The Many Right Answers of the TTRPG Hobby
Two truths seem evident to me in the tabletop RPG hobby: There are many "right" answers to how we play tabletop RPGs – including which RPGs we play. There's rarely only one right answer to any aspect...
View ArticleAdvanced Random Encounter Tricks
Here are some useful tricks for getting the most out of random encounter tables. Roll Twice Roll twice on a random encounter table and mix the results together. Maybe the characters find two groups...
View ArticleChoosing Monsters for your 5e Game
My simplified encounter building guidelines for 5e games breaks down into two steps: Select the number and type of monsters that make sense for the situation. Determine if this encounter might be...
View Article2024 RPG Gift Guide
Tis the season to give the gamers in your life something special. Below are a handful of my favorite tabletop roleplaying game products. Instead of a "best of 2024", these items are products I find...
View ArticleDreadful Blessings – A Mechanic to Protect 5e Boss Monsters
Bosses need help. Bosses often face the full wrath of the characters, just for being a boss. This focus often leads to anticlimactic fights in which the boss is ineffective at fulfilling the role it...
View ArticleSetting Up Situations
Setting up situations instead of scenes helps GMs avoid predetermined outcomes. Situations give players agency over the approach they take and builds a world that feels real. Even the GM doesn't know...
View ArticleFree Dice Roller
A while back, as part of Wizards of the Coast's great hurling of D&D into a digital future, WOTC removed access to a long hosted and simple dice roller – along with everything else on the original...
View ArticleSteal Character Archetypes from a Single Show
There are lots of ways to build NPCs in your fantasy RPGs. In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master I suggest building NPCs by finding an existing character archetype from your favorite source of fiction...
View ArticleLet Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes
My friend and Forge of Foes partner, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, wrote a great post called Embracing the Awesome (subscribe to his newsletter here!) extolling the virtues of letting characters...
View ArticleRolling Lots of D20s? Assume One Quarter Succeeds
When you need to adjudicate a whole bunch of checks — say rolling two dozen saving throws for a bunch of skeletons hit with Turn Undead — simplify the situation by assuming one quarter succeeds. This...
View ArticleNotable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
A while back I wrote about Gems of the DMG in which I captured what I thought were the most notable sections of a book typically ignored or vilified among 5e D&D DMs. I think it's an underrated...
View ArticleTwo Different 5e Games at the Same Table
When we sit down to play a 5e game at our table, we're actually playing two different games with two different sets of rules, sometimes from totally different publishers. Players play one game – with...
View ArticleAre Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?
A friend passed me a post where someone described how their child, a GM, got feedback from their players stating "I think Matt Mercer would have done it differently". This comment fired up a common...
View ArticleDon't Get Lost in the Zeitgeist
If you're really into this hobby, like I am, it's extremely easy to get caught up in all the big news, scandals, conversations, and controversies that surround this (and any) big hobby. Gods know, I...
View ArticleOffer Choices in Every Scene
I have two great reads for you today. The first is the chapbook Adventure Crucible – Building Stronger Scenarios for Any RPG by Robin Laws. This book inspired my series on adventure types, starting...
View ArticleWrite One Page of Prep Notes
When prepping my game using the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, I like to narrow my prep down to one page of notes. Lately I write my notes in Obsidian and have a custom stylesheet...
View ArticleBuild a Campaign-Unique Faction List
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...
View ArticleAssign Player Roles
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...
View ArticleThe 3-2-1 Quest Model
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...
View ArticleShadowdark House Rules
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...
View ArticleGems of A5E's Trials and Treasures
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...
View ArticleBuild Characters Quickly in D&D 2024
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...
View ArticleUse an Oracle Die
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...
View ArticleGems of the Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide
Ruins of the Grendleroot, ten fantastic underworld adventures for 5e, is on sale this week for $5! While 5e started off ten years ago as just D&D 2014, now several companies publish several...
View ArticleBreak and Prevent the Boredom Spiral
Ruins of the Grendleroot, ten fantastic underworld adventures for 5e, is on sale this week for $5! 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...
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