Sly Flourish
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- VideoAre Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?
A friend passed me a post where someone described how their child, a GM, got feedback from their players stating "I think Matt Mercer would have done it differently".
This comment fired up a common question I've seen discussed for years now:
Are high production liveplay games like Critical Role and Dimension 20 building false expectations among players?
Probably not.
I have three main points on this topic:
- There still aren't enough GMs for all the players who want to play.
- Players generally enjoy the games they're playing in.
- Only your game and the expectations of your own players matter.
Let's start by examining points 1 and 2.
Feedback from 100,000 Players
Whatever people's expectations for a game, there continues to be too few GMs for the players who want to play games.
I asked David Christ at Baldman Games about this topic. Dave has facilitated tens of thousands of games run by hundreds of GMs at hundreds of conventions for decades. He gets surveys on each of these games – over one hundred thousand of them – and had two main points towards this conversation:
- He still has too few GMs to run all the games players want to play.
- Satisfaction scores given by players about the games he manages average 92%.
These games aren't just hard-core Adventurer's League games either where there's a fixed group of players who play AL differently than everyone else plays D&D. Most players, Dave states, are new to D&D.
Organized play adventures are almost the exact opposite of Actual Play games like Critical Role and Dimension 20. GMs usually don't know the players or their characters. Players often don't know each other. GMs often run multiple games a day which can be exhausting. GMs are limited in what table props they can use because they have to travel with them. The environment is far from the incredible million-dollar studios of actual plays – often a fold-out table in a big area with dozens of other tables.
And still, there are more players who want to play games than GMs able to run them and still their satisfaction with their games is high.
Only Your Game Matters
Now on to point 3.
No one put you in charge of ensuring that players across the world all have the right expectations for any given game and that GMs are sheltered from criticism stemming from expectations garnered from actual play shows. Your job is only to run great games for the players you have around your own table.
It doesn't matter that Baldman Games has a hundred thousand surveys with a 92% satisfaction rate. Only the satisfaction of your players matters.
That, of course, doesn't mean your players won't have false expectations based on actual play, but you only have to worry about them, not the entire hobby.
So how do you manage these expectations?
Talk to Your Players
Ask them what they want in the game. Ask them what they hope for. Ask them about their characters – their goals, their motivations, what magic items they're excited for. Use campfire tales and stars and wishes to get feedback throughout your campaign.
If their drives and expectations go beyond what you can provide – talk to them about it. Let them know what you're capable of. Let them know if you're likely not to hit on every thread of their character's backstory. Set these expectations during your session zero.
Listen to them too. Maybe there are things they want that you can bring into your game. It's not just a matter of telling players how it's going to be. Use that feedback to steer your game as well as manage their expectations about what you can provide.
It's Probably Not the Problem You Think It Is
I suspect the anxiety GMs feel to perform at the level actual play shows is self generated more than brought on by actual players. Most players just want to play. As long as you're not railroading their characters or being a jerk, your game is likely to be fine. Follow the top tips for GMs and things should go well.
Enjoy your time at the table with your friends sharing some laughs and fun tales of high adventure.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Horizons Magazine
- Alphastream on 2025 D&D Monster Manual Math
- D&D at Madison Square Garden
- Mike Mearls and Ray Winninger on the Past and Future of D&D 5e
- 2025 Monster Manual Initial Thoughts
- D&D 2025 Monster Manual Lich
- Avoid Getting Caught in the Zeitgeist
- Talk Show and Patreon Q&A Databases
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Horizons Magazine
- Alphastream on 2025 D&D Monster Manual Math
- Ray Winninger and Mike Mearls on Past and Future of D&D 5e
- Printable Heroes
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- What D&D Classes and Features Do I Ban?
- Making Flat Paper Character Minis
- Dealing with Agency-Stealing Effects like Stun
- Basic Rules or 5.1 SRD for New Players
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Instant Monsters for 5e & D&D and Ziggurat of Thoth-Hermes – Dragon Empire Prep Session 11.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Use long rests to ask players about their characters' backstories.
- Mix up easy combat encounters, hard combat encounters, and NPC roleplaying scenes.
- Introduce enough gods to keep your world unique but not so many your players can't keep up.
- Fill large locations with several factions – each of which might be allies or enemies of the characters.
- Mix multiple random encounters to build unique scenes.
- Roll a d6 for hostility and distance during random encounters. The lower the number the closer and less hostile they are.
- Bait dangerous situations with shiny treasure.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 10, 2025 - 6:00 am - VideoTwo Different 5e Games at the Same Table
When we sit down to play a 5e game at our table, we're actually playing two different games with two different sets of rules, sometimes from totally different publishers.
Players play one game – with a focus on their characters and the rich mechanics surrounding them. GMs play another game – with a focus on monsters, treasure, scenes, situations, world building, and more.
These two games mesh together on a shared and agreed-upon baseline of rules. We can change both sides of the game significantly and still play a fun game at our table.
The easiest example of GMs playing a different game is when gamemasters use a different monster book than the default monster book for our chosen 5e system (likely D&D but possibly Tales of the Valiant or Level Up Advanced 5e). Switching monster books is common. We can use 5e monsters from lots of different publishers, including building and improvising our own. We can use simple and straightforward stat blocks like those in the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault or crunchy tactical monsters like the stat blocks in Flee Mortals. Even with vastly different design philosophies, these monster sources still work with other 5e systems.
It's not a huge revelation to note that GMs are playing one type of game at the table and players another type. But when we think of it this way, it opens further possibilities to change up and customize our game – getting back the modular feeling that 5e's designers intended in the 2012 to 2014 playtest of D&D Next.
There are many ways we can shake up the game on the GM's side such as
- including the journey rules from Uncharted Journeys.
- using safe havens and "supply" from A5e's Trials and Treasure.
- using doom points from Tales of the Valiant.
- giving out spells from Deep Magic 1 or 2 as special rewards, single-use magic items, or strange powers for monsters.
Likewise, we can talk to our players about changing things on the player-side of the game by
- selecting a different core sourcebook for character options such as D&D 2014, D&D 2024, the Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide, or the Level Up Advanced 5e Adventurer's Guide.
- offering multiple flavors of 5e on the player's side in the same game! It seems impossible but I'm doing it right now and it works just fine.
- replacing inspiration with ToV's "luck" system.
- allowing character options from books like Kobold Press's Tome of Heroes.
It's trickier to mess with the game on the player's side because changes we make there affect everyone and are permanent unless we pull them back. On the GM side, we can change things all the time. If we don't like how our change worked, we can throw it out and never use it again.
Thinking Differently About the Game We Play
Thinking of our game as a series of components – with a separate game being played on the player side and GM side – gives us lots of interesting ways to tweak and change things to fit the style of game we enjoy.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Weapons of Lore by Jeff Stevens
- Gate Pass Gazette by EN World Publishing
- Mike on Kobold Press Talking Doom Points
- Ray Winninger Interview with Stan! on YouTube
- No Roll20 Tales of the Valiant Character Builder
- Thoughts from the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo
- RPG Communities on Independent Spaces
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Weapons of Lore Kickstarter
- Gate Pass Gazette Annual 2024
- Mike on KP talking Doom Points and Monster Vault 2
- Ray Winninger EN World Discussion
- Ray Winninger on Stan!'s Show
- Stan!'s 50 Years YouTube Playlist
- Bring On the Discourse – Yochai Gal
- EN World
- forums.rpg.net
- Mastodon — dice.camp
- Mastodon — chirp.enworld.org
- Mastodon — mastodon.social
- Bluesky
- My Blueskky Starter Pack
- TTRPG Blogs
- RPG Blogroll
- ttrpg.network
- Top Rated RPG Podcasts
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
Last week I also posted a YouTube video on Blood Magic – Dragon Empire Prep Session 10.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Call on individual characters during online games.
- Clarify options and ask for decisions from each player.
- Assign a “caller” who gets consensus from the group.
- Assign roles to players including scribe (game notes), cartographer (mapping), quartermaster (loot tracking), and caller (choice consensus).
- Ensure each scene has choices and options for the characters’ to take.
- Have characters describe their new features to the group on leveling up.
- Keep narrative descriptions brief and focus quickly on the options in front of the characters.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: February 3, 2025 - 6:00 am - Notable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
A while back I wrote about Gems of the DMG in which I captured what I thought were the most notable sections of a book typically ignored or vilified among 5e D&D DMs. I think it's an underrated book but it's certainly a flawed book.
Now, with the new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide in hand, we can look for similar notable sections of this book.
I have good news. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is well organized and does a great job introducing new dungeon masters to the craft of running D&D games. That was its primary goal and I think it meets this goal.
But how much do we want to use the 2024 DMG at the table? How often will we refer back to it? What parts of the book should DMs, new and old, keep in mind to help us prepare and run our games?
Let's dig in.
First, a DM's Trick
Before we go in, I have a trick I really love. Use little adhesive tabs to mark your favorite and most-used sections so you can reference them easily at the table. Tabs run a couple of bucks at a drug store and make all your books far more table usable. Work from back-to-front, putting tabs along the edge opposite of the spine starting low and working up. This way, by the end, you have neatly organized tabs running from the top to the bottom. If you don't get anything else from this article – tab your books!
Notable Sections of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide
Ok, let's have a look at the 2024 DMG sections we're most likely to reference.
Dungeons – Page 65. A nice big list of dungeon quirks that can help fire up your imagination for the dungeons you want to prepare for your game. I wish there were more dungeon-focused tables, frankly. I feel like the 2024 DMG is missing tables to help inspire DMs to build out lots of different kinds of dungeons.
Running Mobs – Page 82. This section includes good information for running a large number of monsters. It has a cool table telling you how many monsters in a group succeed on a given attack roll or saving throw target number. This section also includes a table to determine how many targets are likely in an area when running theater of the mind style battles which I appreciate. It's only missing a way to handle hit points for lots of monsters other than letting low HP enemies just die. I use my own idea for pooling damage when running a lot of monsters. We offer other ways to handle lots of monsters in the Lazy DM's Companion and Forge of Foes that I think work better but this section works fine.
Common Names – Page 85. Everyone needs a good list of names and here they are in the DMG. Bookmark this page.
Poisons – Page 90. Poisons can be used in lots of different ways in your game. Heroes can acquire them. Bad guys can use them against your heroes. Traps can be poisoned with exotic poisons. It's a good section to remember.
Settlements – Page 93. These two pages offer lots of tables to help you build out settlements. I always love a good tavern name generator.
Supernatural Gifts – Page 98. It's easy to focus on tangible magic items but cool supernatural gifts and charms are a great way for the characters to be blessed by monuments or the will of the gods. Some effects permanent while others are temporary so they offer some good flexibility.
Traps – Page 100. These four pages of traps give you good models you can reskin into hundreds of different tailored traps for the lairs into which our heroes adventure. It includes specific traps with ranges for different levels and a trap-building table to build your own traps.
Adventure Situations – Page 107. Four tables offer ten to twenty different adventure situations for the four tiers of play. These tables are great when you need a quick sidequest or adventure idea and help us understand the types of adventures appropriate for characters at different levels.
Common Map Symbols – Page 109. Get out your Pathfinder Flip Mat or Chessex Battle Map and practice these simple and common map symbols to help you draw out awesome maps for your game. I wish they had included more of Chris Perkins's Map Fu article here.
Adventure Hooks – Page 111. Good tables describing the way characters can learn of the adventures they might undertake. These hooks are also good ways to reveal secrets and clues when needed.
XP Budget Per Character. This table to help you build and understand the threats of combat encounters is much improved over the convoluted two-dial system in the 2014 DMG. I would have preferred a system based on challenge rating that you can keep in your head instead of an experience-based table you must continually refer to and do a bunch of math with. Luckily, I offer such a CR-based encounter building system.
Monster Behaviors – Page 116. Good tables for monster hostility, personality, and relationships to shake up your random encounters. Too bad there aren't any random encounter tables in the book. Another big miss if you ask me.
Random Treasure Hoard – Page 121. An excellent and simple table built for session-based treasure hoards. Nothing fancy here and no tables to break out hoards into gold, bars, gems, jewelry and the like but enough to tell you how much gold you expect so you can break it out yourself. I love the simplicity.
Planar Adventure Situations – Page 179. I love these fantastic adventure hooks. While we often think of planar adventures as high-level adventures, some of these situations can work at mid-levels too.
Tour of the Multiverse – Page 180. The multiverse section of the 2024 DMG is about 30 pages long and this, along with the Greyhawk section on page 143, is where you can really dive into the lore of D&D. It's common to think you only care about this stuff when the characters are plane-hopping but this sort of lore can flavor dungeons and monsters at any level of play. It's worth the time to read through this whole section to fill your head with awesome D&D lore you can spout out during your games in all sorts of ways. Don't skip it.
Magic Item Special Features – Page 222. The 2014 DMG had this table too and I used it all the time. The creator and history tables are fantastic for any magic item. Who made the item? What is special about it? You can use these tables to flavor single-use magic items, trinkets, permanent magic items, and all sorts of other things. These tables are super-valuable. Keep them bookmarked.
Random Magic Items – Page 326. These tables are common in any good gamemaster's guide but always worth mentioning. Mixing up random magic items along with items tailored for the characters is the easiest and best way I've found to make players happy and make your game exciting. These tables break things up well and are easy to roll on to find interesting items for your characters. I wish they didn't mix consumable items and permanent items together. Sometimes I want to offer one without the other.
Maps – Page 365. I love Dyson maps for many reasons and I'm extremely happy to see a good pile of them at the end of the DMG. There are fifteen maps in here covering a wide range of common locations you find in D&D. These maps are fantastic for improvising adventure locations when time is tight. They include:
- Multi-level Crypt
- Small campsite
- Small village
- Ruined temple / Dragon's Lair
- Dungeon hideout
- Farmstead
- Keep
- Manor
- Mine
- Roadside inn
- Ship
- Spooky house
- Underdark warren
- Volcanic caves
- Wizards tower
A Useful Book to Have At Your Side
Often the trickiest part of using the Dungeon Master's Guide is knowing what's inside. When you have the time, maybe once or twice a year, go through it and remind yourself what you have. Mark it with adhesive tabs so you can easily reference useful bits while you prep and run your games.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
I was at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo the previous weekend so I didn't have any YouTube videos or podcasts this week.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Give players a way to hack the dungeon such as secret passages, puzzle bypasses, and ways to get the jump on bad guys.
- Set up a goal and a situation and let the story unfold during the game.
- Avoid a series of hard combat encounters in a row.
- Improvise combat encounters by what makes sense in the story and then what is the most fun for the game.
- Tell the story of a location through the discoveries in each chamber.
- Layer histories in your dungeons. What was it before? What is it now?
- Modify dungeons as you play should they overstay their welcome. Cut off hallways. Collapse chambers. Move things around.
Related Articles
- Gems of the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
- Award Treasure and Magic Items in 5e
- Random Tables of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 27, 2025 - 6:00 am - VideoRolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
When you need to adjudicate a whole bunch of checks — say rolling two dozen saving throws for a bunch of skeletons hit with Turn Undead — simplify the situation by assuming one quarter succeeds.
This quick rule-of-thumb is part of the Running Hordes section of the Lazy DM's Companion but it's a good tool to keep in our toolbox for lots of situations. Sometimes you need to roll a bunch of attack rolls against a single character. Sometimes you need to roll a big pile of ability checks. Sometimes you need a big group to make a bunch of saving throws.
Assume one quarter succeeds.
You can slide this scale up or down depending on the situation. If the creatures making the checks have advantage, assume half succeeds. If they're at disadvantage, assume it's one on ten. This calculation also works if the target number the roller would have to shoot for is particularly high or low. Keep the math easy.
If you want to add some variance, subtract three from the number of successes and add 1d6. This change shakes things up and shows players that there's some variance to the result instead of what feels like an arbitrary number.
This "one quarter succeeds" guideline is based on the idea that the creatures making the check need to roll a 16 or better to succeed. It assumes these creatures are generally weaker than the character they're attacking or the spell they're saving against. It's a skeleton (+4 to hit) versus an armored paladin (AC 20). Many times this guideline is in the favor of the characters (and the players) which makes it easier to accept.
Assuming one quarter succeeds lets you abstract lots of dice rolling and get back into the fiction and action in the world. Instead of rolling two dozen saving throws you get to say:
"Eighteen of the twenty four skeletons surrounding you are destroyed as your waves of radiant light turn them to dust! The remaining six claw forward and attack!"
If you're looking for more tricks for running hordes of monsters against the characters, check out Running Hordes: The Lazy Way to Run Lots of D&D Monsters.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Monster Vault 2 by Kobold Press
- Crit Happens iOS Dice Roller
- Free5e
- Sly Flourish Newsletter Adventure Generator and One-Page 5e
- 2025 Monster Manual Videos
- What Do I Want From WOTC After the Monster Manual?
- When and How to Fudge Your Game
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Distance, Reaction, and Activity Rolls for Random Encounters and The Puzzle box – Dragon Empire Prep Session 9.
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Choose monsters that fit the story and environment. Wrap them in historical lore.
- Swarm characters with lots of one- or two-hit low CR monsters. Let players enjoy their big area blasts.
- Include big brutes in battles who are intended to be banished or controlled.
- Give magic weapons or suits of armor a cool name, theme, history, and daily-use spell effect.
- Let mechanists and artificers understand how magical artifacts and arcane machines operate.
- Roll on behalf of characters attempting to detect traps so they don't know if they failed or if there was never a trap to begin with.
- Include several ways for characters to traverse a dungeon – vertical chutes, deep cracks, collapsed elevators, and so on.
Related Articles
- Free Dice Roller
- Let Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
- Lazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 20, 2025 - 6:00 am - VideoLet Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
My friend and Forge of Foes partner, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, wrote a great post called Embracing the Awesome (subscribe to his newsletter here!) extolling the virtues of letting characters automatically succeed at ability checks more often than we typically do.
Letting characters auto-succeed sometimes is a useful way to keep the pace of your game moving forward and showcase the characters' role in the world. When should you let your characters auto-succeed at a check?
- When it makes sense that they could just do it.
- When failure isn't an option or a failure is boring.
- When the task isn't very difficult.
- When doing so spotlights the characters' proficiency in the task.
Certain character capabilities make them more likely to auto-succeed on some tasks. These capabilities include a character's
- background.
- class.
- subclass.
- species, ancestry, or race.
- skill proficiencies or specializations.
- tool proficiencies.
- religion.
- family or regional background.
- ability bonus.
- feats.
- spells.
Focusing on these character features means we can spotlight individual characters and what they're good at.
"You Succeed but Roll Anyway"
Sometimes one or more of the characters are going to succeed on a task but we want to know how well they succeed. Those trained in history may know most of what they need about the gods of the underworld but those who roll significantly higher than the difficulty class (DC) can learn even more.
We often treat the d20 roll on a DC check as a binary pass or failure but there's no reason we can't think of it as an analog gradient. The higher the result, the more the characters learn or the better they succeed. The lower the roll, the more clumsy it is even if they succeed anyway.
Move Things Forward and Spotlight Characters
A friend of mine once described a game in which the GM had them rolling checks to put on every article of clothing before making it to the briefing for the actual adventure. All the characters came with a hodgepodge of shirts, pants, underwear, and one sock. Putting on one's pants does not a hero make.
Have characters automatically succeed on some checks. It helps you move the game forward when failure isn't interesting and spotlights characters and their unique roles in the world. Such powerful tools are the perfect addition to the lazy dungeon master's toolbox.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Twelve Types of Medieval Artwork for your fantasy RPGs and Unending Thirst Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 8.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.
- Most Anticipated RPGs of 2025
- Two Year Anniversary of the OGL Fiasco
- Talk Show Database with 2,000 Topics
- Improvisation and the Eight Steps
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Most Anticipated RPGS of 2025
- OGL Article by Lin Codega on 5 January 2023
- The Story Behind WOTC's Blurring of D&D 2024 Videos – Lazy RPG Talk Show
- Lightning Rods – Showcase Powerful Character Abilities
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- Lightning Rods for Control Wizards
- Running for a Mix of Online and Offline Players
- Homebrewing Character Buffs
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Break up long sequences of narration with clear opportunities for player-driven decisions.
- Call for ability checks to keep things moving.
- Let characters break out of debilitating effects by taking damage.
- Know the purpose of an NPCs appearance. Why are they in the scene?
- Review your prep notes right before your game.
- Break up a long series of roleplay scenes with exploration or combat.
- Offer multiple vertical connections between the levels of a big dungeon – sinkholes, collapsed floors, waterfalls, and, of course, staircases.
Related Articles
- How to Choose DCs for Your 5e Game
- Rolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
- Steal Character Archetypes from a Single Show
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 13, 2025 - 6:00 am - 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.
- Breaking Bad
- Deadwood
- Downton Abbey
- The Mandalorian
- Mr. Robot
- Peaky Blinders
- Sons of Anarchy
- The Wire
- Twin Peaks
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.
- Goodman Games DCC Bundle of Holding
- Humblewood and Heckna Pay What You Want
- Whitesparrow and the Night Blades in the CC
- Goodman Games 5e System - Advanced Advantage
- Monster Overhaul
- Thoughts on Foundry
- 3-2-1 Quest Model
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Goodman Games DCC Adventure Bundle of Holding
- Humblewood Campaign Setting Pay What You Want
- Heckna Campaign Adventure Pay What You Want
- Whitesparrow and Night Blades in the Creative Commons
- Monster Overhaul
- Mobile Improvements for Foundry
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
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
- Let Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
- Twenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social Media
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: January 6, 2025 - 6:00 am - 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:
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.
- Cities Without Number Bundle of Holding (ended 24 December 2024)
- Shadowrun Bundle of Holding
- Join the Arcane Library Newsletter for Two Free Adventures
- GM Resources in Markdown for Obsidian
- Use the Obsidian Web Clipper to Save Web Pages
- Free Dice Roller Web App
- Notable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Shadowrun 4e Bundle of Holding
- Arcane Library
- Lazy GM Tools in Markdown on Github
- Obsidian Web Clipper
- Free Dice Roller
- Lazy Encounter Benchmark
- Running Hordes
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- Pondering Conclusions for Sandbox Games
- Using a Big Monitor on a Gaming Table
- Advice for Bridge and Travel Sessions
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”.
Related Articles
- Rolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
- Lazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
- Use Physical Tools for Online Games
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 30, 2024 - 6:00 am - 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.
- One Ring Bundle of Holding
- Haunted West 50% Off
- Running Mixed 5e Characters
- Avoid the 2024 DMG's Enspelled Magic Items
- Tales of the Valiant Gamemaster's Guide
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter
- Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
- Buy Sly Flourish Books
- One Ring Bundle of Holding
- Haunted West 50% off (Coupon HOLIDAY24)
- Tales of the Valiant Gamemaster's Guide (Affiliate Link)
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.
Related Articles
- Building a D&D Situation – Castle Orzelbirg from Empire of the Ghouls
- Prepping a Dungeon
- Focus Your Campaign
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 23, 2024 - 6:00 am - 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.
- Level Up Gateway Alpha Released
- A5e.Tools
- Lord of the Rings 5e Not Independent
- So You Wanna Roleplay
- The Products We Continually Use at the Table
- 20% off Sly Flourish Books!
- New Quarterly Patreon Q&A
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- Level Up Gateway Alpha Announcement
- Level Up Gateway Main Site
- A5e.Tools
- Wanna Play Right Now Spotlight
- Buy Wanna Play Right Now Store Page
- High-Use RPG Products – All Responses
- Worlds Without Number – Paid Version
- Worlds Without Number - Free Version
- Flee Mortals
- A5e Monstrous Menagerie
- A5e Trials and Treasure
- Knave 2
- Maze Rats Print
- Maze Rats pdf
- Maze Rats for Obsidian
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Forge of Foes
- Lazy DM's Companion
- So You Want to be a Gamemaster
- Monster Overhaul
- Ironsworn
- Raging Swan Dread Thingonomicon
- GM Miscellany
- Chessex Wet Erase Battle Mat
- Dyson Maps
- Midgard Worldbook (Affiliate link)
- Lazy Monster Tokens
- 5e Cheat Sheet
- Sly Flourish 2024 Gift Guide
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- Worldbuilding Off-Screen Towns and Settlements
- Relating CR to the Monster's Fiction
- Will "Update Available" overwrite my D&D Beyond Stuff?
- What Do You Think of the 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide?
- Full-Power Characters Showing Up Deep in Dungeons
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.
Related Articles
- Collected Experiences Running D&D 5e Boss Fights
- Do We Need a New D&D Player's Handbook?
- 2024 RPG Gift Guide
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 16, 2024 - 6:00 am - 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.
- Scott Gray on Points of Interest
- Mike's Going to the Philadelphia Area Game Expo!
- Lord of the Rings on D&D Beyond
- Building a Resilient Hobby when Elon Musk Threatens to Buy It
- Half-Off Lord of the Rings from Free League
- More Thoughts on a Resilient TTRPG Hobby
- 20% Off Sly Flourish Books
- Tales of the Valiant Pocket Editions
- Free League Sales
- Old School Essentials Sale
- Free League Bundle of Holding
- Hero Forge Custom Flat Miniatures
- The Best Value in TTRPG Accessories
- The Dangers of Crafting Magic Items in the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide
Talk Show Links
Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.
- 20% off Sly Flourish Books and Free US Shipping!
- Points of Interest by Scott Gray
- Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo
- Lord of the Rings on D&D Beyond
- What does the Lord of the Rings integration on D&D Beyond look like?
- Buy Lord of the Rings 5e from Free League
- Free League Humble Bundle
- Musk – "How Much is Hasbro?"
- Ensuring the Resilience of your RPGs
- Surviving a Digital D&D
- Tales of the Valiant: Player’s Guide & Monster Vault Pocket Editions
- Old School Essentials Sale
- Flat Hero Forge Miniatures
- Pathfinder Flip-Mat Basic
- Staedtler Lumocolor Medium Black Marker model 315-9
- Tracking Monsters by Player-Driven Characteristics
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.
- Organizing and Tracking Monsters in 5e Combat
- Getting Into Alien Minds
- The Resolution of Fantastic Locations
- Understanding Scenes and Locations
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
- My Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
- Choosing Monsters for your 5e Game
- Two Different 5e Games at the Same Table
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 9, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoChoosing Monsters for your 5e Game
My simplified encounter building guidelines for 5e games breaks down into two steps:
- Select the number and type of monsters that make sense for the situation.
- Determine if this encounter might be inadvertently deadly by using the Lazy Encounter Benchmark.
This second step is optional. Our goal isn't to design perfectly balanced encounters. Once we have enough experience running our games, we can usually tell if something's going over our expectations for a given combat encounter.
But for that first part – how do we know what monsters make sense for the situation?
There's a lot that can go into answering this question but I'll give you an easy tip. Find some random encounter tables like those found in Xanathar's Guide to Everything or Level Up Advanced 5e's Trials and Treasure and choose the most suitable list of random encounters for the environment that most closely matches the one you're trying to fill.
The Level Up Advanced 5e Trials and Treasure book and the Monstrous Menagerie work well together for this step. Trials and Treasure has large general-purpose random encounters and each monster in the Menagerie has a small table of detailed encounters for that particular monster. The two guides are intended to work together to make interesting encounters and show you which monsters tend to band together with other monsters in a given encounter.
You don't need to roll on these tables. Instead, skim the list and see what jumps out at you. Jot down some of the monsters you think fit well in the environment you're looking at. Sometimes these monsters will be typical dungeon-style monsters like ropers, bulettes, and otyughs. Other times they'll be intelligent monsters – humanoid bandits, veterans, mages, goblins, bugbears, orcs and so on. Sometimes humanoids have monsters with them.
If you're having trouble thinking what kind of inhabitants might be wandering around the location you're preparing, find a good set of tables of random monsters by environment and go down the list until you find a few creatures who work well for your game.
There's another non-lazy trick, though. One that requires work up front but pays big dividends in the end.
Read Your Monster Books
We tend to focus our attention on the stat blocks of a monster but the lore in those books is really valuable. That lore tells us where monsters hang out, what other monsters they hang out with, and how they react when adventurers show up. That lore matters.
Read those monster books, fill your head with that lore, and you'll build some knowledge of which monsters make sense for a given situation.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Surviving a Digital D&D and The Smuggler's Trade Route – Dragon Empire Prep Session 3.
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:
- Lazy RPG Talk Show Number One D&D Podcast by D&D Fanatics
- Professor Dungeon Master on the 2024 DMG
- DM David on a 25 year D&D Wish List
- Elon Musk tells WOTC to Burn In Hell
- Anatomy of a Situation -- Red Eagle Tower
- Tomb of the War King Scenario
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Favorite Monster Abilities of Players
- Building Your Own Campaign Outlines
- Tips for Playing In-Person Games
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Use your current favorite TV show as a collection of NPC archetypes.
- Use Staedtler medium point wet erase markers on your Pathfinder basic flip mat.
- Keep generic monster tokens on hand for improvised combat encounters.
- Index cards are one of the most flexible and useful tools in TTRPGs.
- Keep a list of the characters in front of you throughout your game.
- Add a touch of variance to static monster damage by subtracting 3 and adding 1d6.
- Use 10 + dex for static monster initiative. This way some players go before them and some go after.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: December 2, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoAdvanced Random Encounter Tricks
Here are some useful tricks for getting the most out of random encounter tables.
Roll Twice
Roll twice on a random encounter table and mix the results together. Maybe the characters find two groups fighting each other. Maybe they find one who just wiped out another. Maybe the two groups are allies. Mixing two groups together adds significant and meaningful complications to what otherwise might be a single boring encounter.
Mix Multiple Tables
Roll on different types of random tables to mix themes, monuments, locations, effects, conditions, and descriptions. Use these other tables to add layers to the encounter and make it unique among all other encounters.
Roll To See What Came Before
Often we do nothing if our roll doesn't trigger a random encounter at the moment. Instead, roll for an encounter that happened earlier. Mixing this trick with the first tip means you might find one group that clashed with another and lost. The first group moved on after destroying the second. Do the characters keep going forward? Do they hunt down the victors? There's lots of agency in stumbling into a situation that already took place.
Add Monuments
When rolling for random encounters during travel or in the wilderness, add an interesting backdrop by rolling for a monument. An old obelisk, weatherworn statue, or a carrion pit gives the scene a clear feeling of place. Add layers to your monument by rolling on origins, effects, conditions, and other tables.
Create and Roll On Your Faction List
Build a custom list of factions for your campaign including gods, historical figures, icons, shady organizations, and any other significant faction. When you roll for an encounter or want to flesh out a monument, roll on this faction list to add the faction's flavor to the rest of the encounter. This list adds relevant history and backstory to the world one encounter at a time.
Attitude
Roll a die to determine the attitude of the creatures you rolled up for an encounter. The lower the roll, the more friendly they are. The higher the roll, the more hostile they behave. Not every encounter needs to be a battle.
Distance
Roll a die to determine how close or far the characters notice the inhabitants. The lower the roll, the closer they are.
Activity
What sort of activities might the creatures in an encounter be engaged with? If you can find a table of potential activities for a creature, you can roll on that table. The Level Up Advanced 5e Monstrous Menagerie includes monster activities for every standard 5e monster, for example. If you don't have a table, roll a die. The lower the roll, the more peaceful or benign the activity. The higher the roll, the more frantic, dangerous, or strange the activity might be.
The Oracle Die
When you're not sure about something in your game, throw a die and build ideas off of the result. Oracle dice in other systems usually tie to a table of outcomes but you can roll the die and see what it inspires. I like the idea that the lower the roll, the less extreme something is. The higher the roll, the more extreme it is. This roll works for weather, attitudes, activities, and so on. When in doubt, roll a die. If you want some awesome and free oracle tables, check out Ironsworn.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Handling Morality in RPGs and The Valley of Blood – Dragon Empire Prep Session 3.
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:
- Mike on EN World Podcast Talking about the 2024 DMG
- Pathfinder 2 Humble Bundle
- Phantasy Star RPG Preorder
- A5E Monstrous Menagerie 2
- Hard Truths About Crowdfunded RPGs
- Comparing DMG 2024 Advice to Lazy DM Advice
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Character Home Bases
- Set Piece Battles or Theater of the Mind?
- Best After-Session Notes
- Improving NPC Voices While Roleplaying
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:
- Set up locations and inhabitants separately. Let inhabitants move around depending on what happens.
- Let the actions of the characters drive the story — not your initial big idea.
- Go with the rule of cool. If it sounds cool, work to help it happen.
- Start with what makes sense in the world. Adjust towards what’s the most fun in the game.
- Write down NPC names.
- Write down where your session ended.
- Think about each character during prep. What do they want? What story hooks do they have? What monsters do they like fighting? What magic items do they look forward to?
Related Articles
- Run Meaningful Random Encounters
- Choosing Monsters for your 5e Game
- Running Hex Crawls for D&D, 5e, or Shadowdark
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 25, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoThe Many Right Answers of the TTRPG Hobby
Two truths seem evident to me in the tabletop RPG hobby:
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There are many "right" answers to how we play tabletop RPGs – including which RPGs we play. There's rarely only one right answer to any aspect of this hobby. Instead, there are many right answers, each fitting different people, groups, playstyles, and other circumstances.
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It's hard to understand why other people would choose the right answer that isn't ours.
Common examples are the games we play. Some of us love the character customization, streamlined math, and rich mechanics of Pathfinder 2. Others love the open and freeform story focused games of Powered by the Apocalypse. Others love grim and brutal resource-focused games like Shadowdark RPG.
You no doubt have your preferred RPG and it's hard to understand why other people don't like the game you like best.
But they do. And that's fine.
It's one thing for people not to know about other games and what advantages they hold. It's something else to look at a game and what it does and say "that's not for me". All too often, though, "it's not for me" comes out as "that game sucks". You may hate it but many others may love it.
There are many right answers in many aspects of the TTRPG hobby. It's totally cool for you to like one way and other people to like another.
Focus on sharing experiences and less on proving you're right answer is the right answer.
Other Many Right Answers
There are many right answers for many different aspects of the TTRPG hobby. Here are some examples:
- Some GMs love rolling lots of dice; some GMs don't want to roll dice at all.
- Some love a fully integrated virtual tabletop; some want a VTT as simple as they can get (including none at all).
- Some love online play; some only want to play in person.
- Some love big fancy visual combat displays; some love theater of the mind.
- Some want to use lots of accessories for their games; some want none at all.
- Some love to build vast worlds; some want to focus on the here and now.
- Some love published adventures; some love homebrew.
- Some love published settings; some prefer their own world.
- Some want all-in-one digital tools; some prefer a stack of specialized tools.
- Some love high production value games; some love the ones you can print on one sheet of paper.
- Some GMs want games where they control much of the world; some GMs want the players to build the world with them.
Variants in False Dichotomies
There are wide ranges of answers across these ideas. It's rarely a "yes" or "no" or "this one" or "that one". It's rare for anyone to fit perfectly on one side or the other. Instead, each of us are complex beings falling into a wide range of different opinions on many topics.
Luckily, this hobby has tons of stuff to offer. We can pick and choose what best fits our desires and the preferences of our group. We don't have to argue why we like one thing or another – we each get to choose what works for us.
If it works best for us and our group, that's all that matters.
"That's Not For Me"
Here's a tip to improve TTRPG discourse. Instead of attempting "objective" judgements about any one path or choice someone else makes in the hobby, simply say "that's not for me". Switching from "that thing sucks" to "that's not for me" helps you remember your point of view isn't truth. If there are enough people playing a game, using a system, or following a style that you've heard of – it means someone loves it. If it's not for you, it's not for you. That doesn't make it the wrong choice for everyone.
Share experiences instead of judging the choices of others.
There are many right answers – many different paths – in the TTRPG hobby and all of them are right for someone. Often we can't understand why someone else follows a path different than ours. But we're better richer people for recognizing views different from our own – and we might learn something along the way.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Top Ten Lazy Tricks for D&D and 5e and The Desert Heist – Dragon Empire Prep Session 2.
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:
- Blades in the Dark Deep Cuts
- What Do You Need to Prep Your Session?
- Encounter Building in the D&D 2024 DMG and the Lazy Encounter Benchmark
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Use static initiative of 10 + dex for monsters so some players go before them and some go after.
- Use little adhesive tabs to bookmark monsters in your monster books. There’s no need to copy them elsewhere.
- Draw small simple maps so players can see what they’ve explored so far.
- Staedtler wet erase markers work very well on the Pathfinder basic flip mat for drawing maps and tracking damage done to monsters.
- Use a mixture of random treasure and magic items selected for particular characters. Prep treasure parcels ahead of time.
- Plan a strong start. What happens at the very beginning of your next session to draw players into the game?
- Prep what you need to help you improvise during your next session.
Related Articles
- Being a Good Steward of the TTRPG Hobby
- Find Local Players for Tabletop RPGs
- Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 18, 2024 - 6:00 am -
- VideoTwo Goals for Improving Your Game
For those of us who spend a lot of time thinking about improving our games, our minds often dive into the details. How can we speed up combat? How can we draw the characters deeper into the story? How can we offer more meaningful choices? How can we prep enough to fill out the world?
These questions are useful but there's the larger question of why. When we're considering a new approach to our game, or a new tool or accessory we want to use at the table, or a new feature of a VTT – why do we pick the ones we pick and omit the ones we don't?
In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master I focus on getting more out of your RPGs by preparing less. We can break down this goal into two parts:
- Make RPGs easier to prepare and run.
- Make RPGs more fun for us and our players.
There's a careful balance between these two goals. Sometimes, however, the techniques that make our games easier to prepare and run also make our games more fun for us and our players. Here are some examples:
- If we prepare less, we might be able to run more games. More games = more fun.
- If we prepare less, we're less likely to railroad our players down a big complicated story we built ahead of time.
- If we prepare less, our players have more agency to follow different paths and build out elements of the world we haven't built ourselves yet.
- The less we have prepared, the more we're likely to listen to our players and focus on the game as it plays out instead of focusing on what we prepared ahead of time.
- The less we prepare, the less stress we have to stay true to our material and the more we're willing to watch the game unfold.
Sometimes, it's worth extra time to prepare the elements of the game that really matter – the things that bring the most fun to the game. Here are some examples:
- The more time we spend thinking about the characters and their stories, the more we can integrate them into the adventure or campaign.
- The more solid the world around the characters, the more players feel like it's real.
- The more lore we know about the world, the more interesting flavor the characters can discover as they explore it and the easier it is for us to drop in this lore during the game.
- The better we understand a location and its inhabitants, the more we can improvise what happens there as the characters traverse it.
- The better our tools for combat encounter building and the better our understanding of the characters' capabilities in combat, the more fun, heroic, and nail-bity combats we can run.
- The more we spend thinking about treasure, the better that treasure can fit the desires of the characters.
- The more time we spend on a solid strong start, the easier it is to get the players and their characters into the adventure.
The eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master are my thoughts about where we can spend our time to bring out the most fun in our games. Other GMs and other groups have their own lists of most beneficial activities to prepare and run their games.
Think about where you spend your time on your prep and ask yourself if that activity makes it easier to prepare and run your game or truly makes the game more fun for your players.
If your approach makes it both easier to run your game and more fun, that's awesome. If your approach does one or the other, that's fine too.
If your activity isn't making your game easier to prep or run, and isn't bringing more fun to the table, why do it?
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Is Shadowdark the Best Intro to D&D? and The Ghost Walkers – Dragon Empire Prep Session 1.
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:
- Draconics the Peaceful Way to Play 5e
- Wonderous Worlds by Nord Games
- D&D 2024 Free Rules Giveth and then Taketh Away
- D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide Thoughts and the Four Gamemaster's Guides
- Avoid NPC Betrayals
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Favorite Short Adventure Books
- Expanding a GM's Reading List
- Focusing on Prep for the Next Session
- Needing to Improvise with Shadowdark
- Top House Rules for Shadowdark
- The Urgency of Multiple Quest Hooks
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:
- Aim for four players.
- Get into the head of your NPCs. What do they want? What do they fear? What do they have to offer?
- Choose monsters based on the situation even if they’re really easy.
- Keep track of the magic items each character has. Review this list when planning treasure for future adventures.
- Keep a treasure parcel in your prep notes. Reward it, or pieces of it, when it makes sense.
- Require exotic materials for crafting particular magic items. Now the exotic material becomes the reward.
- Prepare for single big monsters to be banished or otherwise completely incapacitated when the characters reach 7th level or above.
Related Articles
- 2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master Questionnaire
- Using the Lazy DM's Eight Steps At the Table
- High Value Prep
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 11, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoUsing Obsidian for Lazy RPG Prep
Over the past year I’ve switched from using Notion for my Lazy RPG Prep to using Obsidian. Here’s why:
- Obsidian operates in native markdown files. There’s no conversion necessary and the files sit in your own directories on your own filesystem.
- Obsidian is cross-platform. I use iCloud to share my Obsidian directory across my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. I don’t have to trust a cloud-based system to be up when I need it.
- Obsidian’s interface is fast and clean. Notion feels like it's gotten slower the more extra features they put into it.
I still love and recommend Notion if it works for you. My switch to Obsidian doesn’t mean you need to switch to Obsidian or away from any set of tools you use to do your prep.
Organizing a Lazy RPG Campaign in Obsidian
I have a simple setup for using Obsidian for Lazy GM prep. While many Obsidian GMs love the huge amount of plugins one can use with Obsidian, I like to keep things simple. I only use the templater plugin to set up session note templates.
Download my Lazy GM Campaign Obsidian Template. Patrons of Sly Flourish also access to my Obsidian campaign templates for my current games.
Here’s my directory structure for a typical Obsidian Lazy RPG Campaign folder:
- Campaign Name folder
- Session Notes folder
- Individual Session Note file
- Attachments folder (for pictures or PDFs)
- NPC file
- Character file
- Locations folder
- Attachments folder (for pictures of maps)
- Location description file (if needed)
- Session Notes folder
I create extra pages as I need them. For example, in my Shadowed Keep of the Borderlands game, the characters are headed to the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu from D3 Vault of the Drow. The drow city is complicated enough with the various houses and their secrets that I have a “drow houses” and “drow secrets” file to keep on hand.
For the "NPCs" file, I have two headings: “Current NPCs” and “Past NPCs”. I write their names and any relevant notes about the NPC in a single line. Some GMs want far more information on NPCs but usually a few words are all that I need for the campaigns I run.
For the "Character" file I have each character as a header and then bullets containing any relevant character info like race, species, lineage, heritage, class, and background. I can put character connections or story connections here. I can jot down magic items they received, stars and wishes, or any new abilities they pick up on a level. Put whatever is useful for you to run your game.
Session Notes
The session notes file includes headers for each of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and bullets for each of the items underneath. I use a custom stylesheet so Obsidian's Export to PDF outputs a nice two-column page I can print out and use them in my three-ring campaign binder.
Keeping Things Simple
The way of the Lazy GM is a focus on simplicity and impact. We only use the tools we need to run the game we run. Use what works, omit the rest. Instead of going straight into a complex Obsidian setup, start first with the basics — a file with an outline of the eight steps. This outline keeps me focused on the thing that matters the most — the next game I’m playing with my friends.
Other Resources
Other GMs, developers, and Obsidian power users have come up with tons of plugins and systems for using Obsidian with D&D, 5e, and other RPGs. Here’s a list of some Obsidian RPG resources:
- D&D-tagged notes
- Getting Started with Obsidian for D&D – PhD20
- Nicole van der Hoeven's D&D and Obsidian YouTube Playlist
- Nicole's RPG Obsidian Notes
- Non-Lazy DMs use Obsidian for D&D
- Obsidian for Tabletop Roleplaying Games (collection)
- Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Comparing Four 5e RPGs: Tales of the Valiant, Level Up Advanced 5e, 2024 D&D, and 2014 D&D and Scourge of the Dragon Empire Session Zero .
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:
- Defiler of Moonsilk Keep
- Horizons Magazine Issue 1
- Frontiers of Eberron
- Adventures in Teaching and Learning with TTRPGs
- Dwarven Forge Dungeons Reforged
- Experiences at Gamehole Con
- Pool Table Game Mastering
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:
- Make sure your players are good with the controversial choices of the characters.
- Avoid betraying NPCs. Use shady NPCs with valuable information instead.
- Jot down the Lazy Encounter Benchmark during prep. Improv combat encounters during the game based on the unfolding situation.
- Imagine your game as a pool table with characters and NPCs like the balls. Who knows where they’re going to end up until you hit them with your cue.
- Keep a good list of NPCs in your session notes. Update it every session.
- Print maps and annotate one or two word descriptions on the rooms.
- Take turns during downtime. Make sure everyone gets a chance to say what their character does.
Related Articles
- The Simplest Way to Annotate a Map
- Organize RPG PDFs and Other Digital Stuff
- Share PDFs With Your Players
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: November 4, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoScenario Model: Opening or Closing the Portal
Like the adventure models in the Lazy DM's Companion, sometimes it's useful to have models for more specific scenes or encounters in our 5e RPGs. Today we're going to dig into one such scenario model – opening or closing a portal to another world. This model is both a common situation and a fantastic one, one in which all the characters can be challenged to either close a gate that shouldn't be open or open a gate that shouldn't remain closed.
Something for Everyone
It's important that players and characters all have something to do in a situation like this scenario. We don't want some character just sitting back or spamming the same ability over and over. We also want to mix up the activities, sort of like traveling through the wilderness, so that everyone has a different type of activity.
The In-World Situation
Instead of jumping straight to mechanics, we want to understand the situation as it is in the world. First, we have a big ancient gateway – one that isn't entirely stable. It's old. It's cracked. Energy leaks from it when it's active – energy that must be dealt with somehow. Also, things can get through. Whether you're opening it or closing the gateway, it attracts things – not very nice things. Maybe these things come from the world beyond and that's why the group wants to close it. Or maybe these things come from somewhere else. Maybe there are cracks in the edges of the portal leading to other worlds best left alone.
The portal can be powered by several arcane anchors – pillars with crystal spheres or glowing runes set outside of the portal. Channeling arcane or divine energy into these pillars activates them or, likewise, can draw energy out of them when trying to close the portal. Pouring energy or drawing energy out of these pillars has a nasty tendency of projecting the energy of this portal to those nasty things we talked about earlier – they want to get through the portal really badly.
The Roles
With this understanding of how the portal operates, now it's time to think about how to deal with it. Someone needs to channel energy into the pillar or portal to pull energy out. Those characters best suited to this task are those characters who are either trained in arcana or religion or who can cast divine or arcane spells. This channeling takes an action to begin but only a bonus action to keep it going. It does, however, require concentration. If concentration is broken, the instability of the portal grows violent.
The difficulty class of the check to succeed at this action is based on the state of the portal. If it's in reasonably good shape, it might only take a DC 10. If it's really coming apart it might take a DC 15. Channeling the energy of a spell always succeeds in opening or closing the portal but failing at the ability check causes instability. A blast of lightning might arc out from the pillar and strike the channeler or even someone else. It might target a wild magic surge on someone in the chamber.
Divine and arcane casters can choose to use their spell slots to reinforce their checks. For each level spell they want to expend, they can reduce their check for the round by 5.
And, of course, things are coming out of the portal. They probably start coming out as soon as the channeling begins. These things might be demons, devils, aberrations, or undead – all seeking to sink their fangs or wrap their tentacles around mortal flesh. That's where the other characters come in. The other characters have to hold off these monsters from the channelers.
We can give defenders a new reaction here, the "dive in front", reaction. If a creature attacks a channeler in the area, the defender can take their reaction to dive in front of the attack and save the channeler.
After three or so rounds, the portal is successfully opened or closed. This scenario assumes it's critical that the characters succeed, so instead of having the gate fail to open, it simply brings on more pain on a failure. A TPK is still possible, of course.
Scaling the Encounter
This encounter probably works best at 5th level and above since it takes a lot of coordination between the characters. You can use the Lazy Encounter Benchmark to get a general idea how many monsters might be inadvertently deadly. You can also break up monsters into waves. A few small creatures on round 1, a couple of bigger creatures on around 2, and a boss on round 3.
As far as the amount of damage the pillars might inflict, we can use the following guidelines for each tier for blasts of energy (fire, cold, force, necrotic, or lightning – your choice):
- Tier 2 (5th to 10th level – CR 8). +7 to hit, 28 damage.
- Tier 3 (11th to 16th level – CR 14). +10 to hit, 49 damage.
- Tier 4 (17th to 20th level – CR 20). +13 to hit, 70 damage.
A Reusable Model
You probably don't want to use it every session but this model is generally reusable for this common situation – opening or closing a portal. The model focuses on what it's like in the world, some interesting roles for characters to take, and a fun situation with lots of moving parts. Hopefully this model gives you a nice scenario you can drop right into your own game.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on One Year with Shadowdark and Expanding Doom Points from Tales of the Valiant.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
I was away at Gamehole Con, which was awesome, so there was no Lazy RPG Talk Show last week. Sorry! You can enjoy past episodes and subscribe to the podcast)
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:
- Avoid damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't choices too often. Offer choices with a clear gain and risks.
- Limit source material to focus a campaign and make it unique among all other campaigns.
- Check in with players every few sessions to make sure your game is headed the way everyone enjoys.
- Keep track of magic items distributed to which characters. Better yet, ask a player to quartermaster and post the distribution.
- Build characters from the story and situation first. Then measure against potentially deadly benchmarks.
- Index cards and a Pathfinder Basic Flip Mat are hard tools to beat for improvising your game.
- The d20 is a swingy die. Don't expect it to behave the way you want. Plan for and enjoy its high randomness.
Related Articles
- D&D Environmental Effects: The Unhallowed Pillars
- Anatomy of an Environmental Effect – Chernobog's Well
- Let Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 28, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoUse Physical Tools for Online Games
There's a false dichotomy when it comes to playing RPGs. We either play online or we play in person. Sometimes it feels like it's all or nothing. If we're playing in person, it's pencils and paper and dice. If we're playing online, it's a fully featured, fully integrated virtual tabletop.
But lots of GMs mix things up. In-person GMs use big monitors, sometimes embedded in their gaming table. Players might run their character sheets off of a tablet.
The same can be true for running games online. Sure, if you're wired into a fully integrated VTT, like Roll20 or Foundry, you might not see much need for physical tools. But sometimes they're really handy.
What are some examples?
Dice. You don't need a digital dice roller. Use your real dice. Try it out. It's fun. It's fast. I have a kit of dice next to me when I run RPGs online and it's far faster for me to roll physical dice than to roll online. I'm sure that's not true for everyone but I know it's often true with players when they need to roll for something not already pre-planned on their digital character sheets.
Note cards. I use my favorite text editor, BB Edit, to jot stuff down like initiative, marching order, and abstract combat notes. It's very fast to copy and paste things around from BB Edit but it's also super-fast to use index cards. They're always in front of you. You won't accidentally close the window or need to switch screens.
Books. Many GMs seem to hate using physical books but boy, they're fun. Use little adhesive tabs you can buy at any drug, grocery, or department store to tab the pages of different monsters or other pages you need to reference during the game. Get a folding book stand so you can set it upright like monks did in the 1700s. Enjoy playing the game the way we've played for 50 years. It's ok to have to look things up. The whole game doesn't need to be a perfectly well-oiled machine.
The Flexibility of Physical Tools
Using physical tools for online games isn't just about nostalgia. There are practical reasons as well – the big one being flexibility. Physical tools just work. A blank index card and a pen offers tremendous freedom over more locked-in tools. Rolling physical dice means doing some math but you don't have to worry if you accidentally hit the "advantage" button or not. If you're given a weird modifier to a roll, you don't have to figure out how to add that into the equation. Flipping through a physical book can be faster than searching through one online or realizing you accidentally closed the window.
Using physical tools also doesn't limit you to just the online tools or sourcebooks you have in whatever online tool you're using. When you open yourself up to using books, all your books become available to you – campaign sourcebooks, monster books, adventures, and more.
Next time you're running a game online, try using physical dice. Try using a physical monster book. Try keeping an index card in front of you to jot down turn order.
Embrace analog play, even in an online game.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on NPCs from TV Shows and my Shadowdark Gloaming Finale.
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:
- Call of Cthulhu Humbled Bundle
- City of Arches Key of Worlds Scenarios for Hero-Tier Subscribers
- Dread Thingonomicon Markdown for Obsidian
- Lazy GM Reference Guides in Markdown for Obsidian
- Sly Flourish 2025 Calendar!
- The Trouble with Crafting Systems in 5e
- Advanced Random Encounter Tricks
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Adding Subquests and Managing Levels with Campaign Arcs
- Keeping Combat Descriptions Flavorful
- Designing a Heroic Shadowdark-Style Game
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 character name names in front of you. Track turn order outside of combat to ensure players get their time in the spotlight.
- Listen to audiobooks. Study the way the narrator changes voices to represent different characters.
- Break combat encounter locations into several zones. Give each zone an identifying monument or feature.
- Two simple words can increase the challenge of any comment encounter: more monsters.
- Ask for a marching order and a lighting situation anytime the characters delve into dungeons deep.
- Roll twice on random encounter tables and combine the results to build a unique situation.
- Roll two random encounters to show an encounter that took place before the characters arrived. This gives them an interesting investigation along their journey.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 21, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoThe Simplest Way to Annotate a Map
Find a map that fits the location you need for your game. Print it out. Write evocative location names on the map with a pen.
I haven't found a method for annotating maps easier than that. Even if you use digital tools, printing the map, writing names on it, taking a picture with your phone, and adding it back into your digital notes is still faster than any other digital annotation tools I've used.
5,000 Year Old Technology
Pencil and paper are often faster and simpler tools for prepping our game than digital tools. I've used Obsidian and Notion for RPG prep, but I still enjoy the days where I write my strong start, scenes, secrets and clues, and the rest longhand. There's something simple, direct, and pure about prepping with pen and paper. No distractions. No funky interface to get used to. Just the 5,000 year old technology of putting our thoughts and imagination down on a medium that can last a thousand years.
Simple Maps
I love Dyson Logos for simple, well-designed maps that fit all sorts of different situations. I've written about my love of Dyson maps before. They're easy to print, easy to write on, and easy to copy onto a battle mat using his key. They work well digitally and physically.
Evocative Names – Just For Us
Sometimes we GMs prep like we're prepping for someone else. We write out read-aloud text, develop large random tables, and add details to notes as though we're going to hand our prep over to another GM to run.
Our notes are just for us and they serve one purpose – to help us run our next game. Our notes aren't for anyone else. They're just for us. They don't need to be complete and they don't need to be pretty.
When we annotate our map, we don't need to fill in lots of details. Often a single evocative name for each chamber does the trick. Here are some examples:
- Shrine of Heretical Aten
- Well of Worlds
- Howling sinkhole
- Sinister armory
- Moss-covered mosaics
- Crumbling statues
- Profane dias and altar
- Fiery dragon skulls
- Cracked stone bridge
- Delicate laboratory
These one to three word descriptions, when we write them ourselves, gives us enough of a reminder to fill in further details when it comes to running those rooms. We don't need paragraphs of text for each room – many of them the characters never see.
Our notes are just for us. Our annotations are just for us. We don't need a lot written down to remember what we had in mind or to riff off of should the characters go into a chamber we didn't expect.
Keep Things Simple
Focus on tools that help you run your game – the ones that help you improvise during the game. The more complicated your stack of tools, the harder it is to find the right tool the moment you need it. Often these tools are the oldest ones in existence – a sheet of paper, a pencil, and some dice.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Organizing and Searching RPG PDFs on a Mac and Mugdulblub – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 44 Lazy GM Prep.
Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics
Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:
- Sly Flourish After-School RPG Club Sponsorship
- Free Kobold Press Encounter Builder
- Dread Thingonomicon Bundle of Holding for $8
- Goodman Games Humble Bundle
- Grim Hollow Transformed Kickstarter
- Ars Magica in a Creative Commons License
- Two Bandits Talking About the Characters
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Single Best Tip for New GMs
- What If Characters Don't Strike Lighting Rods?
- D&D 2024 Tool DCs and DM Agency
- Can You Mix TOV, A5e, D&D 2024, and D&D 2014?
RPG Tips
Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:
- Give each improvised monster an interesting trait to define its story in mechanics.
- At 7th level, don't expect any single monster to bring a significant challenge unless it has legendary resistance.
- Prepare one major scene for every 45 minutes of gameplay.
- Show characters the breadth of cultures from the humanoid creatures they meet.
- Keep a list of names of previous NPCs you can quickly reference when an old NPC comes back into the spotlight.
- Let players level up characters together and discuss the new abilities they're considering.
- Build historical layers to your dungeons. What is it now? What did it used to be? And what was it before that?
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 14, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoTen Types of Stonework Decorations
As characters explore dungeons deep and ancient ruins, they often come across decorations from times past. Such decorations serve as excellent vehicles for secrets and clues, single-sentence pieces of history or lore revealed through play.
Here are ten types of stonework decorations to keep on hand to improvise the revelation of such secrets and clues.
- Relief. The projection of an image in which the stonework around the image is carved back, leaving the image protruding forward. Includes low (bas), high, and sunken. Such reliefs might reveal lost histories or forgotten knowledge.
- Frieze. A long horizontal stretch of painted or sculpted decoration at the upper edge of a wall, room, or object like a sarcophagus. These decorations might not be noticed at first glance but a perceptive character might pick up interesting clues with their keen eye.
- Mural. A piece of graphic artwork painted directly on a wall or ceiling. Murals can depict great wars, images of gods, or rulers of old. Murals might peel away revealing layers of such works.
- Fresco. A vivid painting applied directly to freshly laid plaster. The plaster might break away showing carvings on the wall underneath.
- Mosaic. A pattern or image created from inlaying small pieces of stone, glass, or ceramic. Such pieces of glass might contain magical lights or other embedded spells.
- Runic carvings. Writing of language or ideographs carved into rock slabs or tombstones. A knowlege of history might uncover their meaning.
- Encaustic painting. Using heated wax to apply pigments to a surface, often wood or canvas. The wax might be melted away to reveal something underneath.
- Gilded Engravings. Applying a thin coating of gold over another surface, sometimes inlaid within a carving. Such engravings might conduct electricity or activate a trap when pulled away.
- Marouflage. Applying a painted canvas to a wall with an adhesive such as plaster or cement. Such decorations might hide a secret door behind the canvas.
- Sgraffito. Scratching through the surface of one pigment to reveal the pigment underneath. Scratching away further might reveal a mural painted underneath – like a giant scratch-off ticket.
Keep these art styles in mind to add richness and detail to the characters' discoveries in the depths of the dark.
These decorations have been added to the Lazy GM's Reference Document in the "Core Adventure Generators" section released under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Finding Players and Building a Resilient RPG Group and Dragon Empire Campaign Building Part 2 – 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:
- Enter the Labyrinth by Kobold Press
- Dragontown and the Darkness Below
- Horizons Magazine by Wildmage Press
- Beadle and Grimm 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide Map Pack
- 2024 Player's Handbook is D&D's Fastest Selling Book Ever
- You Don't Own Your D&D Beyond Books
- Hidden Subclass Compatibility in D&D 2024
- The Current State of Generative AI and TTRPGs
Patreon Questions and Answers
Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:
- Industry Standards for Releasing RPG Material Under Open Licenses
- Coming Up with Villains or Fronts in Strange Campaign Settings
- Excluding a Player from a Game
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:
- Mix easy encounters with hard encounters. Don’t always push PCs to the limit.
- You don’t always have to call for an ability check. Sometimes characters just do it.
- Add shortcuts to your dungeons so characters have an easy way to enter and exit big multi-level dungeons.
- Visions or remnant illusions can show moments of history long forgotten.
- Know your wall decorations: mosaics, frescos, reliefs, friezes, murals, tapestries, engravings, marouflage, and encaustic paintings.
- Use waves of combatants to shake up challenging fights.
- Tag improvised monsters with keywords that remind you of unique abilities like “life drain” or “necrotic blast” or “cunning action” or “pack tactics” or “reposte”.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: October 7, 2024 - 6:00 am - VideoThe Best LLM for Generating RPG Stuff – Your Brain
Your brain, fueled by books and augmented with simple tools, is your best resource for preparing and running awesome tabletop roleplaying games.
Many GMs and players say they find a lot of value out of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and other generative AI tools like Midjourney or Dall-E. Who am I to tell them they’re not finding them as useful as they say they are?
But there's a high cost for generative AI.
- They're built on people’s intellectual property without their permission and without compensation.
- They use tons of power and water.
- They displace workers with shitty AI alternatives.
- They fill the internet with slop.
With this in mind, we can ask ourselves two questions:
- Is generative AI really helping you more than other tools and techniques you have available?
- Is generative AI worth the cost to the world to use it?
Your answers to these questions may be "yes". That's up to each of us to decide and I'm not here to judge. I find LLMs useful for small coding projects but they don't help me with RPGs. They offer the illusion of help, but my best RPG work is the work I do myself.
The Current State of Generative AI in TTRPGs
Creators, companies, and hobbyists of tabletop roleplaying games find themselves on both sides of the generative AI value discussion.
Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro (the parent company in charge of D&D) is super excited for AI in D&D, saying:
I play with probably 30 or 40 people regularly. There’s not a single person who doesn’t use AI somehow for either campaign development or character development or story ideas. That’s a clear signal that we need to be embracing it.
On the other side, Wolfgang Baur of Kobold Press issued the No-AI Pledge:
We don’t use generative AI art, we don’t use AI to generate text for our game design, and we don’t believe that AI is magical pixie dust that makes your tabletop games better.
Among 3,700 players and GMs I surveyed, about 3 in 10 use generative AI when preparing for or playing RPGs. There’s a lot of divisiveness between these groups:
It helps me immensely. I’m the type that’ll stare blankly at a screen for hours before being able to write a single word, so having AI to get things started has helped me in everything.
No, and I never will. Never use plagiarism software.
Your Best Large Language Model – Your Brain
You already possess the most powerful computer in known existence – available any time to help you generate awesome ideas for your tabletop roleplaying game. Instead of nuclear power, it runs on meat and plants and other garbage like a Mr. Fusion in Back to the Future. It has no monthly fee. It’s not killing creative jobs, stealing the work of millions, literally boiling the ocean, or filling the internet with crap.
Your best RPG tool sits right behind your eyes.
It’s easy to get caught up in the “magic” of large language models but, in my experience, they’re not great for generating game content when compared to reading books and using your imagination.
Our brains – fed with great source material and simple tools like random tables – give us tons of ideas to fuel our games like they have for over 50 years.
GM Brain Tricks
We don’t need a data center the size of Ohio to think about our games. Here are some fun brain tricks to help you prepare and run awesome games.
- Read sourcebooks. Highlight them. Reference things from other books. Take notes. Connect the dots. Enjoy the experience of diving into lore written by other human beings.
- Think about your characters. Think about your villains. Write down secrets and clues connecting them to the world. Write some flash fiction to show your players where the villains are going and what plans they may be making.
- Think up lists of ten things – NPCs, locations, monsters, quests, factions, secrets and clues, or anything else you need for your game.
- Grab a Dyson map and fill out rooms with interesting features for your next adventure location.
- Mash together random tables. Roll on multiple tables and combine the results into more meaningful random encounters.
- Build your own faction tables for your campaign. Combine them with items, NPCs, quests, or locations for results customized around your campaign. See my Forgotten Realms factions and my Eberron factions for examples.
Find more brain tricks in these articles:
- Creative Mind Exercises for D&D
- Break Conventional Thought with Random Tables
- Play D&D Anywhere
- Develop Your DM Brain Attic
- Get Ideas for your RPGs
- Good Books of Random Tables
- Random Creativity in D&D
Other Fantastic Non-Generative-AI Tools
Here are other fantastic resources to help you shake up your brain, come up with awesome ideas, and run great games for your friends.
- The Lazy GM’s Resource Document. A free creative-commons-released document including tons of random tables from the Lazy DM’s Workbook and Lazy DM’s Companion. Remix these lists to your heart’s content.
- Perchance. An online tool to build your own random generators. The Lazy GM’s Random Generator, a Patreon exclusive feature, is built using Perchance.
- Dyson Maps. Fantastic reskinnable maps. Pick one, jot down short room descriptions, and let your mind fill in the blanks.
- Donjon.bin.sh. A fantastic and venerable random generator for all sorts of fantasy RPGs with a lot for D&D and 5e.
- Stock art on DriveThruRPG. Great art by real artists with reasonable licenses at reasonable prices. If you’re looking for character or NPC portraits for your game, check out Inkwell Ideas’s Portrait Decks available in print and PDF.
- Dread Thingonomicon. A huge book of random tables by Raging Swan for all sorts of fantasy situations.
Give Yourself Time and Space
In our always-on world, we seem to be in a constant state of FOMO. Whatever we’re doing now, there are a thousand other things we could be doing instead. Go for a walk. Do some structured daydreaming. Get away from your phone and computer for an hour. Grab physical books. Roll on random tables. Write your notes longhand. Pretend to be Gandalf in the old library of Minas Tirith blowing dust off old tomes to find ancient secrets.
You don’t need a large language model to read books for you and spit out half-truths and nonsense. Dive in yourself, cross-reference things, jot down thoughts, and come up with awesome ideas yourself for the game you’re going to run with your friends.
You are your best large language model.
More Sly Flourish Stuff
Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Leaving Blanks and Return to Bittermold Keep – Shadowdark Gloaming Session 43 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:
- Pirate Borg
- Run I6 Ravenloft with Shadowdark on Halloween
- Free D&D 2024 Rules with All Twelve Classes
- D&D Adventurer's League Moves to D&D 2024
- D&D 2024 PHB Available Physically and on Four VTTs
- D&D 2024's Handling of Tools and DCs
- Two Words for Increasing Combat Challenge
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:
- Give seeds of clues even on low ability checks.
- Use static initiative to better time and pace battles. 5 for slow, 10 for medium, and 15 for fast creatures.
- Spread out combatants and clarify the distances if trying to avoid all the baddies getting nuked at once.
- If a spell you’re not familiar with sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Start your prep with a map of a cool location. Print it out. Jot down two word room descriptions. Put your strong start, secrets, NPCs, monsters, and treasure on the back.
- A single sheet of paper is likely all you need for your prep notes.
- Give monsters one cool trait to make them unique.
Related Articles
Get More from Sly Flourish
Buy Sly Flourish's Books
- City of Arches
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Lazy DM's Companion
- Lazy DM's Workbook
- Forge of Foes
- Fantastic Lairs
- Ruins of the Grendleroot
- Fantastic Adventures
- Fantastic Locations
Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.
Read more »Source: Sly Flourish | Published: September 30, 2024 - 6:00 am