Michael E. Shea's Blog

I don't cheat when I roll the dice during my RPGs. But I cheat everywhere else.

EN World had an interesting thread about how to fudge not using the dice. It brought up a lot of interesting conversations about when, where, and how GMs fudge when running RPGs. For the sake of this discussion, I'm going to use the words "cheat" and "fudge" interchangeably�������you can decide where the difference lies.

Some GMs came to the conclusion that a GM can't really cheat when running a game. We are, after all, the one running the game. But there are expectations when we play RPGs. Even though they're about sharing stories with our friends, there are rules.

But we GMs have some leeway. Our job isn't to ensure a rigid interpretation of the rules. Our job is to facilitate a fun game. For 5e games, I've talked about the four dials of monster difficulty; changing things up to improve the pacing and the fun of combat when needed. I've added dreadful blessings to the mix too, which made my high-level 5e games much easier to run and ensure big monsters hold up their end of the story.

I think GMs have the obligation to shift things around for the fun of the game.

What Counts?

Participants in the thread linked above discussed what even counts as cheating (or fudging����� choose your own term). Here's what it mostly came down to:

You can't fudge during prep. Anything goes before your material hits the table.You're generally not fudging if you're rolling dice to see what happens instead of making choices.

Many participants had one thing that counted as cheating:

Changing the game during the game.

Why Fudge?

Why we fudge matters a lot. Here are some circumstances where fudging feels right to me:

To change the pacing and beats of the game when they're off. To keep the story moving along when things get boring.To help the mechanics meet the story.

And here are some reasons not to fudge:

To remove agency from a character or player.Because you���re mad. Because you can. How to Fudge?

Where exactly might we fudge the game? Here are a few ways:

Hit points, damage, number of attacks, and number of monsters. What success or failure looks like on ability checks.Changing the result of random encounters.Changing monster and NPC behavior.The dreaded quantum ogre.

This last one deserves some conversation because it's a common topic. A quantum ogre is the idea that a GM might whip up a detailed encounter and then run that encounter whatever path the characters choose. No matter which trail you choose to walk, you run into an ogre either way. It's often used in a derogatory way but I don't think it's always a bad idea. If you have a cool encounter, why not use it? The argument against it is that the choice of which path to take was a false choice. Maybe or maybe not. Maybe you can change the encounter based on the path they took. Maybe other things change depending on the path the characters take ��� the ogre itself doesn't matter that much. I leave it to you to decide how you feel about it.

The Spring in the Dials

When I talk about the four dials of monster difficulty, my expectation isn't to constantly manipulate these dials. I like to think that the dials have springs that pull them to the average ��� we should go with the defaults only until we have a good reason to change them. Those changes come when the situation warrants it. Is the pace of the game waning? Drop those monster hit points to get the battle overwith. Are the mechanics not meeting the story when it comes to a big boss? Maybe give them some Dreadful Blessings to let them increase their threat or break out of debilitative effects. Maybe the doors burst open and eighty eight of his most loyal subordinates run in.

The Obligation of Cheating

The most important question to ask when fudging the rules is ��� why? What's your intention? Why do it?

Why cheat?

We cheat to make the game more fun.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Alternative Initiative Options, Mashing Up the Eight StepsDread Necropolis Adventure ScenarioUpcoming GamesKobold Press Book BundleDrakkenheim Daggerheart Campaign BookApocalypse World Burned OverMeguey Baker, Vincent Baker, and Jonathan Harper Podcast with Ben RiggsShannon Appleclein on Mastering DungeonsWOTC Brings Back Educational Resources for D&DNew One Ring AdventuresExperiences with Dreadful BlessingsPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Building Characters for One-on-One RPGsMotivations for CultistsDealing and Facilitating Table TalkTuning Bosses in ShadowdarkTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Three Alternative Initiative OptionsMashing Up the Eight StepsHuge Kobold Press BundleDrakkenheart KickstarterApocalypse World Burned Over KickstarterMeguey Backer, Vincent Baker, and Jonathan Harper on Reading D&D AloudDesigners and Dragons Crowdfunding Campaign still going onD&D Educational ResourcesHasbro Educational ResourcesNew One Ring and Lord of the Rings 5e Adventure BooksDreadful Blessings

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Building Lazy Pantheons and The Blood Spire Part 2 ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 44.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

End your campaign by asking the players where their characters are one year later.Avoid big twists at the end of the campaign. Give players the satisfying conclusion they���ve been seeking. Play to see what happened. Give low level characters a nuclear bomb. What do they do with it?Tell players the AC of monsters and the DCs of the checks they make to speed up play. Think about the procedures you and your players follow for different phases of the game like overland travel, dungeon crawling, and social navigationBreak up travel with interesting situations at notable locations on the way.Related ArticlesThree Reasons to Fudge Monster Hit PointsDreadful Blessings ��� A Mechanic to Protect 5e Boss MonstersHow Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?Get More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

The eight steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master provide a simple framework for prepping tabletop RPG sessions.

The eight steps are already pretty simple, but sometimes we can simplify our prep even further by consolidating a couple steps. Doing so keeps our notes even smaller, making them easier to reference during the game.

Here are some examples:

Secrets in Review the Characters

Building secrets around the characters is a great way to ensure you're focusing on the primary actors of the game. As part of step 1, "Review the Characters", I've started writing character-focused secrets for each of the characters. I usually do this prep in addition to the ten secrets in the "Secrets and Clues" step, but I'm not sure I need to. Four secrets might be enough if you already have six secrets tied to the characters.

Character driven secrets ensure I can tie the characters to the larger story and history of the world directly.

The Strong Start is the First Scene

Instead of separating the strong start (step 2) from scenes (step 3), we can combine them. The first scene we list is our strong start, followed by potential scenes listed after that. Including the strong start in our list of scenes combines two steps into one and avoids the awkward redundancy of listing our strong start both in its own step and in the "scenes" step.

Locations, NPCs, and Monsters in Scenes

Monsters, NPCs, and Locations are split apart in the eight steps to help us build scenes as they occur during the game. They're helping us prepare to improvise.

Sometimes we know a particular scene includes locations, NPCs, or monsters. We can write down locations, monsters, and NPCs in our scene description, bolding monsters and NPCs so we can easily reference them at the table. We can also write page numbers from our monster book next to each monster to make it faster to reference them when we need them.

Here's an example scene from my own prep notes:

Face the guardians of the Junction in Midgard, a star-touched geyser in an old watchtower of Aten the Sun God (Southlands 233). Dragonborn knight (367), three Sharpened Coin mercenary veterans (371), eight conscripted guards (366).

The scene above has the scene, the location, and the monsters all in it.

For locations, we might focus only on an evocative name. If we need more details for a location, it's best to list it in our "Locations" step.

There's a reason we typically list monsters in their own step, however. Separating out monsters from scenes and locations lets us move monsters around depending on how the situation changes. But in the example above, we know those monsters inhabit the old watchtower, so it's cool to list them in the scene and skip both a location and their listing in monsters.

Likewise, we might include NPCs in our scenes or secrets and clues such as:

Meet the Sage, Gelefer Hawktail.

Listing NPCs in our scenes or secrets saves us having to list them separately.

When to Combine and When to Separate

There's a clear value and intention in separating out each of the eight steps in our notes. Secrets are intended to be abstracted from their method of discovery. Locations are intended to be separated from inhabitants so you can build encounters based on the situation and the pacing of your game as you play it.

When writing out your notes, it's up to you to decide when combining steps makes sense or whether it's more useful to split them out. Your prep notes serve you ��� no one else. If your notes work for you, you're doing it right. When it makes sense, try mashing up some steps together and see if it works for you.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Improv vs. Prep, Three Initiative OptionsDyson Commercial Maps GalleryHalloween Shadowdark Ravenloft Game Appearance on EN World PodcastEvil Hat Games and EPUB for AccessibilityWhat Is the Lazy RPG Talk Show?Forgotten Realms Heroes and Adventures of FaerunPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Improvising Map Annotations and DetailsConnecting with Another Player's CharacterHow do you Review the Characters?Talk Show Links

Here's the link I referenced during the talk show.

Morrus's Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk with Mike

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running 200 Ghouls and The Blood Spire ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 43.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Sometimes a boss getting killed in a single hit is more memorable than a long dragged out fight. In a big war, set up multiple areas of conflict and let the players choose which one to engage in. As you come to the end of a campaign, think how you can tie up the loose ends. Ask players what they want as you get close to the end of a campaign. What form does a boss monster take when it becomes bloodied?How does the story evolve elsewhere when the characters are busy here? Damage is typically the easiest way to threaten the characters. Related ArticlesThe Eight Steps of the Lazy DM �����2023 ReviewUsing the Lazy DM's Eight Steps At the TableScenes ��� The Catch-all Step of the Lazy Dungeon MasterGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Initiative is one of those strange mechanics that can suck all the excitement out of a situation. As soon as a battle is about to begin, we all sit down and do a bunch of accounting and mathematical ranking.

If you're happy with initiative as-is, that's awesome. If, however, you want to look at a few alternatives, look no further.

Around the Table

Probably the easiest initiative option is the "around the table" option. The Shadowdark RPG features this style of initiative for its speed, simplicity, and lack of bookkeeping.

For this style of initiative, everyone rolls initiative as normal and whoever has the highest roll goes first. At that point, initiative goes clockwise around the table. This way you never know where initiative is going to start but everyone knows the order after that roll.

If you want to shake things up, you can reverse the direction every other battle or decide what direction it goes based on the even or odd number of the highest roll. Even and turns go clockwise, odd and they go counterclockwise.

Initiative is already random enough that going around the table is just about as good as figuring out the whole initiative order and it's faster, easier, and requires no record-keeping.

This style of initiative doesn't work quite as easily in online play. You can either forgo this technique or use the list of characters alphabetically (or reverse alphabetically) which usually means looking up or down your Discord voice channel list or some other list of characters you have in front of you.

Of course, if your online system is as complex as normal initiative, maybe just go with the normal style of initiative and turn-order.

Elective Action Order ("Popcorn Intiative")

Also known as Balsera-style initiative or "popcorn" initiative, elective action order puts turn-order in the hands of the players. Here's how Fate Condensed describes it:

At the start of a scene, the GM and players decide who goes first based on the situation, then the active player picks who goes next. The GM���s characters are selected in the turn order just like the PCs, with the GM deciding who goes next after the NPCs have acted. After everyone has taken a turn, the last player picks who goes next at the start of the next exchange.

This method is a cool cinematic-focused sort of way of handling initiative but it feels ripe for min-maxing. Why wouldn't you put the monsters at the bottom of the turn order? Sure, they could technically go twice if the GM chooses the monsters right after they go but it still feels like monsters would have the advantage.

Fast and Slow Turns

This one comes from Shadow of the Demon Lord by Robert Schwalb but can be easily ported over to 5e. Each round of combat is broken down into "fast turns" and "slow turns". In 5e, a fast turn would include an action, a bonus action, or a move. A slow turn includes the full range of actions, bonus actions, and moves. In each of these two phases, the characters go first with their fast turns, then monster fast turns, then character slow turns, then monster slow turns. Within each phase, you don't worry about the turn order. Players choose who goes in each player phase and the GM determines the order of the monsters' turns.

Fast and slow turns let characters (and the GM) choose whether to act quickly but not do as much stuff or act slowly but get more access to their available actions. It's another way to give everyone more control over turn order and doesn't require a lot of book keeping. It can break down, however, if you have more than four or five players.

Bonus Option�������Monsters Go on 12

I really like the "around the table" style of initiative but that doesn't work well online. Elective action order and "fast and slow" turns also have some quirky bits to them. So for online play and even in in-person play, I have the monsters always go on an initiative of 12. This gives some slower monsters a little leg up but it almost always ensures the monsters go somewhere in the middle of the round. It also means I don't have to bother to roll to throw my monsters into the ring.

I also use the lazy trick of asking one of the players to manage initiative which helps significantly. I'd be using the numbered 3x5 cards for initiative except one of my players made an awesome wood-block initiative stack that we use instead. This tool makes tracking and displaying initiative fast and easy.

Try Them Out ��� Use the One You Dig

It's always fun to find different ways to tackle particular elements of our RPG. If any of the above initiative variants grab you, bring them to your next game and try them out on a low-stakes encounter. See how you like it and how your players like it. Try a few of them out and then pick the one you like the best. There's also no reason you can't use a few different ones. Maybe easy battles call for "around the table" style initiative while more high-stakes boss battles use the standard initiative system.

Try things out and choose the options that work best for you and your group.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Gamehole Panels, Ravenloft with Shadowdark, Models Fuel Creativity, Prep Versus ImprovStartPlaying.Games RPG Mental Health SurveyRob Weiland Passes AwayAsmodee Takes Control of Lord of the Rings Tabletop License30% Off Chaosium Products on DTRPGOrigins 4-Volume D&D Product History by Evil HatGlass Cannon Liveplay using Shadowdark and Return of the Lazy Dungeon MasterD&D 3D VTT Project Sigil Officially EndsPhantasy Star RPGExperiences at Gamehole Con 2025Crypts of Karigulon UpdatesPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Friend Doesn't Want My AI / LLM Generated CampaignTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Running Ravenloft with ShadowdarkFrameworks Fuel CreativityImprov Versus PrepTTRPG Mental Health Survey on StartPlaying.GamesRob Weiland Passed AwayAsmodee takes over LOTR RPG rightsChaosium sale on DTRPGDesigners and Dragons crowdfunding campaignGlass Cannon Liveplay mentions Lazy DMProject Sigil D&D 3D VTT is No MorePhantasy Star RPG

Last week I also posted a YouTube video on The Void Dragon ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 42.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

What type of monsters do each of your players love to fight?Mix hordes of small monsters, some juicy big monsters, and boss monsters all together.With each scene you plan, ask what choices and actions lie in front of the characters.Think one horizon out. What things do you need in your next game to prepare for the one after that?Let players break debilitating status effects by taking psychic damage at the beginning of their turn.Roll for random treasure, then determine if that treasure's cool for your group.Beach and shopping episodes give the characters a break between big climactic adventures.Related ArticlesSimpler Initiative OptionsTrack Turns the Shadowdark WayUse Static Initiative for MonstersGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

How often do you improvise NPCs during your game?

When you do, what material helps you improvise them?

What's missing from these improvised NPCs? Do you or your players notice?

Given the answers to these questions, what material do you need next time to help you improvise NPCs in the future?

I think the questions above narrow down the necessity of what we prepare and what we need to improvise parts of our games. I'm focusing on NPCs but this could be locations, scenes, combat encounters, treasure, or anything else we typically use to run games.

GMs often improvise NPCs. A list of random names is a big staple in the kits of many GMs so GMs can quickly create NPCs out of thin air. For my own games, I don't need much more than a name. I tend to fall into the NPC, improvising their behavior, mannerisms, and other aspects as we play. But I suck at names ��� both coming up with them and remembering them.

These experiences tells me something. If I find myself able to improvise NPCs with just a name during a game, I probably don't need more information than a name when I prep an NPC.

What we need to prepare and what we can improvise during the game is different for each of us, but I think we can go through the exercise at the beginning of this article to figure it out.

Look at what really happens during your game and then go back to figure out what you actually need next time. It might turn out that 500 words of background, history, mannerisms, physical traits, and prepared statements for particular queries or situations isn't really needed if you can just drop behind the eyes of an NPC and wing it.

Recently I ran a game in which my characters delved into tunnels connecting sub-basements, cisterns, and sewer systems of a town. I wasn't ready for the delve but I had some maps in my GM kit ��� enough to run a few scenes in there. I rolled up some monsters and had some general room descriptions. I didn't have the sewer maps from The Lazy DM's Workbook, which would have helped, but the material I did have worked well enough. A perceptive player might have noticed me flipping around a lot in my book and been suspicious but no one seemed to mind.

Can I get away with that little prep? Probably not. I prefer more prep for locations like this dungeon ��� something to make chambers interesting and specific to the circumstances. But I don't need much more than this. I can write down a list of possible rooms without necessarily marking them on a map and do just fine.

General purpose random monster lists often work well enough ��� along with rolling dice for attitude, behavior, and distance. But customized lists of monsters for this particular situation and location would have worked better.

I know I can't come up with great secrets and clues to drop in my game on the fly. I like to give secrets more thought than I can whip up at a busy table. So secrets are something I definitely prepare ahead of time. Same with strong starts, lists of scenes, and other aspects of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master.

I always find it useful to walk through the eight steps, even if I don't write down every step. The amount of material I need for each step might be less based on what I find myself actually using at the table.

Look at what you use at your table. What do you use of your prep? What do you improvise? Use your experiences at every session to change your prep and help you run the next one.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Last week I was at Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin. There I was on a handful of panels, two of which I recorded and posted to the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast). You can listen to them here:

The Beautiful Mess of 5eTop GM TipsRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Write down place names to help players keep track of where they���ve been and where they���re going. Give players a sense of scale of the huge locations they explore. Set up challenges and let players decide how to navigate them. Avoid pointlessly restrictive sets of options. Run a mix of easy and hard fights. Let the world determine the difficulty of an encounter. Ask players how their characters search for and disarm traps. Don���t just depend on the dice. Use a mix of battle maps ��� small diagrams, gridded drawings, pre-printed maps, 3d terrain. Use whatever you have. Related ArticlesUsing the Lazy DM's Eight Steps At the TableThe Eight Steps of the Lazy DM �����2023 ReviewMashing Up the Eight StepsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

At first glance, quest and adventure frameworks can seem limiting. Frameworks set boundaries for boundless games. Our adventures can go anywhere so what happens when we bind them into a framework?

Frameworks don't bind creativity ��� they enhance it. Frameworks give us a structure to build the components for our stories to go anywhere.

In previous articles, I've described several frameworks for quest and adventure models. Here's a list of adventure models:

Dungeon CrawlsInfiltrations and HeistsInvestigations and MysteriesOverland Exploration and TravelMissions and Quest ChainsDefenseRoleplay and IntrigueCombatMashups or the Undefined

And here are some quest models:

3-2-1 Quest ModelsThree of Five Keys ModelThe Seven Samurai Model

and one of my favorites. The simplest quest model:

Someone asks you to accomplish something somewhere.

These models work. They've worked for fifty years and they work today. There are also a bunch of models that usually don't work): forced chases, quest NPC betrayal, forced captures, forced defeats, all-or-nothing collection quests. These brittle models often remove character agency to keep things bound to a narrow story chosen by the GM.

It's easy to think that pre-defined models and frameworks limit us, but they don't. Instead, like poetry, they give us structure and variables and it's the variables that make our adventures unique. These variables include:

NPCsLocationsGoalsHistoryBackgroundsFactionsPantheonsAdversariesScale

You can take the simplest quest model and build something small like

The former adventure turned innkeeper, Eli Merrow asks the characters to go into his unexplored sub-cellars to find his son who went missing down there two days ago.

or something bigger in scope:

Garland Willowmane asks the characters to enter the Vault of the Key of Worlds to recover the Key of Worlds before it falls into the hands of either the marilith general Sylisa Sixblade or the erinyes commander Vether Voidwalker.

These quests follow the same model but have very different scope and scale.

There's no limit on the creativity of the adventures you can build for your group. You don't need to force your ideas into one of the above frameworks. But frameworks offer tried and true methods to run games with open-ended situations and lots of character agency that still guide your prep to have a fun game ready for your friends.

Embrace frameworks and embrace the creativity they bring to your games.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Tab Your Books, Ravenloft with Shadowdark, Gamehole Con5e Artisanal Database Combat TrackerAllies and Enemies for ShadowdarkHall of Horrors for Daggerheart, Candela Obscura, and 5ePartnering with Let's QuestBack Up Your Digital RPG StuffThe Value of Adventure TypesPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Advanced Traps in 5eKeeping Multiple RPG Rulesets In Our HeadsHomebrewing Adventures As Good As Published AdventuresTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Tab Your BooksRunning Ravenloft with ShadowdarkAllies and Enemies for Shadowdark KickstarterHall of Horrors: Bestiary for Daggerheart, D&D 5E, and COLet's QuestAdventure Types: Dungeon Crawls

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Track D&D Monster Damage with Xs and /s and .

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Read and reference your RPG books. Enjoy the duality of RPGs being incredible ways to build stories with your friends and also just a game with some books and dice. Don���t get paralyzed by the vast openness of RPGs. Focus on structured prep for your next session. Even in the deepest dungeons, include interesting NPCs to talk to. Show the vast scale of megadungeons. Towering ziggurats that hold entire fallen cities in their depths. Include three possible entrances into your dungeon.Seek choices at the end of sessions so you know what to prep next. Related ArticlesThe 3-2-1 Quest ModelPrep Three QuestsTroublesome Quest ModelsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Add little re-usable adhesive tabs to your player's guides, gamemaster guides, and other RPG books you use at your table. Add some extra tabs to your monster books so you can tab the monsters you're using in your next game.

Next to writing page numbers down in your prep notes and character sheets �����using adhesive tabs in your books makes them far more usable at your table whether you're a GM or a player. Adding tabs to your books takes a little work ��� maybe ten or fifteen minutes per book ��� but adds tremendous value. Like the best lazy GM tricks, tabbing your books offers many advantages:

You learn what your book hasYou think about what parts of the book give you the most value at the tableYou speed up referencing material in your books during play and can reference more stuffYou understand what one book has over anotherYou have fun spending time with physical books

Even if you play online, it's often faster to open a tabbed book on your desk and find something than it is to search through several PDFs.

How to Tab Your Books

Re-usable adhesive tabs can be found at most drug stores, stationary stores, big-box stores, or online. I picked up 500 1" tabs for seven dollars.

When adding tabs to your book, use a fine-point permanent pen or marker. Start at the back of the book and work forwards. Open the book to the back and start going through it. When you find a page or section you think you'll reference during the game, fill out the label for that section on the tab and then put the tab at the outside bottom of the page opposite the spine of the book. Then flip through to the next section you'll use, write out the label for that section, and put the tab just above the last one you put in. This way, when you're done, all the tabs go from top to bottom, with the upper most labels opening to the front of the book and the lowest labels going to the back.

Choosing What to Tab

Don't just tab the chapters of the book. You can already easily find the chapters. Instead, put tabs on the specific sections you think you'll use at the table. Random tables you might otherwise miss, list of random names, spell sections, random magic item tables ��� all the things you might reference as you play.

Tabbing Player Guides

I tabbed my A5e Adventurer's Guide, my Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide, and my D&D 2024 Player's Handbook. Here are the common sections I tabbed in these guides:

ClassesLineages, Heritages, Species, AncestriesBackgroundsFeatsEquipmentRulesSpellsConditionsSkillsAppearance TablesTrinketsTabbing Gamemaster Guides

Gamemaster guides have a bad reputation for not being particularly useful at the table but there's a lot in them we can use if we know that useful material is there and can get to it easily. Here are sections I tabbed in my various gamemaster guides:

Taverns and LandmarksDungeonsWeatherNPC NamesHazardsTrapsPoisonsSettlementsJourney ActivitiesMagic ItemsRandom Magic Item TablesMagic Item PropertiesMonster TraitsMonster Stats by CREncounter Building GuidelinesRandom EncountersRandom Campaign DressingMapsTabbing Monster Books

You don't need to tab your monster book the same way you tab your player's books and GM books. Some monster books might have useful tables or encounter lists you might want to tab and use regularly but mostly you'll tab the monsters you plan to use in your next game. I keep a set of five or so extra tabs in the front or back of the book that I can use during the game to mark the monster pages I need at the moment.

Speed Up Play

Tabbing your books makes it far easier to look up what you need. If you're a player, tabbing the sections you typically use for your character helps you quickly look up what you need when you need it. Re-usable adhesive tabs let you move the tabs around when you're switching spells or adding new features to your character. If you're a GM, recommend to your players that they tab the sections of their books that they need. Drop a stack of tabs on the table so they can enjoy tabbing their books themselves.

Learn What You Have

Going through and tabbing your books helps you become more familiar with the material in your books. You'll find things you forgot about. You might forget about the trinkets table in the Player's Handbook but it's a fun way to add flavorful items to otherwise common hoards of treasure. Spend the time tabbing your books to help you better internalize what's in your books and make them more useful for your actual game.

Enjoy Crafting Your Own Reference Books

Tabbing books is fun! Too infrequently do we have the chance to get away from screens for a little while and craft our own tools to run our games. Adding adhesive tabs to your books may not seem like much, but it's a great way to get closer to your books ��� to the materials we use to run these games we love.

Tab your books.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Use Agnostic Tools, Go Easy On Yourself, Vathrex UnchainedShadow of the Weird Wizard Bundle of HoldingHow to Read BlogsMythic Game Master Emulator for Solo RPGsHow Many D&D Products Are There?Critical Role Interview on Dungeon CraftWhat's Your Villain's Backup Plan?Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Share DCs and ACs?Worth Running Other RPGs?Starter Sets for Experienced Groups?Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Use Agnostic ToolsGo Easy On YourselfShadow of the Weird WizardHow to Find and Read BlogsMythic Game Master Emulator Free guidelinesMythic Game Master Emulator One PagerMythic Game Master Emulator Second EditionHow Much D&D Stuff Is There?Critical Role interview with Professor Dungeon Master

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos including Mash Up the Eight Steps and Heroes of Four of Forty Fingers ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 39.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Keep general purpose monster stats on hand so you can easily improvise monsters at the table. Prep what you need to improvise at the table. If time is tight, cut from the boring middle. Give improvised monsters one feature that shows off their role in the world. The simplest quest model: an NPC wants the characters to do something at a location. Draw small maps as characters explore a location. Use a small tackle box to keep your rpg tools handy. Related ArticlesGems of the Tales of the Valiant Game Master's GuideGems of A5E's Trials and TreasuresNotable Sections of the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's GuideGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Go easy on yourself. Your game doesn't have to be perfect. Your voices don't need to be spot on. It's fine to look things up in your books at the table or ask your friends for clarification on a rule.

Online discourse in the RPG hobby helps us game masters expand our knowledge of RPGs tremendously. We're able to get the opinions of thousands of other game masters and use those experiences to shape our own style when we sit down with our friends and run our games.

But there's a risk. We hear it when we discuss the "Mercer Effect" in which GMs worry that players expect Critical Role levels of performance from our games and are disappointed when it turns out to be a normal game.

My expectation, based on some data, is that the Mercer effect isn't as much of a problem as some GMs might think. Most players just want to enjoy a game. They don't need (and shouldn't expect) Hollywood-level performances around our tables.

Going beyond this concern, though, I hear GMs who put a lot of pressure on themselves for things like

A-tier NPC voice worksuper rich and deep storylinesperfectly executed combat tacticsawe-inspiring location descriptionsdeep interwoven character backgrounds

and so on.

RPGs offer us an incredible opportunity to get together with our friends and share awesome creative stories together. But they're also just games. Your players just want a good time and to see their characters do awesome stuff. It's ok to screw up an NPC's voice, forget their name, or forget they even exist. It's ok to fall back on your players to help you fill in parts of the game you might have dropped. It's ok to forget some monster abilities or forget to mention a crucial description of a room only to remember it later.

You don't need to be perfect to run a fun game. Focus on the fundamentals that make games great:

Let the story unfold during the game.Be fans of the characters and their heroic activities.Prepare what you need to help you improvise at the table.Focus on what makes sense in the world and adjust as needed to ensure the game remains fun.Focus on the friends in front of you, the session you're running, and the characters they're playing.Seek positive feedback to ensure the game's heading in the right direction.

It's fine to seek to improve in our craft as game masters. Take in new information, advice, tips, tricks, tools, and other stuff. Continually hone your GMing technique bit by bit. Seek to improve session by session.

But go easy on yourself at the same time. Focus on your friends and your game and having a great time.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Published Adventures, Use Agnostic Tools, Vathrix UnchainedLazy DM's Workbook in NY MagazineJustice Arman on Mastering DungeonsD&D Starter Set Ad and LiveplayIs WOTC Being a Good Steward of the RPG Hobby?Dragonbane FeedbackPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Running Paper Character SheetsMagic Item Attunement CriteriaTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Lazy DM's Workbook in New York MagazineJustice Arman on Mastering DungeonsD&D Starter Set AdD&D Starter Set Liveplay with Stinky Dragon Podcast folksNew URL for D&D School Program pagesSly Flourish Sponsorship pageD&D Beyond Isn't a Fair Platform for Customers or Publishers

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Lightning Rods for Every Class ��� Showcase Powerful Character Abilities and Return to the Shrine of the Lower Left Hand ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 38.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Keep the names of the characters in front of you oriented to the players sitting around the table.Draw sketches of villages, towns, and other environments to make them feel real.Use tokens to show monster positions even if you have no terrain to speak of.Make sure players are ok with big in-game decisions by "pausing for a minute".Write notes to yourself during the game. Take a picture with your phone for a digital record.Keep last session's notes handy if you need to reference something.Flavor monsters with connections to gods and villainous factions.Related ArticlesTake It EasyAre Actual Play Games Hurting Home-Game GMs?Use Agnostic ToolsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

What if you had no access to the digital tools you typically use to prep and run your games. What would you do? How screwed would you be?

Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master resonated with a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. One of those reasons is that the recommendations and steps outlined in Return are generally tool agnostic. You can write out the eight steps on index cards, a fancy pocket notebook, Microsoft One Note, Notion, or Obsidian, and they work just fine. The eight steps are also, generally, system agnostic. I've used them for D&D 2014, D&D 2024, Numenera, Shadowdark, Shadow of the Demon Lord, and other RPGs. They don't work for every RPG, but they work for a lot of them.

I do my prep in Obsidian these days, backed by the incredible cutting edge power of text files, but I could just as easily return to my Moleskine notebook and a pen.

The same is true with other parts of my RPG "stack" ��� the stuff I use to prep and run games. I like using physical books and dice at my table ��� virtual or in-person. It's fast and easy to look stuff up, especially if you tab your books. Using physical books makes me feel closer to the game and its history. I know that none of the rest of the tech affects my ability to use books.

I also often use a text editor when running games online to track initiative, turn order, marching order, and abstract distances or zones for combat. I could use fifty different text editors and they'd all work the same. The tools are agnostic from the game.

On the rare occasions where I use a virtual tabletop, I use Owlbear Rodeo because it does the one thing I need ��� put tokens on a map. I could use Owlbear Rodeo 2.0 or I can host my own copy of Owlbear Legacy. I could use the Simple World Building game world for Foundry for a system-agnostic Foundry baseline. Or I can just take pictures of a map and drop them into our text chat.

For online games, I use Discord for voice, video, and text-based communication but we could probably switch to something else and not miss it too much.

Using system-agnostic tools gives us strength, flexibility, and resiliency when we prep and run our games. Tools, particularly online tools, can fail us. The more focused we are around a single stack of tools we are, the more dependent we are on them and the harder we fall when they fail us.

Is this the only way to play? No. I know many GMs who love their tightly integrated software �����and depend on it to run their games. I'm not saying they're wrong. But there is another way.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Lazy Map Annotations, Are Published Adventures Easier?, the Beautiful Mess of 5eAttention RetailersStarter Set SpotlightsDragonbane Core Boxed SetThe Value of Solo PlayPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Preparing DungeonsColonialism and Looting TreasureRunning 90 Minute GamesTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Lazy Map AnnotationAre Published Adventures Easier to Run?Gamehole ConAlphastream Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set - Components and Characters ReviewHeroes of the Borderlands Starter Set - What Adventures are LikeDungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Borderlands - First ImpressionsDragonbane Boxed SetIronsworn RPGSolodark for ShadowdarkThousand Year Old Vampire

Last week I also posted a YouTube video on the D&D Starter Set ��� Heroes of the Borderlands ��� First Look.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Study and keep handy a key of common symbols and terrain markings you can draw on blank poster maps.Simple terrain features are all you need for a blank battle map.Be ready for high-level characters to control big monsters. Add more monsters to keep the threat high.What five scenes are you preparing for your next game?Drop in an interesting location and situation in the middle of longer journeys between two places.Throw low challenge monsters at high-level characters. Let them see how powerful they've become.Shift the story to bigger stakes for higher-level characters.Related ArticlesUse Physical Tools for Online GamesTwo Free and Fantastic Resources for Online TTRPG PlayTwo Years Playing D&D OnlineGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

No.

GMs often hold a common misconception that published adventures save GMs time and effort. It's often easier and faster to build your own quick adventure in your own campaign world for one big reason — it's your world and your adventure.

But published adventures offer much beyond time savings including high production value, a story you might not otherwise come up with yourself, a shared experience with other GMs, and more thorough playtesting.

You get to decide if you're better off with a published adventure or preparing your own adventure.

Published adventures can be quite beefy. Crown of the Oathbreaker is a whopping 916 pages — making Monte Cook Games's Ptolus setting look svelte at only 674 pages. That's a lot of reading and a lot of prep. Of course, these adventures are extreme examples. Adventures by the Arcane Library are often under 20 pages and built to be easy to prep and easy to run.

But a lot of published adventures are big hefty books. A big hefty book takes time to read, digest, and prepare when you're getting ready to run it for your group. That's a lot of effort — often more effort than you put in running your own adventures which can consist of scratchy penciled notes on some index cards.

If they don't make your games easier to prepare, why use published adventures?

The quality of the materials.

Published adventures include:

Excellent professional art.Often beautiful and well-designed maps.A rich and detailed story you probably wouldn't come up with yourself.A shared experience with other GMs and players.Often excellent integration with a published campaign world or setting.Playtesting.

Published adventures offer a tremendous value you can't get when building your own adventures. You can't commission all of that artwork or design all of those maps. Your adventure's story is probably pretty cool but not likely as deep as the one you'll find in Empire of the Ghouls. When you think about what you get for the money you spend, it's a lot compared to building your own adventures.

But there are other costs for a published adventure beyond price. It takes time to read and absorb the adventure. An initial skim-read isn't often enough to internalize what's there. You'll likely want to customize the adventure to fit what you enjoy and what works for the characters. That takes effort as well.

What about homebrew adventures? There are several advantages to running homebrew adventures:

You can easily customize your adventures for you and your group.You can often find art and maps to fill in your adventures.You can change the whole campaign based on the actions of the characters.There's lots of material to inspire your own homebrew adventures.Preparing an adventure takes as much or as little time as you have to give it.If you have a clear system for game prep, you can prep an entire adventure in about 30 minutes.It's all yours. You know everything about your adventure and world because you're the one who wrote it. Everything is true. Everything is canon.

In the end, it's up to you whether you're better off running homebrew adventures or published adventures. Find an approach you like that fits your style and your group. There's no clear winner between homebrew adventures and published adventures. Whichever way you go (and there's no reason you can't try both and even switch back and forth), ensure you're using the advantages of the path you choose.

We can dispel one myth, however. There are many advantages to running a published adventure but saving time is often not one of them.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Secret of the Eight Steps and Lazy Map AnnotationsNew Hat, Coffee Cup, and Calendar on the Store Key of Worlds 15 Releasing This week!Upcoming Conventions5e, OSR, and Shadowdark on Dungeon Master DiariesScorched Basin by Homie and the DudeNorthlands by Kobold PressDaggerheart Initiative FeedbackLots Of You Play Lots of Different RPGsLazy 5e Crafting GuidelinesPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Create a New or Use an Existing Location for Homebrew Adventures in Published Campaign WorldsWhere to Spend time on Campaign BuildingPrepping Dungeons When you Don't Know Their PathTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

The Secret of the Eight Steps of Lazy Game PrepLazy Map AnnotationNew Hat, Cup, and Calendar on Sly FlourishGamehole ConPAGE 3 ConMike on Dungeon Master Diaries Talking about 5e and OSR and ShadowdarkHomie and the Dude Scorched Basin KickstarterNorthlands Kickstarter

Last week I also posted a YouTube video on What is the Best 5e?.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

More monsters offer a greater challenge than fewer bigger monsters.Ensure terrain effects are challenging and not just annoying.Clarify how terrain effects work so players can make informed choices.Give the characters a comfort session where they can enjoy dinners with NPCs before being thrown back into the gates of hell.Foreshadow with short interludes or visions.Take note of random names the minute you state them.Get answers to major choices by the end of your session so you know what to prep next.Related ArticlesRun Homebrew Adventures in a Published SettingThe Case For Published AdventuresUsing Published AdventuresGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Instead of annotating every room on a dungeon map, write a list of possible chambers you can reference during play.

I'm a big fan of dungeon crawls ��� whether for infiltrating an inhabited location or exploring an old tomb. Exploring locations is just a fun activity for me as a GM and for my players. It also mostly fits my lazy style of prep �����I have no idea where the characters are going to go but I know it's somewhere in this location.

Dyson of Dyson Logos gave us 1,300 maps including 600 commercially licensed maps we can sift through to find great dungeon maps for our games.

But then we need to annotate them. What are each of those rooms?

Step 5 of the eight steps of game prep from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master has us building fantastic locations. Each room on one of these maps might be a fantastic location but defining each room with three features that make rooms familiar, functional, and fantastic (using Rodney Thompson's great model for building fantastic locations) is a lot of work ��� too much work for a lazy GM like me.

In the optimistically titled Simplest Way to Annotate a Map, I talk about writing short room descriptions directly on a printed map.

But maybe' there's a simpler way!

List Chambers In Your Notes

Instead of putting down a detailed description of every room in a dungeon, write a list of locations abstract from the map. For example, we might have a map like this:

and instead of filling out every room on the map, we can list ten rooms like this:

Marrow Vaults. River styx, archway to Savandra's office, vault of forbidden tomes, underworld ziggurat, cracked obsidian sarcophagus, necrotic laboratory, squirming refuse pit, sacrilegious treasure vault, shrine to the Pale Lord, pain amplifier.

This loose list of room descriptions fits nicely into our "Fantastic Locations" section of our eight-step prep notes and doesn't require us to manually annotate the map.

If you're having trouble coming up with ideas for room descriptions like the Marrow Vaults, I have a list of twenty chamber descriptions for fifteen different types of dungeons in the Lazy GM's Resource Document released under a CC BY license.

Some descriptions clearly match specific rooms on the map but other ones do not. We can improvise these rooms as we need them from our list. Maybe a smaller chamber is a forbidden library. Maybe it's a sacrilegious treasure vault. Maybe it's a room with a pain amplifier or a cracked obsidian sarcophagus. You decide how tightly your room descriptions connect to the rooms on the map itself.

What you don't have to do is make a pretty annotated map.

This abstract annotation style fits a larger lazy GM principle: your notes serve only you. You aren't preparing a map for an adventure you're going to publish and sell. You're prepping these notes to help you run your game. No one else may ever see them. They don't have to be pretty. They don't have to be complete. They only have to help you run your game.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Track Turns the Shadowdark Way, The Secret of the Eight Steps of Lazy GM Prep300 Room DescriptionsDMs Guild Humble BundleDungeon Master Diaries on Playing Games OnlineDaggerheart Initial ThoughtsRoll for Monster TargetsPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Dealing with the Mid-Campaign BluesGetting Players to Spend TreasureTalk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Track Turns the Shadowdark WayThe Secret of the Eight Steps of Lazy Game PrepRoom descriptions in the Lazy GM Resource DocDMs Guild Humble BundleDungeon Master Diaries ��� Playing OnlineDaggerheart

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Adjudicating Stealth and Hiding in D&D 2024 and 5e and Sunspear ��� Dragon Empire Prep Session 37.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Reiterate quest goals often. Throw the kitchen sink at high level characters. Nothing increases the threat in combat like more damage. Shrink dungeons to fit the time you have. Mix roleplay and exploration challenges in dungeon crawls. Use rank choice voting to determine the next quest of three. Choose monster targets randomly. Related ArticlesUse Dyson's MapsKitbashing DungeonsPrepping a DungeonGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books City of Arches Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.