Michael Shea - September 2024 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A

Thanks Mike! Comes from bard and cleric in party using bless and inspire tokens to never lose bless and inspire. Soon as they hit town or relatively safe area everyone has a luck token.

JohnGalt

2024-10-11 11:35:50 +0000 UTC

Friends! Thus ends the September Q&A! Please post any new questions to the October 2024 Q&A thread!

Michael Shea

2024-10-11 09:33:05 +0000 UTC

In the ten or more years I've run Ravenloft, I haven't had a group know much more about the castle than the front foyer. One trick I have is that it's never the same group. One or two players might play multiple times but we try to invite people who we don't regularly play with so they can enjoy it. This way its a pretty fresh experience for them. You also get to decide how much experience they get. I'd make it clear from the session zero that they're not going to level in the adventure, whatever treasure they get.

Michael Shea

2024-10-11 09:32:39 +0000 UTC

My favorite software is Obsidian, as you mention, and it seems extremely flexible to store stuff. You can essentially store what you need on each hex identifier in a bigass list and then look it up from there. So your hex software identifies the hex and then you cross reference that with Obsidian. Talk to Maatlock in the SF Discord server about his downloadable browser-based hex software he's been working on. It's pretty fantastic! Also take a look at Worldographer from Inkwell Ideas. I don't know if it meets all your needs but it is downloadable and self-run. I don't think it runs on a phone, though. I'd aim for simplicity. Keep things as simple as you can keep them to get the job done you need getting done instead of something more advanced but generally unwieldly.

Michael Shea

2024-10-11 09:31:03 +0000 UTC

Half-assing prep is absolutely fine if it gives you what you need to run a fun game! For me, I schedule a time to sit down and go through my eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, keeping my head around the next session and the characters – where they begin, what scenes might take place, what stuff they might learn, who they might meet or face, what treasure they might acquire, and where things need to end up to prep the session after that. My best advice I put in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and it's what I use myself every time I prep. https://shop.slyflourish.com/products/return-of-the-lazy-dungeon-master

Michael Shea

2024-10-11 09:27:42 +0000 UTC

I'm not sure how it reached the state of infinite luck tokens. That certainly doesn't sound like its intended. Shadowdark can get to an optimized state, though, and I'd say the answer is typically "more monsters". That's sort of my universal cure-all for challenging parties in any D20 game. Continually upping the level and number of monsters can keep the threat high. It also might be time to wrap up the campaign and start a new one.

Michael Shea

2024-10-11 09:25:24 +0000 UTC

For your Halloween Ravenloft romp, what do you change outside of the Tarokka reading to keep it fresh and new? With Shadowdark, I'm concerned that once the players discover the treasury (K41), that they'll just rush it next year because it's going to be so much XP. I also plan to shuffle around the crypts, and even do as you suggested in the past and role-swap Ireena & Strahd. I'm curious if you've given this any thought since treasure can now drastically alter the game compared to before? I'm not sure if they'll be able to accrue 50 xp to level up past 5, but if they think they can, I expect them to rush the known treasure spots.

Scott Miller

2024-10-10 06:55:01 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike. I think this might be a little long, and I'm sorry, but I have a question about data management for a hex crawl, and I feel it needs some explanation. Long story short, are you aware of any program, not just RPG related like Obsidian or Foundry, that can: 1. Have a home page where I can put a table with links to pages about the individual hexes (for example, one table cell might say "07.07 - Keep on the Shadowfell"), and is expandable as I generate more hexes 2. The pages don't need to have lots of features, mostly just text that I can input and edit, possibly add bold or italics for ease of viewing (and bonus, I can maybe add hyperlinks the to the pages for the surrounding hexes so I don't need to go back to the home page every time) 3. Is downloadable, whether that is free (like LibreOffice) or a 1-time purchase, not a web-based subscription. I've been turning the 4e setting, The Nentir Vale, into a hex crawl for a few months now, and it's 42x23, 966 hexes (I haven't NEAR filled them all yet, I just know that they exist and I want to put adventures in them). I've been putting it on Notion, since notion lets you create tables where you can put links, and you can link to individual pages; each page correlates to its own hex, and I can put whatever data I want on there (encounter tables, rumors, NPCs, whatever)... but I don't OWN notion. I can't download it to a flash drive so I have it forever (like you talk about with DnDBeyond and any stuff you "buy/rent" there). Obviously, Notion probably isn't going to disappear off the internet tomorrow, but I hate the idea of putting in a lot of work into something that I can't keep in that flash drive in my safe deposit box. Excel/Google Sheets can have hyperlinks to different sheets and even individual cells, but the limitations to those workbooks mean you can only have 255 sheets, which I'll admit is a lot, but having that upper limit is mentally discouraging. I can have multiple hexes on each sheet, but the hyperlinks don't update if you add more cells at the top/shift things down, so you'd need to manually update every hyperlink. So are you familiar with any kind of low impact, low power database management software (it doesn't need to be DND related) that is preferably free/1-time purchasable? I feel like something HAS to already exist like this, even if for something not at all with RPG use in mind. Or, barring that, could you maybe tell me if I'm using the right vocabulary, and maybe point me in the direction of a programming community that might be able to tell me if something like this exists? Thanks, and sorry for the long question.

Tony MacKenzie

2024-10-08 12:48:04 +0000 UTC

You may want to consider donating to Let's Quest https://www.letsquestafterschool.org/ They are a new 501C3 which is trying to do something similar to us. We don't know a lot about what they have to offer though.

Michelle Barratt Shea

2024-10-07 21:54:19 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike, I'm DMing for the first time and really I'm really enjoying it, but I really struggle to just knuckle down and prep. I've done lots of world building and systems building but just prepping for the upcoming session, I find myself waiting until the night before and halfarsing it. Do you have any advice for just locking in and putting in the hardyards to make a fun and engaging session?

tim wills

2024-10-06 18:25:44 +0000 UTC

Shadowdark gloaming setting: crazy optimized party. infinite luck tokens through bless and inspire (they luck token their own bless and inspire) and therefore light, shield of faith, protection from evil and cure wounds. so it's hard to challenge them. How do you challenge them without finely crafting combats to their party makeup? Feels very non-Shadowdark to contrive exactly the correct enemy combination to challenge them. Also makes prep tedious, otherwise default monster balance rules are a snooze fest. Two sessions ago, literally they knew ambush was coming and fighter walks in to trigger it with rolling eyes. Also, it feels punitive to just ratchet up difficulty. Idk, feel stuck.

JohnGalt

2024-10-05 23:46:02 +0000 UTC

Hello! We do not. We tried to do something like this but it was too messy. The best way to support this program is to share that we're doing it and tell others about how much you like the Sly Flourish Patreon and our work so we can keep doing it every year!

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 20:40:39 +0000 UTC

Great call! Thanks Mike, appreciate it

Sam P.

2024-10-04 18:01:50 +0000 UTC

Do you accept donations to support your grant to children’s programs? My group runs small murder mystery charity benefits and I’d be honored to support your cause.

Phillip Hazlet

2024-10-04 17:52:08 +0000 UTC

If the players are on board and prepared for the consequences and you're ok with it, go with it! You've done the good work of having an out-of-game conversation and it sounds like its ok with everyone.

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 13:21:38 +0000 UTC

I haven't really shifted the rules as written but I might describe what it was like for the character in the afterlife. As far as how it changes between systems, I follow what the system does. Shadowdark has no resurrections in it.

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 13:21:03 +0000 UTC

I'd take it on a case-by-case basis and talk to your player about it before it happens in-game so you can come to an agreement that makes sense without making a single spell super overpowered because its damage type changed. Overall I'd just change the damage type and keep the other effects the same – improvising why they still take place even if the damage type changed.

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 13:18:32 +0000 UTC

I like tying the spell to an object, weapon, or other item that gives them a single casting of the spell per day, resetting on the next dawn. It's easy, simple, and powerful. If you want to put some limits on things like this, require attunement so the character can't hand it off to someone else in the middle of a fight and so they can't have too many things like this.

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 13:16:37 +0000 UTC

Could be cool! Remember to focus it down on where the characters are and what they want to do. My friend Jeff Greiner often runs mixed up sandboxes like this but the group ends up focusing on one and that's the one they do.

Michael Shea

2024-10-04 13:14:52 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike, Inter party PvP. Player 1 had cursed item with great power and was slowly being corrupted by it. Player 2 broke the curse and freed player 1 using some risky means. Player 1 re-attuned to the cursed item. Player 2 did not like that at all We normally don’t have pvp because I feel it breeds bad feelings. We had a “pause for a minute” out of character talk and everyone wants to play out the conflict between characters. Most likely combat. Would you let them play it out?

brofroamothamo

2024-10-04 05:07:01 +0000 UTC

Mike, Question for you. How do you like to handle character deaths & revivification in your 5E games? Traditionally, if you cast instant spells such as revivify I tend to allow those to bring people back more or less instantly, but if any long-term form of time passes between revivification I tend to implore the Critical Role methodology, you give players an option to aid the revivification, and leave it up to chance with it becoming more difficult to revive every time. How does your methodology of character death change between systems/style of game (Heroic Fantasy, Grim Dark, etc?)

Frostedwyrm

2024-10-03 02:26:46 +0000 UTC

I have a question: Within the Order of Scribes Wizard subclass, one of coolest abilities is to change damage types. One of my players is asking about the "side effects" of swapping damage types. What is the easiest and fairest way to manage the desire to change these effects? According to my player it is to simply drop all "side effects" from those spells. But that opens the question: How do we determine what is a side effect vrs direct effect of damage types in a spell? Considering the case chromatic orb, where it's elemental damage comes with no side effects. This could be seen as evidence that a damage type has no inherent side effect. So then the "side effects" are in fact a direct effect and a piece of each specific spell. I also can see the synergy and effect of the spell associated with the damage type: fire burns, a bludgeoning wave of water knocks you over. And I understand that it could be cool to not light the forest on fire with an "ice" fireball. But not all spells are so direct. Loud noises are caused by spells with both bludgeoning and thunder damage. And all effects are not entirely natural or based on our understanding of those effects: a lightning bolt does set things on fire, but does not shock all creatures touching the water where it hits. Now consider the spell Tsunami. There are many effects to judge if they would be lost in a damage type shift, does a wall of slashing move creatures with it? Can we swim out of a wall of force? To remove effects just because the damage swaps could potentially be a huge a nerf or buff, depending on the spell. I don't think the ROI of the Scribe ability was to add or remove large portions of text from spells, or change their non-damage type effectiveness drastically. From a rule of cool standpoint I think it would be cool to have the damage type interact and shift, but I worry that in the moment determining what is a side effect or a main effect of the spell could be a point of contention and result in "feel bads". Simply saying there are no side effects is not an easy or fair solution in my eyes. From a mechanical standpoint it would be easier to say the spell effects remain, despite the shift of damage types. Even if that means a modified fireball of ice burns the forest around it. And a Tsunami of force asks for a swim(athletics) check to get out of it. Do you have any insights or perspective on this topic?

Jesse Massaro

2024-09-30 20:17:28 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike! Do you have any suggestions on how to approach giving out unique spells to non-wizard characters (i.e., any class that can’t learn spells from spell scrolls or spellbooks)? For example, I want to port over A5e’s Accelerando (4th level spell) and give it to a bard in the campaign I’m running, but I’m not sure how to do that. Some options I’ve considered: - Award a magic item to the player that lets them cast Accelerando - Let the player know that Accelerando is a spell they can choose to learn at their 7th level of bard - Find an appropriate story beat to have the PC invent/discover the spell (e.g., “During the height of the battle, you began to hear a sort of rhythm to the flow of your party in combat and identified a new way to channel your magic into increasing the tempo of that flow. You can now cast Accelerando.” GM gives player spell card) Let me know if I’m holding on too tightly to RAW here!

Sam P.

2024-09-29 21:32:08 +0000 UTC

After joking around with another DM we came up with an idea fr a campaign,but I'm not sure if it's kinda stupid or actually cool. So I would love hearing your opinion on it. Basically the idea is mixing several very different settings together into one big thing. The players might get captured like in BG3 by mindflayers. They crashland their ship into Barovia, where a conflict between Strahd and the mindflayers arises. However things get weird when a giant portal opens up and crratures from Hyperborea show up - giant crabs with lasers or dinosaurs mounted by amazons. It's basically a huge sandbox where settings clash together and the players try to find a way home. What's your thoughts? Is it too much? Or can it work for a long campaign (50+ sessions) to go full gonzo mode? Do you know any good ressources for something like this? Thx alot as always, much appteciated! Hope you have a great weekend :)

kaasimir

2024-09-28 16:23:31 +0000 UTC

Thanks. Maybe I’ll wait to see how it plays out as well. Topple is definitely public enemy number one — but Push and Sap aren’t far behind. I’m uncomfortable with any deleterious effect they can be spammed and/or has no save. With Push in play as written, I’d definitely be less inclined to have cliff-side battles - too easy to dispose of enemies (or players) without a save.

Unfrozen Caveman Roleplayer

2024-09-27 12:09:17 +0000 UTC

The main way it evolved was through the use of factions instead of characters. We ran a year-long campaign now in Shadowdark up to 10th level and still characters die frequently so individual arcs aren't always there. Sometimes they happen. Sometimes not. Our Knight of Saint Ydris faced the actual Saint Ydris and now became a holy Knight of Saint Terragnis. So there's that. I think, with a game like Shadowdark, you need to take it when you can get it but don't expect deep character arcs like more heroic-focused fantasy RPGs.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:11:09 +0000 UTC

I'm going to see how they play out at the table before I put in any house rules. Right now the only one I'm really worried about is topple because its not limited to once per round so a 10th level fighter can spam like six topples. But I'm going to wait until it actually becomes a problem before I talk to players about it. Other masteries like vex and nick aren't really built to be limited based on proficiency I don't think. It'd be weird for them. I'd have to look at the whole list to see if that's a better solution.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:08:25 +0000 UTC

I think its ok for some players to be engaged at a different level than others. If he just wants to follow the rest of the group and not have a huge backstory for his character, that's fine. If its hindering the rest of the players or the pacing of the game, that might be worth better investigating. I don't know about co-GMing. I've tried stuff like that from time to time but its not always fantastic. Their motivation isn't always your motivation. Instead, you can all think of his character like the tag-along NPC and still have it be a full character. Make the mechanics simple and don't worry too much if his character isn't directly involved in things. If he's cool, and you're cool, and your other players are cool – all's cool!

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:06:27 +0000 UTC

Yes! There's a short player's guide in the back of the Kickstarter preview and in the Patreon COA reward. Take a look at the back of the PDFs.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:03:17 +0000 UTC

I haven't played enough Pirate Borg to say but it feels like they have a whole ton of stuff in there. I'd stick to just Pirate Borg until you think something is missing and then I'd add in whatever it is you think you need from whatever the best source is. Taking some fun ideas from Shadowdark regarding torch timers could be fun though.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:02:48 +0000 UTC

I draw rooms on the fly to better communicate to the cartographer but I draw them as line and box diagrams instead of super-detailed drawings. I'm also free to erase them because the cartographer is keeping track. Ravenloft is really hard to map for anyone so its going to be tricky and doing it with just words is also going to be hard. Don't worry about breaking the theme by drawing quick diagrams to make it clear to your players – if they were there, they'd get it.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 11:01:31 +0000 UTC

You can take a look at the campaign threads to find some higher-level options. If you move things forward a little bit in the stories of the various antagonists, you can come up with some solid 5th level hooks: - Finding and lighting the three braziers for the Key of Worlds. - The rising of the Dread Necropolis in the Nameless King campaign. - The search for the Catalysts in the Collision of Worlds campaign. There are also tons of hooks for 5th level and above tied to Sunken Revvia which is intended to be a higher-level area for exploration in the CoA.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 10:58:21 +0000 UTC

I don't know exactly what would happen if you ran a TOV character in A5e or a D&D 2014 character in TOV. I also don't know how often players would want to or for what reason. All four of the bigger 5e variants – A5e, TOV, 2014 D&D, and 2024 D&D – include the core classes and the rules are really built around those core classes. Instead, I think its more practical to pick a core ruleset which includes the core classes an then let people choose from a wider range of subclasses and other character materials when they fit the theme of your campaign. The rest is mostly theoretical and, therefore, probably not too useful. As far as feats and talents, I bet if you add the +1 ability bonus to existing feats in any of the 5e systems, they'd work fine for A5e or 2024 D&D. But I'd have a clear conversation with your players and decide which sources you want to include before saying they should have at it.

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 10:55:41 +0000 UTC

Right now I only have the Forge of Foes stats tool here (and available on your Patreon rewards): https://slyflourish.com/sf_patreon_files_898123050001223/fof_stats.html I'm not at the level to be able to build a more interactive tool and we don't want to release more of the monster templates and monster powers into the CC because we might do more with them in the future. Sorry!

Michael Shea

2024-09-27 10:52:36 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike, i just rewatched your Shadowdark video from a year ago "Running a Shadowdark RPG 0-Level Gauntlet". You mentioned there that having big character arcs and year long campaigns with shadowdark is difficult because of thin stories. I wonder, now that you wrapped up your gloaming campaign, if your view on this changed or evolved? Thanks again for all the great content you create!

ManMa

2024-09-26 19:07:33 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike! The more time I spend with the 2024 PHB the more I like it. Except for weapon mastery. The automatic imposition of certain effects and the possibility for spamming at high levels is a buzz kill for a DM. I know that you also have concerns with weapon mastery. Have you considered or implemented any home brew fixes? I’m thinking about implementing a save for ALL effects that move or degrade a target (such as push and sap). I’m also considering limiting usage so that only one effect can be imposed (attempted?) per round — and maybe even limiting the attempted imposition of effects to a number of uses equal to proficiency bonus per short or long rest.

Unfrozen Caveman Roleplayer

2024-09-26 13:06:05 +0000 UTC

Hello Mike, I have a bit of an unusual question. I've been running a campaign for a new group of players, and we've had about 6 or 7 sessions so far. I noticed that one of them—who happens to be a close friend of mine—seems to have trouble focusing and making decisions for his character. After our last session, I spoke with him and mentioned that he seemed a bit disengaged. Through our conversation, it became clear that he's not really into the "roleplaying" aspect, but he still enjoys the game sessions overall, especially since his girlfriend is also playing and really enjoys them. He wants to keep being part of our game nights but feels he'd be happier just watching or contributing in some other way, like perhaps controlling some of the monsters or even helping me with certain aspects of running the game. I’m looking for suggestions on additional roles or tasks he could take on to stay involved. Have you encountered a situation like this before, and do you have any recommendations on how he might participate in a way that's more enjoyable for him?

Simon K.

2024-09-25 19:46:18 +0000 UTC

I was going to ask this same question. An electronic tool for building custom stat blocks using the modular components in FoF would be very handy. It doesn't even need to be drag-n-drop. A document or spreadsheet with each power in a pre-formatted HTML code to copy/paste into any of the already existing stat-block generators would do the job. I'm in the process of trying something similar, but I have a 2yo kid that makes finding the time to concentrate on the task difficult.

Ryan Royce

2024-09-24 16:34:00 +0000 UTC

Will there be a players guide for the city of arches? Like things only the players need to know for the setting to build characters.

Justin Underland

2024-09-23 17:50:45 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike, As someone who has run a Shadowdark Campaign and who has played some Pirate Borg, I figured you might be able to comment on this: If I were to run a hex crawl set in the Dark Caribbean using Pirate Borg, is there anything in the Shadowdark rules and zines that would be useful or improve the game, both in terms of gameplay and travel? I've been specifically thinking about incorporating the rules for torches, always on initiative and some of the hex crawl rules I've seen you using in Shadowdark prep. Anything else you'd recommend if I were to do this?

Dougal Cochrane

2024-09-23 10:12:11 +0000 UTC

Hello! I'm currently getting ready to run a one-shot Ravenloft using Shadowdark thanks to your suggestion! I usually play dungeon crawls with my map drawn out on a paizo flip mat and cover areas they haven't seen yet but I want to embrace the OSR style of having a designated player be the mapper. (I also don't want to draw out the entire castle Ravenloft 😅) While running the starter adventure I realised the pace of the game was slowing down whenever entering a new room as I struggled to explain that "the room is 30ft by 20ft, the doorway is in the center of the south wall, 5ft to the right there is a pillar, there are 6 pillars in total 5 ft apart, one row of 3 and then another row of 3 5 ft away from the north wall" do you have any advice on describing dungeon rooms to mappers that could help me?

Dan P

2024-09-22 19:20:45 +0000 UTC

Back just to mention that the Eldritch Lorecast (ep 155) and Justin Alexander ("Scheduling Game Night") both talked about scheduling on their most recent videos! Must be something in the air.

Laura

2024-09-22 16:41:31 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! I have recently run a group through Lost Mine of Phandelver. I ended the arc with the Level 5 characters opening a mysterious magical arch. Hmm, I wonder where that will go…? 😁 My question is, what is a good plot hook for Level 5 players in City of Arches? All the hooks I’ve seen in the preview are for 1st level characters. Thanks for any advice!

John Baker

2024-09-21 00:39:17 +0000 UTC

Hi, Mike. I'm curious about whether you have thoughts on allowing players to run ToV, A5E and D&D characters in the same game. I think it'd be a bad idea for players to mix and match options from across systems when creating individual characters or leveling up (like, ToV characters probably shouldn't use D&D feats instead of talents). However, it seems like these characters could otherwise coexist in the same game (with some clarifications and minor adjustments based on which game mechanics the GM chooses to use). Whattaya reckon?

Jesse Olsen

2024-09-20 22:02:28 +0000 UTC

This is outstanding. Many thanks!

Luke Baumstark

2024-09-20 21:52:00 +0000 UTC

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International allows for commercial use! So you're free to use this one as long as you attribute it as described. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 17:35:07 +0000 UTC

Thank you for your reply! I noticed that the version you linked to was different from the version I found earlier, and that's when I noticed at the bottom of the one I have it does say it's under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which I believe is a commercial license. Just FYI http://s3.amazonaws.com/slyflourish_content/dungeons_of_fate.pdf

Dylan Watts

2024-09-20 16:53:38 +0000 UTC

Hi, Mike! I've been really enjoying reading through Forge of Foes and I think it's an awesome toolbox for GMs. The ability to quickly make monsters tailored to what one needs for an encounter is priceless. That being said, have you considered making a app/electronic tool that allows you to build monsters by dragging and dropping the different monster templates and abilities on the base stat blocks? I would pay good money for such an aid that I would then export as a pdf or online platform.

Mistborn

2024-09-20 16:38:08 +0000 UTC

This version of Dungeons of Fate is available under an attribution share-alike license: https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/dungeons_of_fate_v2.pdf You could probably rebuild it from Fate Condensed itself if you'd rather not share-alike: https://fate-srd.com/official-licensing-fate/cc Hope that helps!

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:46:12 +0000 UTC

If you throw in a sidekick, you have a full group of four characters. But you can also run pretty close to things as-written for three. If they're missing one of the roles (no wizard, no cleric, no rogue, no fighter) you might want to add some magic items that help out. Items that can heal, items that give someone proficiency with arcana, items that let them disarm traps or pick locks – things like that. See what gives them trouble because they have too few characters and off-set that with magic items that can help them fill in the role.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:43:02 +0000 UTC

I don't sweat it. If it works in the narrative, they can hide even if the conditions aren't perfect. Shadows are special this way. Who knows how that works out in D&D 2024.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:40:42 +0000 UTC

I bring down the point of the yam by cutting off other quests and pushing the narrative down to the end of the campaign. There's nothing left to do in the Gloaming except take the three artifacts to Bittermold Keep and face Mugdulblub! That's it! No one wants you to do anything else and all the previous quest hooks have been completed. You might have to have an out-of-game conversation with your players to clarify that it's time to move towards the end if they're chasing their own quests but the big way is to just remove any other quests from the board. They're all resolved except for this last big one...

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:39:09 +0000 UTC

I played 13th Age back in 2014 and have a bunch of articles from back then that may help: https://slyflourish.com/there_will_be_dragons.html https://slyflourish.com/moonwreck_underworld.html https://slyflourish.com/pyramid_of_set.html https://slyflourish.com/icon_rolls.html https://slyflourish.com/limiting_icons.html People tend to have most trouble with icon rolls and I did too. That's one of the aspect Rob and Jonathan are rewriting in 13th Age 2. Rob has said that every time he asks a GM how they use icon rolls, he gets a different answer. That pretty much gives you free reign to use them how you want but I liked to use them to see how the factions shake up between sessions. Hopefully the articles above give you some good info! I love 13th Age!

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:37:31 +0000 UTC

Honestly, I like 5e better and since there are so many awesome flavors of 5e built around heroic fantasy, I'd be more likely to use those than Cypher. I'd also take a look at 13th Age and Shadow of the Weird Wizard if I wanted something really different.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:33:35 +0000 UTC

What do your players have access to? I think, if I was starting a brand new game today and not using ToV or A5e, I'd give 2024 a shot and see how it works out.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:32:32 +0000 UTC

Good question! I'd probably add Justin Alexander's book to the list – So You Want to Be a Game Master. It doesn't match my style completely but I think its probably worth digging into. Nothing else jumps out at me.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:31:52 +0000 UTC

Probably around four.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:30:36 +0000 UTC

I follow the spiral development steps from Return for building a campaign – keeping things focused around the characters. I also tend to use published campaign settings. So I don't really have any tools beyond what I use for running games.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:30:21 +0000 UTC

Good question! I may bring it to the table and see if people are interested in using it. I also might just go with default ToV Adventurer's Guide. It's a cool book but sometimes simple is better.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:29:21 +0000 UTC

Right now I'd say the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. Those monsters hit hard! Forge of Foes monsters hit hard too...

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:28:44 +0000 UTC

It's hard to say until I actually see it in action. I do balk at the idea of putting fixed DCs in there. Choosing a DC is the DM's job. Weird.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:27:40 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the kind words and glad you found my stuff useful! The montage idea sounds interesting and you can try it out with one particular player. It could also end up being a lot of work without a big benefit so I'd test it before making it a core component of how you run the game. Ask your absent players if they'd be interested in some off-line RPing and if they are, give it a shot.

Michael Shea

2024-09-20 10:26:21 +0000 UTC

Hey, Mike, I was in the process of making a Fate-like game for 5e, when I searched your database and found your "Dungeons of Fate" rules. I'm wondering if that is under a CC commercial license? I realize rules aren't copyright-able, but I'm not the best at writing rules, and would love permission to plug more of your wording in to use as a baseline (I'm using your Forge of Foes Stat table, for instance)

Dylan Watts

2024-09-19 17:30:57 +0000 UTC

When searching for answers to my question, I found a little bit of information on the very useful, Lazy Dm database, however i wondered if there was anything more you could add. I currently run a game for three people and I was looking for information on running small parties. You mentioned dialing the HP back and having less Monsters, but what other advice do you have for running a full length (level 1-20) campaign with a small group? Something I did add was a variant rule for healing, allowing half the amount of total hit die as an action. Thanks as always.

Michael Smedley

2024-09-19 12:14:11 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike, I’m wondering how you treat and rule the “hide” action in regards to the exceptions from different creature traits. Base rule says a creature can’t take the hide action if they are clearly visible. Shadow Demons can hide as a bonus action in dim or dark lighting- I think the flavor is that they meld with the shadows, but a PC with darkvision would see dim light as bright light- are they still able to hide, or is it an fail since they’d be observed? And halflings can hide if they are obscured by a creature at least one size bigger than them. But in combat the angles for cover can sometimes mean even a single square could change that determination. Does the enemy instantly see the PC if that happens? Or do they still need to search? It feels bad to instantly cancel out the PC’s attempt like that. Thank you

Dan Jones

2024-09-19 00:20:13 +0000 UTC

Hello Mike, You mentioned that you like to run a "yam-shaped" campaign. I understand how it’s possible to expand the scope by introducing new scenario hooks, but how do you refocus the campaign in the middle to end phases? What tips do you have for guiding the yam-shaped campaign toward a satisfactory conclusion?

Kaique de Oliveira

2024-09-18 22:59:29 +0000 UTC

Having DM'ed a fair amount of various iterations of D&D and related games, I have recently entered the wild world of 13th Age. For lack of a better way to put it, it seems like 13th Age has a rhythm of its own that I can't quite figure out. I love the system, and plan on sticking with it into 2nd edition, but any tips that you may have as to how to a primarily D&D DM might adjust to a game like 13th Age would be most appreciated.

Luke Baumstark

2024-09-18 20:33:12 +0000 UTC

Ooooh i have that campaign of yours. Will check that episode

Bernie the Wordsmith

2024-09-18 01:26:22 +0000 UTC

I'm answering this one early since time might be a factor – I think Starsong Tower is a fantastic starter adventure and I've used it myself to teach new folks. You can find it for free here: https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/ruins_of_the_grendleroot_preview.pdf

Michael Shea

2024-09-18 00:37:11 +0000 UTC

Bernie here! I recently gathered a group of people that never played D&D and want to learn to do so. I was thinking on preparing a one shot and, since I have almost every adventure you published and as a patron, I would like to ask if you have something in your materials that would fit that purpose. I know there are many options, but I would like to know what would you consider part of the "Sly Flourish Starter Set"

Bernie the Wordsmith

2024-09-17 23:32:15 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! I heard you praise the Cypher System, more specificaly the Numenera. You said that you enjoyed the system, however, what you don't like is that you have no point of reference for the monsters. In D&D, a goblin is a goblin, an orc is an orc, however in Numenera, there are a lot of weird, strange creatures that you don't really know how to run. What I want to know is what would be your opinion on running the Cypher System for a more classical fantasy setting? There are even fantasy suplements for Cypher (Godforsaken) and a bestiary containing more grounded monsters. Would you do it? Or have you (or your players) grown tired of the system itself?

Predrag Dimitrijević

2024-09-17 13:39:32 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike. I’m about to start an Eberron campaign using 2014 5e. However my 2024 5e PHB is about to arrive tomorrow. Which should I use? Although I have considered the alternatives LUA5e and TotV I do not have access to these.

Shantha292

2024-09-17 09:17:58 +0000 UTC

It has been three years since you created this list: https://slyflourish.com/dms_reading_list.html Anything you would add to it?

Christopher Willson

2024-09-17 04:50:12 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike curious how many sessions do you average between level ups?

Dane Thomsen

2024-09-16 23:58:08 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike, I’ve recently taken to world building, as well as trying to get my players more involved in the process. For this I found a great website “Chronica.venture”. I was wondering what tools YOU would recommend for campaign management/world management.

Joseph Santos

2024-09-16 14:14:03 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike. In a recent talk show you enthused about Cubicle 7's products for 5e, including A Life Well Lived. Are you planning on using its lifepath system when generating characters for your new Tales of the Valiant campaign? Is it even compatible? More generally, what chargen approaches have you experimented with in the past and what was your experience like with them?

Rangdo

2024-09-15 07:58:44 +0000 UTC

Which flavor of 5E do you feel presents the most challenging monsters? I know this may change when the 2024 MM comes out but for the next few months, where’s the best place to match up with the new 2024 PHB.

Kurt M. Loy

2024-09-14 15:05:23 +0000 UTC

Have you seen the example tool uses in phb2024 (page 220)? I feel like they just took a bunch of things DMs have (correctly) been letting players do automatically and added a skill check. Imagine you have a makeup kit, you're proficient with it, you say "I want to put on makeup", and your DM makes you roll a D20. No one reviewed this.

Erik Cameron

2024-09-13 17:31:36 +0000 UTC

Awesome thank you! Thanks Mike for making so many of your resources free. And this Patreon is the best deal in universe and I’m so grateful!

Alex W.

2024-09-13 14:55:13 +0000 UTC

We'll see! So far nothing's changed so much that I think I need a new one but you never know. I'm updating it pretty regularly anyway.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 14:23:38 +0000 UTC

Those sound like good options. I think most crafting systems take so long players don't use them but if they're too easy they craft everything. The idea of modifying existing spells might make it easier. You could have a sort of evolving spell where their spell gets a little better each time as they research it until they get a brand new one. But I don't think there's a problem letting them use some resources and time to research a new spell in a shorter period of time. You might also talk to your player and see what they come up with.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 14:23:13 +0000 UTC

Good question! It's ok if they don't take the rod. It was still there for them. You don't want to lean in so heavily on the rod that the battle just TPKs if they don't deal with it. There should always be other options. I also don't think its completely out of line to clarify the situation enough that they have the aha moment and use the rod. You can try it and see if the joy of being able to use their best tricks outweigh the feeling that you baited them into it. I don't think it ends up being a problem. I've literally said "the skeletons come rushing in in a fireball formation!" and players love it.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:32:37 +0000 UTC

You can see my answer to Arseni above which is similar. I'd probably find one of the parts of the character's arc and focus on a one-shot adventure around that arc. Don't try to change the whole story at the last moment – give them the conclusion they've been aiming for. Your players will understand why. Try to give them as good a send-off as you can and move on. It's very possible you're the only one really concerned about it and your players just want to play. But don't betray the story – give them a good outcome.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:28:07 +0000 UTC

Let the story and the game evolve around the actions of the characters. That's my first one from these tips I offer: https://slyflourish.com/top_advice.html

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:26:14 +0000 UTC

Starting with the second question – yeah, it can be risky to have too much of the story revolve around a character and now you've seen the reason why =) It's tough! I remember in Downton Abbey, they kept having characters die off because the actors got better jobs. It changed the whole focus of the show. Unfortunately, that may be the best way to deal with it in your own game. Have the character and that part of the story fade off and focus on a new part of the story that's less focused on a single character. That's one approach. You could ask the players what they think and give over some of the story to them. How do they want to handle it? You can handle the character as less of a DMPC and more of a new quest-giving NPC. It largely depends on the story but yeah, you probably want to move the focus away from that one character.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:25:28 +0000 UTC

Thanks Mike! We're an in person group but I don't hang out with this person outside of the game. The other factor is that our group is only 3 players since space is limited at my apartment. I have a few other friends I was hoping to invite to the next campaign but I think this particular friend wouldn't react well to being an on-hold player, unfortunately.

Erin Williams

2024-09-13 13:23:03 +0000 UTC

This is a real hard one. No one likes to be left out. It's a piece of human nature embedded in us for hundreds of thousands of years – being rejected from the pack. I think its important to be mindful of that whatever approach you take. Granted, its also important to game with those you enjoy gaming with so its probably worth doing something. But the whole "don't go away mad, just go away" problem is a real hairy one without a perfect solution. You might talk to them about moving to be an on-call player instead of a regular. They can still feel like they're part of the group but you only call them when you have a slot free (which might be rarely). That's a real tough one. Honestly, in the past, I've either reconfigured my whole game or I just let them stay. There are probably a lot of factors or variables I'm not seeing here – is this in person or online? Are you friends outside of the game? Is this someone you're going to see or your players are going to see regularly anyway? Lots of factors can determine your approach.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:17:58 +0000 UTC

I don't have big plans to talk about it one way or another on my show. I'm personally bearish on AI – I think a lot of what we use AI for we can also use random tables, google searches, and our own brain to build. I think the magic of AI is still new and interesting but may hide the idea that we can already do this stuff with a good die roll. There are other big issues with AI that make me pause when I think about it: - It made billions of dollars on data it didn't have permission to scrape. - It uses up a ton of power. - It's displacing a lot of creative jobs with poor alternatives. - It lies a lot. I know a lot of people find value from it and who am I to tell them they're not? Chris Cocks at Hasbro seems quite excited about AI: https://www.enworld.org/threads/hasbro-ceo-chris-cocks-talks-ai-usage-in-d-d-updated.706638/ But I don't know. I'm still not super excited about it for RPG purposes. Again, I have friends who love it for that purpose, but I think we can do better ourselves.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:10:19 +0000 UTC

I really like the boring easy-to-run monsters more than the crazy tactically crunchy monsters. Some of my favorites include: - Bandits - Skeletons - Thugs (dangerous!) - Cultists (of course) - Cult fanatics (learn their spell flow) - Veterans (almost a perfect monster at all levels of play) - Ogres - Giants of all types You can also use the lore in the MM but reskin their stats with Forge of Foes stats (available for free in the FOF tool or in the lazy monster builder resource document). But yeah, I like boring monster stat blocks so I'm probably not the best to ask.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:05:40 +0000 UTC

I think it could be cool, particularly if the BBEG has no memory of where they came from. What if he becomes an ally? I'd probably avoid the BBEG being another big threat in your new campaign. Players might get tired of facing the same guy again, but bringing in the story could be fun. Maybe keep it on the back burner and see how things play out before dropping them right back in again.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:03:17 +0000 UTC

I'd probably let the system and setting settle with me a bit before I'd dive in too much. The idea of the Fourth Emperor for my Numenera game came on pretty early on but I had a good feeling it would work out given the setting. If you can, spend some time digging into the source material and get a feeling for it before you commit too much to your big plots and fronts. There's no problem beginning your campaign by focusing on the small stuff right in front of the characters.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 13:01:52 +0000 UTC

Never say never but nothing leaps out to me at the moment. It can be hard to keep a single big dungeon interesting for a long time. I don't have any current plans for a megadungeon but that doesn't mean I'd never do it again. I love hinting at megadungeons. Showing vast caverns going down connected to dozens of levels keeps the players perspective that there's a huge world of dungeons out there. I love doing that.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:59:52 +0000 UTC

We're having a little trouble running A5e in one campaign and D&D 2014 in another. But we manage. I haven't had too much trouble differentiating between Shadowdark and A5e. They're such different systems. It might get harder if you're running multiple games with very similar systems but I don't think knowing the difference between PF2 and D&D 2024 will be too hard. They're pretty different.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:58:47 +0000 UTC

I don't think the industry owes us anything beyond what they promise and agreements they've already made. There's nothing to say a company can't make an RPG and not give any part of it away. I think there are advantages in doing so and I applaud those who do. I understand WOTC's reasoning, which goes back about 10 years at this point with multiple leads in charge over those years, that they don't give away every subclass or feat. Their intention was to put out a document that others could build off of, not simply copy into their entire whole RPG. One thing I think we miss is that it doesn't take many companies to do this to build out the whole industry. Because we have three different 5e SRDs (5.1 SRD, A5e SRD, and Black Flag) with another on the way (5.2 SRD) – so much material is now in the open that we can build off of that forever. Shadowdark might not give out their material but that doesn't mean you can't build a lightweight old school 5e-based system from the 5.1 SRD anyway. It really only took one to open up a lot of possibilities.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:57:26 +0000 UTC

That doesn't sound great to me. Is there a chance the characters find out the quest giver is sending them on a wild goose chase? What then? It's far more fun for the players to discover a ruse early than discover they've been duped. The idea that the quest giver just disappears doesn't sound particularly interesting. Why not make it an NPC who really does want the characters to accomplish it?

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:54:14 +0000 UTC

I'm now split between Notion for one campaign and obsidian for two others. The main reason is the focus on local text files instead of an online database. I always liked working with local text files and as many features as Notion has, I'm finding I'm closer to the material when I write it in Obsidian. I'm sure I'll spend more time talking about it on the Talk Show or lazy prep shows. But I don't push one over the other. Whatever works for you is great.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:52:51 +0000 UTC

Kobold Press, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't have any sort of open program to write for Midgard. My suggestion would be to abstract it from the Midgard pieces and write it independently. That way it's always yours. You can sell it where you want, modify it how you want, and build off of it where you want.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:51:27 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike! I'm having trouble with players missing games, which is understandable given that all six of them are busy with adult life. I've been thinking about using the 13th Age montage idea as a workaround instead of just making absent players' characters vanish or having others run their sheets. My idea is to narrate a scene for the player who missed the session, where I ask them about something awesome or heroic their character did, and then balance it with a downside or challenge they faced. However, there are some challenges: (a) It would essentially be a retcon, so I'd need to ensure it fits the story without disrupting the flow. (b) I’m also considering adding consequences to these awesome/downside moments, like gaining treasure, mechanical buffs like extra inspiration, losing resources, getting injuries, etc. (c) In the original montage rules, you ask questions to multiple players, but here it would focus on just one. How could I involve the rest of the group? Maybe by asking them what they wouldn’t want to be changed? I've been using your deadly benchmark method and have started creating a "dynamic benchmark" with adjustments for 4, 5, and 6 players, depending on who shows up. For example, an encounter could feature 4/5/6 goblins, and if someone misses, I use the 5-goblin setup and weave the missing player's actions into the montage. Although we’re playing D&D 5th Edition, I really like 13th Age's Nastier Specials. I’m considering using them in a similar way—where the special attack wouldn’t occur in the session, but I could narrate it affecting the absent player’s character in the retcon. I’d love to hear suggestions from other GMs. My goal is to organize this approach as concise guidelines rather than rigid rules, and I know you’re great at that! By the way, I know you’re not big on stories, but after using your techniques to help my 9-year-old daughter Alice create her first adventure as a GM, I was convinced to join your Patreon. It worked amazingly well! I’ll have to find a way to share that story with you—it’s worth it. :) Thanks!

Igor

2024-09-13 12:51:22 +0000 UTC

I'd lean towards fast travel for return journeys and focus on having an interesting encounter along the way that's new, fresh, and shows them something they didn't know before. You can make these as big or small as you want – just a single scene or a whole big dungeon they didn't discover on the way over. But yeah, I ran into this problem when running Empire of the Ghouls. There's a ton of travel in that adventure and some of it is backtracking. I was super happy when the wizard of the group had a teleportation circle and could teleport back to places they've been before. I think return trips can be pretty boring so I'd really focus on the interesting parts and handwave the rest.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:49:54 +0000 UTC

I'll give it a look!

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:47:54 +0000 UTC

Normally I'd say that beats are really more specific than general – feelings in a session itself rather than a long campaign – but reading your scenario, it makes sense that upward and downward beats can have an effect on the campaign itself. I think its cool to have a couple of sessions where they see the value of their accomplishment and focus on smaller threats – the aftermath of the work they did. And then a new threat bursts fourth! Or more than one! Threats bigger than they've seen before! Or they travel to a new place with all new threats! I think having some upward beats in a campaign sounds like a great idea.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:47:30 +0000 UTC

I'd always be wary of taking things away from the players. You might look at various wild-magic tables and see if you can add stuff like that instead of a pure increase or decrease on magical power. The story might be cool to you but your players might not like the mechanical effects as much. You could put such an effect in play but have it boost types of magic so players can use that to their advantage but also add in a wild magic potential so things are a bit more chaotic. Above all, make sure you're not hurting the fun of the game for your players with these choices.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:44:52 +0000 UTC

It sounds like its worth a conversation with your players. Its possible that not having a consistent campaign might be less interesting to them or it's less of a draw to come from week to week if they know it's a one-shot over a campaign. They might also be burning out a little bit on trying one system after another. Maybe you could talk to them about the systems they've played and see if they want to play a shorter campaign in those systems? I've had better success getting people interested in a system by running it for a while instead of just a session or two. But I always think communication is key. Schedule some time to talk to your players, even the ones who don't show up all the time, to see what draws them in and what isn't as interesting.

Michael Shea

2024-09-13 12:42:51 +0000 UTC

Will there be an update for dnd 2024 rules for the lazy gm screen?

Justin Underland

2024-09-13 08:08:20 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike! I have a player who sometimes struggles to engage. That's fine, but when they have something they'd like to pursue I try a little harder to make space for it. This past session they asked if they could use their week of downtime, forgoing the fully RP based plans the might otherwise engage with, to focus on an idea they had: They want to make, find, or otherwise research a spell that's not in their book. They are level 5, have access to a private library (not a wizards library or anything along those lines), and +7 to their archana. The spell would be a modification to the 3rd level spell Purge Contamination, customized to remove the "corruption" they've run into in my game. This is an awesome level of desire to engage with my world, and they've laid the idea at me feet. New spells could take a lifetime to make, or not, existing spells could be researched but even a generous reading of those rules would involve a real place of magical research, gold investment, and many workweeks. There's a fairly close system in Strongholds and Followers but they would need to make a Tower equivalent first and THEN take weeks of work. And experimentation. Part of me resonantes with this. I'm not interested in opening the door to fully custom spells made to solve every issue, nor the act of making a new spell a fast process, but I am absolutely into the idea of creative problem solving and ideas, I'm even open to modifying spells within those parameters. Last session I told them immediately that making a new spell is no work of a single week, but that I loved the direction they were thinking in and that I'd find a way to work with them around it. I have some ideas on solutions I could offer, but I am curious what you might suggest? My ideas (feel free to ignore these or address them (if you get to this question!)): 1. A clue to the location of a spell formula from ancient times when they last fought this sort of threat. 2. The offer to let them start building a tower. 3. A series of (archana)skill checks, which require time and gold, and produce sub-optimal spells until they can test it and make adjustments. But they can start the session after this first work week with an untested version. It should take at least 3 work weeks, testing, and gold.

Jesse Massaro

2024-09-12 01:36:08 +0000 UTC

Question about lightning rods when the players build requires them to engage the lightning rod. I've had this a couple times - most notably with a grappler, but also with a tempest cleric and lightning damage. I can add a lightning rod (e.g. an obvious single monster or an acid pool) to the fight but I can't force my grappler to take that monster on. I also don't want to dictate tactics to the players and say "grappler, you should do this." What's a good way to add lightning rods when engaging with the rod is out of the control of the DM? I can't 'shoot the monk' - i have to wait for the monk to shoot the rod. Cheers Mike

David Pōkiha

2024-09-11 23:54:05 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike, I have a player leaving my in-person game soon because of an unexpected move. We have one session left together, which is not enough to wrap up his character’s story arc, but I want to give him something special to go out on. I asked him if there’s anything he’d like to happen, but he’s been too preoccupied with other things to really respond. A lot of the current hooks the party is pursuing are closely tied to this PCs back story. Do you have any suggestions for good send-odds, or for wrapping players in general?

Victor Navone

2024-09-11 18:01:29 +0000 UTC

What is the single most important thing you'd tell a new DM?

Knights of Roleplay Podcast

2024-09-11 01:09:46 +0000 UTC

Hello Mike. I was hoping to hear your thoughts on best practices on writing out a player character out of a campaign. Long story short, a player in a long-running campaign is not retuning but their character played a very important role in the main plot of the campaign. I don't want to turn their character into a DMPC but I'm also not sure how to write their character out effectively and with grace.Corollary question: is it wrong for a plot of a campaign to hinge too much on one or more player characters (e.g. child of prophecy, Chosen One, etc. type characters)? Thanks very much in advance!

Arseni Kritchever

2024-09-11 00:11:13 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike - I'm hoping for some advice on how to politely not include a player in my next campaign. We're wrapping up our current one in 2 months and I am hoping to not have them at the table for our next one next year. I wouldn't call them a "problem player" but they haven't learned any of the rules, their character's abilities, or spells and we spend so much of the session retelling them how basic things work. They just don't seem to care about the game and I'd rather have players who are excited to be there. Would you recommend talking to them or just quietly not including them when I start up the next one? Thanks Mike!

Erin Williams

2024-09-10 19:28:14 +0000 UTC

Mike, I love the podcast, use the 8 steps, and always appreciate your insight. I hope this question isn't taken the wrong way. Will you be starting to talk more about AI best practices for DMs? I am not publishing anything and only running my own game. I use your Notion template and Google Gemini almost exclusively for game prep at this point. I use an AI note taker in our virtual game and then load the summary into gemini. After that, I can have it generate any random table or list of suggestions I want with great specificity to my current game and players. I know people have strong feelings about AI, but it is here to stay and I suspect more and more DMs are finding how to query to get excellent results and run better games. Are you opposed to leaning into this on your show? What are your thoughts?

Andy Roark

2024-09-10 15:57:28 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! For financial reasons I won’t be able to upgrade to D&D 2024 for a little while, but I was finally gifted a copy of the 2014 monster manual (I’d been using open5e before then) as well a pack of the fancy WotC monster cards. I want to get the most out of these, so I was wondering, since I love your commentary on and passion for monster design: in your opinion, what are the best monsters in the “vanilla” WotC 2014 monster manual? And, if I may be so bold, what makes them the best?

Alex W.

2024-09-10 14:10:12 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike - what's your opinion on having the BBEG from one campaign carryover to the next campaign? The setup: we're nearing the ending of our current campaign and the group is working on banishing the BBEG from their world. We've already agreed that the next campaign will be set in a new world, and I am looking to include the City of Arches. My idea was to have them go through that campaign, and at some point a portal opens up and out walks BBEG. Lots of meta-game involved there but think it could go from hilarious comedy to needing to save yet another world from this guy.

Jason

2024-09-10 12:06:53 +0000 UTC

When changing genres and systems to something you might not know very well (such as the first time you played Numenera after playing D&D), how did you come up with ideas for your three fronts without knowing the background well or having the best understanding of power levels, etc.? I'm about to start my very first Savage Rifts campaign, and I know it's a very distinctive setting with a different power level. I'm curious how you have handled such a transition.

Jason Kemp

2024-09-10 02:54:54 +0000 UTC

Would you ever run another megadungeon?

Daniel Collins

2024-09-10 01:33:49 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike, one of my groups is switching to PF2e for a campaign while the other is using the DnD 2024 rules. As someone dming similar fantasy games with different rules i.e. Shadowdark and Level up advanced 5e how do you stop yourself from mixing up the rules of the two? Any tips?

Ben Hodges

2024-09-10 01:01:28 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike! I think it’s great that D&D has the free rules. Paizo puts every single ancestry, race, class, subclass etc. out for free on Archives of Nethys which is their System Reference Document. The books are more so for lore, and the extra meaty details whereas AoN is the raw rules and numbers etc. What should be the standard in the industry? Paizo is doing a lot and putting a lot of revenue on the line but makes their game more accessible. I understand why WotC doesn’t make everything free but was curious what your thought is.

Skyler Lehan

2024-09-10 00:24:58 +0000 UTC

Mike, you've been outspoken about not having the quest giver be the bad guy. As I understand you, it essentially breaks the trust between the players and and the GM. I'm wondering if this scenario is ok or is it such a trust breaker? Characters are hired to perform a (unknown to them) decoy activity against a real opponent, but the hiring NPC couldn't care less if they succeed or fail, and won't pay the characters in any case (will simply disappear). Your thoughts? Thanks for your advice, I don't want to sour them as they are rather new players of TTRPGs. And I'm really looking forward to getting my copy of City of Arches!

Unferth

2024-09-09 01:38:32 +0000 UTC

Did you say you’re switching from Notion to Obsidian? I’d love to know why, and get a tour of how you set it up for sessions and campaign management.

swingsetpark

2024-09-08 20:03:43 +0000 UTC

I should probably clarify, it's not perfect. There's a few spelling mistakes, and a few references that don't send you to right page. Still, I'm stoked to run it this Halloween!

paul brandson

2024-09-08 16:15:23 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike. You may have covered this before but the landscape has changed so much in the last year or so regarding 3rd party publishing using different licenses that it can be hard to have a solid grasp on the legal specifics. I have been running a 5e game using Kobold Press' Midgard setting for about 2 years now and have recently been considering writing adventures based on some of the events from my game. For example, my players have been attending the Queensmeet event in the Magdar Kingdom for the past dozen or so sessions. In the Midgard Worldbook, this event gets about half a paragraph of description but I have expanded it into a large mutliweek tourney including jousts, melees, wizard duels, bard competitions, etc. I could write something that tweaks all the NPCs and locations, etc so that it is not set in Midgard, but I have included a ton of setting specific NPCs and politics that have made the event way more interesting and unique. So my question is, does Kobold Press allow for independent publishers to publish content using their setting and IP? And if so, what would one need to do in order to do this? Thanks!

Dan Dredgen

2024-09-08 12:34:25 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! How do you make the return journey as fun as the journey towards a location? My current campaign has a lot of travel and exploration and I have found many ways to make those interesting using random encounters, weather events and monuments. The issue to me arrises when the party have just done the cool thing at a location, and then still have to travel back. They make plans about the next place they want to go, without spending much time thinking that the return journey can take as much time as the time it took them to get there. Now I could obviously not make the return journey take as much time, but I have had a player tell me they feel like I am going easy on them when it comes to resources. I just worry that it is less interesting to go back. What would you do?

Bram Bakker

2024-09-08 10:20:53 +0000 UTC

Thank you for the link. I did not find that article when I did my search. Probably was not looking for the right wording. Guess I need to look at chapter 12 again.

John Maloney

2024-09-08 04:43:02 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! More comment than question, but I was hunting for a Halloween one shot and I found "the count, the castle, and the curse". It's a fresh take on ravenloft with some great, flavorful mechanics. I found it to be well organized and quite dm friendly. Even better, it's pwyw on drivethrurpg! I think it's the creator's first go at publishing, if you like it as much as I do, I'd love to see you give it a plug!

paul brandson

2024-09-08 02:34:27 +0000 UTC

You speak about up beats and down beats within a session. How would you manage upbeats and down beats in a larger campaign adventure? In my long-running 5E game using a published adventure, I have been trying to foreshadow upcoming threats and events while giving players options for what challenges they would like to take on next. Last session they levelled up to level 9 and were dropping lots of hints that they thought that their efforts to rid the region of evil would have paid off by now and they would not have so many large looming threats. I'm following the follow-up adventures that came with a digital code in the Dragon of Icespire Peak boxset, but they thought their work on the cult of Talos and fixing up the area around Phandalin and the High Road would have paid off and made the place more safe by now. My question is: should DMs take breaks between the threats and dangers facing the characters every once in a while, and if so, how often? Should there be up beats of peace and tranquility between big looming threats as players grow in power and renown? Thank you for your consideration.

Mark Sinke

2024-09-07 20:20:43 +0000 UTC

Good day master Mike. I’m in the early stage of campaign creation and would like your opinion. The basis of my campaign is that something is causing the magic of the world to start fluctuating. For this I’m thinking of every 7 days the usefulness of magic will change to barley there (most spells have disadvantage and decreased damage)to over abundance ( advantage and increased damage). This would be determined by a d3 roll. The difference is elemental abilities I.e. fireball and such would be the same regardless of the wave. In addition the beast of the world are changing due to the separation of magic and elemental power. By this all beast type creatures would have some sort of elemental property to add to the fights. I’m thinking more Pokémon type with the elemental powers leveling up with the creatures. Any advice on how to pull either one of these features off.

astray darkblood

2024-09-07 14:44:26 +0000 UTC

My friends and I have been playing online since early covid. We have a group of 6 players. It has been a great way to get together for 2.5-4 hours pretty consistently weekly. It seems in the past year we have been losing steam. We all have kids ranging from newborns to 9 years old and life sometimes gets in the way. I started off the DM, but 2 others have also stepped up to the plate. One DM is running a separate monthly game with some player crossover, he has 3 new players in addition to two of us who play in his campaign as well. The other DM has taken over our weekly Friday game (he runs a campaign to completion and then I run a campaign to completion, alternating). Usually if someone cannot make it, we run the game anyways, we have had a lot of success running the game for as little as 2 PCs and 1 DM. On nights that the DM cannot make it, I have been having a lot of fun running different games and using different platforms. We have tried out a Shadowdark Gauntlet from Cursed Scroll 3, Eat the Reich on Alchemy, and a lot of side games on Above VTT. The issue that concerns me is it feels like we are having more cancellations and communication on commitments for the Friday game are slow to come in. Sometimes I worry that I as the DM may be enjoying it more than the players. Do you have any advice on how to ramp excitement back up? Do you have any tips on making sure the players are enjoying it; I find them to be engaged when we talk in between sessions but sometimes I think they struggle to tell me the parts that they don't like. Do you think we need to do something different or just continue to be consistent in offering that Friday game?

Barry

2024-09-06 20:01:30 +0000 UTC

Thank you both!

Harann and Friends

2024-09-06 17:23:39 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the reply. I'm playing Cy-borg now, a Cyberpunk Mork Bork spin-off if you want. My character died hacking a simple door lock. It really fun and a cautionary tale for all the other characters. I think I'll running a Morkborg game this winter and I really enjoy ready independant "zines" that expends the game. Have a nice day !

Guillaume Carrier-Turcotte

2024-09-06 17:23:08 +0000 UTC

For the Sunday group I'm probably going to run Tales of the Valiant set in the Dragon Empire of Midgard. It looks like a fun mixture of Al-Qadim and Dark Sun. I think it could be a lot of fun to have rebels fighting underneath the scourge of the dragon emperors.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 15:14:05 +0000 UTC

Yeah! We've been chatting on EN World about it too. It's really cool that he's a fan of the work we did.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 15:11:31 +0000 UTC

It's even grimmer and darker! Mork Borg is almost like an art-RPG. It is so stylized that you can barely read it. The theme is so dark and grim that it goes even a level deeper than Shadowdark. The rules, when stripped down, are super lightweight to account for this dark fish-hook through the eye sort of RPG. I love Mork Borg but I've never run it and I don't think I've even played it.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 15:11:10 +0000 UTC

Hi Bree! I don't worry about people stealing my work. My job is to get great material out there to help GMs run great games. I think its important to be compensated for this work but I recognize that it can slip out there to others. I think you can test stat blocks without giving up the rest of the value of the work – art, direction, layout, testing, and the rest. But it's up to you. Honestly, though, people have so much access to so much stuff, the likelihood that they're really interested in stealing our stuff is pretty low. Particular monsters. WOTC, EN World, and Kobold Press all released nearly all of their monsters for free in their SRDs. Anyway, you asked me, so my answer is: I wouldn't worry about it. It's more important to get good testing than to worry if someone is going to steal it.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 15:10:04 +0000 UTC

Sure! The 2024 MM could definitely top the list. For me I like a few things: - A simple and refined stat block that helps me focus on the important defining bits of a monster. - A stat block that is both easy to run and effective for it's challenge rating. - Tools to help me run monsters beyond just the stat block. Knowledge checks, tactics, other creatures you might find them with. - A great description that helps me build adventure ideas from a single monster. - Great art. The ToV Monster Vault is also an outstanding monster book and it's not uncommon for me to grab one book or the other just because I like to. I feel like the design of monsters in the MV better fits what I want from a simplicity and direct effectiveness standpoint. But the Menagerie has those great loot, encounter, tactics, and knowledge check sections.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:36:08 +0000 UTC

You can remind them if you think they forgot. Not all players are super tactical masterminds and it can't hurt to tell them things their characters would know. You can go even over the top by telling them how all the zombies are in a perfect 20 foot radius. But I don't think a "perfect time for a turn undead" hint isn't out of line.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:33:19 +0000 UTC

Less an adventure and more a campaign but Ptolus by Monte Cook Games looks like it would be great fun to run. The Banewarrens is an adventure I'd like to try. Others love it. Drakkenheim would be another I'd love to run but haven't gotten around to. And may many others. But I'll go with Banewarrens and Drakkenheim...

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:31:53 +0000 UTC

Bigger surveys take a lot of time and I really want to ensure the surveys I run (which have been exclusively single-question surveys) have some sort of direct purpose for me – helping me write articles or focus other directions of videos, podcasts, and the like. From a general curiosity standpoint, there are hundreds of questions I'd like to ask but I'm too swamped to really give the a good go. It's just more than I can handle at the moment.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:30:58 +0000 UTC

Try to think of each session as a self-contained episode of a TV series. Refine the story down a lot and try to give each session its own small arc. What do they learn? What do they change in the world? Think about how you can pack all three pillars of play – combat, roleplaying, and exploration – into each session. Think of three big scenes for each session to fit this arc. Use the strong start of each session as the opener – don't be afraid to go in-media-res and jump into the interesting part. Assume they've already done the boring parts up front like getting quests, talking to boring NPCs, traveling – get them right into the action each time. Good luck!

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:28:10 +0000 UTC

Hi Andrew! Moving the answer here that I posted on the August thread: In some cases, the players already know some of what's going on but yeah, you don't want to give away too much. Vague things like "a terrible darkness surrounds the small village of Barovia" usually gives them the point. Part of the fun is finding that balance between information useful enough to build a group and not so much that you blow the surprise. You can always update it too once they know more about what's going on so their group can better connect to the story of the campaign.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:25:51 +0000 UTC

Ideally you get the characters to choose a path before you need to prep the next session so that you don't have to prep all three. If this is an ongoing campaign, I'd focus more on interesting stuff happening in the town first and then the beginnings of each of the three sessions. Or just be ready to improvise with rough ideas of the three locations and what they might find there. As far as secrets are concerned, you can try to focus on secrets that work regardless of which of the three areas they go to or just hammer out a handful of extra secrets for each of the locations. But yeah, the best idea is to get the players' decision about where they want to go before you have to prep the session. Good luck!

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:24:05 +0000 UTC

Thank you both!

Laura

2024-09-06 13:21:38 +0000 UTC

I can't say for Painted Wastelands. I haven't really looked at it. But I think it sounds like a strong start. I think I'd describe the style of game in the open pager session zero just so they know what kind of characters to build. Think of it like the advertisement you'd put up to get players excited for the game. What do you want to tell them?

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:21:29 +0000 UTC

There are several online tools to help with scheduling but I haven't tried any of them enough to recommend them. You can dig around and try a few. I think some of them are pay services, however. My big tips are to try to have a single regular time you can do it, run even if one or two people are out, and email them to let them know the game is coming up so they don't forget. Good luck!

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:20:18 +0000 UTC

I don't think much has to change from a mechanics standpoint. It's more about the feeling of the city itself. The default city is a pretty optimistic and bright city. You could probably run it that way or run it as a darker city where the shadows are encroaching on the city. The crypts tend to overrun with undead. The thieves of the lower reaches are starting to head up into the night of the upper city. The queen hides in her bastion behind the shields of the golden knights while the council is almost completely corrupt. Think of the whole city under the shadow of shadowdark. For experience, I think it works just fine to reward it as it happens in Shadowdark. You can decide if the characters operate with the permission of the Ministry of Tombs or are on their own. Or they get to choose! Let me know how it goes!

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 13:18:20 +0000 UTC

What do you plan on running after Shadowdark? And/or do you plan on running a game using the Voidrunner’s Codex?

George PR

2024-09-06 12:06:50 +0000 UTC

Not a question, I just wanted to say that on Mike Mearls Patreon, he noted he uses Forge of Foes! That's impressive the guy who created the system uses your resource.

Jacques of Hearts

2024-09-06 10:07:27 +0000 UTC

I'm sure there are resources out there for this sort of thing but none leap out to me. I always think its good to have factions tied to the larger story going on in the campaign so I would tend to narrow the factions down to those that focus on that campaign. You can also let the players customize other aspects of the faction - their headquarters, where they meet, and other details.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 09:05:41 +0000 UTC

Hi Harann. That's not fantastic behavior from your friends and is probably worth having a conversation with. One thing you can do is change up the monsters your running and let them know you changed so they don't know what they're going to face. But its also probably worth asking them not to second-guess how you run your monsters. Tell them how their second-guessing makes you feel. If it's one particular player, consider having a one-on-one conversation with them as close to in person as you can do that you'd prefer they not second guess how you run NPCs and monsters and instead work off of what you're bringing to the table. I'm sorry you have to go through that.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 09:03:48 +0000 UTC

This article I wrote has some information on using the 8 steps with published adventures and which steps might be most useful. https://slyflourish.com/choosing_the_right_steps.html I tend to think that there isn't a huge difference between using the 8 steps for a homebrew adventure or a published one. There are some steps you might not need depending on how closely you're running a published adventure but its still worth going through the steps I think depending on how much modification you're making.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 09:00:13 +0000 UTC

I think you're right. Starting with the default gear even at higher levels is probably appropriate. You might give them a healing potion if you're feeling nice. If these are replacement characters, they'll probably pick up gear from their previous dead character anyway. We found that magic items last a lot longer than characters do =)

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 08:58:31 +0000 UTC

I haven't! I'd probably steal from another published work first, though. I also think we can build pantheons from existing gods or by looking at other published pantheons and modifying them for or own world. Shifting names and genders from existing pantheons is one way to go. I'd also suggest focusing on "actionable" pantheons – those that matter to the characters. Both in who they worship themselves but also who they struggle against. How do these pantheons manifest?

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 08:57:14 +0000 UTC

I certainly don't do that much work but these days I'm running my own homebrew adventures more than published adventures. When running either homebrew or published adventures, though, I still tend to stick to the eight steps and write my notes in there. I find that the 8 steps helps me focus on the things I actually need at the table and are easy enough for me to write down during prep. The important question I'd ask yourself is whether you're focusing on what you really need to run a game. I think a lot of GMs use examples of published adventures forgetting that those are written for other GMs – not just yourself. You can be a lot less verbose when all you need are reminders to thinks you already know. There's a big difference between writing material for yourself to reference during a game and writing stuff you're going to publish for someone else.

Michael Shea

2024-09-06 08:55:21 +0000 UTC

Hello Mike Shea, how does Mork Borg compares to Shadowdark in your opinion ?

Guillaume Carrier-Turcotte

2024-09-06 01:38:30 +0000 UTC

Congratulations on City of Arches! I love the idea of the portal city where anything can happen and I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of the book. As a creator, how can you playtest material without it getting stolen? I have a monster book I'm working on and I'd like it to be tested and receive feedback, but if I put it on the game's discord, won't it just get stolen?

Tiffani

2024-09-06 01:31:07 +0000 UTC

What are your qualifications does 5e monster book need to meet for it be your stand by bestiary? I know Level Up 5e Monster Menagerie is your favorite currently(not sure if TOV vault of monsters has beat it) but is there anyway 2024 MM or another book to top it. Is it just math, number of monsters or something else?

Spike Hemphill

2024-09-06 00:55:12 +0000 UTC

Lightning rod question for you if you please. I love throwing these to my party but what do you do when you give the party a huge pack of mooks, and the party chooses not to blast them? Our level 11 cleric can clobber undead up to cr2 and I threw a bunch of zombies at them the other night. What I was hoping would be a quick, fun zombie stew turned into a long drawn out slug fest. Lol - oh well. It was still fun but do you just say "hey - why not hit them with turn undead" or what?

thePooka

2024-09-06 00:39:56 +0000 UTC

What’s an adventure you’ve been looking forward to getting to the table but haven’t had a chance to recently?

Great Diviner Games

2024-09-05 23:13:20 +0000 UTC

I also appreciate survey data and I wonder if you've wanted to or would try to expand your survey pool and with more detailed questions. The only social media platform I use is YouTube and it has deplorable survey options. I'd think it would awesome to get to see, for example, why people would choose old style d&d over new style d&d. The questions could be whether they like henchmen or not, want more epic abilities, do or don't want to track resources, prefer black and white or color art and there could be plenty more. Or, a question could be about tracking resources, whether the person plays old style or new style d&d and whether they like tracking resources or not, or would prefer a slot style or an increasing / decreasing quantity dice. Unfortunately I think the only way to get more detailed polling and allowing people to give multiple answers would be to go outside social media platforms. But then the links to these surveys could also be sent to other online personalities to share and could increase the pool of people being surveyed. Then maybe we could get some great survey information that isn't kept in a vault somewhere in Wizards of the Coast. Thanks and keep up the great work!

NegatveSpace

2024-09-05 22:12:09 +0000 UTC

I am running a streamed campaign of Brindlewood Bay and I’m attempting to make the episodes self contained with the exception of the finale. Any tips to doing a campaign where each session is self contained?

SouzaGM

2024-09-05 20:07:02 +0000 UTC

I have been giving my players a one pager handout at the start of every campaign, and sometimes even when they arrive in a new location. However I am unsure how much info to give them about curse of Strahd. Part of horror is the unknown, but I want to make sure my players build characters that fit well with the world. How do I strike a good balance?

Andrew Duncan

2024-09-05 19:31:02 +0000 UTC

I use a shared Google Sheet with names across the top and date & time labels for each row, with whitespace separating each week. People put their availability in the cells. Then I still have to chase some people over text. Once a date is decided, I use Google Calendar to invite folks, and I start an email thread for that session. And I still have to chase some people over text again, lol.

Aaron W

2024-09-05 19:23:13 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike. I recognise that you should ideally focus your secrets and clues on what will likely be learned in your next session. But what if you run a sort of “2 of 3 keys” or “yam shaped” type adventure and have potentially 3 adventure locations plus a town in one sessions? Preparing 10 feels like you’re spreading them very thin between multiple rich locations. Thanks!

Dylan

2024-09-05 18:14:17 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike, The Painted Wasteland kickstarter just ended. And in their free sample, the game starts like this “The world has finally stopped spinning. You’re lying in a puddle of vomit. Your sanity is shredded. Every fiber and atom of your being is deliciously warped. You have no idea where you are.” (Not unlike beings that come through an arch, just minus the gift basket.) Would when the players learn this information (the one-page, session zero, session one) greatly affect character creation, if so, when would be the best?

Gavin the Mystic

2024-09-05 17:45:13 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike! Do you have any tips for technology to help schedule games? Ideally somewhere everyone could input their availability and it would help sort the options that work for the most people-? I remember something like this from the days of group projects but that was long ago. If anyone in the comments sees this and has an answer too, I’d love to hear it. (For a recurring time or for individual sessions, either way.)

Laura

2024-09-05 17:35:20 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike. I am about to start a City of Arches campaign using Shadowdark. I know CoA addresses the shift in tone, but as someone who has run a lot of Shadowdark what mechanical changes would you make? In particular I am considering whether to award XP for defeating named enemies and finding fantastic locations and how to best house rule ancestry traits as a varied choice of ancestry is one of the advantages of CoA. Any advice welcome.

kevin lawton

2024-09-05 17:25:11 +0000 UTC

Hello Mike! I am going to be starting a Shadowdark game soon and will be taking your advice regarding tying characters to factions. I will have a few factions available to choose from, but I would also like to allow for players to create their own factions if they choose. Do you know of any systems to borrow guidelines for creating factions or do you have suggestions for how you would do such a thing?

flibbertygibbit

2024-09-05 17:24:49 +0000 UTC

I guess I failed to follow the instructions in the post. I will be search the recommended place for answers to my question.

John Maloney

2024-09-05 17:05:25 +0000 UTC

Just wanted to share I dealt with this in my longest 5e campaign where a mix of friends with long experience kept D&Dsplaining “facts” about the monsters / species they encountered to the one player who was new to D&D. This gave me an “in” to interject and explain (charitably I hope) that while D&D has a rich lore, that my world may not carry those assumptions so even experienced players may get themselves into trouble if they play characters based on those older assumptions. It was a nice non confrontational opening that gave me insight into how the experienced players approached the game up to that point, and they did seem delighted by the potential for the unexpected after that. I’m not sure how I would have reacted to being told directly I was running Drow wrong or something like that.

Ryan McIntyre

2024-09-05 17:03:14 +0000 UTC

I've been playing D&D for 10 years and DMing for my group for 3 years. Each of my players have been playing D&D for at least 40 years. They know much more about how to play D&D and the history and lore of different monsters and types of enemies than I do. How do I handle questions during gaming sessions like "This monster has this feature so why did it act the way you are playing it?" or "This type of villain has this type of motivation so why are you not including that detail when I roll high on my insight/investigation/arcana/history check?" ... How do I answer questions that my players ask that I'm completely clueless about without ruining the flow of the game?

Harann and Friends

2024-09-05 16:46:15 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike. Recently read the Return of the Lazy DM. In it you talk about the steps are good for homebrew campaigns and published adventures. I didn't find anything in the book that gave any tips on using it for published adventures. Do you have a video or article that might give some pointers on this subject? Thanks for the great videos and books, I found your channel a few months ago after dumping some other content creators that seemed to be constantly negative about stuff. Your positivity is a refreshing change. Thanks

John Maloney

2024-09-05 16:24:41 +0000 UTC

How have you handled the starting $ and gear of higher level character creation in Shadowdark? This is one of those blank spaces in the rules that Kelsey’s left up to GMs (or at least I haven’t found any advice beyond new level 0 or level 1 characters). My assumption is that the math is so flat and the gear stays usable at higher levels, so giving level 1 starting wealth is sufficient even if they made a level 10 character. I’d probably suggest the player roll talents first, especially if a fighter as they may want to pick weapon specialties they roll before picking gear.

Ryan McIntyre

2024-09-05 16:20:26 +0000 UTC

Hey Mike!, I am in the process of making my own world and with that I am making my own Pantheon of God's. Have you ever done this? I would be interested to hear the Lazy DM's opinion of this. Thanks!

Dane Thomsen

2024-09-05 16:19:33 +0000 UTC

Hi Mike - I started re-writing dungeon keys, room descriptions, scenes etc. of published DnD Adventures in a more OSE/ MörkBorg "Point and click" writing style for my own reference and use during play. It's a lot of work though. How are you handling that? the same or "just" highlighting in the book/ pdf and having that open at the table (next to the lazy prep) ? btw and as a Bonus :) -> this is a fantastic article summarizing different design layouts: https://loottheroom.uk/form-and-structure-the-dna-of-adventure-modules

ManMa

2024-09-05 16:18:31 +0000 UTC

September 2024 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A

Comments

Thanks Mike! Comes from bard and cleric in party using bless and inspire tokens to never lose bless and inspire. Soon as they hit town or relatively safe area everyone has a luck token.

Friends! Thus ends the September Q&A! Please post any new questions to the October 2024 Q&A thread!

You may want to consider donating to Let's Quest https://www.letsquestafterschool.org/ They are a new 501C3 which is trying to do something similar to us. We don't know a lot about what they have to offer though.

Hello! We do not. We tried to do something like this but it was too messy. The best way to support this program is to share that we're doing it and tell others about how much you like the Sly Flourish Patreon and our work so we can keep doing it every year!

Great call! Thanks Mike, appreciate it

Do you accept donations to support your grant to children’s programs? My group runs small murder mystery charity benefits and I’d be honored to support your cause.

If the players are on board and prepared for the consequences and you're ok with it, go with it! You've done the good work of having an out-of-game conversation and it sounds like its ok with everyone.

I haven't really shifted the rules as written but I might describe what it was like for the character in the afterlife. As far as how it changes between systems, I follow what the system does. Shadowdark has no resurrections in it.

Could be cool! Remember to focus it down on where the characters are and what they want to do. My friend Jeff Greiner often runs mixed up sandboxes like this but the group ends up focusing on one and that's the one they do.

Yes! There's a short player's guide in the back of the Kickstarter preview and in the Patreon COA reward. Take a look at the back of the PDFs.

Will there be a players guide for the city of arches? Like things only the players need to know for the setting to build characters.

Back just to mention that the Eldritch Lorecast (ep 155) and Justin Alexander ("Scheduling Game Night") both talked about scheduling on their most recent videos! Must be something in the air.

This is outstanding. Many thanks!

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International allows for commercial use! So you're free to use this one as long as you attribute it as described. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

I don't sweat it. If it works in the narrative, they can hide even if the conditions aren't perfect. Shadows are special this way. Who knows how that works out in D&D 2024.

Honestly, I like 5e better and since there are so many awesome flavors of 5e built around heroic fantasy, I'd be more likely to use those than Cypher. I'd also take a look at 13th Age and Shadow of the Weird Wizard if I wanted something really different.

What do your players have access to? I think, if I was starting a brand new game today and not using ToV or A5e, I'd give 2024 a shot and see how it works out.

Good question! I'd probably add Justin Alexander's book to the list – So You Want to Be a Game Master. It doesn't match my style completely but I think its probably worth digging into. Nothing else jumps out at me.

Probably around four.

I follow the spiral development steps from Return for building a campaign – keeping things focused around the characters. I also tend to use published campaign settings. So I don't really have any tools beyond what I use for running games.

Good question! I may bring it to the table and see if people are interested in using it. I also might just go with default ToV Adventurer's Guide. It's a cool book but sometimes simple is better.

Right now I'd say the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. Those monsters hit hard! Forge of Foes monsters hit hard too...

It's hard to say until I actually see it in action. I do balk at the idea of putting fixed DCs in there. Choosing a DC is the DM's job. Weird.

Ooooh i have that campaign of yours. Will check that episode

I'm answering this one early since time might be a factor – I think Starsong Tower is a fantastic starter adventure and I've used it myself to teach new folks. You can find it for free here: https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/ruins_of_the_grendleroot_preview.pdf

Hi Mike. I’m about to start an Eberron campaign using 2014 5e. However my 2024 5e PHB is about to arrive tomorrow. Which should I use? Although I have considered the alternatives LUA5e and TotV I do not have access to these.

It has been three years since you created this list: https://slyflourish.com/dms_reading_list.html Anything you would add to it?

Hey Mike curious how many sessions do you average between level ups?

Hey Mike, I’ve recently taken to world building, as well as trying to get my players more involved in the process. For this I found a great website “Chronica.venture”. I was wondering what tools YOU would recommend for campaign management/world management.

Which flavor of 5E do you feel presents the most challenging monsters? I know this may change when the 2024 MM comes out but for the next few months, where’s the best place to match up with the new 2024 PHB.

Awesome thank you! Thanks Mike for making so many of your resources free. And this Patreon is the best deal in universe and I’m so grateful!

We'll see! So far nothing's changed so much that I think I need a new one but you never know. I'm updating it pretty regularly anyway.

Let the story and the game evolve around the actions of the characters. That's my first one from these tips I offer: https://slyflourish.com/top_advice.html

I'll give it a look!

Will there be an update for dnd 2024 rules for the lazy gm screen?

What is the single most important thing you'd tell a new DM?

Would you ever run another megadungeon?

Hey Mike, one of my groups is switching to PF2e for a campaign while the other is using the DnD 2024 rules. As someone dming similar fantasy games with different rules i.e. Shadowdark and Level up advanced 5e how do you stop yourself from mixing up the rules of the two? Any tips?

Did you say you’re switching from Notion to Obsidian? I’d love to know why, and get a tour of how you set it up for sessions and campaign management.

I should probably clarify, it's not perfect. There's a few spelling mistakes, and a few references that don't send you to right page. Still, I'm stoked to run it this Halloween!

Thank you for the link. I did not find that article when I did my search. Probably was not looking for the right wording. Guess I need to look at chapter 12 again.

Thank you both!

For the Sunday group I'm probably going to run Tales of the Valiant set in the Dragon Empire of Midgard. It looks like a fun mixture of Al-Qadim and Dark Sun. I think it could be a lot of fun to have rebels fighting underneath the scourge of the dragon emperors.

Yeah! We've been chatting on EN World about it too. It's really cool that he's a fan of the work we did.

Thank you both!

What do you plan on running after Shadowdark? And/or do you plan on running a game using the Voidrunner’s Codex?

Not a question, I just wanted to say that on Mike Mearls Patreon, he noted he uses Forge of Foes! That's impressive the guy who created the system uses your resource.