Getting Player Feedback
We can have a lot of personalities at our table and trying to balance them all out to ensure they're all having a good time can be hard work. Feedback is vital to ensure we grow and improve as game...
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Out of the Abyss Chapter 4: Gracklstugh
This article is one of an ongoing series of articles covering the fifth edition D&D adventure, Out of the Abyss. In this article we're going to cover chapter 4: Gracklstugh. Here is a list of...
View ArticleAsking the Wrong Questions
Many GMs have begun embracing the fine art of "asking questions" to fill out our game worlds. This gives our players agency to build out parts of the world and parts of the story outside the boundaries...
View ArticleA Collection of Awesome Events
Recently I asked the following question on Twitter: "What is one of your your favorite awesome #dnd moments as a player or DM?" - SlyFlourish I received a bunch of great answers including the...
View ArticleSharing Secrets, the Lost Chapter of the Lazy Dungeon Master
When we think about the components we need to run a great RPG adventure, a bunch of things come to mind. Interesting NPCs, fantastic adventure locations, thought-provoking adventure seeds, fun combat...
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What I Learned Running D&D 5e from Level 1 to 20
Since the release of the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons I have had the opportunity to run a full campaign spanning levels 1 to 20. During this campaign, we ran through the two Tyranny of Dragons...
View ArticleOut of the Abyss Chapter 6: Blingdenstone
This article is one of an ongoing series of articles covering the fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure, Out of the Abyss. In this article we're going to cover chapter 6: Blingdenstone. Here is...
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1d20 Shades of Gray
Note: this article has been updated since the original published in April 2013 One of the things that sets Dungeon World apart from d20-based RPGs is the inclusion of a core mechanic with partial...
View ArticleD&D 5e Bonds Based On Fiasco-Style Relationships
Note: This article has been updated since the original published in February 2013. There are few games more different from D&D than the story-focused RPG Fiasco. In Fiasco, a group of players...
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Out of the Abyss Chapter 7: Escape from the Underdark
This article is the final of an ongoing series of articles covering the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure, Out of the Abyss. You can find previous articles here: Running Out of the Abyss...
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Building Legendary Creatures in 5e
Sometimes we DMs really love to throw a single powerful monster against our PCs. In the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons, these single powerful monsters are called "legendary" monsters. They have...
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Looking Back on Dungeon World Fronts
We here in the Sly Flourish laboratories continually look at where GMs can get the most from their effort and time. This all led to the book The Lazy Dungeon Master where we propose that limiting the...
View ArticleFinding Players
Note: This article has been updated from the original published in September 2012. Of all the difficulties facing our desire to run D&D games, the greatest difficulty will always be finding and...
View ArticleRunning Death House
With the release of Curse of Strahd, the latest rewrite of the excellent Dungeons & Dragons adventure, I6 Ravenloft; Wizards of the Coast also released the book's introductory adventure, Death...
View ArticleWriting Great Flash Fiction
Note: This article has been republished from the original published in June 2012. Flash fiction, small focused stories running usually less than three hundred words, have a great place in Dungeons and...
View ArticleDiscovering Stories through Skills and Backgrounds
We game masters love to tell stories. We have big tales we want to share. We have 3-ring binders filled with worlds waiting to explode out into our games. When PCs enter a new location and study their...
View ArticleCharacter-Focused Encounters
Here at Sly Flourish we talk a lot about focusing our games around the backgrounds and motivations of the PCs. We think this is the best way to draw players into the game and build cooperative...
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Making Counterspell Awesome
Of all of the spells in the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, there are few that suck the fun out of the story more than counterspell. Counterspell pulls the flames out of fireballs. It sucks the...
View ArticleA Focus On Locations
In typical published adventures, locations and the creatures within them are tied closely together. There is no Castle Ravenloft without Strahd and his strange menagerie of followers. There is no...
View ArticleTarokka-based Random Encounter Effects
What is this about? Scroll below the card list to read more about these Tarokka-based encounter effects. #randomcardname {font-size: 2em; text-align: center;} #randomcarddescription {font-size: 1em;...
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