Sly Flourish

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    Sly Flourish

  • VideoAre Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?

    A friend passed me a post where someone described how their child, a GM, got feedback from their players stating "I think Matt Mercer would have done it differently".

    This comment fired up a common question I've seen discussed for years now:

    Are high production liveplay games like Critical Role and Dimension 20 building false expectations among players?

    Probably not.

    I have three main points on this topic:

    1. There still aren't enough GMs for all the players who want to play.
    2. Players generally enjoy the games they're playing in.
    3. Only your game and the expectations of your own players matter.

    Let's start by examining points 1 and 2.

    Feedback from 100,000 Players

    Whatever people's expectations for a game, there continues to be too few GMs for the players who want to play games.

    I asked David Christ at Baldman Games about this topic. Dave has facilitated tens of thousands of games run by hundreds of GMs at hundreds of conventions for decades. He gets surveys on each of these games – over one hundred thousand of them – and had two main points towards this conversation:

    • He still has too few GMs to run all the games players want to play.
    • Satisfaction scores given by players about the games he manages average 92%.

    These games aren't just hard-core Adventurer's League games either where there's a fixed group of players who play AL differently than everyone else plays D&D. Most players, Dave states, are new to D&D.

    Organized play adventures are almost the exact opposite of Actual Play games like Critical Role and Dimension 20. GMs usually don't know the players or their characters. Players often don't know each other. GMs often run multiple games a day which can be exhausting. GMs are limited in what table props they can use because they have to travel with them. The environment is far from the incredible million-dollar studios of actual plays – often a fold-out table in a big area with dozens of other tables.

    And still, there are more players who want to play games than GMs able to run them and still their satisfaction with their games is high.

    Only Your Game Matters

    Now on to point 3.

    No one put you in charge of ensuring that players across the world all have the right expectations for any given game and that GMs are sheltered from criticism stemming from expectations garnered from actual play shows. Your job is only to run great games for the players you have around your own table.

    It doesn't matter that Baldman Games has a hundred thousand surveys with a 92% satisfaction rate. Only the satisfaction of your players matters.

    That, of course, doesn't mean your players won't have false expectations based on actual play, but you only have to worry about them, not the entire hobby.

    So how do you manage these expectations?

    Talk to Your Players

    Ask them what they want in the game. Ask them what they hope for. Ask them about their characters – their goals, their motivations, what magic items they're excited for. Use campfire tales and stars and wishes to get feedback throughout your campaign.

    If their drives and expectations go beyond what you can provide – talk to them about it. Let them know what you're capable of. Let them know if you're likely not to hit on every thread of their character's backstory. Set these expectations during your session zero.

    Listen to them too. Maybe there are things they want that you can bring into your game. It's not just a matter of telling players how it's going to be. Use that feedback to steer your game as well as manage their expectations about what you can provide.

    It's Probably Not the Problem You Think It Is

    I suspect the anxiety GMs feel to perform at the level actual play shows is self generated more than brought on by actual players. Most players just want to play. As long as you're not railroading their characters or being a jerk, your game is likely to be fine. Follow the top tips for GMs and things should go well.

    Enjoy your time at the table with your friends sharing some laughs and fun tales of high adventure.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

    Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

    Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Instant Monsters for 5e & D&D and Ziggurat of Thoth-Hermes – Dragon Empire Prep Session 11.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Use long rests to ask players about their characters' backstories.
    • Mix up easy combat encounters, hard combat encounters, and NPC roleplaying scenes.
    • Introduce enough gods to keep your world unique but not so many your players can't keep up.
    • Fill large locations with several factions – each of which might be allies or enemies of the characters.
    • Mix multiple random encounters to build unique scenes.
    • Roll a d6 for hostility and distance during random encounters. The lower the number the closer and less hostile they are.
    • Bait dangerous situations with shiny treasure.

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  • VideoTwo Different 5e Games at the Same Table

    When we sit down to play a 5e game at our table, we're actually playing two different games with two different sets of rules, sometimes from totally different publishers.

    Players play one game – with a focus on their characters and the rich mechanics surrounding them. GMs play another game – with a focus on monsters, treasure, scenes, situations, world building, and more.

    These two games mesh together on a shared and agreed-upon baseline of rules. We can change both sides of the game significantly and still play a fun game at our table.

    The easiest example of GMs playing a different game is when gamemasters use a different monster book than the default monster book for our chosen 5e system (likely D&D but possibly Tales of the Valiant or Level Up Advanced 5e). Switching monster books is common. We can use 5e monsters from lots of different publishers, including building and improvising our own. We can use simple and straightforward stat blocks like those in the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault or crunchy tactical monsters like the stat blocks in Flee Mortals. Even with vastly different design philosophies, these monster sources still work with other 5e systems.

    It's not a huge revelation to note that GMs are playing one type of game at the table and players another type. But when we think of it this way, it opens further possibilities to change up and customize our game – getting back the modular feeling that 5e's designers intended in the 2012 to 2014 playtest of D&D Next.

    There are many ways we can shake up the game on the GM's side such as

    Likewise, we can talk to our players about changing things on the player-side of the game by

    It's trickier to mess with the game on the player's side because changes we make there affect everyone and are permanent unless we pull them back. On the GM side, we can change things all the time. If we don't like how our change worked, we can throw it out and never use it again.

    Thinking Differently About the Game We Play

    Thinking of our game as a series of components – with a separate game being played on the player side and GM side – gives us lots of interesting ways to tweak and change things to fit the style of game we enjoy.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

    Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

    Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    Last week I also posted a YouTube video on Blood Magic – Dragon Empire Prep Session 10.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Call on individual characters during online games.
    • Clarify options and ask for decisions from each player.
    • Assign a “caller” who gets consensus from the group.
    • Assign roles to players including scribe (game notes), cartographer (mapping), quartermaster (loot tracking), and caller (choice consensus).
    • Ensure each scene has choices and options for the characters’ to take.
    • Have characters describe their new features to the group on leveling up.
    • Keep narrative descriptions brief and focus quickly on the options in front of the characters.

    Related Articles

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  • Notable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide

    A while back I wrote about Gems of the DMG in which I captured what I thought were the most notable sections of a book typically ignored or vilified among 5e D&D DMs. I think it's an underrated book but it's certainly a flawed book.

    Now, with the new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide in hand, we can look for similar notable sections of this book.

    I have good news. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is well organized and does a great job introducing new dungeon masters to the craft of running D&D games. That was its primary goal and I think it meets this goal.

    But how much do we want to use the 2024 DMG at the table? How often will we refer back to it? What parts of the book should DMs, new and old, keep in mind to help us prepare and run our games?

    Let's dig in.

    First, a DM's Trick

    Before we go in, I have a trick I really love. Use little adhesive tabs to mark your favorite and most-used sections so you can reference them easily at the table. Tabs run a couple of bucks at a drug store and make all your books far more table usable. Work from back-to-front, putting tabs along the edge opposite of the spine starting low and working up. This way, by the end, you have neatly organized tabs running from the top to the bottom. If you don't get anything else from this article – tab your books!

    Notable Sections of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide

    Ok, let's have a look at the 2024 DMG sections we're most likely to reference.

    Dungeons – Page 65. A nice big list of dungeon quirks that can help fire up your imagination for the dungeons you want to prepare for your game. I wish there were more dungeon-focused tables, frankly. I feel like the 2024 DMG is missing tables to help inspire DMs to build out lots of different kinds of dungeons.

    Running Mobs – Page 82. This section includes good information for running a large number of monsters. It has a cool table telling you how many monsters in a group succeed on a given attack roll or saving throw target number. This section also includes a table to determine how many targets are likely in an area when running theater of the mind style battles which I appreciate. It's only missing a way to handle hit points for lots of monsters other than letting low HP enemies just die. I use my own idea for pooling damage when running a lot of monsters. We offer other ways to handle lots of monsters in the Lazy DM's Companion and Forge of Foes that I think work better but this section works fine.

    Common Names – Page 85. Everyone needs a good list of names and here they are in the DMG. Bookmark this page.

    Poisons – Page 90. Poisons can be used in lots of different ways in your game. Heroes can acquire them. Bad guys can use them against your heroes. Traps can be poisoned with exotic poisons. It's a good section to remember.

    Settlements – Page 93. These two pages offer lots of tables to help you build out settlements. I always love a good tavern name generator.

    Supernatural Gifts – Page 98. It's easy to focus on tangible magic items but cool supernatural gifts and charms are a great way for the characters to be blessed by monuments or the will of the gods. Some effects permanent while others are temporary so they offer some good flexibility.

    Traps – Page 100. These four pages of traps give you good models you can reskin into hundreds of different tailored traps for the lairs into which our heroes adventure. It includes specific traps with ranges for different levels and a trap-building table to build your own traps.

    Adventure Situations – Page 107. Four tables offer ten to twenty different adventure situations for the four tiers of play. These tables are great when you need a quick sidequest or adventure idea and help us understand the types of adventures appropriate for characters at different levels.

    Common Map Symbols – Page 109. Get out your Pathfinder Flip Mat or Chessex Battle Map and practice these simple and common map symbols to help you draw out awesome maps for your game. I wish they had included more of Chris Perkins's Map Fu article here.

    Adventure Hooks – Page 111. Good tables describing the way characters can learn of the adventures they might undertake. These hooks are also good ways to reveal secrets and clues when needed.

    XP Budget Per Character. This table to help you build and understand the threats of combat encounters is much improved over the convoluted two-dial system in the 2014 DMG. I would have preferred a system based on challenge rating that you can keep in your head instead of an experience-based table you must continually refer to and do a bunch of math with. Luckily, I offer such a CR-based encounter building system.

    Monster Behaviors – Page 116. Good tables for monster hostility, personality, and relationships to shake up your random encounters. Too bad there aren't any random encounter tables in the book. Another big miss if you ask me.

    Random Treasure Hoard – Page 121. An excellent and simple table built for session-based treasure hoards. Nothing fancy here and no tables to break out hoards into gold, bars, gems, jewelry and the like but enough to tell you how much gold you expect so you can break it out yourself. I love the simplicity.

    Planar Adventure Situations – Page 179. I love these fantastic adventure hooks. While we often think of planar adventures as high-level adventures, some of these situations can work at mid-levels too.

    Tour of the Multiverse – Page 180. The multiverse section of the 2024 DMG is about 30 pages long and this, along with the Greyhawk section on page 143, is where you can really dive into the lore of D&D. It's common to think you only care about this stuff when the characters are plane-hopping but this sort of lore can flavor dungeons and monsters at any level of play. It's worth the time to read through this whole section to fill your head with awesome D&D lore you can spout out during your games in all sorts of ways. Don't skip it.

    Magic Item Special Features – Page 222. The 2014 DMG had this table too and I used it all the time. The creator and history tables are fantastic for any magic item. Who made the item? What is special about it? You can use these tables to flavor single-use magic items, trinkets, permanent magic items, and all sorts of other things. These tables are super-valuable. Keep them bookmarked.

    Random Magic Items – Page 326. These tables are common in any good gamemaster's guide but always worth mentioning. Mixing up random magic items along with items tailored for the characters is the easiest and best way I've found to make players happy and make your game exciting. These tables break things up well and are easy to roll on to find interesting items for your characters. I wish they didn't mix consumable items and permanent items together. Sometimes I want to offer one without the other.

    Maps – Page 365. I love Dyson maps for many reasons and I'm extremely happy to see a good pile of them at the end of the DMG. There are fifteen maps in here covering a wide range of common locations you find in D&D. These maps are fantastic for improvising adventure locations when time is tight. They include:

    • Multi-level Crypt
    • Small campsite
    • Small village
    • Ruined temple / Dragon's Lair
    • Dungeon hideout
    • Farmstead
    • Keep
    • Manor
    • Mine
    • Roadside inn
    • Ship
    • Spooky house
    • Underdark warren
    • Volcanic caves
    • Wizards tower

    A Useful Book to Have At Your Side

    Often the trickiest part of using the Dungeon Master's Guide is knowing what's inside. When you have the time, maybe once or twice a year, go through it and remind yourself what you have. Mark it with adhesive tabs so you can easily reference useful bits while you prep and run your games.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    I was at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo the previous weekend so I didn't have any YouTube videos or podcasts this week.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Give players a way to hack the dungeon such as secret passages, puzzle bypasses, and ways to get the jump on bad guys.
    • Set up a goal and a situation and let the story unfold during the game.
    • Avoid a series of hard combat encounters in a row.
    • Improvise combat encounters by what makes sense in the story and then what is the most fun for the game.
    • Tell the story of a location through the discoveries in each chamber.
    • Layer histories in your dungeons. What was it before? What is it now?
    • Modify dungeons as you play should they overstay their welcome. Cut off hallways. Collapse chambers. Move things around.

    Related Articles

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  • VideoRolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds

    When you need to adjudicate a whole bunch of checks — say rolling two dozen saving throws for a bunch of skeletons hit with Turn Undead — simplify the situation by assuming one quarter succeeds.

    This quick rule-of-thumb is part of the Running Hordes section of the Lazy DM's Companion but it's a good tool to keep in our toolbox for lots of situations. Sometimes you need to roll a bunch of attack rolls against a single character. Sometimes you need to roll a big pile of ability checks. Sometimes you need a big group to make a bunch of saving throws.

    Assume one quarter succeeds.

    You can slide this scale up or down depending on the situation. If the creatures making the checks have advantage, assume half succeeds. If they're at disadvantage, assume it's one on ten. This calculation also works if the target number the roller would have to shoot for is particularly high or low. Keep the math easy.

    If you want to add some variance, subtract three from the number of successes and add 1d6. This change shakes things up and shows players that there's some variance to the result instead of what feels like an arbitrary number.

    This "one quarter succeeds" guideline is based on the idea that the creatures making the check need to roll a 16 or better to succeed. It assumes these creatures are generally weaker than the character they're attacking or the spell they're saving against. It's a skeleton (+4 to hit) versus an armored paladin (AC 20). Many times this guideline is in the favor of the characters (and the players) which makes it easier to accept.

    Assuming one quarter succeeds lets you abstract lots of dice rolling and get back into the fiction and action in the world. Instead of rolling two dozen saving throws you get to say:

    "Eighteen of the twenty four skeletons surrounding you are destroyed as your waves of radiant light turn them to dust! The remaining six claw forward and attack!"

    If you're looking for more tricks for running hordes of monsters against the characters, check out Running Hordes: The Lazy Way to Run Lots of D&D Monsters.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

    Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

    Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Distance, Reaction, and Activity Rolls for Random Encounters and The Puzzle box – Dragon Empire Prep Session 9.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Choose monsters that fit the story and environment. Wrap them in historical lore.
    • Swarm characters with lots of one- or two-hit low CR monsters. Let players enjoy their big area blasts.
    • Include big brutes in battles who are intended to be banished or controlled.
    • Give magic weapons or suits of armor a cool name, theme, history, and daily-use spell effect.
    • Let mechanists and artificers understand how magical artifacts and arcane machines operate.
    • Roll on behalf of characters attempting to detect traps so they don't know if they failed or if there was never a trap to begin with.
    • Include several ways for characters to traverse a dungeon – vertical chutes, deep cracks, collapsed elevators, and so on.

    Related Articles

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  • VideoLet Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes

    My friend and Forge of Foes partner, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, wrote a great post called Embracing the Awesome (subscribe to his newsletter here!) extolling the virtues of letting characters automatically succeed at ability checks more often than we typically do.

    Letting characters auto-succeed sometimes is a useful way to keep the pace of your game moving forward and showcase the characters' role in the world. When should you let your characters auto-succeed at a check?

    • When it makes sense that they could just do it.
    • When failure isn't an option or a failure is boring.
    • When the task isn't very difficult.
    • When doing so spotlights the characters' proficiency in the task.

    Certain character capabilities make them more likely to auto-succeed on some tasks. These capabilities include a character's

    • background.
    • class.
    • subclass.
    • species, ancestry, or race.
    • skill proficiencies or specializations.
    • tool proficiencies.
    • religion.
    • family or regional background.
    • ability bonus.
    • feats.
    • spells.

    Focusing on these character features means we can spotlight individual characters and what they're good at.

    "You Succeed but Roll Anyway"

    Sometimes one or more of the characters are going to succeed on a task but we want to know how well they succeed. Those trained in history may know most of what they need about the gods of the underworld but those who roll significantly higher than the difficulty class (DC) can learn even more.

    We often treat the d20 roll on a DC check as a binary pass or failure but there's no reason we can't think of it as an analog gradient. The higher the result, the more the characters learn or the better they succeed. The lower the roll, the more clumsy it is even if they succeed anyway.

    Move Things Forward and Spotlight Characters

    A friend of mine once described a game in which the GM had them rolling checks to put on every article of clothing before making it to the briefing for the actual adventure. All the characters came with a hodgepodge of shirts, pants, underwear, and one sock. Putting on one's pants does not a hero make.

    Have characters automatically succeed on some checks. It helps you move the game forward when failure isn't interesting and spotlights characters and their unique roles in the world. Such powerful tools are the perfect addition to the lazy dungeon master's toolbox.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Twelve Types of Medieval Artwork for your fantasy RPGs and Unending Thirst Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 8.

    Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

    Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Break up long sequences of narration with clear opportunities for player-driven decisions.
    • Call for ability checks to keep things moving.
    • Let characters break out of debilitating effects by taking damage.
    • Know the purpose of an NPCs appearance. Why are they in the scene?
    • Review your prep notes right before your game.
    • Break up a long series of roleplay scenes with exploration or combat.
    • Offer multiple vertical connections between the levels of a big dungeon – sinkholes, collapsed floors, waterfalls, and, of course, staircases.

    Related Articles

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    Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

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  • VideoSteal Character Archetypes from a Single Show

    There are lots of ways to build NPCs in your fantasy RPGs. In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master I suggest building NPCs by finding an existing character archetype from your favorite source of fiction – books, TV shows, movies, comics, and so on.

    Picking characters from existing fiction is a shortcut for filling out NPCs fast with physical traits, mannerisms, attitudes, accents, motivations, and more. Instead of either selecting or rolling randomly for all these traits, you can grab a character from a book, movie, or TV show you like and get all of them at once.

    It's easy to get lost in this idea, though. Which characters should you choose? Do you keep a database of a thousand possible characters? That doesn't sound very lazy to me.

    So here's an even lazier trick. Keep a set of characters from a single show handy. Pick a show you like – one with interesting enough characters that you have a bunch to pick from. Go to the show's Wikipedia page, IMDB page, or some other site with a list of characters. Print them out or copy them into your prep notes. Look them over when you need a character archetype for an NPC and you're off to the races. You don't need a lot. Seven to twelve should be fine.

    I binge-watched the Expanse recently and it has a great set of characters to choose from.

    Here's a list of the characters from Expanse, some of which I've already tied to NPCs in my City of Arches campaign. The others are available for me to use later.

    • Joe Miller – Belter detective on Ceres.
    • James Holden – Captain of the Rocinante (COA – Garland Willowmane, head of the Archkeepers).
    • Alex Kamal – Martian pilot of the Rocinante.
    • Naomi Nagata – Belter engineer of the Rocinante.
    • Amos Burton – Earther mechanic of the Rocinante.
    • Chrisjen Avasarala – UN Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration (COA – Roselyn Zeche, spymaster of the queen).
    • Bobbie Draper – Martian Marine Corps gunnery sergeant (COA – Joslyn Halfcloak – Second of the Golden Knights).
    • Camina Drummer – Tycho Station's Belter head of security, later the leader of the rebel faction opposing the Free Navy.
    • Fred Lucius Johnson – UNN colonel-turned-leader of the OPA on Tycho Station (COA – Lord Bianca Swifthand, leader of the Golden Knights).
    • Anderson Dawes – OPA's Ceres liaison (COA – Adel Rosethorn, fence of the Black Hand). – Diogo Harari – Young Belter from Ceres in the OPA.

    Other Example Shows

    Here's a list of shows with some great characters. Again, you only need a list of characters from one show but this list can give you some ideas for shows to choose.

    Add Your Own Ancestries and Genders

    Shake up your character archetypes by changing genders, applying different fantasy ancestries, and tailoring the characters to suit the job you need them to do. Given how often we improvise NPCs, you'd be surprised how little you need to change to run one at the table.

    Fictional archetypes are a fantastic short-hand for building rich NPCs in just a couple of minutes. Now, with a single show's cast of characters in hand, you're ready to roll.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Tracking Character Info – Lazy DM Tip and Pit of Unending Thirst – Dragon Empire Prep Session 7.

    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.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Keep your prep, your tools, and your game simple. Let it get complicated as the story evolves with your players.
    • List and refine your most useful tools for prep and play.
    • Ask for out of game feedback every few games. What do people like? What do they want to see more of?
    • Trouble sleeping? Put yourself in your game’s world. What do you see? How is the world evolving?
    • Who are your three main antagonists? What do they want? What three steps are they taking to get there?
    • Draw mini-maps to show the characters’ progression through a dungeon.
    • Use a small fishing tackle box to hold minis, tokens, coins, markers, sticky tack, index cards, and other small things you use during your game.

    Related Articles

    Get More from Sly Flourish

    Buy Sly Flourish's Books

    Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

    Read more »
  • VideoFree Dice Roller

    A while back, as part of Wizards of the Coast's great hurling of D&D into a digital future, WOTC removed access to a long hosted and simple dice roller – along with everything else on the original D&D website.

    Lamenting its loss with a friend, I decided to whip up a new simple dice roller that you can run online or download and run locally.

    You can find it at:

    https://slyflourish.com/dice/

    Bookmark it and download it so you always have a copy.

    I released this dice roller under a CC0 license so you can host it on your own website, share it with friends, build apps, engage in a dice-rolling interpretive dance, or do anything else you can think of with it. You can find or fork the sourcecode on Github.

    This dice roller is intended to be simple – no fancy 3d dice bouncing around the screen, no crazy options for weird roll mixes. You can choose a common die, roll one or several of them, add modifiers if you want, or roll a die with a weird number of sides if you're into Dungeon Crawl Classics.

    If you're on an iPhone and want to use it offline (say you're at a big convention with terrible internet connectivity), you can download it to your Files app, unzip it, and "share" it with Microsoft's iOS Edge browser. I don't know why it won't open in Safari locally, but Edge seems to work.

    You can also go to https://slyflourish.com/dice/ and "add to reading list". If you have the "Automatically Save Offline" option on in your Safari settings, it'll save a local copy in your reading list so you can use it offline. By downloading the html version yourself, you'll always have a copy.

    I'm giving this dice roller away completely, no attribution required, but if you dig what I do and want to see more tools like this one, check out my Patreon which has cool tools like

    • the 5e Artisanal Monster Database with over 2,400 5e monster stat blocks.
    • the Forge of Foes monster stat tool.
    • the Dyson royalty-free map gallery.
    • the Lazy GM random generator.
    • the Lazy RPG Talk show topic database.
    • the Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A database.

    All these tools include downloadable versions so you can keep your copy forever.

    Thank you and happy holidays!

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on the 2024 TTRPG Year in Review.

    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.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • You don’t need to spell out every detail in a room. Let your players’ imaginations fill in the blanks.
    • Huge wheels, running water, and heat can power ancient machines for millennia.
    • Use adhesive tabs to mark important pages in your GM books you use at the table.
    • There’s no such thing as “official”. No single company holds a monopoly on good game design. Build your own game for your table from many sources.
    • Get used to averaging damage — for every two dice you subtract from a big pool of dice, add the max of one of those dice plus one to the static value. 8d8 becomes 36.
    • Add variance to static damage by subtracting 3 and adding 1d6.
    • Keep a good list of random names on hand. Write them down when you tie them to an NPC. These lists are one of the simplest examples of “preparing to improvise”.

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  • VideoSetting Up Situations

    Setting up situations instead of scenes helps GMs avoid predetermined outcomes. Situations give players agency over the approach they take and builds a world that feels real. Even the GM doesn't know what to expect.

    What's the difference? Situations lay out the components to create a scene when the characters interact with it. There's no plot. There's no expected path. There's no single ending. Scenes are prebuilt to go one way. Situations can go in many different directions. Not knowing how situations play out is more fun for GMs and more fun for players than walking through a scripted scene.

    What's the Lazy DM's method for setting up situations?

    Location. Situations take place at a location, sometimes big and sometimes small. If this situation takes place in a dungeon, offer multiple entrances, multiple paths, loop-backs, and secret passages. Exploring the location should be rewarding on its own. Dyson Logo's maps are my go-to for maps of such locations. When you have a map, write down evocative features in each main chamber. These evocative features help you improvise details. See chapter 7 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master for more.

    Inhabitants. Who resides at this location? I like to mix up both intelligent and unintelligent monsters. Maybe a bunch of hobgoblin soldiers guard the upper keep but ravenous ghouls, black puddings, and carrion crawlers dwell in the forgotten tunnels beneath. This variety of monsters lets players choose a path they want to take and the sorts of creatures they might face. Good random tables, like those in the Lazy DM's Workbook help you shake up your mind and fill the location with interesting inhabitants.

    You don't need to place these inhabitants in any particular room. Instead, keep a list of them and drop them into a location as needed based on the situation in the story and the pacing of the game.

    Include friendly NPCs – turncoats, disgruntled staff, or ghostly spirits the characters can talk to.

    Behaviors. How do the inhabitants act in this location? Do they send out guard patrols? Do they have big drunken revelries on certain nights? What would the pattern of their behavior be if the characters never showed up? The same is true for unintelligent monsters. Do they wander away from their lair? What are their activity patterns? Answering these questions helps you run the world as NPCs react to the actions of the characters.

    When considering inhabitant behaviors, think first about what behaviors make sense for the inhabitant and the situation, then think if this is going to be fun for the game when you consider your pacing and beats.

    A Goal. Why would the characters go to this place? What are they trying to accomplish? Are they trying to rescue someone? Stop a dark ritual? Steal something? Kill someone? The Lazy DM's Companion has pages of tables to generate goals if you're stuck for ideas. Reinforce this goal often with your players – it's easy to forget.

    Complications. Sometimes the situation changes at the location. What event might shake up the situation? Does another big monster attack? Is something set on fire? Do some of those unintelligent monsters break free? This might be caused by something the characters do or it might just happen on its own. During prep, think about a few ways things might get complicated during the situation and improvise them during the game itself.

    The Difference Between Scenes and Situations

    Building situations is different from laying out individual encounters or scenes. The big difference is that you don't know how it's going to go. You don't know which path the players choose to take. You don't know how inhabitants react to the characters' actions. You don't know what happens when things get complicated. You've set the stage but you're not scripting the outcome. The outcome happens during the game and it's a joy to watch it play out.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos – Update Forge of Foes or the Encounter Benchmark for D&D 2024? and Eryz the Akinji – Dragon Empire Prep Session 6.

    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.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Ensure loot distribution is fair so players don’t feel left out.
    • Keep track of spells as rewards to wizards.
    • Offer two or three paths when traveling through the wilds or into the depths of the earth.
    • Ask the characters where their minds and conversations go as they rest around a campfire.
    • Keep good lists of random encounters handy during prep and play.
    • Ask for marching orders and who’s carrying a light during exploration.
    • Review character items, notable features, backgrounds, previous campfire tales, and player desires when you start your prep.

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  • VideoDreadful Blessings – A Mechanic to Protect 5e Boss Monsters

    Bosses need help. Bosses often face the full wrath of the characters, just for being a boss. This focus often leads to anticlimactic fights in which the boss is ineffective at fulfilling the role it had in the game and the story.

    Legendary resistance covers a lot – but not all – of the problems bosses face when we want them to hold up their end of the fiction. As new versions of 5e emerge, we can't be sure what abilities and effects characters bring to the table that might completely circumvent a boss monster's capabilities. Customizing individual bosses is too much work.

    Enter Dreadful Blessings – inspired by doom points from the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault.

    Here's the idea:

    Certain boss monsters, determined by you the GM, are given one or more "dreadful blessings". These dreadful blessings replace Legendary Resistance. They can be used at any time, even when the boss is unconscious or on another plane. You might default to giving a boss two or three such blessings but you can change that number depending on what you need. It's important, however, to clarify to your players how many dreadful blessings the monster has and don't switch it up during the battle. The number of blessings is their only real limitation.

    Dreadful blessings can be used for lots of things. Some examples include

    • succeeding on a failed saving throw.
    • ignoring a non-save-based detrimental effect.
    • piercing through character resistances or immunities.
    • forcing disadvantage on saving throws for a particular ability.
    • ending an ongoing effect or suppressing it until the end of their next turn.
    • moving or teleporting without provoking opportunity attacks.
    • ripping through a force cage or shattering a wall of force.
    • recharging and using a powerful limited action.
    • transferring incoming damage or effects to minions or allies for a round.
    • gaining advantage on all attacks until the end of their next turn.
    • ending an effect at the beginning of a turn instead of the end.

    Talk With Your Players First

    Don't surprise players with dreadful blessings. It's no fun if the characters throw a force cage on your dreadfully blessed death knight only for the death knight to rip through it without the players knowing why.

    Instead, before you start combat (or even during your session zero), describe dreadful blessings to your players. Ensure you describe that

    • dreadful blessings only work on particular boss monsters – not all monsters.
    • bosses only get a specific amount of blessings (usually two or three).
    • dreadful blessings are intended to ensure boss monsters fulfill their role in the fiction of the game.
    • you'll warn players when a blessed monster shows up so they know what to expect.
    • you won't force "gotchas" by making players burn abilities without realizing they could be subverted with a dreadful blessing.

    Use When Needed and When They're Fun

    It's a careful balance to know when a mechanic like this is warranted and doesn't steal the agency and fun from players wanting to use their abilities.

    My general rule of thumb is to use a dreadful blessing when it helps a boss monster fulfill its role in the fiction of the game and its challenge level in combat. A CR 19 creature locked in a forcecage isn't a CR 19 creature anymore. It can't do anything. It's not fulfilling its role. An ancient green dragon who breathes a 77 point poison breath isn't fulfilling its role if all of that damage is reduced to zero for all characters because they happened to munch on a hero's feast before the battle.

    "I Hate This"

    If you hate this mechanic, you're not alone. I've talked to many who don't like the idea. That's fine. I'm not saying they need to be in place in all 5e games. Dreadful blessings are a potential tool for groups who feel like boss monsters need something more to keep them in play in a sea of options that can often completely remove their threat both in the game and in the fiction.

    Think about it. Talk to your group. Maybe try it. And see how it works for you.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted a YouTube video on Ruins of Blood and Sand – Dragon Empire Prep Session 5.

    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.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Characters are the only sources of secrets you can guarantee.
    • Let players know when boss monsters have legendary resistance or other ability breaking effects so they can make informed choices.
    • Replace legendary resistances with “dreadful blessings” that let powerful boss monsters break effects that ruin their place in the fiction.
    • Discovering traps is the fun part, not triggering them.
    • Get to decisions and actions quickly. Avoid long narratives.
    • Have players make choices for their next path before the end of your current session.
    • Avoid one-shotting characters to zero HP. Spread dangerous damage around.

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  • Video2024 RPG Gift Guide

    Tis the season to give the gamers in your life something special. Below are a handful of my favorite tabletop roleplaying game products. Instead of a "best of 2024", these items are products I find myself going back to again and again when prepping and running my own games. I'm literally surrounded by hundreds of awesome RPG products but the list below includes the products I use most often at my table.

    Pathfinder Flip Mat Basic

    I think the Pathfinder Flip Mat Basic is the best deal in tabletop RPGs. It folds up small, is extremely lightweight, works with either wet erase or dry erase markers, and lets you draw anything you need for your game. I find it works best with Staedtler Lumocolor medium black (model 315-9) wet-erase markers which are hard to find but draw out big dark lines in a pen that doesn't dry up during the game. Many GMs also love the venerable Chessex vinyl mat and I plan to give that one another go myself.

    Midgard World Book

    I've used the Midgard World Book for three campaigns now and it's just awesome. It's a huge 466 pages with tons of depth, gods, and regions – any one of which can serve as a whole campaign area. In the past couple of years Kobold Press printed a second printing on higher quality paper than the original paper. It's a lot of material in a single book and the loose connections to real-world places and gods might not be for everyone but it stands as one of my favorite campaign sourcebooks ever.

    Demon Cults and Secret Societies

    Though it connects well with the Midgard World Book, Demon Cults and Secret Societies also work well on its own. I'm a huge fan of mysterious cults and this book includes detailed descriptions of thirteen such cults with leaders, motivations, stat blocks, and more. Like the Midgard World Book, Demon Cults and Secret Societies is a book I keep coming back to over and over again in several campaigns. Unfortunately it looks like it's only available in PDF. I'm lucky enough to have the hardcover.

    Level Up Advanced 5e's Trials and Treasure and Monstrous Menagerie

    I've talked at length about A5e's Monstrous Menagerie before. It was my favorite product of 2023 and I still find myself using it. It has some strong competition now with Kobold Press's Monster Vault and the upcoming D&D 2025 Monster Manual but, for now, it remains my favorite monster book because of all the extra table-usable material it has for monsters. It also works hand-in-hand with Trials and Treasure – the sort-of GM's guide for A5e. Trials and Treasure has tons of fantastic random encounter tables and, when you roll a monster, you then go to the Monstrous Menagerie to come up with a more detailed encounter for that particular monster based on that monster's encounter tables.

    Trials and Treasure also includes fantastic random treasure tables for 5e and the best exploration system and tools I've found for 5e.

    The two books share a powerful connection. I find myself using them together all the time for 5e games. Whether your players are playing D&D 2014, D&D 2024, Tales of the Valiant, or A5e; these books have a lot to offer.

    The Lazy DM's Companion

    Ok, I know. It's my own book. But damn, I use it all the time. I've even cut it up and put my favorite tables in my own GM binder. The Lazy DM's Companion is built on dozens of tables – all focused on the most important aspects to prep and run great games. Check out the free sample to see if it's for you.

    Shadowdark Quickstart Rules

    I think the Shadowdark Quickstart Rules are the best introduction to D&D. It's easy to learn, connects well with players who either play 5e or plan to play 5e, and captures the pure feeling of D&D without the complications. This inexpensive quick start kit reminds me of the original white box (even though I never had a white box) with enough material to run games for a long time. It's also lightweight and easy to pack for convention play. The Shadowdark RPG core book was my favorite product of 2023 and, after playing an entire 1st to 10th level Shadowdark campaign over a year, along with dozens of one-shot Shadowdark games, it's clear I love this system. The Shadowdark Quickstart pack is a wonderful gift for the GM in your life.

    More Sly Flourish Stuff

    Last week I posted the YouTube video Kukkutarma – Dragon Empire Prep Session 4.

    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.

    Talk Show Links

    Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

    Patreon Questions and Answers

    Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

    RPG Tips

    Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

    • Include one or two social encounters in your list of potential dungeon encounters.
    • Run multiple bosses.
    • Avoid NPC betrayal. Make NPC motivations clear.
    • Customize every magic weapon or suit of armor. Add stories, themes, and single-use spell effects.
    • Include and reveal secret passages.
    • When running a session focused on a single character, highlight others as well.
    • Break character and talk to your players about potential game-changing secret character decisions.

    Related Articles

    Get More from Sly Flourish

    Buy Sly Flourish's Books

    Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

    Read more »

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