relevant secrets, and carry them forward.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Shadowdark Session 1 Prep and Scarlet Citadel Tips, Recommendations, and Campaign Conclusion.
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:
- Baldur's Gate Gazetteer Free on D&D Beyond
- Bigby's Glory of the Giants
- Uncovered Secrets Volume 2
- Adventure Crucible - Building Stronger Scenarios for Any RPG
- Read Books Instead of Social Media
- Adventure Models from the Lazy DM's Companion
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Handling Multiple 5e Systems
- Challenging Differently Powered Characters
- Encouraging Party Talk and Banter
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:
- Alert your players before running downtime scenes so they can prep their activities.
- Warn players of the potentially lethal dangers their characters face.
- What choices can the characters make in any given scene?
- What are the common pitfalls for particular scenes you plan to run? How do you avoid them?
- What process do you have for buying or crafting magic items?
- Think one adventure out so you can seed your next session in your current one.
- Review old NPCs to see who you can reintroduce into the story.
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: September 4, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoUse a Damage Pool for Lots of Monsters
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Sometimes, when running lots of monsters, it's a pain to track the damage done to each monster. Thus, GMs don't tend to run more than six to eight monsters at a time.
But some of the best fantasy fiction focuses on a small band of heroes facing overwhelming odds. It's a staple in the genre and we want to have that option available to us when running our game.
One tool to manage this problem is the "damage pool" – an easy way to track damage being done to as many monsters as you want to throw at the characters. This trick is one part of a larger set of guidelines for running hordes available in the Lazy DM's Companion.
For a video on this topic, see my YouTube video on Running a Damage Pool for Lots of Monsters.
Track Damage in a Damage Pool
Here's how a damage pool works:
- Instead of tracking damage done to individual monsters, track damage done to the whole monster group in a single tally – the damage pool.
- Each time the damage pool takes enough damage to kill a single monster, remove the last monster hit and reset the damage pool to zero, rolling over any remaining damage.
- Round each monster's hit points to the nearest 5 or 10 so the math is easier.
- If you're running combat in the theater of the mind, track the number of total monsters. Remove monsters from this number as they're killed. If using tokens or miniatures, use the tokens or minis to track the number of monsters.
- If a creature takes enough damage to kill multiple monsters in group, remove multiple monsters and narrate how the attack kills those extra monsters. Remove whichever monsters you want. Reset the pool.
- If the horde gets hit with an area of effect doing enough damage to kill a single monster, remove all of the monsters hit by the spell.
- If the group gets hit with a smaller area of effect spell, like burning hands, multiply the damage by the number of creatures in the area and add the total to the pool, removing monsters when the pool crosses over the hit points of a single monster.
Example: Fifty Skeletons
Let's say you're running a battle with 9th level characters who opened up a huge tomb and unleashed fifty skeletons. We round the hit points of each skeleton up to 15 just to keep the math easier. We could lower it to 10 hit points if we wanted them to drop faster.
Our fighter hacks at the skeletons twice, using power attack. On the first hit, she does 22 damage. That hit hews down one skeleton, and carries 7 damage over in the damage pool. Her next swing hits for 25 damage. This second attack brings the damage pool to 32 – enough to kill two skeletons. We remove the two nearest skeletons, reset the pool to zero, and carry over the remaining 2 damage.
Now the wizard drops a fireball into a horde of the skeletons. The resulting inferno likely kills all of the skeletons in the blast, so we remove them all as their burning bones fly through the air. No math needed – just colorful narrative.
If the wizard instead fires off burning hands for 10 damage against four skeletons, we multiply the damage by the number of monsters hit – a total of 40 damage. We remove two skeletons and carry over the remaining 10 damage to the pool. If that remainder was enough to kill a third skeleton, we kill three and reset the pool once again.
Explain the System to Your Players
When you're running a new system like this one, describe it to your players so they won't be surprised. When you've used it enough, players understand how a damage pool differs from damage done to individual monsters. It often benefits them so players aren't likely to complain.
Why Not Minions?
Some GMs prefer the 4th edition style of "minions" which have only 1 hit point. If a minion is struck with a successful attack or fails a saving throw, it dies. While this shortcut is simple to use, it tends to make monsters too weak. The damage pool solves this issue by giving monsters the same hit points they have as individual monsters but an easier way to track the damage done to the group.
A Tool for Fantastic Storytelling
This damage pool concept goes hand-in-hand with other techniques for running hordes such as managing multiple attacks and multiple saving throws. The damage pool, however, works well on its own to manage tracking damage even when you have lots of monsters on the table.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Finding Players for Other RPGs and my prep for Shadowdark Session Zero – The Gloaming.
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 timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Ultimate Bestiary Secrets of the Fey
- Objima Tales of the Tall Grass
- Elderbrain Adventure Survey
- Reading and Reflection Podcast for Heroic Patrons
- WOTC to Revisit Old Settings
- Tal'dorei Reborn on D&D Beyond
- Mike's Little Candles -- Is WOTC Being a Good Partner in the TTRPG Hobby?
- The Bare Minimum You Need for an RPG Session
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. 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:
- Ask players to describe old memories in impactful situations.
- Offer opportunities for characters to set up businesses, trade routes, and other establishments that operate while they're off adventuring.
- Aim for four to six players.
- Consider what choices you offer in any given scene.
- Think about what pitfalls a given scene might have.
- Roll up treasure during prep.
- Mash together mysteries, dungeon crawls, and big battles with waves of opponents into one big adventure.
Related Articles
- Running Hordes: The Lazy Way to Run Lots of D&D Monsters
- Mob Damage Calculator for 5e Dungeons & Dragons
- Tracking Combat in D&D
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: August 28, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoBuilding a D&D Situation – Castle Orzelbirg from Empire of the Ghouls
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I love running situation-based RPG sessions. A situation-based session is one in which the GM sets up the situation at a location and lets the characters navigate the situation as the players wish, while inhabitants of the location react to the actions of the characters. The easiest way to think of a situation is a heist, even if the characters aren't trying to steal anything.
When prepping a situation, build the following components:
- The location. Where is this situation taking place? Often it's a big location like a castle, a manor, a bunch of caves, a lair, or a dungeon. We ensure the location has multiple ways in and multiple ways to move throughout it.
- The inhabitants. Who resides at the location? These residents might be guards, villagers, cultists, or whoever populates the location. Some denizens might be powerful and hostile. Some locals might just be the serving staff or non-combatant villagers. Some areas of the location might have intelligent and organized creatures while others have nasty monsters or ravenous undead. This presents a good mix of options the characters can choose from when dealing with the inhabitants. Few adventurers try to negotiate with an otyugh.
- Behaviors. What are the inhabitants actually doing here? What patterns do they follow? What would they be doing if the characters weren't here? Knowing what their normal behavior is will help us determine what happens when the characters start doing things.
- The goal. Why would the characters come here? What do they want? Are they trying to steal something? Recover something? Save someone? Stop a ritual? Give the characters a reason to come to that location and set measures for success other than killing everything.
- Potential complications. What complications might take place? Is someone big and powerful returning soon? Is another group trying to steal the same thing? What might shake things up in the middle? These complications help shift the course of the situation as it plays out in ways no one can predict.
Once we've planned this situation, let the characters learn about location and inhabitants, and allow the characters to reinforce their goal. Then, during the session, we let the players choose their characters' approach and enjoy the outcome.
Setting Up Castle Orzelbirg
In Empire of the Ghouls, Castle Orzelbirg is a keep overtaken by servants of the vampire King Lucan. In my running of the adventure, I determined that it's inhabited by followers of Hristina, duchess and grand marshall of Karakva.
Location. Castle Orzelbirg is a keep on a rocky hill above the broken town of Orzelbirg whose people felt the claws and teeth of Hristina's forces at their throats for years. They're a broken people going about their days trying not to think about the oncoming night. The castle is well fortified with guard towers, an outer wall, an inner wall, and a central keep. A well in the inner courtyard leads to a series of caves in which servants of the Red Priestesses throw failed experiments. These cast-asides become beggar ghouls, wandering the caves and seeking any living creature to devour.
Inside the castle is a mess hall, a dungeon, and a chapel in which the resident high priestess of the Red Mother conducts her rituals. There's a bunch of other rooms you'd expect in such a place which are outlined in the adventure so I didn't need to prep them.
Inhabitants. The current inhabitants of Castle Orzelbirg include:
- 36 conscripts (guards)
- 8 men-at-arms (veterans)
- 3 ghost knights (the high lord, the master at arms, and the third in command)
- A high priestess of the Red Mother
- Six cult fanatics of the Red Mother
- Three darakhul ambassadors of the Ghoul Imperium
- A vampire ambassador of King Lucan
- 12 village servants (commoners)
- 20 beggar ghouls (failed experiments)
You'll notice the challenge rating of the inhabitants ranges from very low CR 1/4 guards to CR 8 vampires and ghost knights. Just because the characters are 6th level doesn't mean the guards all turn into veterans. Killing guards with single attacks is a lot of fun. When they kick in the door to the chapel and see three darakhul (intelligent and powerful ghouls), a vampire, a ghost knight, a high priestess, and six cult fanatics – the characters are challenged with a real threat. Facing all these monsters in combat might not be the best solution to the problem.
Behaviors. One of the ghost knights takes four of the men at arms and a dozen conscripts and patrols outside of the castle looking for any trouble. Another dozen of the guards are usually asleep or eating while the remaining dozen conscripts watch the keep's towers and doors. At the time the characters approach, the high priestess, her cult fanatics, the ghouls, the vampire, and the high lord ghost knight are conducting or observing a ceremony in which a powerful warrior of Sif is being transformed into a darakhul. They're all in the chapel. The remaining Sisters of Sif are being held in the dungeon below guarded by two men-at-arms. The caves beneath the keep are filled with beggar ghouls. The ghost knight third in command walks through the halls and outer courtyards of the castle with two men-at-arms keeping an eye on things while the ritual takes place.
The goal. The characters come to Castle Orzelbirg to rescue the kidnapped Sisters of Sif and recover an artifact held by one of them, a reliquary of the holy robes of Sister Adelind. Four of the five sisters are in the dungeon while the fifth is being turned into a darakhul in the central chapel.
Potential complications. The ghost knight patrol could return. Allies of the characters might blow up a granary outside the castle to cause a distraction. The ceremony might cause the ghouls from below to crawl their way to the surface. A commoner cook or housekeeper might see the characters and scream. The ritual could cause arcane instability in the area.
A Blueprint for the Story to Come
With the description above, you can get a general idea of the situation without knowing exactly what the characters are going to do. Maybe they try to stop the ceremony first. Maybe they rescue the other sisters. Do they go in fireballs blazing or sneak inside? Do they pretend to be villagers or guards or do they crawl their way up from the ghoul caves below? We don't know and that's the fun of watching a situation unfold.
Hopefully this gives you a good example how to set up situations so you too can enjoy watching them unfold at the table.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Projecting Deadly Battles and Scarlet Citadel prep Session 32.
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:
- Sky Zephyrs Kickstarter
- Dolmenwood Kickstarter
- Shadow of the Weird Wizard Kickstarter
- Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle of Holding
- New Roll 20 D&D Character Builder
- City of Arches Outlands
- Uncharted Journeys by Cubicle 7 Product Spotlight
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Scarlet Citadel for Shadowdark RPG
- Looking for System Neutral RPG Settings
- Defining My Style of RPGs
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:
- Consider what you really need for your very next session.
- Everyone feels nervous before running a game. Remember your friends love you and just want to have a good time.
- Secrets are the rewards of exploration.
- Build boss battles around waves of combatants.
- Give wizards big groups of low hit point monsters to fireball.
- Give characters who love to crowd control big weak-willed monsters to banish, polymorph, or hypnotize.
- Give heavy-hitters big low-AC monsters they can tank and cut down.
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: August 21, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoHow Do You Feel Rolling a Crit?
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When you roll a critical hit for a monster attacking a character, how do you feel about it? Does it feel awesome? Does it feel like justice? Do you feel guilty about the crit? Do you enjoy the suspense and heightened tension it brings?
What about when players roll a critical hit on a monster? Does their surprising success bring the same level of excitement? Does it make you frown? Do you check your monster stat block to see if there's any way to negate it?
How we feel about critical hits tells us a lot about what sort of approach we have towards the game itself. Are we fans of the characters? If so, we probably enjoy their critical hits and clench our teeth when the monsters return the favor. Do we see them as adversaries? Maybe those character crits don't feel so great if the plans we had for our big monster falls apart when they get squished.
What if you Don't Like the Answer?
What if, in your soul searching about critical hits, you realize character crits make you frown and monster crits make you happy but you wish it weren't so? What can you do about it?
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Let go of trying to control the game. Remember that we play to see what happens. We set up situations and let the characters navigate them. We don't dictate a specific outcome. If a player crits and drops a monster early – cool!
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Show off those awesome character abilities. Use lightning rods to set things up for characters to blow away lots of monsters or banish big ones to the forbidden zone.
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Be fans of the characters. Learn about them with campfire tales. Ask for stars and wishes. Talk to your players.
Think about how you feel about critical hits. Think about how you feel about your relationship with the game and with the characters. Are you their adversary or are you their biggest fan?
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted YouTube videos on Using a Monster Damage Pool in D&D 5e and Scarlet Citadel Prep Session 32.
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:
- Flee Mortals For Sale
- Where Evil Lives Crowdfunding Campaign
- Free Giants of the Star Forge Adventure on D&D Beyond
- Shadow of the Weird Wizard Preview
- 2023 Award Winning RPG Products
- New Starfinder 2 in 2025
- AI Art Used in Bigby's Glory of the Giants
- Don't Forget Why We Love RPGs
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Concerns with Planescape and other WOTC Sourcebooks
- Prep During Long Breaks with Different Players
- Being Overwhelmed by Huge Sourcebooks
- Where Do You Get Puzzles?
- Engaging Players Between Sessions
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:
- Make NPC names distinct from one another.
- Select a handful of solid NPC names during prep.
- Give dungeons multiple potential entrances.
- Warn players when their characters should get back together after splitting up.
- Switch regularly between two or more split up groups of characters.
- Offer options in situations that fit the pillars – combat, exploration, or roleplaying.
- Don't overuse that one well-loved NPC.
Related Articles
- Give Boss Monsters Awesome Nicknames
- The Problem with Extending Critical Hits
- 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: August 14, 2023 - 6:00 am -
- VideoAsk Players to Describe New Character Abilities
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
Each time characters level up, ask players to describe their characters' new abilities.
One way to make our games great is to regularly talk to our players. I've written before about the value of talking to your players, running a session zero, using pause for a minute, and setting up campfire tales.
Another way to keep our players engaged in the game is to ask them what new abilities their characters picked up when they leveled up.
Like many of the best lazy dungeon master tricks, this idea offers many benefits.
Learn About and Showcase New Character Abilities
Players get excited by their new abilities and want to see them work. When they describe them to you, now you know what they're looking forward to and can build encounters to showcase those new abilities. Write down these skills and spells so you can consider them during your first step, "review the characters", from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. How can you give them a chance to use those cool new things they got?
Other Players Learn About those New Abilities
Players often focus on their own characters but they'll listen as other players describe their new abilities. They may come up with fun ways to work together. They might better spread their abilities around if it looks like they're aiming for the same feature or spell. Letting the whole group discuss their new abilities brings them closer together.
You can Audit Character Abilities
This one's a bit of a negative but hearing players talk about their options makes sure everyone understands them. If you're playing with a limited set of sources (a great way to focus a campaign), this review gives you a chance to ensure players choose abilities from the sources selected for the campaign. If you're using new character options from 5e publishers outside of Wizards of the Coast, both you and your players may be unfamiliar with these abilities and you can learn about them together.
You Hear from your Players
Anytime we ask questions like this, we get feedback from our players about the things they're enjoying and maybe the things they're not enjoying. Any chance we have to hear from our players often gives us information we can use to make our game better. This discussion about new abilities is just one opportunity for more dialogue.
Keeping Communication Open
Communication with our players is critical to making our games fun session after session. Each time your characters level up, ask them to describe their new abilities. They'll enjoy talking about them. Other players will enjoy hearing about them. And you'll get brand new ideas on how to make your game even more fun.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Experiences Running a Shadowdark RPG 0-Level Gauntlet and Scarlet Citadel Session 31 – 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:
- 5.1 SRD Released in Four Languages
- Shadowdark RPG Game Jam Results
- Pathfinder 2 Remaster Preview
- Map Crow Uses Forge of Foes and Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Moving Things Forward
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Balancing Spotlight and Player Creativity
- Recommendations for Nautical Seafaring Adventures
- Tips for Sci-Fi 5e games
- RPGs that Emphasize Theater of the Mind
- Handling In-World Downtime
- Running Consecutive Campaigns in the Same Setting
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:
- Share information freely. Tell the players what their characters would know.
- Mix in opportunities for roleplaying right into combat. Talk while you fight!
- Keep a list of all those proper names you've been throwing out.
- Think about what the monuments in your big set-piece battles do.
- Help the players make important decisions at the end of a session so you know where things are going to go in the next one.
- Move things forward by summarizing the remaining exploration of a completed dungeon.
- Tell players when they've fully explored a location.
- Designate a note taker and treasure keeper.
Related Articles
- Build from the Characters Outwards
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
- Give Boss Monsters Awesome Nicknames
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: August 7, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoUnderstanding the Six Truths of Your Campaign Setting
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
Joshua, a Patreon of Sly Flourish asks:
I'm having trouble squaring the Six Truths about a world with not providing spoilers to the players. What if one or more of the truths are entirely unknown to the characters? What if one of the Truths is also one of the Secrets/Clues within the campaign? I don't see how a DM should share that in a session zero without "giving away too much."
For reference, chapter 16 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master describes using "truths" of a campaign world to help you and your players focus on what makes this particular campaign different from others. These truths are known facts about the world. You know them. Your players know them. Their characters know them.
These truths aren't the same thing as secrets and clues which are bits of more specific information the characters might learn in the next session you run. Secrets and clues aren't known until the characters discover them. They don't even become true until the characters learn them.
If there are secrets about your campaign world that the characters don't know, exclude them from your list of truths. Those secrets are better kept in your own brain. You might be tempted to write out and plan the revelation of big campaign secrets but I recommend against it. These big secrets aren't real yet. You might change your mind as the campaign moves forward. Focus that energy on the things your players and their characters are going to see in the next session you're going to run.
Example Truths from 5e Campaigns
Below you'll find example truths from my [one page campaign guides] I give to players before we start a new campaign.
If you're familiar with these campaigns, you'll see these "truths" aren't the same as secrets and clues. They help players understand what's going on in the world but they don't tell them the whole story.
Campaign truths summarize the main points of your campaign you want your players and their characters to know as they begin a campaign. Secrets and clues are the elements of the story and the world the characters might discover as they explore the world around them.
Truths from Wild Beyond the Witchlight
- The Witchlight Carnival comes to your land only once every eight years. A few days later, it disappears.
- The Carnival is said to visit many worlds and rides the edge of the border between the world and the realm of the fey - the Feywild.
- The Feywild is beset by a strange corruption. Some folks believe this corruption is a collision of the realm of the Fey, our world, and another world.
- In the land of the fey, the archfey Zybilna has gone quiet. Those attuned to this patron have not heard from her in more than a year.
- Beings from the fey know that within the Feywild, visitors and natives alike best follow the Rule of Reciprocity, the Rule of Hospitality, and the Rule of Ownership.
- For unknown reasons, the numbers eight and three have power in the realm of the fey.
Here's my Wild Beyond the Witchlight One-Page Campaign Guide for more details on this campaign.
Truths of Rime of the Frostmaiden
- The sun hasn't risen in Icewind Dale for two years.
- The two-year night has cut off the frozen north from the rest of the Sword Coast.
- The Children of Auril demand sacrifices from the people of Ten Towns in the Frostmaiden's name.
- Ancient and powerful secrets lie under the ice.
- Shadowy figures lurk in the mountains hammering upon strange black metal.
Here's the Rime of the Frostmaiden One-Page Campaign Guide.
Truths of Empire of the Ghouls
- City at the Heart of the World. The Free City of Zobeck stands at a great crossroads, south of the vampire-filled Blood Kingdom, east of the dwarvish cantons, north of the chivalrous Magdar Kingdom, and west of the ancient Margreve Forest. It is a city where adventurers, merchants, and scoundrels from all nations intermingle and a place where wondrous inventions of steam and brass are forged.
- Within the Last Century. The citizens of Zobeck overthrew the longtime rulers – House Stross – and Zobeck became a free city, governed by a mayor and 11 consuls.
- Ley Lines and Shadow Roads. Midgard is alive with magic running in great, invisible rivers. Centuries ago, the elves used these rivers, known as ley lines, to create fey roads across their vast empire. After the elves’ retreat, most of these magical roads fell into disrepair. They are now known as the dangerous and unstable "shadow roads"".
- Rise of the Blood Kingdom. The vampires who rule Morgau and Doresh, known collectively as the Blood Kingdom, joined forces with the ghouls who live underground to conquer the Electoral Kingdom of Krakova, which sits a few hundred miles north of Zobeck. The surviving members of the royal family went into hiding, and the common folk now suffer under undead rule in the new province of Krakovar.
- Rising Tension in Zobeck. The dangers external to Zobeck create rising tensions within the Free City where normally friendly citizens seek scapegoats for the dangers lurking outside the walls.
Here's my Empire of the Ghouls One-Page Campaign Guide
Hopefully these examples help you see the difference between truths the characters know right from the beginning of the campaign and the secrets they discover as they explore the world around them.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on a Shadowdark RPG Deep Dive and Prepping for a Shadowdark 0-Level Gauntlet.
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 timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Shadows of the Weird Wizard Coming Soon
- 500 Year Old Vampire
- Fantasy Age 2 Released
- Hydra Co-op OSR Bundle of Holding
- Owlbear Rodeo 2.0 Fully Released
- What is the Easiest RPG for GMs to Run?
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Linear vs Railroad vs Sandbox Adventure Design
- Using Forge of Foes for Rival Adventuring Parties
- Customizing Downtime for the Characters
- What Issues as a GM Did I Have and Change?
- Standing Firm on Cliffhanger Endings
- Handling Tag-Along NPCs in Light of Xaryxis
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:
- Reskin published NPCs as character relations – relatives, former lovers, former enemies, lost legends, and so on.
- Offer multiple meaningful paths and options in most situations.
- Use swarms of undead or necrotic mists to push characters through doorways.
- Drop monuments into combat encounters, let the characters manipulate them to shift the environment.
- Quick sketches of maps on a dry-erase map work well for dungeon crawls in in-person play. Print out bigger detailed chambers as needed.
- Print or post pictures of monsters, NPCs, scenes, and villains. Show them to your players.
- Share information freely. Tell the players what their characters would know.
Related Articles
- Writing a One-Page Campaign Guide
- Spiral Campaign and World Building in D&D
- Re-Using Secrets and Clues
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: July 31, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoAnatomy of an Environmental Effect – Chernobog's Well
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
Including monuments with environmental effects the characters can dork with is a great way to spice up combat encounters. It's important to get the mechanics of said dorking correct though, or they can end up being boring or a slog. We can also prepare such environmental effects to have different effects depending on the timing or beats of the encounter.
Here's an example for Chernbog's well, an unhallowed ritualistic circle outside of a tomb to the elven god Bacco from my Empire of the Ghouls campaign set in Midgard.
The Setup
In this encounter, the characters face eighteen skeletons, four skeletal veterans (from the Level Up Advanced 5e Monstrous Menagerie), and a Marsh Dire (from Tome of Beasts 2). The cultists of Chernobog created the circle and animated the dead surrounding the tomb. When the characters arrive, the cultists are gone but the twisted circle and animated dead remain. Given the power of the characters (6th level) compared to many of the monsters (big piles of CR 1/4 skeletons), the monument can significantly affect the whole battle without making the monsters too dangerous.
Effects of the Well
Chernobog's Well gives all undead the following traits:
- When a character hits an undead creature affected by Chernobog's Well with a melee attack, the attacker takes 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
- The skeletons have advantage on attacks and inflict an extra 3 (1d6) necrotic damage on a hit.
These effects are powerful but given how much weaker the monsters are than the level 6 characters, it's probably appropriate.
Disabling the Well
To disable Chernobog's Well, a character must be within 5 feet of the well and use an action to make an Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check with a DC of 15 to pull the unholy energy out of the well like drawing venom out of a wound. It takes three successes to completely close the well. A character can automatically succeed if they cast remove curse or dispel magic on it. A character can attempt to disable the well recklessly by using a bonus action instead of an action. If they fail the check while doing so recklessly, they take 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
One important note is how the characters learn about the mechanics of a monument like this. Three words solves this conundrum: just tell them. Tell them how it works. Share the DCs. Negotiate with your players when they have an idea they want to try. Don't bury the info – share it.
Balance Effects and Consequences
When creating an object like this, we want the effects to be powerful but not so powerful that there's no choice but to deal with the artifact. Having advantage on attacks, extra damage on attacks, and a damage shield is a lot of stuff but it's survivable even if the characters decide to skip dorking with the well.
We also want to offer options to deal with the well itself. The characters can use normal ability checks or spells if they make sense. They can also use actions to be careful or bonus actions if they're willing to take a risk. They have to get over to the well which gets them moving around — always a good thing — although spells can be cast from a longer range, which is also a nice option.
Add Dials to the Monument
We can even put some dials onto this monument. What if, during play, the well turns out to be too powerful? Maybe we have one or more of the effects go away when only a single check succeeds. Maybe we remove effects behind the screen without telling the players. Maybe only certain undead have the abilities. Likewise, if things aren't enough of a challenge, maybe the effects get more powerful as the rounds go on until the monument is disabled or the monsters are destroyed.
When we look at an object like this, we need to think about it from the point of view of the player. Is it worth getting over there? Is it just a pain in the ass? Is it fun? Is the threat too hard or challenging but doable? We want such a monument to matter but not matter so much that there really is no choice.
Dorking with monuments is a good place for negotiation. Can a character knock out two of the three required successes with a casting of a higher level dispel magic? If two characters use their actions together, can one of them roll with advantage but have it count as two successes? Let the players come up with creative ways to screw with the monument and negotiate with them with an eye towards their success.
An Option for Ending Combat Early
We can also use the monument as a way to end combat early if we want. If combat goes long, maybe all the skeletons are destroyed when the well is disabled. This flexibility gives us another possible end-state for the battle other than just destroying all the skeletons, which, of course, is also an option.
Change Up Combat Encounters with Monuments and Effects
Adding monuments and environmental effects to combat encounters is a great way to add another variable to combat encounters. We don't need them all the time but they're a great way to shake up the situation.
If you're looking for some good generators to spark your own imagination while coming up with fantastic monuments, check out either the Lazy DM's Workbook or the Lazy DM's Companion.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos including a Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands Deep Dive and Top Tips for D&D Dungeon Masters
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 timestamped links to the YouTube video:
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Running Cozier Fantasy Games
- Running Tier 3 and 4 campaigns
- The Differences between Grim and Heroic D&D
- Building Fantastic Locations
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:
- How are you going to get the characters out of that stupid doorway?
- Use published maps as inspiration for your own designs or story ideas.
- Game cancelled? Take the extra time to flesh out what you had planned.
- Review and refresh your notes as close to game-time as you can.
- Pantheons are a fantastic wrapper for otherwise mundane locations. It's not just a crypt. It's a crypt in worship of Anu-Akma!
- Don't expect the characters to choose a given path. Be ready to go with whatever choice the characters make.
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: July 24, 2023 - 6:00 am - VideoGive Boss Monsters Awesome Nicknames
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding!
This excellent Reddit thread by BigEditorial describes the value of adding Zelda-like "boss subtitles" or Dark Souls-like epithets to RPG bosses to easily add richer flavor to our named monsters. This fantastic lazy idea works perfectly alongside Building Villains like Pro-Wrestlers and creating Villainous Heralds.
The idea is simple. Give bosses and unique monsters a nickname that defines them in the world. We could have Sephek, Blade of the Frostmaiden or Tekeli-li, Red Fang of the Glacier or Xardorok Sunblight, Chardalon Mastermind.
These nicknames can appear throughout the game as rumors they hear or notes they pick up before they meet the villain. Sometimes proper names are difficult to spell or remember but nicknames are memorable and easy to write down. They help players remember their villains and teach them about the world in which those villains live.
Here are twenty such nicknames to get your mind going.
- The Silver Fire
- The Red Blade
- Scourge of Netherwilds
- Herald of the Void
- Father of the World's End
- The Stone Burner
- Lady Rednail
- Exsanguinator of Chult
- Father of Flies
- The Storm Caller
- Sleeping Death
- Shield of the North
- Maul of Avernus
- The Ebonheart
- The Night's Kiss
- The Barrowmaker
- The Withering of Joy
- Orphan's Sorrow
- The Bog Born
- Caller of the Deep
A boss might have multiple names. Different groups or regions may know a single villain by different names. An assassin may be known as the Shadow's Touch in Luskan, The Ice-eyed Devil in the Icewind Dale, and Brother Death in Amn. Each name may come to the characters as they learn more of the villain who they hunt, or who hunts them.
The next time you're whipping up a notable villain, give them a title or two and drop those descriptors in front of the players to watch those villains come to life.
Check Out ttrpg.network
The original Reddit post that inspired this article was posted before Reddit became fully enshittified. Since then I've really enjoyed ttrpg.network, built on the opensource federated Reddit-like service of Lemmy. Give it a look.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
This week I posted YouTube videos including Scarlet Citadel Session 30, The Eight Steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master (2023), and Map Options for In-Person D&D.
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 timestamped links to the YouTube video:
- Guest Host on Mastering Dungeons
- The RPG Fediverse and dndblogs.com
- Find Players for Non-5e RPGs
- Project Deadly Threats
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Adjusting Spells with the Monster Dials
- Challenging High AC Characters
- Running Cozier Heroic 5e Games
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:
- Even in sessions of heavy roleplaying and narration – make sure there's something for the characters to DO. Focus on opportunities for decisions and actions.
- Introduce cities by the locations you think specific characters would be interested in visiting.
- Gangsters like hanging out in bath houses.
- Focus less on the intentions for a scene such as one focusing on combat, roleplaying, or exploration. Set up the situation and see how it plays out.
- Focus on one monster book at a time. Pick out cool monsters befitting your next session's situations.
- Write down random NPC names as soon as they're spoken. Keep track of them.
- Ask players to take notes and draw maps.
Related Articles
- Twenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social Media
- Build from the Characters Outwards
- Calm Pre-Game Nerves with Session-Focused Character Hooks
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: July 17, 2023 - 6:00 am