Lazy GM guidelines and resources for 5th edition compatible and other fantasy tabletop roleplaying games.| slyflourish.com
Use the following loose guidelines to price 5e magic items: Uncommon: 500 GP (3d6 x 50 GP, 150 GP to 900 GP) Rare: 5,000 GP (3d6 x 500 GP, 1,500 GP to 9,000 GP) Very Rare: 50,000 GP (3d6 x 5,000 GP, ...| slyflourish.com
The awesome Shadowdark RPG has lots of ways to get things moving and keep up the pace during the game. Real-world one-hour torch timers ensure players don't spend too much time poking around. Effects| Sly Flourish
Run more easy encounters! Here are ten encounters that can take place while the characters are engaged in an infiltration- or heist-style adventure: A couple of angry rats leap out at an inopportune...| slyflourish.com
Avoid including primary quest-giving NPCs who betray the characters. Primary NPC betrayal breaks trust with your players, drives players to become cynical of the world, and builds fragile quests that| Sly Flourish
From the latest polls I've run, about half of GMs who responded run their own adventures in their own campaign world. I've argued before for running homebrew adventures in published settings but some| Sly Flourish
Go easy on yourself. Your game doesn't have to be perfect. Your voices don't need to be A-list quality acting. It's fine to look things up in your books at the table or ask your friends for the clarif...| slyflourish.com
During prep, think about the three next quests that stand in front of the characters when they're done with their current quest. Where will they go next? What options lay ahead of them? Stick these t| Sly Flourish
The excellent chapbook Adventure Crucible by Robin Laws, describes several "fun ruiners" for fantasy RPGs at the end of the book. I talked about fun ruiners in my series of articles on Adventure Types...| slyflourish.com
This guide offers simple treasure parcels for your 5e RPGs – whatever variant of 5e you're playing. Prep and award roughly one parcel per session. Tier 1 (1st to 4th level) Treasure Parcel 400 gp wor| Sly Flourish
If you already have a Chessex Battle Mat; or you're willing to compromise on portability, durability, and cost for a beautiful and smooth play surface that feels great; the Chessex Battle Mat is a fan| Sly Flourish
Finding players to play tabletop RPGs remains the hardest problem for the hobby and has likely been the biggest roadblock for the hobby for the past 50 years. Options for playing online help but findi...| slyflourish.com
Organize RPG prep notes by campaign with pages for characters, NPCs, and individual session notes built around the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Include folders for maps and camp| Sly Flourish
One of my favorite writers, Cory Doctorow, had an excellent post called Against Lore. In it, he talks about how he could use the imaginations of firearm aficionados, who just can't help themselves but...| slyflourish.com
No single set of unified rules work perfectly for the open-ended nature of RPGs. Use the rules and tools which help you improvise as the game evolves during play. RPGs aren't like other games with fix| Sly Flourish
Since the earliest days of D&D, we've seen RPG character builds that operate beyond of their expected effectiveness. Whether they inflict twice the damage of the next highest character build or have i...| slyflourish.com
Before you read further, write down some of your criteria for determining whether a published adventure is right for you. What do you look for? What are warning signs an adventure won't work for you?| Sly Flourish
While 5e started off ten years ago as just D&D 2014, now several companies publish several versions of 5e. Kobold Press, who long wrote material for 5e, now published their own 5e-based system – Tales...| slyflourish.com
I'm not a great RPG player – I'm much better in the GM's seat. When I GM, I'm fully engaged. I have to be. I'm managing the story, the game, the pacing, and the fun of the people around the table. I'm| Sly Flourish
Ask questions. Roll a die. See what happens. I first heard the concept of an oracle die from the excellent RPG Ironsworn but I expect it's been around longer than that. The concept is simple. Ask your...| slyflourish.com
The following guidelines help you quickly build a character using the 2024 D&D Player's Handbook. These guidelines modify the steps for character creation outlined in chapter 2. DMs can offer these gu...| slyflourish.com
With 5e having expanded beyond just D&D, we find ourselves with several game master guides including: The D&D 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide The D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide Tales of the Valiant's Ga| Sly Flourish
I love Shadowdark. I ran a year-long campaign in Shadowdark and learned a lot about the system. The following is a list of house rules I've used that have made the Shadowdark experience more fun for m| Sly Flourish
Dragon of Icespire Peak in the 2019 D&D Essentials Kit has a wonderful quest model worth paying special attention to. I'm calling it the "3-2-1 quest model". First, put three quests out in front of th| Sly Flourish
Before we begin, I wanted to let you know that our book for building and running awesome monsters, Forge of Foes, is now available as an audiobook narrated by Colby Elliot! Colby has narrated other Sl| Sly Flourish
Build a list – or several lists – of the gods, factions, campaign icons, and historical figures of your campaign world. Roll on this list to flavor items, monuments, NPCs, or locations. Use these fact| Sly Flourish