August 2023 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A

I'm still figuring out that question in my Shadowdark RPG. I'm still hanging onto the idea of upward and downward beats and I'll move the needle for the fun of the game. I always tried to start with "what makes sense in the situation" before I leaped to changing things. I can do the same with random encounters. Let me see what the dice come up with first and only if I think its truly antithetical to a good time do I change things up. I think we can enjoy Shadowdark and other OSR games and still have a handle on the beats of the story.

Hi Thaigo! I haven't had the time to dig into the topic more deeply than the last time I talked about it. I think focusing campaigns down so that we can run more of them is a fine way to go. How do you get the most out of Dragonlance or Midgard or Ptolus in just a short ten sessions, say. Shadow of the Demon Lord and Shadow of the Weird Wizard is built around the idea of ten to eleven sessions. I think we can take this to other RPGs as well. One thing I've enjoyed is fitting smaller campaigns with different systems and settings between larger ones. I did this with Blades in the Dark and Spelljammer and I'm currently in the middle of what I think will be two shorter campaigns: Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands and Shadowdark RPG. My other suggestion is to find the one that grabs you the most and run with it – focus on what's fun and know that one day you'll get to jump into those other settings. Finally, we can always be inspired by these other settings even if we don't use them. It's great just to live in them for a little while while we read them. Hope that helps!

I didn't watch the video but I've seen a lot of people throwing around a lot of numbers. All of them are incomplete, however, so I don't find them particularly useful or interesting since there are variables that could change the whole story. I also find people use these data to try to reinforce their existing beliefs: "WOTC's sales show how strong the OSR community is!" "Critical Role's new RPG is killing D&D!!". Honestly, even if they *were* accurate, it does't really matter. What matters is what we run for our friends each week.

I usually put it in the "Locations" step but it really can spread around multiple steps including "scenes", "npcs", "secrets and clues", and "locations". Really the eight steps help you build the pieces of a situation: - Locations (Locations) - Inhabitants (Monsters and NPCs) - Behaviors (secrets and clues) - Goals (Scenes, secrets) - Compilations (Monsters, NPCs, secrets) and then the situation comes out as you run it.

Definitely the Monstrous Menagerie by Level Up Advanced 5e's En World Publishing. It covers all the monsters in the Monster Manual plus a bunch of others, has some excellent tables for monster loot and monster lore, and far better designed monsters overall. It's fantastic. It was my favorite product of 2022. Here's what I said in my favorite products of 2022: A drop-in replacement for the standard Monster Manual, the Monstrous Menagerie is one of the three core books of the Level Up Advanced 5e RPG system. Developed by Paul Hughes of the Blog of Holding, the mathematics behind the monsters in the Menagerie is top-notch — far better balanced than what you'll find in the Monster Manual. The monster design leans towards complexity, so if you prefer simpler monsters, this might not be for you. Advancements like epic monsters gives you true powerhouse boss monsters sure to put your heroes on their toes. This book is absolutely packed with awesome monsters and gets my personal award for best 5e product of 2022 even though it came out in late 2021.

I'd let it go. The real story is the one happening at the table, not the one we develop ahead of time. If some foreshadowing gets missed, such is life. The other thing is to figure out where to drop in those elements later. The value of abstract secrets and clues is that we can keep a handle on them and find new places to drop them in. Good luck!

Hi Adam! I just wrote an article about this a couple of months ago! https://slyflourish.com/drawing_maps.html This episode of the Talk Show also covered maps a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waRV3ZNjevc

Yeah, shipping outside of the US (even inside the US) is a real nightmare right now. It's *very* expensive. I get complaints all the time about our overseas shipping prices and we're actually covering *half* of those costs ourselves. Its just terrible. I think the best thing to do is buy a PDF, find a local printer that can do a spiral binding, and have them bind a spiral color version. The cost isn't cheap but its way cheaper than shipping an expensive book. Some countries have better access to print on demand copies through Amazon and DriveThruRPG. We here in the Sly Flourish empire are trying to find ways to ensure other countries can get print on demand copies cheaper. But that's not a perfect solution either. Printing a PDF at a local printer is my best suggestion.

I love the format the book took, with its focus on lots of material from which I could build a campaign for my group. I thought the world itself had lots of opportunities for adventures. I *loved* the art. I thought the ten factions were really interesting and offered a lot of opportunity for different types of quests and tension between factions. I think I liked that book almost as much as I liked the Eberron campaign sourcebook. It's just a really useful book I could come back to years later and run a campaign with.

I tend not to have an overall structure or theme to an entire campaign. Some campaigns might lean one way or another on their own but I don't start with a "this is going to be an adventure of political intrigue" versus "this is going to be an adventure of dungeon delving". Again, I might find that a campaign leans one way or another but I don't define them by an overall structure. Instead, I like to let the structure of each smaller part of the adventure, or even the session, define itself. I think this leads to a more open-ended structure for the campaign itself that defines itself as the game moves on.

Yes, there can definitely be too many secrets and clues. Ten is a good number and your own number may vary but too many and you can't keep them all in your head at any given moment. Keep these focused on the question of what the characters may learn *in the next session*. Don't fill it up with bigger secrets that happen later. Focus on what they're likely to know *now*. It's fantastic to have someone really invested in the lore they pick up. That's awesome.

Hi Jason! Seniority first probably. If someone's been consistent at the game for along time, they get to keep their seat from campaign to campaign. Next would be availability. If one person is more often consistently available, I might ask someone who isn't as available if they're willing to be "on call". I don't think I'd use other systems other than that. Clear, open ,and careful adult conversations are important here. Feelings can definitely get hurt.

I can't say if you're overthinking it or not but treasure can be there for lots of reasons. For fun, think up ten ways treasure might be around in a lair or dungeon. Here's my list: * Dead adventurers left their gear. * Secret treasure-laden shrine to a forgotten god. * Someone hid a hoard and forgot about it. * Bandits stashed stolen goods. * Tomb of vault to a dark god (something you don't mind robbing). * Gift of dowry never recovered. * Bait to lure in adventurers. * Tribute to a powerful beast. * Objects of a villain's admiration. * Transporting the goods for someone else.

Hi Bo! My article on "Our Ability Check Toolbox" covers a lot of this topic: https://slyflourish.com/ability_check_toolbox.html The main thing is to focus on what the ability checks and DCs mean in the world first – not what is a challenge or not a challenge. If it makes sense that a whole group can try a particular check – let them. If it makes sense that only one character can attempt it – limit it to just one. Choose the DC based on the actual difficulty in the world. If it's below, say, 10 – just skip it and tell them the answer. If someone's really good at something, just let them do it. You don't have to roll for every lock picking of shackles by an 8th level rogue or something. Group checks may always succeed but *who* succeeds may be the interesting part of the story. Focus on that.

That's a good question! I can't say for sure until I run the whole thing but a big part of what i'd cut is likely travel. I think I'd say right up front that you're going to handwave a bunch of travel, maybe offer some campfire tales and downtime as the characters move from place to place. Look at each chapter and ask what the big beats are. Focus on those beats, avoid sub-quests and tangents, and follow the main outline of the adventure. If it's eight months of weekly games, that's still a lot of time to enjoy the adventure. But cutting down the travel time and turning it into brief montages would be my first big effort.

That's a hard situation (and I know you discussed it in the Discord server as well – I didn't really have anything valuable to add). I'd try to make sure they're ok and offer some options, including taking the defend action to imposed disadvantage on attacking creatures if they need more time to move on. It really depends on the person and what happened. Some just get overwhelmed with lots of choices and no clear optimal path. I'd try to gently steer them towards a good path and try to move forward. I might have a conversation with them afterwards to explain my approach and see if they need help in such situations in some other ideal way.

Typically secrets aren't something you *miss*. They just didn't happen. Secrets aren't *real* until they happen in the game. They can change. They can be invalidated by new directions. I don't typically share unshared secrets because they could come up elsewhere. My players haven't asked, though, but I probably wouldn't reveal them because they're not necessarily true or real. What happened in the game is what's true and real.

Strong starts don't need to take a lot of time. A common strong start is a battle of some sort but it needn't be a *big* battle, or even a battle at all. The key to a strong start is "something happens". An NPC comes into the bar bleeding and screaming for help. A meteor streaks across the sky and blows up over the horizon. A swirling red storm portends a villainous plot. See the example strong starts in the Lazy GM's Resource Document for more examples: https://slyflourish.com/lazy_gm_resource_document.html#strongstarts These scenes shouldn't take away from the time of your session – they're *part* of that session. Some can be short, some can be long, but they're just as important (maybe more important) as any other scene in the game. For a one-shot, consider the strong start being a jump-cut right into the action. Instead of *offering* them the job, they already *have* the job. You can always flash back to how they got there and what the goal is but maybe the first thing that happens is the ground collapsing under their feet as they end up in the hidden shrine of tamoachan.

I typically reveal half of the secrets I prepare. Secrets serve you and your players – you are under no obligation to use them or reveal them. They're a tool to help your game run on time. https://slyflourish.com/secrets_serve_you.html One good trick I use is to review my secrets right before the game and then during the game itself to make sure they're fresh in my mind when I'm running the game. Secrets are the rewards of exploration. If you already feel like the players are getting those rewards, you're all set. Don't beat yourself up on how many secrets you reveal. They're there to paint the scenery.

I definitely explain them up front. I've recently added the luck mechanic from Tales of the Valiant into my D&D games. I did so through an in-world method (recovering an amulet to the Wyrdweaver, the god of luck) and then explained the mechanics. I think explaining the mechanics is a good way to make sure the players are on board. Same with legendary monsters or minions. I haven't run Flee Mortals monsters yet but I'd definitely explain their differences in a general level before the players start seeing new mechanics they're not used to.

Hi Jay! A couple of things. First, pacing is critical. Cut the boring middle if you have to. Don't rob the group of the conclusion. Be ruthless with time because time is ruthless with you. Second, make sure you have the physical stuff you need to run the game. Print out maps and handouts if you can. Know how you're going to run the various parts of the game physically. Lay it all out ahead of time so you know what you need and what you have to run your game. My deep dive with David Christ of Baldman Games can be of use: https://slyflourish.com/deep_dive_with_david_christ.html And here are some other articles to note: https://slyflourish.com/running_games_for_the_adventurers_league.html https://slyflourish.com/dm_deep_dive_organized_play.html https://slyflourish.com/streaming_changes_op_paige_leightman.html https://slyflourish.com/pacing.html Hope this helps!

You can take a look at the blogs I follow here: https://dndblogs.com/rpg_blogroll.html I really learn by looking at awesome products, many of which I spotlight on the talk show. I tend to learn more from these than I do from other sorts of media.

One way is to treat the desert like you'd treat any land you might travel over. What are the locations in the desert and what are the paths that can take you there? For location ideas, take a look at the recent City of Arches section I put together called the Western Deadlands. You can also check out Southlands by Kobold Press and many different books have random locations for desert sorts of places. I find what works best is to sit down and try to think up ten or twenty interesting locations the characters might find in the desert and the twenty potential paths that might take them there like "trail of bones" or "dried riverbed" or "the stretched dead wyrm". That sort of thing. I think the desert is as interesting, if not more interesting, than most overland locations through which the characters might travel.

Good question! I've only played a little BG3 back when it was in early access and now I'm waiting for the PS5 version. I might recommend running some adventures along the line of my Githyanki vs Mindflayer campaign thread: https://slyflourish.com/1_to_20_githyanki_campaign.html The Spelljammer adventure might also be fun.

First off, running a game for ten players already sounds exhausting! I tend to find the game breaks down above six players. Also, 24 hours of prep time likewise seems like an awful lot. Last I heard, Matt Mercer spent about eight hours prepping for a critical role episode that had hundreds of thousands of viewers. I think its worth taking a step back and looking at where that time is being spent for your game prep. Write down each of the major components, how long they take, and how important they are. Look for the high-drag low-value activities and see if you can find an easier way – a faster way. This is what the whole Lazy DM process is all about – prepare what you need to run your game and nothing else. You can also set goals for yourself to help you get more prep done in less time. What if you only had an hour to prep? What steps would you do? But yeah, I'd take a hard look at that 24 hours of prep and see what I could do to trim it way down.

One of the great things about being on the DM side of the DM screen is that we can try all sorts of stuff and it's no harm or foul (unless we inadvertently TPK). We can try stuff all we want, throw out what doesn't work, and keep what does. I haven't tried out Doom rules yet from Tales of the Valiant, but I love the luck mechanics! Feel free to modify monsters however you want to suit the game you want to run. No designer knows you or your group specifically.

The answer to all of your questions is – of course you can do it that way. Moving Macguffins around is totally fine. (https://slyflourish.com/timing_and_pacing_adventures.html). If you have a key the characters need to find, moving the key is totally fine. If you have a particular piece of information the characters should learn, moving that info to the NPC the characters run into is totally fine. Some DMs think that breaks the game somehow. I don't think so. I think it's a slog to have to go through every corner of an adventure to find the stupid thing you need to move forward. The key that didn't cooperate came in the adventure Waterdeep Dragon Heist and it was there to force a chase which sucks. THAT is railroading. Changing the situation around so the path the characters chose leads down the path to a better story isn't railroading. That's paving the path in front of the characters.

Honestly, the way 5e plays out, there isn't a good way to get better control over the difficulty. We have some tables in Forge of Foes that breaks out potential difficult encounters based on the number of monsters and their mix of CRs. But really, there are too many variables for any given specific situation to come up with a more accurate system. One thing you can do is take notes on the characters themselves and how they manage different types of encounters. Of course, they're changing too as they gain levels and get new items, but it's more accurate to look at your own characters and what is difficult *for them* and then judge based on that. As far as waves go, you can use the DEB for each wave keeping in mind how soon one wave triggers after another. If they're wiping out a whole wave before the next shows up, that won't be as hard as a battle where only half of the first wave is dead before the second one comes out. I don't know that I'd assign a fixed percentage to it, though. You'll have to use the DEB as a gauge and work from there.

First, we shouldn't force players to enjoy the game in a way that's different from the way they want to enjoy it. It's ok if they don't want to roleplay the same way (or at all). They may not be comfortable getting into character but they may be comfortable talking about their character in the third person. Some ways to get players into the story is to ask them what they see, what their character looks like, what their particular attacks look like, what their killing blow looks like, identifying interesting physical characteristics of the monsters they're fighting. You can also use campfire tales to have them describe what they're thinking through the eyes and minds of their characters: https://slyflourish.com/campfire_talk.html

I've run some pretty big dungeons. I think the key is to make sure it remains interesting. Watch those story beats. Ensure it's not just a slog through bad stuff. Let them surprise enemies. Let them find hidden areas they can rest in. Let them discover and disarm traps. Ensure they're learning new things as they go through it. Scarlet Citadel was a great big dungeon but it always felt fresh. New places to explore. New NPCs to meet. And they got to watch the dungeon evolve as they cleared out particular enemies.

The YouTube search on the Sly Flourish channel might help you find other deep dives of 13th Age and Shadow of the Demon Lord. Blades in the Dark is there too. I run such deep dives when I actually run the system and I run it when it feels like I want to and feels like my groups would enjoy it. So it's not an organized thing. It just happens.

Yeah, I try to do it at the end of a session when I can, or close to it. You could even basically have them make the choice for the next direction even if they're in the middle of the last one. It might be an out-of-game discussion "if you're not all killed by the two-headed crocodile, where do you think you might head to next? The haunted fortress? The cairn under the dead tree? Or maybe the corrupted temple?"

I just read a section of the Kickstarter for Dolmenwood https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0017/2330/1933/files/Dolmenwood_Preview.pdf?v=1689023512 On page 44 it has four player roles: Caller, Mapper, Quartermaster, and Chronicler. I think this is a really cool idea. You might have your own list of player roles but I dig the idea of a Caller or Leader who ensures the group comes to a consensus on any given decision, a dedicated mapper, and chronicler. I think that's pretty cool and I may suggest it for my Shadowdark RPG game. One other I might add for 5e is the rules lawyer who looks up particular rules and an initiative tracker who can track initiative in combat.

In my experience, players don't mind when you offer suggestions or options they hadn't thought of or didn't even know they could do. I wouldn't shy away from such suggestions as long as they don't totally dominate the players' choices. As long as they have meaningful choices to make on their own, I think it's fine to suggest things.

Dee-oh-bow-vin-ee-us!

I think its all about framing the campaign and making that frame clear to the players. My group was ready for a typical old-school D&D fantasy game after the whimsical mayhem of Spelljammer. Just because its back to Euro-centric dungeon-delving doesn't mean it's boring. The focus is just different. The main thing, I think, is ensuring your players are on board with the transition and clarifying what sets this new campaign apart from the previous and all other potential campaigns. I don't think we have to apologize or make up for going back to a classic fantasy game. A lot of players are actually eager to return to the roots of the game.

Immersion and credibility usually take a back seat when the players understand how the whole system or process works. We just had new characters wander in when old ones died. They'd show up the very next turn of the player. They did get to pick up the loot which added to the humor "he only had one hit point but he had a torch!". These sorts of adventures aren't about building a cohesive in-world character-driven story. They're about throwing dice and laughing as your third character is beheaded by a rusty bandit's sword.

I definitely think we have to think responsibly for the work we make. I don't think that means it can't just be fun. The idea that it has to be on a spectrum like that is probably part of the problem. I don't think every RPG product needs to be solving every problem in the world but I think we can build fantastic products and fantastic worlds that are better than our own, even if they have truly awful villains. Radiant Citadel is a good example. It's just plain fun besides the fact that it breaks away from cultulral stereotypes and Euro-centric fantasy. I see my own City of Arches that way. I wanted a world where any species was viable for character options and one where any species could have any behavior or alignment (including bad ones) based on the magic of the arches themselves. I didn't see it as a way to make it important or solve racism and bioessentialsim in the world but I did see it as an opportunity to build a world that breaks away from the boring humdrum Euro-centric colonialist tropes of the RPGs of yore. So I think it can focus on both fun and responsibility. I don't think one precludes the other.

I think both players and GMs alike have a tendency to focus on the mechanics as the way to define the story of a character or monster or whatever when that's simply not true. The crunchier the game, the more players and GMs depend on that crunch to define the story, which is a bummer. Sure, clerics can start defining themselves before they get a subclass. Sure, a bard who gives out cookies is awesome. We don't need a grandma bard cookie subclass. Whenever I hear "monsters are just a boring bag of hit points" I want to respond with "the monster's not boring. You're boring!" but then my wife yells at me. Showing by example is a good way to get others to see this. Describe your own character. Describe monsters, ask them to describe their characters away from their mechanics. Flavor is free, man!

All of the experiences people have, including the advice I give in my books, are levers to help GMs get some benefit from others' experiences. It's knowledge others have learned that newer GMs don't have to learn on their own. But at some point, all the levers won't help and the best way to learn is simply to do it. Run games. Play. See how it comes out. Use those shared experiences but also see what works for you and your group. That said, I still think simple starter adventures are a great way to go. Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle are great adventures to run – straight forward and simple. But really, at some point, one just has to run games. It's easy to get hooked on all of the advice out there but nothing teaches like experience as they say.

This is highly dependent on the players and the GM. Some players and GMs prefer that sort of competitive, tactical play. Others want to focus more on the story. Sometimes the system can help dictate that direction. Gumshoe feels different than 5e which feels different than Call of Cthulhu. As far as getting players to play more to the story of their character, I think there are ways we can drive that home: - Ask them to describe what their moves look like in the world. What did that sword cut look like? What was their final blow like? - Ask for campfire tales. While hanging around a campfire on a long rest, what are their characters thinking about? Where did they come from? Where do they want to go? - A favorite of mine is to include intelligent magical items the players can talk to and learn from. It's a good way to always have some roleplaying going on.

What you're doing sounds great to me! There's actually a few good RPG variants on "yes and": "Yes, but": Yes, that thing happens but so does this other thing. Or yes, you can do that but at this cost. This is a great improvisational technique for RPGs. "No, but". No, that thing isn't true but this other thing is. No, you can't do that but you can do this. There's not really a "no, and" which would just be a big negative "no, and this other shitty thing happens". The only time "yes, and" sort of improv breaks down is if it breaks down the verisimilitude of the world. Too much "yes, and" and the world starts to feel ethereal. It loses its reality. Its sense of stability. Anything can happen. This is why we prep things that feel real.

In my experience, players are eager to try new stuff out. If its a choice between Tome of Heroes by Kobold Press and the crusty old subclasses from the Player's Handbook, I bet they go for the options in Tome of Heroes. Otherwise, if they're enjoying the material from the core book, let them. But I bet if you offer those options, they'll go for the new cool shiny stuff. The trouble only really happens if they're using D&D Beyond and want to use *all that other stuff* that D&D Beyond doesn't filter out like Xanathars, Tashas, and all the rest. That's another problem.

This sounds like a great way to do it! I recommend thinking two horizons out: https://slyflourish.com/thinking_two_horizons_out.html Focus on the next session, think about what you have to build out for the world to support that session and maybe lead into the next. Think about three possible locations they might visit. Let them choose one at the end of a session, and then build out that location during your prep. Repeat when they complete a location. As far as new areas go. They likely need a hook, a map of the location (if its like a dungeon), some inhabitants, and some secrets to discover. Hope that helps!

Hello! You probably don't want something like this to hang off of a single check but it could hang off of a series of checks or abilities. First off, its worth noting that the players will be a *lot* happier if they manage to pull off an escape than they will if they fail. It's like finding a trap. Getting hit by a trap isn't nearly as fun as discovering and disabling it. I wouldn't try to pre-stage the situation. I'd let it play out naturally. If the players come up with a creative way to rescue the NPC before the blade drops, give them that opportunity. Otherwise, give them a series of checks they can make to try to get around it. If the series fails, the NPC dies. This could be initiative (to see if they can act before the NPC). It could be an intimidation check. It could be a medicine check to try to save the NPC *after* they get knifed. Hanging important things off of a single check probably isn't the best answer but a series of checks and going with the flow of the situation may work better.

Empire of the Ghouls is a campaign that definitely has wide-ranging travel sequences and multi-location adventures. The key is that our game is still run in sessions. We still need material for our next game. I find pointcrawls to be a great way to offer options for travel and still run typical adventures. I like to drop in set piece encounters during travel to include interesting scenes. You can see how I prep these longer wider-scope campaigns in my campaign notebooks for Eberron and Empire of the Ghouls: https://slyflourish.notion.site/Empire-of-the-Ghouls-6b6e88a7c74748c39c9698cef7227ec0?pvs=4 https://slyflourish.notion.site/Eberron-Second-Mourning-b267948972aa422887029eb1fbd80eb4?pvs=4 And more on point crawls and travel: https://slyflourish.com/running_travel_scenes.html https://slyflourish.com/pointcrawls.html Hope that helps!

I can't speak to Night's Dark Terror. I think Village of Hommlet would be great. I'd recommend running Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands, the Raging Swan take on that style of adventure. It's fantastic. I think the sacred stingbats of Shadowdark include the following: - Torchlight is critical to survival. - Inventory management is baked into a lot of decision making. - Randomness is important for character growth. - Initiative is always on. - Death is swift and brutal. I think some of the 5eisms that could still make it work would be max hit points at 1st level just to give them a little more robustness. I don't know that I'd bring in other mechanics from other systems at this stage. Let's just play the game and see how things work out.

I'd rather they just make more products like Eberron Rising from the Last War, Ravnica, and Van Richten's Guide. I don't think the longer form adventures do service to an entire campaign world. There's a level of production quality for WOTC hardcover books that DM Guild products just don't meet. Sure, we can use old books but there's a new approach to source material these days that builds off of a lot of experience gained over the decades. I think WOTC made a decision to experiment more with bigger adventures as the driver for a campaign world instead of a real campaign sourceobook and I think that leads to a product with a lot less valuable shelf-life for our money.

I only have one Shadowdark game under my belt but, so far, I dig it. I don't know if I'll build tools specifically for Shadowdark but my hope is to build tools, campaigns, adventures, and what not that help run lots of different types of RPGs.

Have you talked to her about it? It might be worth finding out what she likes about it or doesn't like about it to see how you might approach it in the game. Sometimes players are acting like their characters so much that they avoid the part they actually like. Players sometimes go way out of their way to avoid a battle when a battle is precisely what would be the most fun for the situation. You might also work with her on her character to build their background or motivation into one that embraces battle instead of avoiding it – but again, do so knowing that this is what she, as a player, wants. I'd start with a conversation. Ask questions and listen to her answers before coming to a conclusion.

Yeah, from the get-go we knew this was a chapter we wanted to add. Forge of Foes offers our advice on the topic but to give you a few ideas: - Avoid the white savior problem (see Avatar and Dances with Wolves as an example). Oh us poor native folk would never survive if it weren't for you powerful, smart, and strong white dudes! - Don't stereotype the culture of indigenous folk. Add some richness to the lives of goblins, kobolds, and orcs. For a great example, see how goblinoids and orcs are handled in Eberron. - Shake up convention. Orc paladins, goblin sages, elf bandits – break the typical tropes of D&D. - Be careful with tomb raiding. It's one thing when a deity or ghost asks the characters to recover a relic so it can be used to stop an oncoming evil. It's something else to just rob tombs of old cultures. Robbing the tombs of evil cultures, however, may not be so bad. Above all, I think its important to remember that breaking away from these colonialist stereotypes makes the game more fun. It makes it more interesting. It makes it richer. It's been done since the very beginning of D&D as well. This isn't really new.

First, don't hang on to the benchmark too tightly. Remember it's just a loose gauge to give you a general idea how many CRs worth of monsters a group can take on before it might become deadly. It isn't a perfect model to use in every situation. The challenge of a multi-wave battle is largely determined by the overlap of monsters. If the monsters are overlapping significantly, the battle could be a lot harder. If there's some room between waves where the characters are just finishing off remaining opponents when the next wave comes on, it becomes easier. The main thing is to build the situation, know the benchmark, and let things play out – maybe tugging on the dials of monster difficulty if you need them. Instead of having the waves come out at predetermined times, give the players a chance to gauge the situation at the camp and let them navigate it. Maybe they can take out some of those waves before it becomes a huge battle. Maybe they end up fighting them all at once. Hang on loosely is my big suggestion. The benchmark is just a gauge – it's not how you drive the car.

There are a few things you can do. First, stick it out. Find the parts of the campaign you like and focus on those for your own entertainment but keep going through the campaign. Second, you can trim it way down. Focus the campaign, cut the cruft, and get through the remaining years faster than you normally would. Like the first, you can focus on the parts you think are the coolest. Third, you can talk to your players about moving on to something else. If you're really not into it, talk to them about setting it aside and going somewhere else. For me, I stick them out. I find the parts I like and build off of those. If I'm getting bored, I focus down on the main story and get it done. I feel that way about Scarlet Citadel right now – I'm ready to be done but I want it to end.

Hi Joshua! Yep! Getting characters to move is a trick. We actually cover ways to get characters moving around in Forge of Foes. Here are a few other ideas too: First, we can think of this as a carrot and stick. What are places the characters might want to move to because they *want* to? Advantageous positions, environmental effects they can manipulate, annoying ranged attackers they realize they have to go after, zones offering them bonuses on magical attacks and things like that. Or we can move them because *bad* things are happening. Maybe fire is slowly enveloping the room or an enemy spellcaster creates a zone they want to get out of. I often have trouble getting characters out of the doorway to some big chamber. They want to just sit in the door and fire ranged attacks. So I have to push them in with some sort of detrimental effect or a monster that will just continually fireball them if they sit in the same spot. As far as OAs are concerned, your *monsters* can provoke them by running away or moving towards another character. This frees up the character and give the player a fun chance to roll an opportunity attack. Don't play optimally!

It very much depends on the hardcover adventure and how railroady it is but trying to find the elements of it you love and focusing on those can help. Adding other side quests and cutting out the boring parts can help too. Taking a railroad adventure and turning it into one with different paths and options with some of your own material in it might also work. Making published adventures your own is really the expectation with these sorts of adventures. The more structured and linear it is, the harder that might be but often you can break it apart and make it into something more free flowing with your own ideas mixed in. Hope that helps!

Hi Ben! For a more investigative game, I definitely think more secrets and clues can help. You obviously don't need to spend as much time on things like monsters and treasure but focusing on people, places, and clues I think can help a lot. For more story-focused games you tend to need more material because you're not spending 70% of the time in combat. You might need to dig more into NPCs as well. Backgrounds, motivations, archetypes from fiction – the stuff you need for good roleplaying. I tend to think, no matter the game or genre, RPGs still focus around characters, NPCs, places they explore, and things they learn. The more of that material you have and are familiar with, the easier it is to run the game.

I still have a day job but only part time these days – enough to cover heath care (thanks US health care system...). Time is always an issue, I think. It's always hard to fit in everything we want. Roll20 definitely seems to ask GMs for a lot of work to get maps ready. I haven't found a perfect solution for something like that.

Sometimes players have to bring that themselves. I think it works a lot better in in-person games than it does in online games. I think this is a good point where the GM has to act as a faciliator for the conversation, prompting one of the characters to talk to the other and vice versa. Put out a topic. "How does Bruno feel about Durrim's experimentation with that magical artifact?" "How does Durrim respond?". Sometimes it takes a little prompting but, of course, make sure your players are into it. Maybe an out-of-game conversation describing your hopes for it might help.

It depends on the wizard's capabilities but often it comes from battlefield control and blasting lots of monsters. Hoards of monsters is a good way to do this. The paladin can only deal with one or two but a wizard can blow away dozens of them. I love running hoards. Here's more on that: https://slyflourish.com/running_hordes.html It's also in the Lazy DM's Companion and Forge of Foes.

Great question! I think, when it comes to what we run at our table, we pick one of them to be the *main* game. Maybe we choose A5e or ToV or 2024 D&D or whatever – but we pick one to be our *core*. As GMs, we can use whatever monsters or items or any other GM-facing ideas from any book we want. That's pretty easy. If we want to offer come character-focused things, we might incorporate them as houserules (like including Luck from ToV in our other 5e games). We can also take spells or things like that and make them "loot". We don't have to include *every* new spell or variant but we can include one at a time through a new scroll or a magic item. So I think the answer will be choosing one 5e system as a core for a given campaign and then bringing in ideas, house rules, monsters, items, spells, or whatever from the others as our own set of third-party house rules.

Hi Julia! First off, do your players agree with you? Are you sure? Are they frustrated with how fast things are going? I'd expect that pacing in the other direction – going too slow – is a more common problem. Not always, but often. As far as getting in the campaign while not rushing, I've talked about that issue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SLyQl4gxLE&list=PLb39x-29puaoZke5BVk7fjyyyjWXcxCu1&index=8&t=3061s

I've glanced at it but haven't dived in too deep. It sort of lost me when I tried to get my hands around it and I got caught up reading and digging into other systems and settings. There are so many awesome games right now, I can't really dive deep into all of them.

I have not and being on the crunchier-than-PF2 side doesn't really grab me as a sales pitch =) I like my story-focused games with enough character options to keep players interested week to week. That said, I bet we could enjoy any game if we got into it enough. Really, I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad game" that a lot of people know about. If enough people know about it, there are people who love it.

First, and most importantly, is to talk about it with your players and make sure they're all on board. I know, for me, personally, and for a lot of my players, we'd want a balanced game – not one that just focuses on roleplaying. You might also consider a system that lends itself better to roleplaying like a Gumshoe or Cthulhu-based system that has lots of skills outside of just combat stuff. It's not necessary but having a game built for that style of play can work better than taking something like 5e where such a big part of it is combat.

A good solid book of random tables. I think the Lazy DM's Companion is essential. I know I use it all the time. A better DMG might fit that slot but not right now. Honestly, we really don't need much.

That sounds about right and, honestly, a challenge simulator isn't exactly what I love about these games. I'll see how a longer Shadowdark game feels to me, hopefully soon! For me, I'd probably describe it like: A shared stochastic tale of high fantasy.

I don't really know any SF or urban fantasy system neutral settings but I don't think you have to limit yourself to just system neutral ones. You can grab the whole Numenera setting and run it with 5e if you want. You can grab CY-BORG and run it with Fate, I bet. Really *all* settings are system neutral if you're willing to strip out its mechanics and reskin the setting to fit your own choice.

Hi there! I've really enjoyed Ironsworn and talked about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeVvCcCEXKk&list=PLb39x-29puaoZke5BVk7fjyyyjWXcxCu1&index=42&t=1084s I've also played 1000 year old Vampire (which has a crowdfunding campaign going now I think) which I also enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4YZArzluk0&t=125s I think solo RPGs are a great way to scratch the RPG itch and do some good GM cross-training. Documenting your results sounds like a fantastic way to make the whole thing "real".

Good question! First, I *love* Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. I think they're the best games I've ever played. As far as starter sets go, I want a good adventure that shows off the setting of the RPG. I want simple enough rules that I can read them and get my players into them without a ton of work. I really think pregens help. I don't think character creation should be part of a starter set unless it's really straight forward. Powered by the Apocalypse games tend to have easy character creation so that's an exception. Probably a good price point. If it's more than like $30, I don't know that I can leap on it.