September 2022 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A Thread

Hi Thiago! In this model, the +2 players have their own characters who typically fade in and out of the adventure. Overall, when I run and a player is missing, we just don't talk about them in the game. We all know as actual people why they're not there and that's fine. It breaks a little bit of continuity but thats fine. If there is a good way to bring a character back into the game, we do that but if not, we just let them come back in. It's fine. Here's more on this topic: https://slyflourish.com/handling_missing_players.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-uk2LB5zCo&t=3549s

Hi Dr. Fugue! Awesome name! For me adventure writing and DM prep for a game are really best kept separate and sometimes I think we conflate them in our minds. They serve two very different purposes. When we're prepping our games, we're focusing on the stuff we need to run an entertaining game. It can be rough and incomplete and messy because its just for us. When we're writing an adventure, we're trying to build something to help other DMs. I don't know that adventure writing taught me more about prep but prepping more certainly taught me more about adventure writing. It's so easy to get caught in your own writing and your own head and forget that you're serving the DM. Your job as an adventure writer is to do the heavy lifting for the DM. Get over yourself and your fancy fantasy bullshit and help them. I can tell when I read certain material when someone's in their own head without much thought about who's reading it and where people are able to help. I won't call out bad examples but a *good* example is Dungeons of Drakkenheim which is clearly written to help DMs run a campaign. Hope that answers a little bit of your question!

I'm not an expert on this but I'd say the following might be potential indicators: - Does your focus on D&D get in the way of other important parts of your life that you prioritize such as your own health, your job, and being with and supporting your family and friends? - Do you find a lot of anxiety in your association with D&D instead of relaxation and fun? I think those are big indicators. I think these days, given the internet, its really easy for us to spend all our time on whatever we happen to be interested in. There's basically limitless sources to read, watch, and listen to. If it's getting in the way of the rest of one's life; thats a problem. As far as tips go, scheduling can help. Give yourself a time limit, set a stopwatch, and go with that. Of course you're talking to someone who spends just about every waking moment pondering D&D stuff but I do leave time every day for spending time with my wife (so we can talk about D&D) and taking walks (so I can think about D&D).

I really haven't looked at third-party classes. Sorry!

I have not. I think that such low points best happen during the situation of the game. I don't try too hard to build the feeling and pacing of the game ahead of time. I try to set up the situation as it makes sense for the world and then let the highs and lows come from how the characters deal with it. I think its a lot more fun if Gandalf falls in Moria and no one knew it was going to happen.

None that I recall. I'm sure it happened but nothing big enough to remember.Sorry!

Ten! I have my own list of ten thingses I have to do today =) But I'll give it a quick start: - Iron golems - Clay golems - Helmed horrors - Animated armors - A construct dragon of appropriate size - A demon-summoning trap he got as a gift from a wizard he helped out - A pool that's actually a black pudding - Elemental-summoning gemstones - A false keyhole that expands into a portal to the far realm where greedy horrors reach through. - Trapped sarcophagi that release wights There! Ten!

Hi Chad! If you don't hear an answer to this soon, post the question again in October. I'm meeting up with my players to talk about exactly this this weekend!

I really don't but if I did, I'd just use what the books have or wing it using ability checks and tool proficiencies.

I think having a page about the world and what it means for the characters and then having a separate page with details of subclasses and other mechanics is probably fine. Try keeping it to two pages though. It's asking a lot for players to digest more than that.

Hi John! I'm down to half-time at my day job because good health care in the US is really hard to self-fianance and maintain. Doing this full-time would be great but as I get older, good health care is something to hang onto. I'm probably going to be doing this full time in about five years one way or another.

Hi Constantine! Thanks for joining us! My recommendation is something I call "spiral campaign development". You can find a description in chapter 16 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Here's more discussion of it as well: https://slyflourish.com/thinking_two_horizons_out.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2H9VZhxeWk Good luck!

Hi Nathan! My simple rule of thumb is to look at a monster's hit points and damage output first. This, almost always, is how a monster brings a challenge to a table. You can gauge hit points by multiplying the monster's challenge rating by 15 (this is a rough measure). If a monster has signficantly more or less hit points than 15 x CR, it may be weaker or stronger than its CR indicates. For damage, I do the same thing but its 7 x CR. If a monster is doing significantly more than 7 x CR, it may be particularly dangerous. This number can go up if the CR is above 10 to about 10 x CR. Then you have to look at any other effects it has and ask if those have a significant change in the threat of the monster, one way or another. Can it stay invisible the whole time like an invisible stalker? Can it stun an entire party? Can it somehow remove a character from play? You also want to be on the lookout for abilities that are either just too complicated to run at the table or just not fun to run. A dracolich breathing a blast that stuns an entire party is really lame in play (thank you 4e Monster Manual). You may find it's more useful to have your own back-pocket ways to modify a monster when you're running it. If a monster turns out to be more or less effective than you hoped, turn those "dials of monster difficulty"! https://slyflourish.com/dials_of_monster_difficulty.html

Hi Marty! For me, I try to ask "who can the NPCs talk to in this location I'm running?" It can seem tricky to put conversational NPCs into deep ancient dungeons that haven't been touched for a thousand years but it can be done. For exploration, the ten secrets I prep help me fill in exploration events as they occur. I also try to fill locations with interesting monuments. The following articles can help: https://slyflourish.com/including_pillars_anywhere.html https://slyflourish.com/thoughts_on_exploration.html https://slyflourish.com/building_for_the_three_pillars.html https://slyflourish.com/revealing_secrets.html https://slyflourish.com/ancient_monuments.html

Another publisher (Privateer Press) has been converting their table top war-game into 5e. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on what they have done so far.

Hi Russell! For me, I keep track of all of this sort of thing on a player page in my Notion campaign notebook. I think you can do the same with paper notes too. Keeping 3x5 cards tied to your notes with character tidbits and reviewing them during step 1 I think can really help. In short, keep track of those little tidbits in a way that you can easily review during step 1. As far as tugging on those little tidbits, maybe there's a way to plan for it during prep, maybe you remember to do something with it as you improvise during the game, or maybe it doesn't come up at all.

Hi Cowfunk! My big recommendation is to run such things in the background instead of in the spotlight. Think of the activities of the allies as part of the backdrop of a scene instead of the scene itself. In my Numenera game the characters have an army of 6,000 powerful soldiers able to effectively teleport anywhere on the planet. They don't bring them into a battle – they're in the backdrop of the battle. For those scenes, we shift the focus and describe things in a montage instead of a direct combat scene. I think this works well for any sort of war or large conflict. Run the war as the backdrop and keep the scene focused on the characters and what /they/ are doing in the scene. Usually players get the idea when you say something like "the githyanki head into the side passages to take care of the cells of mind flayers, leaving you to take care of the elder brain and its thralls". You can also "pause for a minute" and explain how you plan to run the scene so the players understand that you're focusing the spotlight on their characters and what they do instead of forty or fifty combatants.

The whole concept of morality, behavior, and choice is really complicated in our real lives. Very smart scientists question whether there even is such a thing as free will. https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/01/15/261716096/the-choice-is-yours-the-fate-of-free-will https://www.thisamericanlife.org/662/where-there-is-a-will/act-two-8 This is where the fantasy of our game can break out of the reality of the complexity of the situation. Do we really want to question the lives and decisions that led each of those hit-men who attack John Wick in his home? They each had mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, and children! But we are running an action game here and I think we can largely go with the moral decisions that "you are what you do". Cultists do terrible things so its ok to cut them down. I've spoken against the bio-essentialism taking place with orcs and goblins. Some DMs might be happy to have all orcs be bad orcs but not me. First, I think it does parallel real-world racial stereotypes but second, it's just plain boring. Eberron shows us what it can look like without bio-essentialism and I think it can actually make for a better game. But cultists? They're doing things. They're making choices. At the least, they're standing around while their leader is about to plunge a dagger into a helpless commoner in order to summon the Black Goat. It's hard to sympathize with them at that moment and I don't think we need to. In our fantasy world, they made those choices. I think it can be fun and interesting for some of the cultists to realize they got over their heads. We can clarify that some cultists don't immediately draw daggers and immolate themselves in black fire before screaming and attacking. Some might back off, cower away, and realize their mistakes. That's true for just about any sentient villain. As far as projecting to the players that some cultists are bad. I think clarifying the terrible acts they've done and their plans to do them again help push things in the right direction. A supernatural force can also pave the way. They're so far physically converted to vile monsters that whoever they were is essentially dead long before the characters got there.

Hi Andy! It's important to try to give each of the players a roughly equal amount of the spotlight and also important read the body language of the players to see how bored they are during these roleplay-heavy scenes. If you play online and can't really gauge body-language, you can just ask if its ok to focus on more roleplaying or ask how they felt about the game after running such a scene. One trick is to go around the table or even roll initiative so you don't forget that the other characters are doing things too. Find ways for them to get involved. Look at the skills they have trained and pull on those during the scene. Maybe the investigative character noticies something while the face continues to chat. Maybe the intimidating barbarian has a chance to knock an instigator down a peg or two on the side. If you know a roleplay scene is coming up, its worth thinking about what sort of activities the *other* characters might engaged with. In the same way we try to drop NPCs into a dungeon so the characters have someone to roleplay within even in a thousand-year-old tomb, we can likewise bring up scenes and situations where the pure combat characters have something to do even in a conversation.

Hi there! In my games, it's helped the players understand what's going on in the game when the central seed is laid out because it gives them a shining north star to follow when they're choosing what to do. My campaigns are more linear on-the-rails campaigns moreso than full worlds where the characters go off and do what they want. Of course, like all things, if it doesn't work for you, you can try something else. Even in a West Marches style game, though, I think it could help to know that the agents of Sauron are just over those nasty looking mountains preparing for war. I like to give *some* structure to a game but to each their own!

Hi Stephen! Here are a few things I'd recommend to get more out of your D&D books: 1. Skim them. Spend thirty minutes flipping through them to get an idea what you have and what grabs you. Let the art inspire you. 2. Read them. Dive deep into those parts that really grab you. 3. Take pieces of them and jam them into your own game. Maybe it's just a monster. Maybe its a location. Maybe it's a scene inspired by the art. 4. Use them more fully. Use bigger pieces. Run adventures as a side-quest to your current campaign. Drop in some third party character options like spells, magic items, or even subclasses as loot or rewards the characters earn as they go. 5. Fully use them. Run a big campaign adventure. Use other books as supplementary material to support that game. I'm having a lot of luck with this in both Numenera and Kobold Press books. I've had books on my self for years I haven't used until now. Hope that offers some useful suggestions!

Hi Enoch! This is a good question and one we often deal with. I like to think that however good the *player* is in a roleplaying scene may give their *character* advantage on a check when warranted. If they're particularly good in a conversation, that might surpass doing a roll completely. If they're just convincing, that goes beyond being charismatic and turns it into an auto success. Otherwise, I'd probably have them make the checks and offer advantage if the player is better at talking than the character is.

Hi Matt! I think, for new players, its really important to have that out-of-game conversation about how D&D really plays out. If the players are making choices that actively move the game in a fun direction, I say go with it. If they're making choices that reduce the fun of the game, its worth "pausing for a minute" and explaining why that course of action isn't just dumb in the world but how it make the game harder to run. Splitting the party is a good example. One character splitting off and going into dangerous territory is an example where a DM really should stop the situation and explain not only why they're likely going to get killed but "you probably won't have much to do as a player while I focus the game around the other four people". Understanding the structure of the *game* is as important as understanding the in-game consequences of such actions.

Hi Baptiste! When I've run Fate, I've used the fate pool as my way to boost monsters and challenges. Basically monsters could throw fate points in so that characters could pull them back out. I might throw a fate point in so that a monster gets multiple attacks or splits attacks among different characters (I'm a little rusty on Fate rules at the moment but I think thats how it works). Dungeons of Fate had the following rule which I liked: "In a combat scene, GMs gain one Fate point for each character in the scene. When a character takes an action, GMs can invoke monster aspects by spending these Fate points and applying a +2 bonus to the challenge level. A character gains a Fate point when the GM invokes a monster’s aspect against a character’s action." http://s3.amazonaws.com/slyflourish_content/dungeons_of_fate.pdf

Hi Chris! It was fun to run Den of the Rotten Kings. I don't think much changed over the six or seven years in how I run a little dungeon crawl like that. I reskinned a lot of it to fit the themes I was using in my Empire of the Ghouls game. I did print it out room by room on paper to use as a map. That worked pretty well. I still think mapping at home isn't a solved problem.

Hi Cassie! (I've really enjoyed your conversations on Discord, BTW! Thank you!) I think scoping a campaign down to about a year - maybe 40 to 50 sessions, lets us complete more campaigns and still have big meaningful stories to share. This means I can run, effectively, one campaign per group per year. I have two regular groups and one irregular group so that's two to three campaigns a year. Ever since running Rime of the Frostmaiden I've made a pact with myself not to run any campaign that I don't dig when reading it. I wasn't happy with Frostmaiden from the minute I picked it up and I should have listened to myself. My drive used to be to run popular campaigns so I could use what I learned to do YouTube videos and articles that would draw in more people. I'm not going to do that anymore so thats why you're seeing a lengthy Numenera campaign and some third party campaigns like Empire of the Ghouls and Scarlet Citadel. I want to run what I dig. As far as having too much, I know I won't get to run nearly as many campaigns as I buy, so I just triage them until I know which ones have everything I want to run them. They're solid fun campaigns with lots of good material I can use and maybe other books I can slide in. For my Empire of the Ghouls campaign, I'm using it as my opportunity to use LOTS of Kobold Press books so that way I can squeeze in some Ebon Tides, Demon Cults and Secret Societies, Southlands, and more all into one campaign. I think thats one way to get a lot of value out of a single campaign – find ways to mash in other campaign ideas. Good luck!

We never did schedule a second one and I started doing my own Talk Show instead of doing the deep dives because scheduling is just a headache as is recording and mastering for two people instead of one. Not a great reason but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hi Spencer! I don't think what I have in front of me is any more interesting than what anyone else has in front of them. I asked the question to Twitter and here's the thread: https://twitter.com/SlyFlourish/status/1570759726916599808 For me personally, in person I have much of what I describe in this article: https://slyflourish.com/lazy_dm_tools.html For in-person games I have: - The Lazy D&D cheat sheet - A printout of character info converted from Notion into Excel with names, class, race, backgrounds, passive scores, trained skills, and languages. - The books I need to run the game, often the monster book and adventure book. - A bunch of pencils - A bunch of 3x5 cards - A couple of dry-erase markers - My fancy Wyrmwood dice tray with my fancy metal dice For online games I have Discord, Notion, PDFs if I'm using PDFs or D&D Beyond if I'm using WOTC published material, often Owlbear Rodeo if I'm showing a map. That's about it!

Hi Martin! I talked about this very question in a previous Patreon Q&A here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgozvTGpk20&t=1516s Thanks!

I think they're great fun and a fantastic way for a GM to stretch their brain muscles. I loved playing some solo Ironsworn and look forward to Ironsworn Starforged when the physical book comes out. I've also played more solo journaling games like Thousand Year Vampire which I enjoyed a lot.

Hi Jill! I subscribe to a concept I call "spiral campaign development" in which you focus first on what is directly around the characters and build outward. I'm not a big fan of spending a lot of time building a rich world of which the characters only see like 5%. You can find more on this idea in chapter 16 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and in the following links: https://youtu.be/y2H9VZhxeWk https://slyflourish.com/thinking_two_horizons_out.html I'm also a huge fan of using published campaign worlds instead of writing my own: https://slyflourish.com/case_for_published_adventures.html Some published campaign worlds I'd recommend include: - Midgard by Kobold Press - Eberron by Keith Baker, particularly Eberron Rising from the Last War. - Tal'dorei Reborn by Darrington Press - Ptolus by Monte Cook Games - Planegea by Atlas Games - Ravnica by WOTC - Theros by WOTC - Dungeons of Drakkenheim by Ghostfire Gaming and the Dungeon Dudes. See my other product spotlights for more details: https://slyflourish.com/talk_show_database_897a3ca6dac5f425b98d1ac85cd6962d/ Type "Product Spotlight" into the search bar.

Hi Alex! Johnn Four and I answered this question in one of a series of videos we shot to promote our own patreons. The first of the video series covered this very topic here: https://youtu.be/L0xYZZoxVY0

That's so awesome to hear!! Yay for Grendleroot! You could make some 3rd level pregens that are pretty easy to play and offer those up. 3rd level characters are pretty strong. Consider using my Fantastic Adventures pregens here: https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/fantastic_adventures_pregen_characters.pdf I also would consider picking higher level adventures when you know you're only going to have higher level characters from players who have already been there. Consider having a handful of 1st to 3rd level scenarios ready when you have new players and use the 4th and 5th level scenarios when you have groups already fully prepared. Many times when I've seen pickup groups like this, the same people end up coming up week to week so it ends up being a normal group. Good luck!

I don't think the six truths should spell out the villains at all. Here were the three truths I used in my own Dragon Heist game: It's been five years since the end of the War of the Dragon Queen. Numerous villages, towns, and cities lost tremendous amounts of coin when raided by the Cult of the Dragon. Much of it was never recovered. Due to his negligence and preferential treatment for Neverwinter, Lord Degault Neverember lost his seat as the Open Lord of Waterdeep to Lariel Silverhand, the current open lord of Waterdeep. Crime is on the rise. Numerous criminal factions in Waterdeep appear more active, going so far as to fight one another in the streets. In response, the High Wizard of Waterdeep, Vajra "Blackstaff" Safahr, has activated her independent enforcers, Force Gray and the Gray Hands. You can see more about how I set up the campaign here: https://slyflourish.com/dragon_heist_session_zero.html

That's hard to say but my wife's bearfolk barbarian occultist is a fun mix. I think having backgrounds that *don't* fit one's typical archetype are great fun. Shadow of the Demon Lord seemed to handle the mix of backgrounds and classes the best, I think because your whole first session you are *only* your background before you pick a class.

Great question!! I'd want books I can use over and over - ones that give me tons of material. Looking at my shelves I'd probably say: - The new Dread Thingonomicon by Raging Swan because its huge and has a million random tables focused on different settings. - The Midgard Worldbook by Kobold Press because its packed with world-building ideas for our own campaigns or to use directly. - The Level Up 5e Monstrous Menagerie because its packed with well-balanced and well-tested monsters and has lots of good advice for building encounters, including treasure, and building your own monsters.

they can handle mapping, turn order, search in manuals, everything that takes a load of the GM so that the new GM can center on less things.

Yes! While running Tomb of Annihilation the characters used tiny hut a lot. I had the caretaker of the dungeon surround the hut with hundreds of crawling claws so when it burst everyone was covered in crawling claws. They used it in the swamp too and people from outside kept a vigil, aiming arrows until it broke and everyone got peppered with arrows. Not the most ingenious solutions. The big thing to remember with Tiny Hut is that the world moves on outside of it. Having the characters imprisoned in a little hut for eight hours gives the bad guys lots of time to move their own plans forward. It doesn't work in all circumstances but its one way to deal with tiny hut.

I'm also interested in Mike answer, but I've gotten a lot out of both of these: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/211634/Ebonclad--A-Thieves-Guild-Setting--Adventures https://koboldpress.com/kpstore/product/streets-of-zobeck-for-5th-edition/

Thanks for passing the question along from Discord! I started off making a Patreon because they were about to raise their rates and I could get in and get grandfathered into the cheaper rate. I started it off as just a monthly tip jar. You like what I provide? This is a way to give back. I did intend to do a monthly newsletter thorugh it with links to articles and videos that patrons helped produce. Those didn't really get a lot of traction so I've generally stopped doing them. Instead, I started offering things to Patreons beginning with Rats in the Cellar and now everything else you can find on the rewards page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/exclusive-for-34953933 The number of Patreons has gone way up because of two things: 1. YouTube now brings in a lot of Patrons. Youtube growth has brought a lot of new people to the work I do in general but certainly with Patreon. 2. People are much more likely to drop a couple bucks a month if they're getting something for it. The exclusive adventures, previews, city guidebooks, and all of the rest certainly attract people to the Patreon. I think there's such a thing as overdoing it though. I beloong to a lot of Patreons and mostly I just do it to support the creator. They often put out TONS of stuff but I really don't have the time to look at all of it and I imagine this istrue for Sly Flourish patrons as well. So I always assume no one has looked at any of the rewards and try to keep the rewards page easy to follow with clear tangible products. I'll update existing products more than putting out new ones. I'll add a couple of pages to the City of Arches for example instead of coming up with a whole new thing. I have found it TREMENDOUSLY valuable to preview material to patrons and to the Patreon discord server for things that may end up as a Kickstarter project later. That worked really well for the Lazy DM's Companion. Because this material often becomes another pay product, I don't mind having a lower price for the Patreon for the amount of stuff I'm putting out. Hope that answers your question!

Thanks for bringing this over from Discord! I think my first content-for-money was the original Sly Flourish's Dungeon Master Tips (now available for free at https://slyflourish.com/dm_tips_ebook.html ). I don't think I ever worried about charging for it. The main problem was how and where. DriveThruRPG wasn't really a thing I understood so I sold it directly through Paypal and then Lulu for print on demand. I think I charged $5 which seemed reasonable. Running Epic Tier Games (also free at https://slyflourish.com/sly_flourishs_running_epic_tier_dd_games.html ) was next. It never sold well but that was fine. It paid for its own costs. So I guess I never worried about the idea that my own stuff wasn't worth money. I certainly aimed (and aim) to ensure people get their money's worth from my stuff. I do that by constantly asking "what's in it for them? Why should they give a shit? What am I giving them that's making their lives better?" It's not a matter of being worthy or not. It's just a matter of helping people out. I wrote TONS of stuff, probably a million words published on various websites, before I started selling books so I was comfortable exposing my words to people. Mostly its about trying to help people. If they give me $10 for the Companion, how do I make sure they're getting more than $10 of value from it? I'm pretty happy with what I provide these days.

Well, the easiest way to handle tracking gear is not to track it =) I don't know that I know of a good system already for 5e. You might look at 5e Hardcore Mode https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/303156/5e-HARDCORE-MODE which has rules for things like that. I don't really run games that way so I can't say for sure. Good luck!

I generally don't worry about CR once I've started customizing monsters for my game because your knowledge of the players and what they bring to the table outstrips any mathematical calculation you do with CR. You really have to try it out and see. That said, exhaustion can be nasty. If they're only fighting one of the creatures, thats probably not so bad. But if you throw a bunch of exhausting bladewrathes at them, that could be trouble. Really, the only answer is "try it and see!"

Ha! You're violating the one-question rule but I forgive you. 1. One shouldn't assume I don't like a book I've not talked about on the show. There are just too many to review, frankly. I AM going to talk about Planebreaker this Sunday and I DO love it! 2. I haven't checked out Dark Matter. Sorry! I do love Esper Genesis – another 5e SF game. 3. I don't know that I can provide a great answer. I'd have to see how it plays out and I'd make the decision the closer you get to the end of the campaign. Are your players begging for more or are they ready to move on? You can break out of character and just ask them. Hope that helps!

3.5 granted feats at certain levels. Hearing you call them mandatory struck me as funny because most of the players I have love character building and would jump at a free feat at 1st level. If they are giving more feats in 1D&D they'll probably be toned down and less complicated like they were in 4e. If you're upset about mandatory feats (lol) I'd definitely think about playing an osr clone like old school essentials I'm pretty sure rules as written you can play with mostly d20s and d6s. D6s for initiative, weapon damage, skills, reaction rolls etc. I bought EZD6 and its a solid game, looks like alot of fun. Spell casting seems a little wonky but it might be better in play. Heres a few more game ideas, Fate Accelerated (Fate Dice), cypher system (primarily D20), Tiny Dungeon (D6). You can make your D&D game as simple or as complicated as you and your players like it. Homebrew the crap out of it bud.

Nothing beyond the current article: https://slyflourish.com/running_ravenloft.html One thing worth noting is that I've never had the characters get all three items. They can best get one or two. I might mention that to them so they don't freak out if they don't get three.

Hi Moonbird! The short answer is that NPC stat blocks are simplified because DMs have too much on their plate to manage a number of full characters. NPC stat blocks abstract the complexity of full characters. Regarding their power, you can't compare an NPC stat block to the hit dice of a character. Instead, you have to consider challenge rating to level. At 1st to 4th level, a monster is roughly the equivalent of a character if its CR is 1/4th of the characters level. At 5th to 10th level, a monster is roughly the equivalent of a character if its CR is 1/2th of the characters level. At 11th to 16th level, a monster is roughly the equivalent of a character if its CR is 3/4th of the characters level. At 17th to 20th level, a monster is roughly the equivalent of a character if its CR is equal to the characters level. Some DMs want crunchier NPCs than those found in the Monster Manual. Some third party books like those from 2C Gaming and others include richer NPCs with more options. For me, I'm happy with the existing NPC stat blocks and I can just give them other abilities if I want them to be more complex.

This is an age-old problem. The roughest answer is, I don't play with players like that. I try to filter them out before we ever come to the table. Other ways are to play in the theater of the mind to break them out of a tactical mind-set. Another way is to sit down and have an adult conversation about it. Let them know you're not really enjoying the game when it's played like that. This sort of conversation gets out of the arms-race between players and DMs. Another way is to keep the game below 5th level or 7th level; the two levels where most of these sorts of effects begin. It gets worse as the characters increase. One thing to consider with the description you provide is that they can't adversely effect a creature *before* initiative is rolled. Regardless of the circumstances, if they're going to attack someone, initiative is rolled. You can't ready an action before initiative. The arms-race is another way to do it. They may have lots of optimal character options but you have an infinite number of monsters with infinite amounts of hit points, attacks, and damage they can do. Add more monsters, give them stronger attacks, and increase their hit points. Give bosses legendary resistances. Have multiple bosses in one battle. Run waves of combatants without rests in between. There are lots of ways to challenge characters. Often these will take a lot of time at the table though so be ready. Hope that helps!

Hi Steven! Good question! This might be confirmation bias but I don't think there's anything in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master I regret having in there. In the chapter on Fantastic Locations I recommend having three aspects for each location. That's not really necessary for most places, I think. Just an evocative name is enough for most locations. When I wrote it, my idea of locations had fewer numbers of big evocative chambers while now I think of larger numbers of locations with many smaller rooms and a few big rooms. Still, I don't regret it. I think I picked up jargon from Dungeon World that might have been more easily simplified. "Fronts" for example, I largely just refer to as "villains". And sometimes a "villain" might be bad weather or an asteroid or some other non-sentient malevolent force. There's lots of stuff I've learned *since* then that I'd have probably added to the book. You can find just about all of that in the Lazy DM's Companion. I think those two books work really well together.

mike's past advice is: generally avoid them, as they are often difficult to pull off. If you proceed anyway, check out: https://slyflourish.com/facilitating_empowered_investigation.html https://slyflourish.com/managing_mysteries_and_plot_twists.html

Great question. This is where we have to balance "Realism" with "fun". I always start by asking "what makes sense given the situation in the world" first. If it makes sense that a creature would hit a downed character, that's something to consider. If it makes sense that the creature would just knock them out and then worry about another threat, that's something to consider too. But the next question is "what is most fun for the situation right now?" If, given the current situation, it makes sense that a creature would attack a downed character, we can ask ourselves "is that fun?" Will it bring up the tension in a way that's exciting? Or will it be a total downer? Killing a character can be rough. It can be sad. It can be exciting. I think its worth getting a feel for the situation. One thing I often do is telegraph that a monster might hit a downed character early so the players can react to it. If a gnoll knocks out a character, at the end of their turn I will say that the gnoll draws up its spear for a killing strike and they better deal with that gnoll or the character's a goner. This way there's the suspense of deadliness without the actual death part. So three things: 1. Ask yourself what makes sense given the sitation. 2. Ask if that would result in some fun in the game or would it really suck. 3. Choose whether to go with what makes sense if it would generally result in an exciting game. 3. Telegraph that you're going to hit a downed character early so it adds tension and pushes the characters to act.

Because Witchlight doesn't focus on combat, you can probably run it as written without too much. Thither and Yon fit better for level 6 characters than Hither or the carnival so thats something to consider. You might have them jump right into Thither. There are lots of other fey-ish stuff you could add in. You could drop in some Shadowfey elves from Kobold Press. You could add in agents of the Winter Court who might be trying to take over. This gives opportunities for higher-CR opponents. Imagine what major tier-2ish faction might invade Prismeer while their guards are down so you have a whole other angle of threats the characters might face.

This is an outstanding question! Just as we should try to define the characteristics we're looking for in our ideal players (recognizing that OUR ideal players aren't necessarily EVERYONE's ideal players), I think it makes sense that we, as DM, describe our style in a way that clarifies how we're different from other DMs. I wrote a little about this idea here: https://slyflourish.com/interviewing_new_players.html I know when I describe my own DM style to potential new players, I clarify the following: - I'm a DM who focuses mostly on the evolving story of the game itself. - I play either online or in-person. - I run a mix of abstract and "theater of the mind" combat styles. I'm not a tactical DM who focuses on the 5 foot grid. Half or more of battles are in theater of the mind (this immediately filters out a lot of players which is fine). - I use Discord, D&D Beyond, and Owlbear Rodeo. I don't use Roll 20 (this also filters out a lot of players). - I'm a loosy-goosy DM. I don't hang on too tight to the story, the characters' story, the rules, or just about anything else. - I make mistakes but we keep rolling on. If a player is looking for a tight cohesive narrative arc, I might not be able to provide that. In many ways I try to think about my style of DMing and how it would turn players off. Instead of selling myself as a DM, I'm happy for them to recognize that I might not be their ideal DM and move on before we start. If I'm looking for a DM, I'd probably look at the following criteria: - Are they a tactical or story-focused DM? - Do they consider themselves a "killer" DM? - Are they opponents of or fans of the characters? - What parts of the game do *they* enjoy most? - Where do they spend most of their prep time? Of course, nothing works better than running a one-shot or a short number of games to see if things gel. Hope that helps!

I don't. I sort of think of conflicting secrets the same way I think about false leads. The world is already complicated enough without making it more complicated. I tend not to put false leads in front of the characters because I don't want them to waste their time chasing something down that turns out to be a dead end. Following the true story is hard enough.

Downtime activities are a great way to spend an evening game time. Remember the characters that want to build a weapons shop either have to purchace, find, barter for or create the weapons. That takes GOLD to do. If they are into creating weapons and armor they will need to get a suplier of raw materials. This is where you as the DM can guide their activities. A weapons shop can be an excellent way to spend downtime...

Oh so many! I think westerns are great seeds for campaign plots because they often don't have pre-determined outcomes. You're there watching the characters navigate the situation. Some great westerns include: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Fistful of Dollars A Few Dollars More My favorite is the TV Show Deadwood. I steal from that show all the time. So Trope-wise, I'd say: - The characters defend a village from brigands. - The characters are one of three groups trying to recover a big treasure. - The characters navigate two rival gangs who have taken over a town or region with opportunities to work one against the other. - The characters hunt down an escaped bad guy. Those are some really good ones.

Hi Peter! Chapter 16 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master talks about building a "lazy" campaign which is essentially a spiral campaign. It notes the importance of having a clear goal for the campaign that the characters know and truths of the world that the players can use to both understand and build characters around. I also like to offer a one-page campaign sheet that gives the players enough information to build a character. Most of the time this works well. Here are some examples: https://slyflourish_content.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/frostmaiden_one_page_campaign_guide.pdf https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/empire_of_the_ghouls_campaign_sheet.pdf https://slyflourish_content.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/avernus_campaign_one_page.pdf https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/witchlight_one_page_campaign_guide.pdf https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/eberron_campaign_one-sheet.pdf https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/ghosts_of_saltmarsh_players_guide.pdf

I was running two groups for two years and only once did I use the same material for both groups. It was a nightmare keeping track of where the separate groups were. That will be your greatest challenge.

Hi Jesse! I've poked around at Midjourney and thought it was really cool. Often a google search gives me images I can use in my games so I don't often need them generated – they already exist. I think AI-generated art can be a really great lazy DM tool as long as it doesn't take too long to monkey around with it.

Hi Matt! It's important to remember that secrets serve you: https://slyflourish.com/secrets_serve_you.html It's perfectly fine if secrets don't come about. If they're really important, you'll remember to drop them in. I do like to keep my secrets in front of me and check them off as I run the game. This helps me review what's there and see if anything else might get dropped in. In person, I print them out. Online I keep Notion in front of me.

Hi Tim! I wrote about how to introduce towns in this article: https://slyflourish.com/introducing_towns.html These video clips might also help: https://youtube.com/watch?v=b_KTdoDX08c&t=2473s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3VHlc65c1s&list=PLb39x-29puaoZke5BVk7fjyyyjWXcxCu1&index=23&t=3289s Good luck!

Hi Ryan! That idea sounds great and I don't think the tone shift between Rime of the FrostMaiden and the Domains of Dread shifts that far. Both have that dark undertone going on. I think leaning in on the differences between the two domains is great. You can show the fun differences and have the two domains merging together. Old caves in Barovia might lead back to the frozen lands of Icewind Dale and the like. Sounds like fun!

I know you have touched on West Marches stuff briefly, but really I guess I'm asking for a dedicated West Marches advice video, similar to your article about running Ruins of the Grendleroot as a WM game. Thanks again!