Understanding the Exploration Pillar of D&D
D&D is built around three pillars of gameplay: combat, roleplaying, and exploration. Of these three, exploration is the least well understood. I struggled to understand it myself early on in 5th...
View ArticleBuild Resilient and Evolving Villainous Plots
Chapter 16 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master describes the use of fronts as a way to move campaigns forward through the goals and progress of its villains. This concept comes from the Apocalypse...
View ArticleIncluding D&D's Three Pillars Anywhere
The D&D Player's Handbook describes three pillars of gameplay: exploration, social interaction, and combat. We can think of these pillars as things to discover, people to talk to, and monsters to...
View ArticleTying Characters to a Campaign's Theme
The value of tying characters to the theme of your campaign during a session zero cannot be overstated. It avoids tons of problems often plaguing long-term campaigns in which the characters'...
View ArticleOffer Choices at the End of the Session
When you have a game with multiple paths the characters can take, describe those paths and get the players to pick one before the end of the game. This helps you stay lazy and still offer a range of...
View ArticleUpward and Downward Beats
Pacing may be the most important skill we GMs bring to the table and can be notoriously hard to do. We must always have a gauge on the current pacing and feeling of the game, slowing things down or...
View ArticleTake a Break
Take a ten minute break every 90 minutes of gameplay. As DMs, it's easy to lose track of time when running our game. We're fully on when we're running the game. We're in the zone. We're in a state of...
View ArticleAvoid Predetermined Overwhelming Combat Encounters
Avoid designing and running combat encounters intended to defeat the characters. It’s common for DMs to have ideas for stories they want to see take place in their D&D adventures. D&D...
View ArticleManaging D&D Tips
Kevin B., a Sly Flourish Patron asks the following: "We all want to improve, but is there a point where watching, reading and online chatting just becomes counterproductive? Is there just too much...
View ArticleSolid Character Motivations
Character motivations are vitally important to run a smooth D&D campaign. Characters must have good reasons to explore the world and engage in dangerous adventures. Their motivations should be...
View ArticleSeven Tips for Better Dungeons
Though built into the title of the game, not every DM enjoys the process of running dungeons. For some, dungeons can be tedious slogs — inching along old corridors, poking the floor with ten foot...
View ArticleBalance Realism and Fun in Your D&D Game
There's a false dichotomy in D&D between the "Realism" of the game and the fun of the game. Some say the game's world and everything in it should behave as realistically as possible. The world...
View ArticleProgress Clocks for Complex Situations in D&D
The core mechanic of D&D works something like this: The DM describes the situation The player describes what they want their character to do If this action is difficult or if failure is...
View ArticleTracking Combat in D&D
Octain, a Patron of Sly Flourish asks: Can you help me better track monsters in combat when there are more than 1. I have tried the dndbeyond combat tracker which works well with an encounter with the...
View ArticleEnd Sessions Before a Big Battle
Ending a session right before a big battle is a powerful trick for lazy dungeon masters. It hands you your next strong start. It makes players excited for the next session. It gives you time to plan...
View ArticleLightning Rods – Showcase Powerful Character Abilities
Ginny Di has an excellent YouTube video discussing the dangers of ruining the players' good time by counteracting powerful character abilities. Her tip? Instead of counteracting powerful abilities,...
View ArticleMusic for D&D
In chapter 13 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master I include a list of great background music for D&D. Here are a few other albums I love, both for playing D&D and for listening to while...
View ArticleSecrets Serve You
For a video on this topic, see my Secrets Serve You YouTube Video. The concept of "secrets and clues" from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is a powerful tool. They changed my own game so much that I...
View ArticleWhat Does Passive Perception Show You?
Perception can be a weird skill to use, particularly passive Perception. Jeremy Crawford describes passive Perception as a "floor" for active Perception. It represents the minimum a character...
View ArticleSingle Encounters for Overland Travel
How best to handle overland travel comes up often when DMs get together to talk about the hard parts of their game. Do you arrange a bunch of jobs the characters can do while traveling? Do you roll...
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