The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish

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The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish episodes

March 07, 2021Frostmaiden Session 3: The Mead Must Flow - Lazy DM Prep
Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden!
Original Youtube Video
Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook
Rime of the Frostmaiden One-Page Campaign Guide
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
1 hr
March 03, 2021Be on the Players' Side
Mike talks about the importance of being on the players' side when we run our D&D games.
Youtube video version
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Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
Core principles
- Working *with* the players, not against them.
- You're not a competitor.
- The DM is an antenna to another world. We're the vehicle for storytelling.
- We're not the baddies. We're not our villains. We're not on the opposite side of the chess board.
- We're *fans* of the characters (Thanks Dungeon World!)
- The players understand about half of what's going on.
- The characters understand far more than the players do.
- The characters are smart and skilled in their roles. They have knowledge the characters do not.
- Fun doesn't mean just upward beats, it means risk and reward, upward and downward beats. Hard situations and hard meaningful decisions.
The DM's Job
- Build the situation around the story, not around the characters.
- Clarify that situation to the players. We're their eyes and ears.
- Help them meet their intent.
- Let the dice complicate things. They are the cold-hearted arbiter of the results of the situation.
- Balance acting true to the situation with the fun of the game; leaning towards fun and away from things that are *not* fun.
- The world and the story puts the characters in hard situations. The DM helps the characters make informed choices to navigate those situations.
Examples
- Warn them when they're walking into a potentially deadly situation.
- Assume characters that aren't involved in investigating a trap aren't putting themselves at risk.
- Let characters move that extra five feet if they can't quite get up to a monster.
- Ask the characters to make a group stealth check even if they don't ask for it if it makes sense that they'd be sneaking.
- Use characters passive scores to locate secret doors.
- Ask "are you sure" when they're doing something that clearly won't work or is clearly dangerous.
- Let players roll back spells cast if their character would know that it clearly wouldn't have worked. "A 1st level sleep spell won't be powerful enough to put them to sleep."
- Ask for the players intent and help them reach it.
- Offer deals: "You can make a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check to channel energy from the unstable arcane node. On a success, enemies will have disadvantage on their saving throws against your spell. Fail and you'll take 2d10 force damage."
- Remind the players about advantageous terrain.
- Give players hints and clues about puzzles their characters would clearly understand.
- Remind players of things their characters would likely remember.
- Use skill checks and the characters' backgrounds go offer clues and tips.
- In complicated situations, offer strategic recommendations the players may not recognize.
- Remind players of impending dangers: "You have two rounds left before the orcish hoard falls upon you".
- Remind the players about items their characters possess that they may have forgotten.
- Offer suggestions for spell uses players might not remember or consider.
- Give characters inspiration or advantage when they take risky moves that move the story forward.
- Offer alternatives: "You can charge the first one and attack or you can ready your attack for the first one to charge up to you and stay close to your protecting paladin."
- Clarify impossibilities: "Hard as you might try, this door is beyond your capability to break down.
Work With Your Players
- D&D is a cooperative game and we're part of that cooperative.
- We have to know when to let bad things happen.
- Build trust with the players. Don't violate it. Be on their side. Avoid "gotcha"s.
- The world is cruel, you are not.
19 min
February 28, 2021Frostmaiden Session 2: The Mead Must Flow - Lazy DM Prep
Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden!
Original Youtube Video
Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook
Rime of the Frostmaiden One-Page Campaign Guide
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
52 min
February 24, 2021Running Great D&D Combat
Mike discusses tips for running awesome D&D combat.
Original Youtube Video
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Podcast Contents
00:00 Intro
00:18 Run with four players.
00:57 Run lower level games. Level 3 is the sweet spot.
01:38 Use static monster damage.
02:15 Run theater of the mind combat for small battles.
03:02 Inject the story and fiction into large battles.
04:49 Draw characters in off-turn with skill checks and info.
05:36 Use abstract maps – break out of the grid.
08:04 Ask for intent.
09:13 Have alternative goals - Add a Combat Out.
11:04 Don't say "Let's Call it Right Here".
11:53 Adjusting the dials (HP, Damage, Number of Monsters, Number of Attacks).
13:11 Offer Cinematic Advantage
15:10 Randomly select targets
16:06 Make boss fights interesting
Relevant articles
Guide to Theater of the Mind Combat
The Abstract Battlemap
Replacing Flanking with Cinematic Advantage
Collected Experiences Running Boss Fights
18 min
February 24, 2021DM Deep Dive: Fairness vs. Being Fans of the Characters with Ryan Servis
Mike talks with Ryan Servis of 2C Gaming about the role of the DM and debating objectivity versus a bias towards the characters in our D&D games.
Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
1 hr 8 min
February 21, 2021Frostmaiden Session 1: Foaming Mugs - Lazy DM Prep
Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden!
Original Youtube Video
Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook
Rime of the Frostmaiden One-Page Campaign Guide
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
58 min
February 14, 2021Rime of the Frostmaiden Session Zero - Lazy DM Prep
This week Mike prepares for his session zero of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden!
Original Youtube Video
Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook
Rime of the Frostmaiden One-Page Campaign Guide
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
55 min
February 07, 2021Eberron Campaign Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mike's final thoughts on his homebrew Eberron campaign. This is a rebroadcast of Mike’s Lazy DM Prep show broadcast live on Twitch and reposted to YouTube and here in podcast form.
Original Youtube Video
Eberron Campaign Notebook
This episode is brought to you ad-free by the patrons of Sly Flourish.
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter
43 min
February 04, 2021Safety Tools in D&D
Mike talks about safety tools in D&D including the X-card, lines and veils, script change, and others.
Youtube version of this discussion
Resources
Safety tool reference by Tomer Gurantz
Campaign Safety & Consent Checklist
Consent in Gaming
Digital RPG Consent Checklist
Optional Rule Safety Consent RPG Checklist
Script Change
Script Change Printable
Spelltheory on Safety Tools
The X card
TTRPG Safety Toolkit Resources
TTRPG Safety Toolkit
Video Contents
00:00 What are safety tools?
01:05 Why use safety tools?
03:01 The X-Card
03:39 Lines and Veils
08:11 Script Change
09:13 The Door is Open
10:20 Why do I suddenly care?
13:48 A Safety Tool Stack (rating, lines & veils, "pause")
16:27 Recognizing full-consent decisions versus majority rule
17:49 DMs using "Pause for a Second"
19:18 More on why we want safety tools
23:08 The Awesome Value of free tools
24 min
February 03, 2021DM's Deep Dive: Dave Chalker on D&D Combat Styles
Mike talks with Dave Chalker about the various combat styles we can bring to D&D including gridded combat, abstract maps, and theater of the mind.
This is a rebroadcast of the show broadcast live on Twitch and reposted to YouTube and here in podcast form.
Original Youtube Video
This episode is brought to you ad-free by the patrons of Sly Flourish.
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter
1 hr 10 min