Limit Sources While Using D&D Beyond
Over the lifespan of D&D 5th edition Wizards of the Coast released dozens of sourcebooks including new races, subclasses, spells, backgrounds, and feats. Allowing access to all features from all...
View ArticleShare PDFs With Your Players
There are times when we're running our RPGs where we want to be able to share PDFs of game materials with our players. Maybe we're including 5e published material not available on D&D Beyond....
View ArticleHow Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?
The answer? Don't worry about it. Ok, you probably want more advice than that. Recently Hayley M., a Patreon of Sly Flourish asked: Combat encounter length: It depends, of course, but do you or your...
View ArticleUse Dyson's Maps
DMs often overprepare. Drawing our own maps is typically one such activity. You may be tempted to draw out your dungeon maps and, if you enjoy it and have the time, go with the gods. But if time is...
View ArticleDungeon Crawls Versus Situations
Sometimes the line between running a dungeon crawl and running a larger situation – like a heist – isn't so clear. They both have locations. They both have goals. They both have inhabitants. But both...
View ArticleThe Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review
Since 2018, Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master has helped thousands of GMs improve their tabletop roleplaying games and focus on what matters most for their games. The core of Return of the Lazy...
View ArticleFocus Extra Prep Time on the Characters
Whenever we're looking at our game prep, it's useful to consider what's valuable and what isn't valuable for the fun of the game. What matters? There's not a perfect answer — each of us chooses what...
View ArticleHow to Choose DCs for Your 5e Game
Here's a quick way to determine the difficulty class (DC) when characters attempt to accomplish a risky endeavor in your 5e RPG. Think about the situation in the game's world. Then ask yourself, on a...
View ArticleRunning Towns in Fantasy RPGs
When the characters reach a town or other large settlement, the pacing of our D&D game changes — and not always in a good direction. Towns are tricky environments to run. They have a wide range of...
View ArticleDo We Need a New D&D Player's Handbook?
One Word Summary No. Two Sentence Summary There's no need to discard the millions of existing copies of the 2014 Player's Handbook. A frank conversation with our players can move us past the game's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prepping a Dungeon
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding! Dungeons are probably my favorite structure for fantasy RPG adventures. There's a fixed location, interesting options,...
View ArticleOffer Secret Paths in Dungeons or Overland Journeys
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding! Good dungeons and overland travel paths offer choices to the characters. We make such scenes interesting not by forcing one...
View ArticleRoleplaying Between Sessions
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding! Judge, a Patreon of Sly Flourish, asked the following thought-provoking question: "Any ideas on engaging players between...
View ArticleD&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast, 5e, and You
Get $96 of Sly Flourish books for $20 at the Sly flourish Bundle of Holding! Wizards of the Coast continues to expand D&D Beyond's dominance in 5e tabletop roleplaying games and they've proven...
View ArticleHard Conversations
Whether we like it or not, whether it's fair or not, GMs often find themselves in the position of needing to have hard conversations with people. Maybe it's a player who isn't fitting in well with the...
View ArticleAlternative Standard Arrays for 5e Ability Scores
Here's an easy house rule to help players more easily select ability scores when building characters in 5e games. Instead of using a mixture of point-buy systems and either racial or background-based...
View ArticleBathe Your World in Lore
Lore matters. The histories and backgrounds of the worlds we run in our RPGs makes them unique among all others. We don't need to write a thousand pages of lore for our world but we need enough lore...
View ArticleMy Favorite TTRPG Products of 2023
Over 2023 I've been lucky to look at a lot of various tabletop roleplaying game products and I wanted to give you a list of my favorite five for 2023. First, I have some disclaimers. I didn't see...
View ArticleReplacing 5e's Inspiration with Luck
In the Tales of the Valiant 5e RPG and their Project Black Flag system reference document, Kobold Press introduces us to the Luck mechanic – a direct replacement for the standard 5e "Inspiration"...
View ArticleLazy Monster Damage – Subtract 3, Add 1d6
This tip is a trick I first heard attributed to Chris Perkins. I've used it a lot and love it. First, I'm a huge proponent of using static monster damage. It's fast, easy, and moves the game forward...
View Article