Reinforce Cooperative Character Motivations
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Even the best players sometimes build characters that just don't get along with the rest of the group. The idea of a complicated character filling the role of the...
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Tools of the Lazy Dungeon Master
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! This article was updated from the original posted September 2017. Prepare what matters to our game. That's the core mantra of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. It's...
View ArticleRecovering From a Bad Game
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Not all D&D games go well. Games can go wrong for many reasons and often each reason needs its own approach to get past it. Today, however, we're going to offer...
View ArticleThinking Through the Eyes of our Villains
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Few preparation activities are as useful as thinking through the eyes of our villains. Instead of planning out a long campaign that may never happen the way we think...
View ArticleTen Ways to Use Index Cards
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! The all-mighty index card may be one of the cheapest and most versatile tools in our [DM's toolkit]. Index cards have been a staple tool for DMs for decades; probably...
View ArticleRunning Session Zeros
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Both Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything describe running a session zero for your D&D games. This article summarizes one approach...
View ArticleThinking Through the Eyes of our Villains
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Hello friend! I am currently running the Kickstarter for the Lazy DM's Companion! The Lazy DM's Companion is a book of guidelines and inspirational generators, built...
View ArticleRunning Rime of the Frostmaiden Chapter 2
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Hello friend! I am currently running the Kickstarter for the Lazy DM's Companion! The Lazy DM's Companion is a book of guidelines and inspirational generators, built...
View ArticleSelect the Right Accessories
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Hello friend! I'm currently running the Kickstarter for the Lazy DM's Companion! The Lazy DM's Companion* is a book of guidelines and inspirational generators, built...
View ArticleMy Top Advice for D&D DMs
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Hello friend! We're in the final days of the Kickstarter for the Lazy DM's Companion! The Lazy DM's Companion is a book of guidelines and inspirational generators,...
View ArticleCampfire Story Prompts During Rests in D&D
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Here's a quick trick for adding some fun roleplaying to your D&D games and giving you a chance to glean cool ideas from your players. The next time the characters...
View ArticleBattling the Resistance That Wants You to Fail at D&D
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! "You're not ready to run your next D&D game." If you're like me and lots of other DMs out there, you hear this voice in your head nearly every time you're getting...
View ArticleFacilitating Choices
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! At some point in all D&D games, groups of adventurers, and the players who run them, must sit down and make a choice. It might be about a particular direction...
View ArticleIt's Five Minutes to Game Time
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Matt A., a Sly Flourish patron, asks: "What motivational advice would you give a DM five minutes before their game starts? What's your pep talk?" Ok, here it goes....
View ArticleRunning Frostmaiden Chapter 3 & 4: Sunblight and Destructions Light
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! This article is one of a series of articles covering the Wizards of the Coast hardcover D&D adventure Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. The other articles...
View ArticleNon-Focal, Past, Future, and Combined Random Encounters
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Justin Alexander at the Alexandrian had an awesome article on Non-Focal Random Encounters. Justin defines these as random encounters that don't necessarily happen to...
View ArticleWriting a One-Page Campaign Guide
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! When you're getting ready to run a new campaign, write up a single-page guide for your players to get them on board with the campaign and steer your campaign in the...
View ArticleHow Long Does it Take You to Prep Your D&D Game?
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Sly Flourish Patron MonsterVTpilot asks "What is your ratio of preparation time vs. play time for your games personally? For every hour of play do you think we spend 3...
View ArticleHow to Customize Published Campaign Adventures
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Richard B. a Sly Flourish patron, asks: Do you have any advice for a fairly new DM about going through a published adventure and making alterations to make it work for...
View ArticleA World Without Heroes: A 1st to 20th level Campaign Outline
New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! What if no heroes had come to save the Sword Coast? What if all of the events from Tyranny of Dragons, Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Tomb of...
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