November 2023 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A
Welcome to the Sly Flourish Patreon Questions and Answers thread for November 2023!
Ask your monthly RPG-related question in the comments below!
Every Friday morning I answer every question on this post. Some questions make it to the Lazy RPG Talk Show, an RPG Tip video, or Sly Flourish article. Don't be upset if your question doesn't make it to the show – only a handful do.
As you consider your question for the month, please
search the Lazy RPG Talk Show Topic Database using keywords from your question to see if I've answered your question previously. You can also search Sly Flourish and the Sly Flourish YouTube Channel to see if I've done an article or video on the topic.
focus your question on tabletop RPGs.
ask only one question each month.
keep your question brief. I love your stories but I get overwhelmed.
Thank you so much for helping me do what I do.
Now bring on the questions!!
Comments (147)
How do you deal with NPC's making Deception, Persuasion and Intimidation checks vs players? I just find it odd to play an NPC in an encounter, roll some dice and then tell my players that they are deceived, persuaded or intimidated. Especially given that I am NOT a great actor, and my players are ALL very strong willed persons. On the other hand, the dice should act as equalizers between stronger and lesser adept roleplayers. I just don't know how.
Are you attempting to get Ruins of the Grendelroot onto D&DBeyond similar to the recent Ghostfire Games books?
What are you most looking forward to in 2024? Something in the works you're publishing or releasing, a new campaign you're planning, or anything from someone else on your radar?
Hey Mike, thanks for all your amazing commentary and content. Always been a fan of how you set up your game! I was watching your video about awarding treasure in 5e, and I actually have the opposite problem. Once your party has received treasure/loot, what do you do to enable them to spend it? I don't really enjoy the PHB's fixed cost concept that an uncommon is 500; a rare is 5,000; etc... It feels like a lot of work needing to curate custom lists when my players don't have a lot of requests. What are your strategies to help your players spend their hard earned resources?
Yeah! How to spend it is its own big problem. In Uncovered Secrets Volume 2 I have a Home Base generator with some costs associated. You can also use Level Up Advanced 5e's Trials and Treasure to help characters spend money to build or buy magic items. That's always a slippery slope. You can also set up franchises using the Acquisitions Incorporated book. I don't think it's that important to have things to spend money on, though, so unless players are complaining, it may not be the most important thing. Still, this is a good topic I want to dig into more.
Hi Mike, I'm wondering what advice in addition to the eight steps you would offer for how to run an effective one-shot. I find that these are generally the best way to introduce new players to TTRPGs, but it can be difficult to give a sense for just how robust these games are (in terms of roleplay, story, exploration, combat, etc.) in a single 3-4 hour session. Generally, I've tried to focus on offering some strong roleplay at the beginning and then devote the second half to explaining and running a combat encounter, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The steps you choose will certainly be different. I wrote more about that here: https://slyflourish.com/choosing_the_right_steps.html I think the most important thing is to keep the scope of the game pretty focused. See my "Running Ravenloft in one session" for an example: https://slyflourish.com/running_ravenloft.html Hope that helps!
Hi Mike, do you have any advice on incorporating grittiness/survival into a harsh environment? I sometimes do skill challenges informed by natural disasters (eg a sandstorm) but my players are asking for more. In the past we have handwaved rations and water
Not really. In 5e, travel is just not expected to be very hard. You have ready access to food, water, and shelter by 5th level for the most part. I think, instead, we can make up interesting encounters and situations while traveling. Check out Uncharted Journeys by Cubicle 7 or the travel stuff in the Lazy DM's Companion and Uncovered Secrets Vol 1 for some ideas. https://slyflourish.com/running_travel_scenes.html https://slyflourish.com/single_encounters_for_overland_travel.html
Oh Mike, my dear friend. You know I love you and I'm so sorry to do this to you, but its all your fault for being so good at your job. I'm starting Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen soon and I have a thousand questions for you. Here's the most pressing one for me right now. I have been doing the "truths about the campaign" in my zero sessions as you've recommended, but Dragonlance is a whole new ball of wax. Should I ask/ expect my players to know everything from the "War comes to Krynn" and the Class details from Chapter one. I'd think their characters would know everything that is written in the beginning of the book. It's not practical to share around the sourcebook and I'm not sure I should expect them to do all of that homework anyway, but reducing all of that amazing lore to a few truths is impossible if not disappointing. Should we DMs force some pre-reading upon the players at the beginning of a campaign and how can we do this before starting?
So you can start with the "big truths" of your campaign, keeping it to about six or so max. Then you can reveal more truths as Secrets and Clues during the game itself. One thing to keep in mind is that its possible the *characters* don't know much about the world either. They're not all totally on board with the whole atlas of Krynn. But even if their characters *do* know stuff the players don't, you can reveal *that* stuff as secrets and clues as well. So no, you don't have to expect they did their homework and instead you can lay out the world one secret at a time as the game goes on. When it's relevant to their current situation, they learn it.
Second question (December is the official Gluttony Month and we're almost there)! I'm currently looking through a bunch of older modules and adventures in anticipation of updating them to 5e. While I do notice the superficial differences, such as every. single. woman the party meets is the hottest woman the party has ever met and an astounding amount of them attempt to seduce the member with the highest charisma, but the older adventures also have a tighter focus without being too railroady. What other game design improvements do you think have been made in the last 20+ years, and, if any, are there any lessons that have been forgotten?
Oh yeah, representation is a big one. Switching genders, breaking racial stereotypes – all of those are good ideas we can keep in mind when running older adventures. I think adventures these days have gotten better at usability. They're easier to read. They're often better organized. They make more sense. They're likely better tested. If you go back and read some of those classic adventures, the layout sucked, the fonts were terrible, and a lot of times the descriptions didn't work well at all. All of that got better.
Not a question, more of a comment for potential elaboration. You will very often see veteran DMs tell newer ones to prep less. I don't actually think that applies to the same degree for newer DMs, especially with less experience in improvising. Now, I think that the Lazy GM tips are a much better and healthy way to approach DMing. If someone completely new to RPGs asked you for what to prep, what, if any, additional things would you tell them to prep?
I thought the same thing and expected that the ideas in the Lazy Dungeon Master weren't great if you didn't know anything about the game. But I consistently got feedback from new DMs that they *did* help them run the game. It may totally be a bias on my part but I think the eight steps can help you once you've got a handle on how the game overall works. I don't think I'd offer more tips for new DMs beyond just getting a handle on the game. I wrote more about it here: https://slyflourish.com/getting_started_with_dnd.html https://slyflourish.com/top_advice.html
Hi Mike, I've tried running published adventures a few times in the past and have always really struggled with them. I've recently come to realise that a lot of the problem for me comes from the adventures being overly wordy and I end up overwhelmed with the amount of information I need to absorb. How can I break down the information into a more digestible amount/format that actually helps me as a GM?
Yes! A common problem. Arcane Library has really done well formatting adventures to be more digestible as have some of the more recent WOTC adventures like Dragons of Stormwreck Isle and Light of Xaryxis. When I get a more wordy adventure, I try to break it down into the things I want to grab on and make my own. My Empire of the Ghouls game, for example, has often gone off the rails but it's still loosely based on the book even though it's a wordy book. I'd say reading it, taking notes, and building your own adventures from their components is a fine way to go!
Bernie here! With Christmas approaching, do you recall interesting holiday-themed adventures, one-shots or ideas in general?
Hi Bernie! Honestly, other than Ravenloft, holiday themed adventures don't really grab me but I think players like them a lot. Unfortunately, I don't really have any I can recommend but there are a lot of them out there!
I just ran a session that features aerial combat. Two characters spent several turns basically just flying to where the action was after the other two used dimension door or teleport to zip right over to the hostile NPC's. Any hot tips for running aerial combat?
I would keep your focus on the story and action happening in the world and, where it makes sense, call for various checks like acrobatics or athletics. Give them advantage or disadvantage based on particular situations going on and any spells they're using. Set the DCs based on how hard things are. I think it could be a lot of fun!
Hello! Recently, I’ve become fascinated with monster books and monster theory. I have Flee Mortals and Forge of Foes—both great—and I’ve perused many online samples and reviews. I enjoy seeing how different publishers can subtly shift the tone of the game with their bestiaries. My next purchase is going to be one or more books from the Kobold Press line. But I don’t know where to start. I can’t afford (or absorb) more than one or two right now, and I’m also not sure whether I should get hardcover copies or their softcover “Pocket Editions.” Hoping you can help me decide. With respect to which books, I’m leading towards the 2023 version of Tome of Beasts and also Tome of Beasts 3. But that’s arbitrary, and I’m wondering what your thoughts would be on the best two to start with. In addition to Flee Mortals and Forge of Foes, I also have the standard Monster Manual and Monsters of the Multiverse, if that makes a difference to your recommendation. With respect to format, the softcovers would save me money, but I’m concerned with utility and durability. Do you have a preference for either of these formats?
I'd definitely get the Tome of Beasts 1 and probably save up for the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. That'll definitely have its own flavor of 5e monsters to add to your arsenal. I bought the softcovers but I definitely prefer the larger typeface of the hardcovers and I think they'll last longer. For Tome of Beasts 1 2023, I'd get the hardcover.
Hi Mike! So excited to get the City of Arches update. First, what happened to the Summervine Villa material? (I've been planning on using it in my campaign, and I've been building up to the scenario for several sessions. Now they're in the city where I've set it all up, and I went to the update-- No scenario!) Also, you've been working on this for awhile, but now WOTC has released their Planescape box and there's certainly ways in which the two things (Sigil & the Outlands, City of Arches/Lower Reaches/Borderlands) have similarities. When you're putting together a product, does this kind of thing worry you? Affect what you're doing? Mostly I want to know a bunch about your process behind creating City of Arches. Thanks!
Hi there! Summervine Villla is definitely still around! It's a separate PDF since it had different maps and things in a zip file. I love Summervine Villa and plan to include it in the big City of Arches book I'll be working on next year. You can find Summervine Villa in your patreon rewards page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sly-flourish-34953933 I do consider where City of Arches overlaps with other existing products like Ptolus, Radiant Citadel, Spelljammer, and Planescape but not *too* much. I worry about that mainly because I want to ensure this book brings something new to GMs. I think there are enough differences between Planescape and the City of Arches because, though it sits on these archways, the majority of the material is set in the prime material plane. The borderlands aren't the outlands. They're swamps and deserts and hillsides.
How do you reconcile strong starts with maintaining player agency? I struggle sometimes with skipping to the exciting part since it feels like I'm assuming what players will do. Do you just allow a lot of ret-conning? Any advice or examples you feel went well or poorly?
Strong starts don't take away player agency. They enable it. "What do you do?" is the most important question you can ask your players once the strong start starts. It's a situation. Something happens – what do they do? Sometimes they're attacked. Sometimes they witness something. You set up the pins and let them bowl. Hope that helps!
Hey Mike, glad to be back as patron now that finances are better. I know you don't discusss a lot of homebrew, house rules or player options, but I'd be curious about what are some of your favorite 3rd party 5e spells that you've added to your game and that seem well balanced and thematically interesting. (I've purchased many 3rd party sourcebooks like Deep Magic 1+2 by KP, but I'm often disappointed at the nunerous balance issues for many of these spells and other options). I keep in mind your idea of tying a potentially unbalanced spell to a magic item with limited daily uses, but still interested in knowing some of the spells you'd recommend.
Yeah, adding spells from third party resources can be hard. The most *memorable* ones were the Blasphemies of Bor Bwalsh by Rob Schwalb. I printed these out and crumped them up and had hags use them against the characters. When the characters found the hag's spellbook, they got to use some of these spells and *loved them*. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/258573/The-Blasphemies-of-For-Bwalsch Finding spells from other sources is hard which is why I count on random generators to help me out. The Sly Flourish random generator, for example, has Deep Magic 1 and 2 spells in it (most of them anyway) and spells from Level Up Advanced 5e. I'll hit the generator and it drops in some spells which I can look at, accept, or toss aside. I might also look through those books for spells to add to memorable NPCs or villains. One or two usually do it and I can pick the first one I think really does the trick. Look for spells with a spell level equal to about half the CR of the creature or so.
Hey Mike, how's it going? Do you have any tips for writing a single-session one-shot? I've watched a couple of your videos on adventure structure and also found an article from 2019 with a bunch of links, and even though they're really good stuff, I'm looking for tips on how to outline situations and create a structure that would fit a single session of 3 to 4h?
Hi there! You may have already seen these but hopefully they can help. https://slyflourish.com/choosing_the_right_steps.html https://slyflourish.com/anatomy_of_a_situation_castle_orzelbirg.html https://slyflourish.com/letting_go_of_defined_encounters.html For running a situation as a one-shot, I'd recommend getting them to the location you plan fast. Get them involved quickly. Don't waste time with meeting an NPC and getting a quest and all of that – start them with the quest already in hand. This is what I did for my one-shot Ravenloft game and it worked well. https://slyflourish.com/running_ravenloft.html Hope that helps!
Aloha Mike, Do you ever bother with alignment for factions? I've been playing in a homebrew world with the same players for about five years and have used four homebrewed factions that reoccur in different campaigns. (That my players are now familiar with.) I thought adding some alignment to each faction could help me add consistency in how the factions interact with PCs and the world as we continue to play. Am I overthinking this or is there utility in evolving my homebrew to add more structure to my future campaigns? Thank you for all you do and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving; My players and I are all grateful for you for helping me not suck at GM-ing :) - Tatum
I like alignment but I don't really use it. It can be a nice short-hand for how certain creatures act and I like it for that, but I'm a bigger believer in figuring out the background and motivations for NPCs, villains, factions and so on. What do they want? What are they willing to do to get it? What steps have they taken? I think these break past traditional alignment and let us know how these factions, villains, NPCs or what not would act given the situation. Adding alignment to a faction certainly seems like a fine lazy technique! Saying the Aurum from Eberron is a Lawful Evil faction tells you a lot about their behavior in just two words. That's pretty efficient!
Hi Mike, I run a monthly game for tweens at my local library. It's always a different crowd, so the sessions are very episodic. Any advice on bringing in little buffets of continuity that more regular players might notice? Also they're tweens so it can't be super subtle. Thanks!
I'm a children's librarian and I do this too! I know I'm not Mike but I thought I might weigh in: I made my own hexcrawl and I've been running it sort of like a West Marches campaign, and I've populated many hexes with adventures like Dragons of Icespire Peak and such. Even if a player never shows up again, their actions still have ramifications for the world and can affect future players.
I don't know if it's too late to ask for this month: I just finished my first campaign spanning 2.5 years from levels 1-11. I do feel very accomplished, but I wasn't expecting the accompanying knot in my stomach and feeling like something is missing. Have you ever felt this way after finishing a campaign, and if so how do you handle it?
Yes! I think there's a bit of campaign mourning that comes through. We've lived with these characters a long time. We saw them grow. We saw them accomplish amazing things. I think one thing that helps is knowing we can pick them back up again if we want (even if we rarely do). Talking about it with our players can help too. I bet some of them feel the same way. The characters and the story is still around, of course, but endings are endings. I feel the same way when I finish a great book or a great video game. But there's always another! I talked about this on a previous talk show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9JuBxsjtg&t=2419s
It seems that you run mostly adventure modules based off what you have run in recent years. As im running a homebrew campaign, I'm wondering would your approach to lazy GM prep be any different for Homebrew Campaigns. I've found sometimes tracking where the campaign is going, can be a struggle.
Hi Michael! I actually run a mix of homebrew and published settings. My Numenera and Eberron games were homebrewed. My current Shadowdark campaign is basically homebrewed based on a setting. Here's more information on running homebrew campaigns with lazy GM prep: https://slyflourish.com/choosing_the_right_steps.html https://slyflourish.com/homebrew_adventures_in_published_settings.html https://youtu.be/8lZKbHyjQ1A?t=815s Hope that helps!
curious about how you feel the difference between OSR-style from Shadow Dark and Scarlet Citadel, do you feel like SC prepared your group for SD? And do you feel like running SC with the SD rules would have been better?
Scarlet Citadel's problems weren't really about the heroic nature of 5e compared to the more grim nature of Shadowdark. Scarlet Citadel's problem comes from its overall accessibility and usability. For me, it did a poor job of presenting information to the GM to make it easy to use. This is a stark contrast to the Shadowdark adventures and dungeons produced by the Arcane Library and other OSR-style products like Halls of the Blood King or Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands. Again, if you have SC and want to run it, do it! I'm just sharing my own opinions. There's a lot to love with Scarlet Citadel. The dungeon design is great. The chambers are cool and unique. It's got a fantastic history. It definitely lacks clear motivation for characters to delve into it, however, along with the poor information design.
Hi Mike, a few upcoming offerings such as MCDM, DC20, and even a kickstarter Nimble 5e variant are combining attack and damage rolls. What are your initial reactions on this trend?
I haven't really seen it in play so I can't say. I'm pretty happy with attack rolls being separate but I sure do love static damage. I think it might significantly speed things up if damage is done statically or mixed in with an attack roll. The Cypher system, for example, has a sort-of extended crit range so if you roll a 17+, you get *some sort* of damage boost. I think that can work well.
Hi Mike! How do you typically handle leveling up players, regardless of their TTRPG experience? Do they do it between sessions, or do you walk them through it? How do you find the time to explain all of the different options? More context here, if you're interested: I'm DM with lots of experience starting campaigns, though I've have a hard time keeping the same group going long enough to even level up. However, I've finally got a regular group going for once, and I think I'm finally getting to the point where this group is "graduating" from the flexibility we typically offer new players. So I'm wondering at which point I should expect players to "step up" and read the rulebook. I know I signed up for this, and I do love it, but it gets a little tricky having to know all the rules and explain them constantly, while also guiding leveling up processes and prepping for each session.
I think that's largely going to depend on the group but I've definitely found it useful to at least have players spend some time during the game talking about what they chose for their new level. Typically my group levels off-line and then we spend a few minutes talking about what they picked. Even better, though, is having them level up together so they can synergize on their choices. It also has the benefit of more experienced players helping less experienced players select various options – of course one needs to be careful of "that guy" telling everyone else wha they should be doing so be ready to step in if someone's offering too much unsolicited advice.
Hi Mike! Dming my first campaign and have taken on board alot of your tips with great success. I'm finding managing higher level combats more difficuly as while I manage everything else it causes me to rush moves making sub par tactical choices with my monsters / enemies. I try to read books such as The Monsters Know What They're Doing and have learnt harsh lessons such as not bunching monsters to close together to avoid aoe effects. I'm a fan of my pc's but want to challenge them in an enjoyable way. I feel comfortable with my tactical play as a player but it hasn't come to fruition as a DM. Have you any other advice or resources to improve a dms tactical management in Battle? Thanks for all your content
I think monster tactics are overrated. Who really cares? Do the players care that monsters act smartly? Do you? The monsters don't care. I think providing a challenge and having solid monster tactics aren't synonymous. We can just up the damage or any of the other dials to shake things up. I think monsters acting sub-optimally is actually fun for the players. Let *them* enjoy their tactics while we just hurl monsters at them. Obviously there are times where you *want* the monsters to have really great tactics when it makes sense for the story and situation. That's a different story.
Hi Mike! What are your thoughts about Traveller? I just got a copy of the 2022 update and I think it's really cool. Solid rules so far and a cool character creation process.
I've only played Traveller once. It was fine but felt a lot like truck driver simulator to me. Lots of customs and paperwork and not a ton of big epic space stuff. The character creation process is fun. I love that you can die *during* character creation. That's wild. Some people really love it. I just haven't played it that much.
Hi Mike. Any tips on how to encourage/coach players to ask questions relevant to the plot when role playing with NPCs, so I can give them secrets and clues? Most of my group haven’t been playing RPGs for long (me included) so this is probably partly inexperience, or the gaps between sessions, but when they speak to NPCs who are plot related they rarely seek to explore the plot with them, so I end up just giving the information as a ‘during the course of the conversation you learn X’ or having the NPCs bring up the plot points themselves. Sometimes it feels like I’m forcing or railroading the plot/lore as a result.
One way to do it is to talk about their character in the second person. "Because you're a sage, you know that this person might have deeper information on the history of this place". Talk about what their *character* might know and what their *character* might do. You might turn it around into a question too. "Based on your character's background, is there anything else you might want to ask?" I think its ok to lean in on "just telling them" stuff their character would know. Players sometimes don't know the questions to ask. I think its ok for us to help them out.
Hi! Do you have any advice for handling players who tend to make evil or ruthless characters? I have a player who's a friend of mine, a great RPer, and generally really fun to play with, but her characters always turn out far more evil than she initially says they'll be. It's fine when her paladin turns out a bit more murderous than planned, but it's a problem when her rogue wants to torture people in the basement. I'm about to start a new campaign that she'll be in and was wondering if you had any advice on directing this kind of player into building a character that won't be disruptive to the more heroic PCs at the table.
Sounds like she needs the outlet, honestly. It's up to you to decide if it's ok at your table, but otherwise, please communicate with all your players about your concerns.
Hi! I’m looking for content for Tiers 3 and 4 (levels 11-20). My players say they want to take their current characters up there when we finish Curse of Strahd. I’ve got the new Chains of Asmodeus campaign, and the Doomed Forgotten Realms campaign. Are there others you recommend, even good one-shots? (I’ve got all the Arcane Library stuff too). Thanks!
Those all sound good! I don't really have a favorite high-tier adventure except for James Introcaso's Invasion of the Planet of Tarrasques but that doesn't fit every scenario. I haven't taken a look at Chains of Asmodeus yet. It's here on my desktop!
Hi Mike! Any advice or tips about finding spellcasters or adding spells to existing stat blocks? I want to start using more spellcasters in my encounters, but I find myself spending a lot of time just sifting through various monster books to find spellcaster stat blocks. When that doesn't work I've tried adding spells to a basic stat block like a goblin or kobold but then get lost in the mass pool of spell options. I find myself getting frustrated by not being able to find any prebuilt stat blocks or overwhelmed by all the spell options when building my own when I just want to add more variety and abilities to my encounters.
You might find a random spell list somewhere (I have random spells tied to items on the Lazy GM's Random Generator) and use that to help guide your use. You only need one or two interesting spells for an enemy spellcaster. You can also sort of roll your own spells by deciding on an element, a shape (blast or burst or line), an effect (slow or restrain or something). Mix it up and flavor it based on the monster. But yeah, it's easy to get lost. Find the first spell you like and go with it.
Hi Mike, do you have lazy tips for preparing alternate orders of battle for intelligent foes based on if they are aware of the players approaching, or some other factor? My players are in this dwarven megadungeon. They learned that a giant and an orc tribe guard the entrance to the deeper levels. They encountered a patrol, killed them, questioned no one. They encountered a returning warband, killed them all, questioned no one. They followed a trail towards the entrance to the lower levels, and encountered an outgoing warband, ambushed them, questioned no one, but allowed three of them to escape. (I didn't explicitly offer them a chance to question a dying orc but would have allowed it if they had asked about it, for sure). They like to kill monsters and take their stuff, and I'm fine with that. But now, the giant, and the dozen or so remaining orcs have to know that someone is out there. So, if I allow the players actions to have consequences then I suppose I should make things very hard for them. How do I do that without setting up an impossible un-fun encounter or an encounter that obviously easier than it should be? It would have been easier for me in the last session if I had prepared for that eventuality ahead of time; hence my first question. Does this count as two questions? Now it's three questions. Thanks in advance for whatever you have time for.
It could be fun if the characters become aware that they're walking into a big ambush and find a way to get in from the side instead of walking right in. The giant leader could send assassins or scouts who end up alerting the characters to the fact that things are getting hard. Maybe they walk into one ambush realizing there's another and now they have to think past their enemy if they don't want to get ambushed again. Start first by asking what makes sense in the story and second by what's fun in the game. Tune reality around what makes for a good time.
Hello Mike, Long time follower, first time questioner :) I'm curious, how does your creative collaboration look like when you work with someone else? You regularly work with people in the industry (Theos I would highlight), how do you manage project, "design together", how do you share tasks, ideas, how do you maintain momentum throughout the process? I'm curious not only on a technical level, but also on the creative human level if it makes sense. :)
It's so much fun! I've done it a few times now and what works for us is having a weekly two hour or so meeting where we carve through our ideas, kick them around, and build off of one another's ideas. We also all review everyone else's work and offer comments which helps a lot. I think our products are a lot stronger for it. Up front we all decide who's doing what too. Who's writing what chapters. Who's handling editing and layout and production and all the rest. It's a lot of work to figure out but great fun to work with others.
I am so thankful that I have a (mostly) weekly game that I DM for some relatives that has been going on for years now. One of my frustrations is that we only are able to play for about one hour or an hour and a half. The sessions are short, so we usually only have 2-3 good "scenes." I know that the easy answer is to try for longer sessions, but that isn't going to happen with this group, and so I was wondering if you have any suggestion for a typical template or reasonable goals for what we might get through most sessions--what elements might be important to include in each session.
I don't really have a fantastic template. An hour to an hour and a half is going to limit things. The fewer players the better. The lower level the better. Focusing on those two to three good scenes is a good idea. Think of it like a 30 minute TV serial show. What do you have to have in there to propel the game forward. On the other hand, it's usually much easier to prep!
I just ran a combat where I forgot some crucial things on my monster stat blocks. It all worked out okay (what I forgot would have significantly extended the fight) but I want to avoid doing it again. Any tips to make sure you remember what your baddies can do?
I think its very easy and very common to forget things and that's ok. I don't think I've ever run a lich correctly in all the times I've run one. If the game's fun, it's fun. Don't beat yourself up about it. I think the best thing we can do to remember a monster is give it a good 30 second review before we run it at the table. Read through it again. Look at those traits and senses and other things you might miss. Go through all of it and then hopefully you won't forget. For legendary creatures I like to put check boxes right on my worksheet or white board to show me when I've used a legendary action or resistance. I think one of the reasons WOTC has moved legendary actions to reactions is because it's easy to forget them.
Your Gloaming prep sessions have been an invaluable resource for me as I run it for my players! Had a player last night lament that Shadowdark didnt' use a 2d20 or 1d12 system instead of the d20 as the swinginess is especially brutal with the flat math. Curious if you had any big opinions on the matter or if you think it nets out just fine. BONUS QUESTION: Have you ever considered writing anything besides gaming content? A fantasy novel perchance?
I think the flat math of a D20 fits well with the overall randomness of Shadowdark. Shadowdark leans into it even *more* heavily than vanilla 5e does with all of its modifiers and what-not. It's not everyone's cup of tea. A lot of games like Dungeon World or Fantasy AGE use a 2d6 or 3d6 system. The curve is different but works just fine. I think 50 years have shown us that the d20 is a fine die to use, though. It's not for everyone, maybe, but its certainly not bad. I've toyed around with fantasy stories and even a NANOWRIMO many years back but its not really interesting to anyone but me. I'm happy to help people share their own awesome stories. Good to hear from you Jonathan!!
Hi Mike. My players might be entering a one-way labyrinth, they need to get to the other end to reach a portal to leave, no going back once the front door is closed. The keys to operate the portal are in the labyrinth for them to collect but it will take some fighting to get them, as well as some puzzles. Not much chance of long rests I expect (but you never know of course...). I'm trying to get an idea what monsters I can throw at them if they have no or very few options for recovering hit points and spell lists, Would it make sense to treat all encounters in there as one big encounter for the sake of the deadly encounter benchmark? Or are there better way to make sure I don't have to adjust to dials to ridiculous amounts (and become too obvious) for them to stand a chance?
I wouldn't worry too much about trying to work out the balance as much as understanding the pacing and beats of the game itself. I think it'd be great if they could find a way to "hack the labyrinth" and find some back doors to areas even the labyrinth maker doesn't know about or didn't intend for anyone to use. You might want to have one super powerful creature hunting for the characters – like a goristro (minotaur demon) – that they have to constantly avoid. You want the characters to face other smaller groups too. With a dungeon like this it's easy to focus on downward beats, make sure they have some upward beats too – and a great way to do that is let them crack the dungeon and find other ways to get through it.
Hey Mike, a player of mine wants to play a new/different character mid campaign. Do you have any experience dealing with this? What should I do?
I think it's worth talking to them about how to have one character exit and a new character come in. It'll largely depend on *why* they want a new character. Is it purely mechanical? What about just letting them respec their current character? Is it about their character's story? It might also be something worth discussing with the group out of character in case it's going to have repercussions beyond the character themself.
Mike, just wondering, I hear you always praising Tal'Dorei Reborn and Eberron as great books for campaign settings. However, I've never heard you mention Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. You've practically mentioned almost every single major campaign setting book except that one. What are your opinions on it? I love it and use it constantly since my current campaign takes place there. I feel like it's right up there with Tal'Dorei Reborn and Eberron. PS - I hope you don't mind that this is my 2nd post, but I'm hoping to get away with it since I'm not asking for GM advice.
Honestly I just haven't spent that much time with Wildemount. I remember when I looked at it before it looked great. Something about knowing that the Tal'Dorei campaign book came straight from the creators of Critical Role and not through another publisher makes me think that'd be the one to get, though. If you love the book, I'm not yucking your yum! I don't think there's anything wrong with it and remember liking it when I read it.
Hey Mike, just finished listening to the twitch show and I want to ask Zen Hiker Joe's question in another way, because I found myself resonating with the question in way I felt wasn't addressed by recommending secrets and clues alone. So if I may dig in at another angle: I've often struggled to make NPCs come alive for my players, especially when I only wrote my own adventure notes, even when I tried to be lazy and emulate my favorite fictional characters, I couldn't think quickly enough and it would fall flat and I wouldn't have a good time. As I started exploring and adapting old 3.5e and 4e modules for my Eberron campaign, I noticed that major NPCs had sort of Q&A sections with in-character language that I could riff on to be a more engaging DM; with more fun language at the ready, it was one less thing for my harried DM brain to worry about and I felt better running the game. I started writing in flavorful statements in my own NPC notes that had nothing to do with secrets, clues, or plot exposition at all, just catchphrases to make that NPC stand out in our roleplaying theater of the mind. What are your thoughts on planning in this kind of flavor? If you wanted this kind of flavor prepped, where would you fold it into the 8 steps?
I'm glad to address the question a different way! I think it can be useful to have some sort of idea how the NPC would address certain topics. I've definitely seen the idea of a Q&A list for NPCs in adventures. I think it's a fine thing to add to an NPC description when you're writing out your NPCs. I just wouldn't put too much into it if you don't think the NPC is going to come into play. For me, personally, I still find it more valuable to know how the NPC treats the world and then let them spew forth secrets and clues if the timing is right. Flavorful quotes, though, is a fine way to get your head around the character.
Hey Mike! I'm looking to run the Phandelver and Below adventure for my group, but we already played through LmoP. So I got to thinking about replacing the original level 1-5 adventure with the Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands by Raging Swann Press and setting the whole campaign in the Ashlar region. Do you have any ideas on merging these adventures specifically? Or, more generally, how would you approach something like this? Thanks for all your hard work!
I don’t have any particular ideas that come to mind. I know for my own Shadowed Keep game, I wish I had just kept it in the default setting. From what I read, mashing up Shattered Obelisk with Shadowed Keep should work just fine but I really haven’t read enough to say for sure. Mashing up adventures is a 50 year tradition though so go for it!
Hi Mike. I'm planning to start a new campaign so naturally, I need to steal some good material. Which published adventure (WOTC or otherwise) do you think has the strongest start for low-level characters (1-3)?
Hoard of the Dragon Queen has a really strong start and it's a solid adventure up until you hit the Long Road. Wild Beyond the Witchlight is great too as is Lost Mine of Phandelver (I still haven't dug into Shattered Obelisk to see if it's just as good). Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is great too but doesn't lead into anything else. You can check out my guide to WOTC-published adventures for more details: https://slyflourish.com/guide_to_published_adventures.html
If you had to create a 5E starter set for complete beginners, what would be the most important things you would pay attention to? How would you choose pre-generated characters and monsters, and how would you write the adventure specifically for beginners? How long would it be? How much would you detail the rules? What would you do to make the starter set as user-friendly as possible? (I'm not particularly drawn to Pathfinder, but I've seen a few reviews on YouTube about the PF starter set, and I like how much attention they've paid to the user experience, like how the dice are different colors, and the character sheets are also color-coded to show what you need to roll with.)
An interesting thought exercise if not particularly practical. I don't think I'd ever be the one to manage to get a starter set in front of players who never played before. So, off the top of my head: 1. Get into the action as fast as possible. 2. Focus on pregens. I don't really know how you'd pick them but the core four classes plus one or two weird ones might be good. 3. I'd build the adventure into one-hour chunks as much as possible. Let people get in and out fast if they want or stay around a while. 4. Have clear explanations for things we often skip over. If you don't include a combat map, explain how to run combat without one. I don't know that I've found the *perfect* starter set but I think Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is pretty great and I highly recommend it for 5e.
Hey Mike have you ever looked into DCC(Dungeon crawl classics) RPG? I would love to hear any Sly Flourish thoughts on the system. Specifically the magic system(s) with the scaling check manifesting various degrees of the spell’s effects (good and bad). Honestly cannot thank you enough for what you do for this hobby!
I played it once and it wasn't a standard DCC style game so I don't really have a great feel for it. Personally, I don't need all the new weird dice (which is heresy to complain about in DCC circles) and I don't like the idea that you always need to reference a 500 page rulebook whenever you cast a spell. It feels like Shadowdark grabs onto all the fun of DCC in a much shorter and more streamlined form but again, I haven't played enough to have a formal judgement. I know lots of people who absolutely love it and they're certainly not wrong!
I really like Forge of Foes, but I have a question about a monster type that wasn't addressed: swarms. I think they SHOULD give a creepy feel, but as written they seem like just another monster. I have been thinking of running swarms more like hazards (like green slime in the DMG), but that doesn't feel adequate either. Do you have advice on how to make swarms optimal and as creepy as they should be?
Yeah, we didn't cover swarms in particular. I think running them as a hazard or a challenge is great. Just remember, a single fireball or burning hands should be able to take it out. I think the main thing that makes a swarm creepy is the sheer number of them. More swarms!!!
Hey Mike, I’m really liking the Shadowdark RPG. I’m particularly interested in the idea of using a “funnel” as the Kickstarter for a series of adventures. I’ve played some of the Dungeon Crawl Classic funnels at conventions and they’re definitely hit or miss. What advice would you give for designing funnels?
I'm certainly not the expert so I'd probably hit up the Shadowdark RPG Discord server and see what they have to say about it. A few things I'd focus on, though, that I think a lot of funnels miss, is why and how so *many* characters get involved. When I ran the funnel in Cursed Scroll 3, I made sure it made sense that a bunch of longboats were all headed to the big dungeon together so it made sense when new characters would show up. Why are there 12 to 24 characters at the location but you're only focused on the six in front of you? Answer that question in the fiction of the funnel and I think the rest can work out well.
I should be wrapping up my current campaign by January or February.. i will start the next campaign with a Session Zero, but I'd also like to get a backstory after the party is created. I would like it to include details of family, allies, contacts, rivals, enemies, why they adventure, etc. I know I'll need to sacrifice details in order to keep it short. I know you get details about your PCs from listening to your Session Prep , but I wasn't sure how you yourself do so, and what information you ask them to provide. How do you handle the character's backstory situation?
There are a few ways to handle this. You can start the ball rolling with a session zero and then collect more details about the characters between sessions so it sort of grows as the players get used to their characters. You can ask them one-on-one or use campfire tales (https://slyflourish.com/campfire_talk.html) to draw more details. But really, your session zero can go as long as you want if your players are on board. I know my players probably don't want *too* much of a focus on character backstory in one session – they want to *do* things. But really, I pick it up as we go with some players focusing a lot of attention on it and others just giving the basics.
Hello and happy Friday! I'd like to ask what advice you have or what you think would work best for adjudication intimidation rolls during combat. I feel like if a character uses an action to intimidate that it should have the potential to do something. But what I struggle with is I think if it makes an enemy flee that is too powerful with a single roll with no cost. The other option I can think of is the enemy gets some kind of debuff but to me that doesn't stand out as interesting to me as there are already so many effects that give disadvantage. I could bring back morale and have the check start off very high and be nearly impossible for them to flee until they've taken damage or losses or let the player ask and try to determine if the enemies look like they're ready to be intimidated. I was wondering if in your experience there are any other solutions that would be more interesting. Thanks for all the great work!
What about making the intimidation check for free or as a bonus action instead of it taking an action. An easy way for intimidation to work is for the creature to not do anything for the next round or do something clearly tactically inferior. But them giving up can work too. Battles are dynamic and a lot can happen. If someone spends a whole action to intimidate, I think it could do a lot like having a minion flee or a bigger creature become apprehensive for a round or attack at disadvantage. An easy way to look at it is "what else could the character have done on that round and what would it have done if that succeeded?" That helps you get an idea what effect it might have. If a 7th level character can banish a monster or cast fear on a monster or something like that, making a monster flee isn't that much stronger.
Hi Mike. I have additional question related to making your own setting PDF/book. You suggested getting royality free art but what if if your artist yourself. I have done few commissions for Dmsguild products. Would recommend doing your own art for publishing a setting?
Hell yes! There are a few creators out there who happen to be great artists *and* writers and that's an incredibly valuable skill to have! You can do your own concept art. You have no translation error between what's in your head and what's in the head of the artist you commission. Not only do you save a lot of money but you gain a *lot* of connections between the material you write and the accompanying artwork. The only think you lose is the surprise you sometimes get by seeing someone else's representation of the thing you wrote but you can probably get a lot of that and then draw it yourself from looking at other people's work. Awesome!
Aloha Mike! Mike, I finally started one of my player's side quest where his character is receiving the spotlight. Essentially I'm using the Blackweald to terrorize his neighborhood. I also added in a bone devil as being responsible for releasing the Blackweald from the Underdark into his neighborhood. The kicker is that a while back (over a year ago) this PC helped free this bone devil in exchange for a legendary item.. Currently, this character is going back home with his party members to visit his parents on Mercy Street. When his character gets home, he asks about one of his sisters and his parents just look at him blankly and tell him doesn't have a third sister. Also, the bone devil is disguised as a lamplighter on Mercy Street and the PCs just saved him from being hit by a carriage. The session was great and they are getting very close to finding where the Blackweald is hiding out. The PCs are going to check a clue that will lead them into a crypt and then to the sewers. My question is, what are some suggestions that you might have on running such a massive monster such as the Blackweald on a battle map (physical or virtual). I was planning to use your Lazy Lairs sewers map and have them fight it in the cistern area but that feels too small. Should I just break it up into pieces and have the PCs fight individual tentacles or parts of it? I'm just not sure how to represent it on a map and haven't really settled on a good map yet (yes, I know, I need to check Dyson logos). Thanks for all you do!
That sounds awesome! I think running the Blackweald in different spots is a fine way to go – mini-black-wields that are part of a larger whole and then find a big huge area to fight the main one which is gargantuan. It *is* the environment. Check out the Cze and Pku maps for some ideas.
Hello, Mike! Following up on my request from Discord, can you expand on how you figure Shadowdark and AD&D character levels match for 1st through 7th and then Shadowdark's last three levels cover AD&D's last 12 [sic]?
I really can't say. It certainly feels like levels 7+ in Shadowdark cover levels 8-20 in AD&D but I don't really know enough about either system to say for sure. I imagine folks on the Shadowdark Discord server have lots of thoughts on the matter though. I think Shadowdark probably excels at lower level stuff, I'd say. I'd be surprised how many campaigns reach high levels in Shadowdark. It really doesn't feel like it's built for it.
Mike I have recently picked up Fantastic Lairs in order to read it. I found myself wondering how the Fantastic Lairs book holds up in an age where Forge of foes now exists? Would you have written / edited it differently knowing what you do now?
Hi LtBadger! Not really! We worked hard building and testing the custom monsters we have in Fantastic Lairs. As you may notice, most of the monsters (all of them?) are modifications of existing monsters which is a pure Forge of Foes model. We do have a monster appendix with full stat blocks for all those monsters for Fantastic Lairs. But I don't think any of the things we've done in Forge of Foes has overstepped on what we did with Fantastic Lairs. I still love that book dearly and think it runs just fine.
Hello, Mike. I am trying to create a lazy system for NPCs and their essential traits. What I mean, is that before a session I like to have these jotted down. It is very time-consuming and I often get lost in the weeds with this process. Any suggestions? HALP! LOL.
I highly recommend focusing on just a few pieces: 1. What's their name? 2. What character from popular fiction can you use as the NPCs model? 3. What does this NPC want? If you put yourself into the mind of the NPC based on the fictional model with an understanding of what they want, you can go far. In full honestly, I don't even use the popular fiction archetype that often. I just try to put down a name and write down a word or two to help me know something about them, then I throw myself into the character when the character comes up in the game and off we go! Sometimes *I'm* surprised by what happens.
When do you think is the best time to change campaign or end the current one? What’s your experience on this?
Woof, that's a tough one. When it feels right? I think campaigns can lead to clear conclusions – big bosses and big events and what not – but you can always speed it up or slow it down. I think it's probably whether you feel like you're ready to move on or whether you think there's more of the story you want to know about it. One way a lot of GMs think about campaigns is as the story they already have in their head, but if you were *reading* a book instead of *writing* a book, is there more you want to *know* about the story? That's a sign you may want to keep it going. If you're ready for the big conclusion, steer it that way. For me there's a moment where I'm just ready to move on so I cut out the side-quests and focus on the end. So...when it feels right??
Hi Mike. With how much you've run LMoP, which I am running as a first time DM, should I use the updated villain stat blocks from Phandelver and Below? Do you think the updates are an improvement and if not how would you have improved them?
I haven't had enough time to figure out the differences between Shattered Obelisk and Lost Mine of Phandelver. Justin Alexander wasn't kind to the former, that's for sure, but I haven't dug in myself so I can't say for sure. I need to dig into it – I have it on my shelf if that counts!
Mike. I'm currently running Curse of Strahd for 3 different groups and your last episode about using Shadowdark for Ravenloft got me thinking: I really like the idea of running a CoS campaign using Shadowdark but I feel like I/my groups would lose out on some of the brilliant and rich stories that they build together because the PC's are so squishy, meaning you'd have to replace them more often than in, say 5e. Can you use the SD system and all its scary uncertainty without the characters being squishy? Do you think there could be a happy medium? I feel like the uncertainty and danger of SD with the longevity of 5e characters would be my happy place. plz help
For a Curse of Strahd campaign, I'd stick to 5e. As you say, the bigger focus on the characters' story and the need for character empowerment is important. I don't thin Shadowdark really has that. It's great for an old-school AD&D style game built with 5e style mechanics but it's much less about the characters because, frankly, they die often. It works great for a single-session Ravenloft game but not as much for a Curse of Strahd campaign, I'd say.
Hey Mike, something that’s challenged me over time is tracking monsters during combat - HP, conditions, abilities they’ve used, etc. Any advice? What does your paper at the table for this look like?
I have a big acrylic sheet on my table and I use a dry-erase marker to note things down. It's pretty disorganized. I count damage up instead of hit points down which helps a lot. I'll write down status effects next to their names. I ask players to describe interesting physical characteristics of the monsters they hit so I have a clear identifier. 5e monsters don't usually have abilities I have to remember. They are either once per day or recharge. Only legendary monsters need tracking so I'll write a little checkbox next to their name for legendary resistances and legendary actions. Hope that helps!
Hi, Mike! Do you have any advice for adjusting pre-written adventures for higher-level parties? For example, I plan to run Vault of the White Queen for my Grendleroot campaign, but the PCs will likely be 5th or 6th level instead of 4th, which is a higher tier of play. Besides increasing the number and CR of monsters, are there other things I should be doing? What are some potential pitfalls?
I’m running Wild Beyond the Witchlight for a party that just finished Out of the Abyss. They are level 13!
Read anything good lately, Mike?
I loved Fairy Tale by Stephen King and am reading Holly now by King. Both are great but very different. I just finished reading Cory Doctorow's "Internet Con" which is eye opening for keeping an eye out for enshittification and how we can protect ourselves from it in the TTRPG GM and publisher space. The Sly Flourish Patreon Discord server has a Great Fiction thread going that's awesome. It has only one rule – no bashing someone else's great fiction. Check it out!
Hi Mike. I’m having trouble organizing my campaign notes. I’m not the most organized person so my notes usually end up as scraps of paper everywhere or assorted word documents with no obvious focus. I get by fine, but it’s frustrating when I can’t find a great idea I had. Do you know if any resources that may be able to help?
I have to go with the Eight Steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master! You can write them down in any platform or notebook and focus on what you need for the next session you're going to run. If you want to see how my own campaigns are organized, you can see it in my Notion notebooks which have special pages and databases for NPCs and locations but that's about it. I don't think we need as detailed a campaign notebook as some think. https://slyflourish.com/lazy_dnd_with_notion.html
Hi Mike, love all you do, thank you so much! I have a tendancy to start GMing games and, after maybe 3-6 months, get bored of them, the inspiration for new content does not come up as easy as it does in the beginning. I also do not want to "burn" my players on too many false starts as i'm sure they enjoy developping the character and their story, etc. Should i try to stay focused or embrace my start-something-new-every few months attitude? We play 1x week, for 2 hrs, online. Many, many thanks!
You're under no obligation to run campaigns in any way that you and your players don't enjoy. If you and your players are on board, nothing else matters. Here are some thoughts on the issue that may help: https://youtu.be/b0otgh_zIz0?si=zG4NN_psnDVmsmn5&t=3650 https://youtu.be/gT9JuBxsjtg?t=2525s Playing short campaigns is absolutely fine.
Hi mike, first time asking a question I have been wanting to do a one shot and have an evil wizard summon a greater demon (like glabrezu) but the spells in 5E seem anti climactic. So I was wanting to have a human sacrifice that is connected to each PC. How do you handle big bosses being summoned. Love all the content you put out keep up the great work thank you
You're under no obligation to use the spells in the PhB as the only spells in the game. You can easily make up your own to fit the story you want. The rituals to summon a powerful demon are likely unique – steal your ideas from lots of different places that have such rituals.
Mike, I have been listening and learning tons from you. :) However what I really would like to know is more about YOU! You are a really interesting person and personality. How did you wind up starting Sly Flourish? You have alluded to a job outside the realms of DnD - what do you do? How do you balance your other job with all that you produce for Sly Flourish? What are things you like outside of RPG's? Do you have anything you can share about running a business like this? Please, Tell all of your followers about Mike Shea!
Honestly, that sort of stuff doesn't matter that much. It isn't about me, it's about *you* and what we can learn together and what I can share to help you with your game. I do have more information on my experiences as a writer, creator, and publisher in the TTRPG space. You can find that here: https://slyflourish.notion.site/How-to-Make-It-in-the-RPG-Industry-3b2b2fd121204578b57bf1dd3deafeb5?pvs=4
Hey Mike, any thoughts about the starfinder 2e playtest?
Also any thoughts about starfinder in general? What do you think about starship combat?
Alternately, if that sucks too much to talk about, do you have any tips for running the depth crawls of Emmy Allen (The Gardens of Ynn and the Stygian Library)?
I'm glad I answered your other question because I really don't have an answer to this one. I haven't seen those products. Sorry!
Hey Mike! Thanks as always for all you do. The talk show and City of Arches are my favorites! I added 3 teenage players to my group and three of the older players quit, ostensibly for that reason. Kids can bring wonderful energy to a table. Folks of any age have things of value to share. It's sad when gamers forget they were kids once too. Any tips on cutting down on age based discrimination in gaming?
Wow. Fantastic question. Honestly, if you're happy with the people coming to your table and ok with the ones leaving it – it's not up to you to fix people's biases. Finding the right players for your table means sometimes players are selected or self-selected out. The next best thing you can do is talk to players who don't seem excited about younger players coming to the table and work through their issues – maybe even asking them to help mentor the newer players if that's an option.
Good afternoon Mike, Just to add to the source book discussion, Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy is an example of the kind of book that would be great from WOTC going forward, lots of stuff in there for DMS to build a campaign or mine for parts. Now a quick question, I've got the Forge of Foes book so feel free to direct me to somewhere in there, but I'm looking at bringing the Shadovar to life in a homebrew Realms campaign that I'm working on. Do you have any advice for such a task, aside from Shadow Step and add necrotic damage? I want these guys to scare the players. Thanks for all that you do! Josh
I think you can drop individual powers onto individual members of the Shadovar as you build them. I don't think its necessary to come up with a lot of weird new abilities, though, to excite and interest your players. Players care about *their* characters' abilities, not what monsters do, for the most part. Reskinning spells is a great way to give new monsters some interesting traits. Don't forget that a big part of building Forge of Foes monsters is worrying less about them and being comfortable improvising them at the table. Good luck!
Hey Mike, what’s your experience with / view on the Chris McDowall games? (Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland and Mythic Bastionland). Best regards KO
I'm sorry, I really have no experience with them. I'll have to check them out!
Hello Mike! I usually DM (and truth be told prefer it), but I'm currently playing a ranger in the Curse of Strahd. I've never played it, I'm enjoying it, we are at 7th level. I have come up with an idea that I will marry Ireena and foil Strahd's plans. We are waiting to spring this plan when we level up a bit more. Yes, Strahd will be incensed and want to make her a widow - if you know what I mean - but I love the idea of forcing his hand and potentially thwarting his designs. As a DM how would you have handled that scenario and although difficult to answer outright, how do you handle situations that not just disrupt your next steps as a DM, but potentially the story line as a whole?
I'd have strahd show up at the wedding and start a-murderin! I don't know that Strahd would care that much if someone got married or not. He'd go after her anyway. I think its more interesting to think that his drive to bring in Ireena isn't about love and obsession but about power and the transfer of that power. He thinks she could be the next best vampire in Barovia and wants to pass it as legacy to her. This gets rid of a lot of the creepy parts of Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd.
I've really enjoyed the City of Arches content that you've put out so far! I'm thinking of connecting the City of Arches with Sigil in our campaign, making it so that people who are "mazed" by the Lady of Pain in Sigil are the ones who lose their memories and go through the arches back onto the Material Plane (and enjoying the public baths and artisanal cheeses). Have you heard stories of others doing something similar, or do you have any thoughts to help expand this idea? It seems like a fun way to introduce the City of Arches into Faerun and establish its role in the Great Wheel cosmology.
City of Arches is new enough that I haven't seen too many patterns of how people tie it to other campaigns but I think that can certainly work! It's designed to act as a universal connector to one or more campaign worlds and use those as arcs for the characters to learn more about where they came from or how to get back. Share your ideas in the SF Patreon Discord server and see what others have to say!
Hey Mike! I have been exclusively dming for about a year and for one of my weekly sessions one of the players is gonna dm! I am excited but have found it hard to switch my mindset from a dms to a players. It’s feels weird to go from such a proactive to a reactive role, so I was wondering if you had any advice on switching from a dm to a player mindset?
My number one tip for players! Take notes! Write down what's going on. Look for ways to help the GM without taking away *their* agency. Offer to manage initiative. Offer to share notes of previous sessions. Lean in on their story. Build characters to support their campaign. Be someone else's sidekick. More here: https://slyflourish.com/be_a_great_player.html
Hi! I would love to know your thoughts on Into the Odd based systems like current Mythic Bastionland kickstarter or Cairn and what you consider the most enjoyable balance between speed, accessibility, crunch, mechanical player options etc.
Or the recently funded Mage Hunter as well
I have a hard time looking at a monster’s CR and understanding what that means without looking it up. I’ve been DMing 5e for about five years now, and I figured that by now a CR # would start to shortcut into some useful knowledge in my head, but every time I look at a monster if I don’t cross reference the CR with something like pg 6 in FoF, I can’t mentally figure out what this monster is for as far as party level or even Tier. Do you have any tips or heuristics I can keep in mind when assessing a stat block that doesn’t require going to a secondary source or memorizing a formula? I’ve no interest in going back to 4e, but I so miss my XP budget.
So the truth is that CR doesn't really mean anything independently. It's just a ranking of monsters. Keeping the Lazy Benchmark in your mind can help you. A single monster may be deadly if it's CR is greater than the average character level of the characters if they're 1st to 4th level or if it's 50% greater than average character levels if they're 5th or above. A group of monsters may be deadly if their total of CRs is greater than one quarter of total character levels if they're 1st to 4th level or half of character levels 5th and above. For powerful parties, this can go up to 3/4 of character levels at 11th and equal to character levels at 17th and above. More here! https://slyflourish.com/the_lazy_encounter_benchmark.html https://slyflourish.com/what_does_cr_mean.html
Hey there! I’m looking to start a one shot of Cyberpunk RED. The trick is that myself (the GM) and the players have never played this system or even similar systems. How do you start playing a TTRPG when no one, including the GM have never played before? What are some tips for using starter kits (CPR has Easy Mode)? I’m hoping to avoid falling into bad habits from not knowing rules.
I think at some point you just have to dive in and try it. I think the best thing to do is be open with your player or players and have them help *you* out as you figure out the rules. You're playing together even if one of you is running the scenario and the other the character. You're both on the same side. Good luck!
I really enjoyed your video on running Ravenloft in Shadowdark, are there any other classic modules (AD&D or otherwise) that you think would run well in SD?
I think Shadowdark can work really well for just about any AD&D or 2nd edition D&D adventures. The general flat math of those systems make them a good fit. Some ones I'd love to try would be: - Village of Hommlet - Keep on the Borderlands - The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan - The Ghost Tower of Inverness - Desert of Desolation
Hello Mike! Do you ever make a list of dialogue options for important NPCs during prep? I first encountered dialogue options when I ran Prisoner 13 (it was a free adventure on D&DB and published in Key from the Golden Vault). When you encountered Prisoner 13 it had a list of things she might say. I ended up using all the options and felt it made the encounter easier and more dramatic and I felt like a knew more about Prisoner 13’s personality. I then started adding dialogue options for my NPCs during prep and had a lot of fun with it. I also felt like it gave me less to think about when I was role playing those NPCs. I’ve watched a lot of your shows and did a quick search in the topic database and couldn’t find where you had discussed this matter except for maybe “Improving NPC Dialog” which was posted about 4 months ago. Listening to audio books is great but what I’m talking about is actually making a list of 10 things the NPC might say. So I thought I’d ask since it has been so valuable to me and I am wondering what you think? Thanks!
Sort of! I write ten secrets and clues without knowing *who* or *what* will reveal them. Those can be seen as dialog options for the whole adventure instead of being tied to a particular NPC. That way, if the conversation doesn't work out with one NPC, the same info can be moved somewhere else. For NPCs, I try to focus on who they are and what they want. Sometimes they're a wealth of information. Othertimes it takes some work to figure out what they're about. Great question! I'll talk about this more on Sunday!