Michael E. Shea's Blog, page 18

Add Dreadful Incursions to Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is one of my favorite 5th edition D&D books. I think it's really well put together and it packs tons of setting material for many different worlds all in one book. You can watch my spotlight on Van Richten's Guide on the Lazy D&D Talk Show for a deeper look.

When I decided to run Wild Beyond the Witchlight I was intrigued by the idea that characters can get through the whole adventure without engaging in any combat but I also thought — what fun is that?

Then I had an idea. How could I mix in the cool Domains of Dread from Van Richten's Guide into Wild Beyond the Witchlight? Thus, the idea of Dreadful Incursions tore itself open.

Note, this article contains spoilers for Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

If you want to watch a bunch of videos where I talk about mashing up Dreadful Incursions from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft with Wild Beyond the Witchlight check out my Wild Beyond the Witchlight YouTube Video Playlist.

So how does this idea work in the story of the campaign?

From Wild Beyond the Witchlight we know the freezing of Zybilna caused instability in Prismeer. The land is tearing itself apart, split in three lands separated by an uncrossable mist. Sound a lot like the mists of the Domains of Dread!

What if Zybilna's influence didn't just keep Prismeer together but also kept the Domains of Dread at bay? If you know Zybilna's true origin, it makes sense that one of her former jobs might have been keeping the Domains of Dread intact and aligned perhaps in some ancient pact with the Dark Powers. With her disappearance, these worlds get disjointed and start to bleed into Prismeer.

What Is a Dreadful Incursion

With Zybilna's inaction, various Domains of Dread collide with Prismeer. When they collide, rifts tear open between these domains and Prismeer. Sometimes these incursions might be small, a portal opened for only a few seconds (say 18 to 24 seconds — three rounds of combat) while some horror or horrors crawls out from its world into Prismeer where the characters must beat it back.

Other incursions might be larger. A twisted dungeon from Hazlan might bleed into Prismeer, where arcane runoff and swarms of gremishkas prowl in the shadows. The characters might pass through the haunted House of Griffin Hill to make their way through a blocked passageway beneath the mountains of Yon.

When the characters travel through the mists between the three domains of Prismeer they might walk through or fly over a Domain of Dread.

Dreadful incursions give us a chance to run fun dark combat encounters with the flavor of one of the worlds from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. And we can do so guilt free. Our players won't feel like they're picking the worst solution fighting a bunch of zombie plague spreaders.

When adding incursions, roll on the "Domain of Dread" table at the beginning of the "Other Domains of Dread" section in chapter 3 of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft to choose a random domain. Use the result to flavor an encounter, a dungeon, or a whole adventure; adding rich details to push the imaginations of our players.

Anchors

Objects from these other domains might connect a Domain of Dread to Prismeer, chaining the two together, and need to be destroyed or modified to break the connection and close the incursion. This anchor might be an object from the domain in question or an object from Prismeer lost in a Domain of Dread.

You can use the "Horror Trinkets" from the end of chapter 1 in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft or the "Feywild Trinkets" in the beginning of Wild Beyond the Witchlight to pick such an item. Consider adding a random powerful spell to the item the characters can use one time.

Other more powerful magic items might also bleed through from a Domain of Dread into Prismeer. More powerful anchors, permanent magic items the characters recover, might require a quest to break the connection but one that still lets them keep their cool loot.

The unicorn horn, an important key on Wild Beyond the Witchlight might get lost in a domain itself, say the nightmare scape Bluetspur where it rests in the hand of a mind flayer vampire with little understanding of this strange object.

A Dark Lord Sees an Escape

To take things further, one of the dread lords of a Domain of Dread may become aware of these incursions and seek it to escape their torment. Perhaps Vladeska Drakov of Falkovnia becomes aware of the incursions and plots her escape, sending her blood raven knights into Prismeer to find a stable incursion so she can escape the torment of her zombie-infested lands. In the end, the characters might face her on the very throne of Zybilna where the dark lord of Falkovnia nearly turns all of Prismeer into a new Domain of Dread.

A Contrast Dial of Light and Dark

The whimsy and wonder of Wild Beyond the Witchlight is joyous to behold. Adding the Domains of Dread from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft creates a wonderful contrast. On one side you have bullywugs in frocks and top hats rowing small boats in a calm pond saying "good day to you fine folk". On the other you have the howling winds of Klorr where a dead world tears itself apart. Adding Domains of Dread to Wild Beyond the Witchlght creates a fun juxtaposition and a great way to shake up the atmosphere of both corners of the multiverse.

You also have great control over how such incursions affect the theme of your campaign. You decide if and when to drop in an incursion into Prismeer. You decide if it's a big incursion or a small one. You decide whether the darkness is too dark for the whimsy and wonder of Witchlight and turn it off. You decide if you want to add a new arch villain making their way into the lands of Prismeer. You decide how hard and how often to collide the Domains of Dread with Prismeer. It's a wonderful dial to have on the campaign.

If you want to add a fun combat-filled contrast of horror and dread to the whimsy and wonder of Wild Beyond the Witchlight, give Dread Incursions a try.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Journeys Through the Radiant CitadelWonders of the Multiverse Unearthed ArcanaAdding Reactions to the Resolution StackNew Spelljammer Academy Adventure ReleasedTeos Abadia's Spelljammer Dispatch on Roll20Ben Riggs's TSR D&D Sales StatsRunning Multiple Games a WeekMeaningful Choices in Adventure DesignRunning Too Many Different RPGsRunning Streaming, Live Play, or Actual Play GamesPlayers Drawing Other Players Into the SpotlightRelated ArticlesIsle of Dread for the Lazy Dungeon MasterOne Page Dungeon: Chambers of the Dread TitanAdventure Seeds: The Night of the DecimationAwarding Magic Items in Dungeons & Dragons 5th EditionOptimizing Towards FunGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Watch the Time

"The key to becoming a great GM, more than anything else, is an understanding of pacing."- Monte Cook, Your Best Game Ever

Understanding the pace of your game may be the most important skill you bring to your game. There's many different ways to improve your pacing but we're lazy here so we're going to go with the biggest easiest one:

Use a clock.

Keep a clock in front of you when you run your games. If you need to, use a stopwatch or an alarm to keep track of the big blocks of time in your game session. Look at the material you want to run in the session, think about how much time it takes, and, during the game, track whether things are happening on time or whether things have gotten away from you. Take a break half-way through to re-adjust your material to fit the time you have left. Cut from the middle if you need, to reach your game's big conclusion. Ending early is much better than ending late.

Flow, Your Friend and Enemy

When DMing D&D games, we're often in a state of "flow". We're all-on. We're deep in the game. We're watching the players, thinking about the characters, and building worlds as they explore it. We're running monsters, putting ourselves in the eyes of our villains, and leaping into the shoes of our NPCs. We're busy, and it's a great type of busy. This state of flow, in which we're fully engaged in running the game, has many traits but one common one is losing track of time. That's not helpful when running a game on a schedule.

So we must account for this, and the best way is to use an external tool to help us do so. A timer, a stopwatch, or a clock works well. If you're good at keeping an eye on the clock, that may be all you need. If you find yourself missing it, set a timer to go off every 45 minutes or an hour (set it quietly enough that only you can hear it).

During your prep, think about how long various scenes might take and use your time estimates to see if you're on track during the game itself. Sometimes, in an ongoing campaign, it isn't a very big deal if you don't hit every scene. For one-shot games on a schedule, losing track of time can be disastrous.

Trust Your Tools

Humans are imperfect organisms. Some have a good sense of time and some don't. Tools, like a stopwatch, help us stay on time no matter our state of flow or the shifting in our perception of time. Understanding timing and pacing can be critical to run an awesome game. Grab a timer and watch the clock when running your next game.

Related ArticlesTake a BreakImproving PacingProgress Clocks for Complex Situations in D&DTiming and Pacing AdventuresPaths for DM ExpertiseGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Running One-on-One D&D Games

Though typically played with four to six players and one dungeon master, D&D works perfectly well when played with one player and one DM. In fact, this style of D&D offers many advantages over the traditional group-based game. Don't be afraid of the potential awkwardness. Ten minutes in and it just feels like D&D.

For an example of one-on-one play, watch myself and Enrique Bertran play through Dragon of Icespire Peak on YouTube.

You can also read more about one-on-one D&D games in the following articles:

A Framework for One-on-One D&D Games: Sherlock Holmes and WatsonBalancing D&D Combat for One-on-One PlayAdvantages of One-on-One Play

Playing D&D with a single player and single DM holds a few advantages over group-based D&D. These include:

It's easier to find a group. Finding a single player is much easier than finding four to six.Scheduling is much easier. You're only balancing the schedules of two people instead of five to seven.It's faster. You can get through more material in much less time.You can focus the game on the single main character. The whole game can really be just about them and you never have to shift the spotlight away from the player.It's flexible. You can play parts of the game, like roleplaying or investigation scenes, anywhere and anytime.It's tailored to one player. You can build the game around the preferences of the player instead of trying your best to include everyone's preferences in a larger group.Tips for One-on-One Play

Running a one-on-one game is different than running a group game. Here are a few tips to make the most out of your one-on-one D&D game.

Let the player play two characters, a main character and a sidekick. You can use sidekick rules from either the D&D Essentials Kit or from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything or you can just let them roll up a normal character but treat them as a sidekick.

Sidekicks work best when they are mechanically simpler to play and have capabilities that shore up gaps in the main character. A bard, cleric, or druid works well as a sidekick to a fighter, rogue, or barbarian. A fighter or paladin works well as a sidekick to a wizard, warlock, or sorcerer. Work with the player to build a team between the main character and the sidekick.

Sidekicks work best when they're mechanically simpler. Stick to ability score increases instead of feats and choose simpler subclasses so the mechanics of the sidekick don't take away from the capabilities of the main character.

During play, it works well when the player runs the sidekick mechanically but the DM roleplays the sidekick. This gives the DM a great avenue for continued roleplaying and a vehicle to give the main character information. It's great fun to play this way.

Adventures run much faster. An adventure that typically takes three or four hours can be done in an hour or two. Be ready to move fast.

Ensure you run with fewer combatants in combat. A larger force of monsters can quickly overwhelm two characters if you're not careful. If you're running a published adventure not intended for a single character and sidekick, ensure you reduce the number of monsters in combat encounters significantly. Aim for an equal number of monsters to characters and adjust as needed. See my article on balancing encounters for one-on-one play for details.

Adventures for One-on-One Play

The excellent adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak included in the D&D Essentials Kit is designed for one-on-one play and is great fun.

For third-party one-on-one adventures and advice, see the work of Beth and Jonathan at D&D Duet.

A Fantastic New Way to Enjoy D&D

Playing D&D one-on-one is a fantastic experience. Any initial discomfort at the perceived awkwardness and intimacy of the game quickly goes away when both of you realize you're just playing D&D. Find a player, whip up a simple adventure, and try out some one-on-one D&D.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Two SF Products Nominated for the 2022 ENnies!City of Arches Updates and WalkthroughFree Spelljammer Academy AdventuresRoll20 and DriveThruRPG MergerFirst Look at D&D 5.5 \"Soon\"What I Want from D&D 5.5Dealing with the characters of players who leave a campaignIntroducing Large CitiesRunning multiple villainous factions in a dungeonMagic items with a priceKeeping Prep-time BriefUsing SubsystemsHandling the Guidance CantripRelated ArticlesBalancing D&D Combat for One-on-One PlayA Framework for One-on-One D&D Games: Sherlock Holmes and WatsonCombining the D&D Starter Set and Essentials KitRunning Dragon of Icespire Peak from the D&D Essentials KitGetting Started with Dungeons & DragonsGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Interviewing New D&D Players for Online Games

Getting and keeping a D&D group together remains the hardest part of this hobby. For general tips on this topic read my previous article on Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group.

Things have changed. In October 2019 roughly 70% of DMs and players I surveyed on Twitter played primarily in person. That's dropped to 26% in 2022. This doesn't necessarily mean less people are playing in person (though that'd be no surprise given Covid-19); it may mean many more people are playing than ever before and most of them are playing online.

Either way, more people are playing online than ever before and this changes how we find and maintain a group. For one, there's a bigger pool of players online than there is for local games. And, as always, there are more players seeking a game than there are DMs willing to run games.

This guide assumes you're a DM looking for players. It's harder to offer advice for players seeking a game opposite. Your best bet to find a game is to run one.

The Player Funnel

Finding players for online games is different than finding players for in-person games. The pool is much larger and the barriers to entry are much lower. This is good and bad. We have many more players we can survey which means many more players we'll want to filter to find the right players for our game.

To do this, we need a funnel with a bunch of filters. Here's what these filters look like:

Layer 1: The wide netLayer 2: The player application formLayer 3: The live interviewLayer 4: The test gameLayer 1: The Wide Net

First, we have to find those huge swathes of players. There are a few often-recommended locations for finding players including:

The Reddit LFG subredditThe D&D Discord LFG channelOther public D&D Discord server LFG channels (you'll have to hunt a bit)

Following whatever rules these forums have, put up a post seeking players focusing them down on the second layer: the application.

Layer 2: The Player Application Form

You'll may get a lot of players from layer 1 so you want to filter further to find the players most likely to fit well into your game. We can use Google Forms for this to create an online application for new potential players.

Writing a form like this is tricky. We don't want to fill it with a bunch of obvious questions with clear "right" and "wrong" answers. We want to use the form to find the players who best fit our game. Your own questions may vary but here are a few example questions that can help:

Are you able to play regularly (at the time you plan to run games)?Rank the following aspects of D&D from the most to the least enjoyed?RoleplayingExplorationNarrative (Theater of the Mind) combatCharacter BackstoryCampaign StorylinesGetting together with friendsCharacter optimizationTactical combatWhat do you enjoy most when playing D&D?What do you enjoy the least?What do you look for in a good DM?What are examples of bad games you've played in? What went wrong?Have you ever left a game in the middle? Why? How often has it happened?What's one of your favorite memories from a previous game?What's something in a previous game that didn't work out?

Add any other questions that help differentiate your game from other D&D games. Do you use theater of the mind for combat? Be sure to mention that. Do you use a particular technology stack like Roll20, Foundry, or Owlbear Rodeo? Mention that. Do you focus more on story than combat or vice versa? Mention it. Anything that sets apart your game from the rest is worth putting in.

You can also put up a list of your own table rules and ensure applicants have read them and agree to them. If not, no problem. Not every player is a good fit for every game.

Get them to agree to each of these in the form so you know they saw it and accepted it.

Your job here isn't to sell your game. It's almost to sell them off of your game. This is a filter, not a sales pitch. You want only those players who you think will really like your style of game. Make that clear.

This application process might seem arduous but it's a great way to filter out a bunch of people who really aren't committed. If they can't fill out a form, how committed will they be to the game itself?

Mention in the form that you want to have an online chat with them, leading to layer 3.

Layer 3: The Online Interview

You've gone through respondents to your form and chosen players you think will fit well into your game. Next, it's time to talk to them. Schedule a time to meet with them online and chat with them as close to face to face as we can (video helps a lot here). Get them talking. Don't start blabbing on about your games. Get them to talk about their games. Ask them questions. Use the answers from the survey to dig deeper.

Getting them talking helps you not only get answers to your questions but also helps you see how comfortable you are with them. These are people you want to be friends with. You're going to have to manage them when you're running your game. Keep in mind they may be nervous themselves so give them some leeway but really ask yourself if they feel right for your game. We do have some nasty subconscious biases that can get in the way here so be careful. We tend to like people like us which might be fine for a D&D game but it may expand our game quite a bit more if we keep our subconscious biases in check when talking to people not like us.

The main thing to ask yourself is: Do you like talking to them? Did you feel comfortable with them? Did they make you laugh? I know this sounds like speed dating, and in some ways it's exactly that. But these interpersonal connections matter when it comes to someone we're going to run a game for every week.

If things work out well, time to invite them to layer 4: the one-shot game!

Layer 4: The One-Shot Game

Next, run a game! Get your new players into a one-shot game. Maybe it's a two hour game you've always wanted to run. Maybe it's a longer game. You can run a multi-session game if we want to. This is the best way to see if you all fit well as a group. One thing to keep in mind is that, while a player might be the right fit for you, you might not be the right fit for them. You have a style. You have things you like to do. They may not dig it. That's totally fine. Best to get the right people to the right table even if that table isn't yours.

Run the game, see how it goes. If all goes well, time for a longer campaign!

Skipping a Step

It's possible that, after carving through a couple of these layers, you have a good feeling about someone right away. It's fine to skip step 4 and go right into a campaign. Just be ready for them to either step away or for you to have to have a hard conversation about the player not being the right fit if things go south. Many people have run games with players who didn't fit or work out. It happens and it's ok. No harm. This is just a game we're talking about.

Early Hard Work for Fantastic Long-term Friendships

This layered process for finding players can seem arduous. It's a lot of work, both for you and the player. Finding the right people for the right DM at the right table is worth the effort. Fixing problems later takes a lot of energy and can disintegrate an entire table if things really don't work out. Take your time, get to know your potential players, and, as a result, you may enjoy adventures you'll remember the rest of your life.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Update on the Lazy DM Companion KickstarterSlyFlourish.com and the Lazy DM's Companion Nominated for the Ennies!Mork Borg Bare Bones Editon Free!Scarlet Citadel and Empire of the Ghouls for my Next D&D CampaignsAdding Third Party Character OptionsThe Best Features for Near-Perfect D&D Games are FreeWhat's Fun for Dungeon Masters?Handling Shopping TripsMaking Players Like Your PatronD&D Stories for 14-Year-Old Silly LarsonsRelated ArticlesFinding and Maintaining a D&D GroupManaging Player Attendance with an On-Call ListShared Experiences Playing D&D OnlineGaining Confidence to Run D&D GamesJames Introcaso on Running Great D&D Games with Roll20 Get More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

The Only D&D Subsystem You Need - The Ability Check

A lot of D&D books include new systems for all sorts of things including dealing with avalanches, piloting boats, running a performance, or managing a tavern. As DMs, we're often tempted to build our own new subsystems for situations in the game.

We need not, however, because we already have a system in place able to handle just about situation we face:

The ability check.

The humble ability check is a wonderfully simple mechanic useful for just about any situation in the game. Nearly every action a character takes in the game can, when needed, be represented by an ability check. If a relevant skill helps in the action and they happen to be trained, they can add their proficiency bonus. As DMs, we have the tools of advantage and disadvantage to further shift the situation depending on the circumstances.

Most importantly, the ability check is an excellent improvisational tool. We don't know what the player is going to think up but, whatever it is, we're likely to figure out how to tie it to an ability check if the success or failure of the action is in question.

Now if something is happening to the character instead of the other way around, we have another tool for this: the saving throw. Like an ability check, it's a great tool to improvise the success or failure of an external force affecting a character. Like the ability check DMs can impose advantage or disadvantage if the circumstances require it, although such impositions on a saving throw are rare.

During our prep we may be tempted to build complicated networks of checks and actions to suit a situation or environment but such flow-charts often fall apart in play. Often such networks of checks require anticipating how characters face problems and that's not our job. Our job is to build situations and let the characters choose their approach.

It's far more useful to spend our time understanding how complicated situation works within the game's world and fiction so we're ready to improvise ability checks and saving throws as needed.

The next time you're tempted to design a new sub-system around some complicated situation, focus instead on the situation in the world. How does it work in the fiction? Then let the characters choose their approach and use the deviously simple ability check and saving throw to adjudicate the results.

Related ArticlesOur Ability Check ToolboxStay in the FictionMy Top Advice for D&D DMsHandling Group Skill ChecksImprovising Combat Situations with Advantage, Disadvantage, and InspirationGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Identify Good D&D Adventures and Products

Jayme, a patron of Sly Flourish, asks; "I've always ran homebrew adventures, but for the first time, I'm incorporating short published adventures into the campaign. The problem is, I don't really know how to evaluate whether an adventure is good or not just by reading it. Do you have any advice on how to spot problem areas in a published adventure before I run it? And are there any red flags I should keep an eye out for?"

This is an excellent question. With the huge wealth of published material we can harvest for our D&D games, how do we decide good from bad? How do we choose what to spend our valuable time on?

I asked this question out on Twitter and got a number of excellent replies. You can read the Twitter thread here. In this article I'm going to offer a few of my own criteria.

If you're a publisher of D&D material, some of these might seem overly costly or even insurmountable for an independent publisher with limited time and money. I get it. Publishing products with limited time, money, and energy is really hard. That said, you're competing with a lot of products and the time of your customers is equally important. Do your best.

Also, none of these criteria guarantee a great product and many great products may have only some of these criteria. It's an imperfect list. A rough tool for a hard and time-pressed world. Consider these but come up with your own list of criteria as well.

Can You Dig It?

The first thing I ask myself when scanning a product is whether it resonates with me. Do I like the idea? Do I like the theme? Does it speak to me? Do I think it's cool? My own initial emotional connection to a product is going to have a big effect on whether I'm willing to devote more time to get this product to fit into my game and the time I can spend on it. It may be the product's idea. It might be the cover. It might be the first few paragraphs. Whatever it is, it has to grab me quickly, show me what it's about, and convince me it's worth more time. If it is, and I think its cool, I'm willing to put in more work to read it, buy it, and incorporate it into my game.

Is it Built to Help DMs?

One thing I look for is whether it's clear to me that the product designer built the product to help DMs. Is this book and its components designed to be easily dropped into a game and easily used by the DM? Is it written with the DM first and foremost in mind? Or is this a vanity product intended to help the author tell us about their world? RPG books are instructions and tools to help DMs and players share their stories and play their games together. They're not to serve as an expression of the author's creative drive. We're busy and we're often overwhelmed. Help me out. Take work off of my plate. Make my game better.

Can I Understand It?

Going hand-in-hand with whether it's built for DMs; can I understand how this product works? If it's an adventure, can I easily understand its structure? Do I know how it's supposed to go and how it's supposed to work? Can I get my hands around it? Do I know how I'll drop it into my game? Overly complex products, especially complex adventures, don't endear me to their merits. I need things I can easily use. Keep it simple.

Is it Playtested?

One thing separating great products from ok or even good products is playtesting. A list of playtesters shows me the product survived first contact with real groups. The bigger the list of playtesters, the more I trust the work. Again, it's not a perfect criteria but I don't know a product that was worse off for being playtested.

Is it Well Reviewed and Recommended?

Let's face it, we gravitate towards things other people already checked out for us ahead of time. We know amazon star ratings are imperfect but we all instinctively know that it's more likely a 4.5 star product with 1,700 reviews meets our need than a 3.5 star product with five reviews. Crowd-based reviewing isn't great but even having a few recommendations from people we know and trust goes a long way to help us try out a product. Do we know people that have used this product? Did it go well? Do we generally trust their judgement? This helps us save a lot of time.

Is it Well-Edited?

Does the product have a dedicated editor (that isn't also the writer)? A product with a dedicated editor sets it apart from other amateur work. If someone else spent the time to read through and offer feedback on a product, it's likely better than one that only went through the author themselves. Is the editing good? Can I spot obvious typos, run-on sentences, or other clear signs of poor editing? It's going to have a hard go impressing me if I, a very imperfect reader, can pick out big problems in the prose. Does it follow standard 5e conventions? Excellent editors not versed in D&D might miss the standard nomenclature of 5e. Editors who understand the ins and outs of D&D 5th edition are hard to find and its often obvious which books had such careful editing and which didn't.

Does it Look Good?

Does it have original art? Is the design both pleasing, subtle, and usable? Looks matter when it comes to good products. If I see a product using the same template as others or art that's clearly public domain or stock art, I'm not going to weigh it as heavily as a product with a unique design and commissioned art. I know, this stuff is hard and expensive, but if you're asking for my money and my time, you're competing with products that can have an excellent design and unique art work. It's not the most important thing in the world but it's a clear indicator of the amount of effort (and, let's face it, money) that went into a product.

Define Your Own List

What does your own list look like? How do you determine a good product from a bad one at first glance? What telltale signs indicate a potential good product from a bad one? Write down your own list, think about it, and help yourself better gauge the content most likely to help you run your games.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Roll 20 Partners with the DM's GuildNODES system from Dungeon Delver's GuidebMore on Revealing NPC ArchetypesMore on the Near-Perfect D&D GameGames Falling Flat with Disinterested PlayersPlayeres Wasting Spells on Immune CreaturesGood Third Party BooksChanges to Improvised StatisticsDigital Versus Analog Character SheetsWrite Down Page Numbers on Paper Character SheetsRunning Campaigns with Often Absent PlayersCustomizing Random TablesDetermining Starting Gear for Higher Level CharactersRelated ArticlesNotable Third-Party Products for D&DThree Years of D&D 5e with Mike MearlsOptimizing Towards Fun2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master QuestionnaireConverting Older D&D Adventures and SourcebooksGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesBuy Sly Flourish's BooksWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSubscribe to Sly Flourish's PodcastSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Identifying Good D&D Adventures and Products

Jayme, a [patron of Sly Flourish], asks; "I've always ran homebrew adventures, but for the first time, I'm incorporating short published adventures into the campaign. The problem is, I don't really know how to evaluate whether an adventure is good or not just by reading it. Do you have any advice on how to spot problem areas in a published adventure before I run it? And are there any red flags I should keep an eye out for?"

This is an excellent question. With the huge wealth of published material we can harvest for our D&D games, how do we decide good from bad? How do we choose what to spend our valuable time on?

I asked this question out on Twitter and got a number of excellent replies. You can read the Twitter thread here. In this article I'm going to offer a few of my own criteria.

If you're a publisher of D&D material, some of these might seem overly costly or even insurmountable for an independent publisher with limited time and money. I get it. Publishing products with limited time, money, and energy is really hard. That said, you're competing with a lot of products and the time of your customers is equally important. Do your best.

Also, none of these criteria guarantee a great product and many great products may have only some of these criteria. It's an imperfect list. A rough tool for a hard and time-pressed world. Consider these but come up with your own list of criteria as well.

Can You Dig It?

The first thing I ask myself when scanning a product is whether it resonates with me. Do I like the idea? Do I like the theme? Does it speak to me? Do I think it's cool? My own initial emotional connection to a product is going to have a big effect on whether I'm willing to devote more time to get this product to fit into my game and the time I can spend on it. It may be the product's idea. It might be the cover. It might be the first few paragraphs. Whatever it is, it has to grab me quickly, show me what it's about, and convince me it's worth more time. If it is, and I think its cool, I'm willing to put in more work to read it, buy it, and incorporate it into my game.

Is it Built to Help DMs?

One thing I look for is whether it's clear to me that the product designer built the product to help DMs. Is this book and its components designed to be easily dropped into a game and easily used by the DM? Is it written with the DM first and foremost in mind? Or is this a vanity product intended to help the author tell us about their world? RPG books are instructions and tools to help DMs and players share their stories and play their games together. They're not to serve as an expression of the author's creative drive. We're busy and we're often overwhelmed. Help me out. Take work off of my plate. Make my game better.

Can I Understand It?

Going hand-in-hand with whether it's built for DMs; can I understand how this product works? If it's an adventure, can I easily understand its structure? Do I know how it's supposed to go and how it's supposed to work? Can I get my hands around it? Do I know how I'll drop it into my game? Overly complex products, especially complex adventures, don't endear me to their merits. I need things I can easily use. Keep it simple.

Is it Playtested?

One thing separating great products from ok or even good products is playtesting. A list of playtesters shows me the product survived first contact with real groups. The bigger the list of playtesters, the more I trust the work. Again, it's not a perfect criteria but I don't know a product that was worse off for being playtested.

Is it Well Reviewed and Recommended?

Let's face it, we gravitate towards things other people already checked out for us ahead of time. We know amazon star ratings are imperfect but we all instinctively know that it's more likely a 4.5 star product with 1,700 reviews meets our need than a 3.5 star product with five reviews. Crowd-based reviewing isn't great but even having a few recommendations from people we know and trust goes a long way to help us try out a product. Do we know people that have used this product? Did it go well? Do we generally trust their judgement? This helps us save a lot of time.

Is it Well-Edited?

Does the product have a dedicated editor (that isn't also the writer)? A product with a dedicated editor sets it apart from other amateur work. If someone else spent the time to read through and offer feedback on a product, it's likely better than one that only went through the author themselves. Is the editing good? Can I spot obvious typos, run-on sentences, or other clear signs of poor editing? It's going to have a hard go impressing me if I, a very imperfect reader, can pick out big problems in the prose. Does it follow standard 5e conventions? Excellent editors not versed in D&D might miss the standard nomenclature of 5e. Editors who understand the ins and outs of D&D 5th edition are hard to find and its often obvious which books had such careful editing and which didn't.

Does it Look Good?

Does it have original art? Is the design both pleasing, subtle, and usable? Looks matter when it comes to good products. If I see a product using the same template as others or art that's clearly public domain or stock art, I'm not going to weigh it as heavily as a product with a unique design and commissioned art. I know, this stuff is hard and expensive, but if you're asking for my money and my time, you're competing with products that can have an excellent design and unique art work. It's not the most important thing in the world but it's a clear indicator of the amount of effort (and, let's face it, money) that went into a product.

Define Your Own List

What does your own list look like? How do you determine a good product from a bad one at first glance? What telltale signs indicate a potential good product from a bad one? Write down your own list, think about it, and help yourself better gauge the content most likely to help you run your games.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Roll 20 Partners with the DM's GuildNODES system from Dungeon Delver's GuidebMore on Revealing NPC ArchetypesMore on the Near-Perfect D&D GameGames Falling Flat with Disinterested PlayersPlayeres Wasting Spells on Immune CreaturesGood Third Party BooksChanges to Improvised StatisticsDigital Versus Analog Character SheetsWrite Down Page Numbers on Paper Character SheetsRunning Campaigns with Often Absent PlayersCustomizing Random TablesDetermining Starting Gear for Higher Level CharactersRelated ArticlesNotable Third-Party Products for D&DThree Years of D&D 5e with Mike MearlsOptimizing Towards Fun2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master QuestionnaireConverting Older D&D Adventures and SourcebooksGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Progress Clocks for Complex Situations in D&D

The core mechanic of D&D works something like this:

The DM describes the situationThe player describes what they want their character to doIf this action is difficult or if failure is interesting, the DM chooses a difficulty class between roughly 10 and 20 and an applicable ability. Otherwise, the character just does it.The player rolls an ability check with any applicable skill proficiencies and tries to match or beat it.Based on the result, the DM describes what happens.

This is the core interaction between characters and the world in D&D. Much of the game follows the model above. Sometimes, though, situations are more complex. It's not just a single lock on a door or a single piece of evidence the characters must find. A whole adventure shouldn't rely on the success or failure of a single check.

Blades in the Dark, a roleplaying game by John Harper, includes a simple tool we can easily drop into our D&D games to handle more complex situations: the progress clock.

For a video on this topic, see my YouTube video on Progress Clocks in D&D.

The progress clock is a circle divided into a number of slices, like slices in a pie. There may be four, six, or eight such slices. Each slice represents the progress of a particular clock.

Maybe the characters need to recover four pieces of evidence to incriminate the King's viceroy. Maybe the trap has four separate components to overcome to get into the vault. Maybe it takes convincing six of the local crime syndicate underlings to betray the location of their boss. Each of these can be a progress clock.

Blades in the Dark offers up a number of variants for these clocks. Danger clocks tick down as a looming threat gets closer. Racing clocks have two clocks racing against one another, say finding the four pieces of evidence before the viceroy's guards figure out they're being infiltrated. A tug of war clock might involve two sides fighting against one another, increasing and decreasing the clock as one team gets the edge over the other.

Progress clocks like this can be used for long-term and downtime activities too. Maybe it takes eight successful weeks of work to research a new magic item or successful days of investigation to find the location of the lost tomb of Veragon.

Progress Clocks Best Practices

Here are some thoughts about making the most of progression clocks:

First, they're a wonderful improvisational tool. You can build progress clocks during the game to represent complex situations on the fly. You don't have to plan them out ahead of time and, in particular, you don't have to plan how the characters accomplish the task. Use clocks when they make sense.

Second, the segments in a progress clock should match an in-world situation. Are there four different traps or four locks on a door? Do the characters have thirty minutes, broken down into six five-minute steps, to accomplish their goal before the guards become aware of their presence? Blades in the Dark recommends an even-number of steps based on dividing up the pie but there's no reason you can't have three, five, or seven steps. Match the number of steps to the in-world situation, not just an arbitrary number.

Third, sometimes characters come up with a way to bypass the entire clock. That's fine. They don't always accomplish just one step in the clock. Critical successes or creative ways of using spells and powers may bypass a number of steps or bypass the whole clock completely. If it makes sense that the characters bypass an entire clock, let them. Clocks are easy to make and easy to throw away.

Fourth, generally, don't hide the clock. Put it out in front of the players so they feel the pressure and know what they have to accomplish. There are probably times for hidden clocks but mostly its better to have them in front of the characters.

Progress clocks are a simple and powerful tool to keep in our DM kit. They take nothing to set up, are easy to improvise on the clock, and give us a powerful way to model our fictional world and the situation within it that fits well with the core mechanics of D&D.

Related ArticlesRunning Heists in D&DTake a BreakImproving PacingOur Ability Check ToolboxThinking Through the Eyes of our VillainsGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Balance Realism and Fun in Your D&D Game

There's a false dichotomy in D&D between the "Realism" of the game and the fun of the game. Some say the game's world and everything in it should behave as realistically as possible. The world doesn't conform to the current state of the characters. Others say that the DM is the final arbiter of the fun of the game. We can bend any rule, in-world or not, if it leads to greater fun in the game.

The truth lies in the middle. If we stick to pure realism, we might have a game that's "true" to the world but not a lot of fun for the players. Battles can drag on too long, the characters can get wiped out through no fault of their own, lots of things can suck.

On the other side, if we're constantly tweaking the world around the characters, the world can feel false and amorphous. What's the point in leveling if the whole world levels with us? What's the point of getting a new ability if every monster now has a way to deal with it?

For a video on this topic you can check out my Realism vs. Fun YouTube video.

In an article on the Dials of Monster Difficulty I advocate for tweaking four monster dials to change the pacing and beats of a battle:

The number of monsters in a battleThe hit points of each monsterThe monsters' number of attacksThe damage monsters' do

This is an example of leaning in on the idea that fun beats realism. We tweak these dials to bring the right pacing and beats of the game while running it.

Some argue changing such things during the game breaks the immersion in the world. If the world bends and twists and morphs all around the characters all the time, how can it feel like a real world to the players?

One way to look at it is that this isn't a dichotomy at all but a range. We might, for example, lean heavy on realism to start with. We do our best to make the world feel real to the players first and foremost. Then, only when this realistic view of the world pulls down the fun of the game, do we lean in on fun and change the world to suit the fun at the table.

For example, step one of my Lazy Encounter Benchmark, is to choose monsters that make sense for the scene and situation. We first pick the monsters that make sense for the world, the location, and the situation. Then, only when we consider what might be fun for the moment, do we tweak these results. Maybe we add more monsters or maybe we cut them back. Maybe those monsters are really tough or maybe they're a pushover.

But we start by focusing on realism first.

When do we do something as drastic as increasing or decreasing hit points? We can start with the average listed in the Monster Manual as our default and then only tweak them when it best suits the story and the pacing of the game. Most likely we're going to lower hit points when a battle drags on too long. Only when we feel a monster should pose a bigger challenge from the in-world story do we increase those hit points. In this case, we're actually leaning in towards realism because it's the mechanics that failed us and made a monster too easy given the story surrounding it.

Focus on realism first. Make the world as real as you can make it. Think through the eyes of the NPC. Build situations regardless of the characters. Then, as a DM sitting at the table, tweak the world as you see fit to make sure it's as fun as it can be for the players.

Related ArticlesTweaking Monster Hit PointsThe Dials of Monster DifficultyCustomizing MonstersStay in the Fiction13 Tips to Speed Up D&D CombatGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Seven Tips for Better Dungeons

Though built into the title of the game, not every DM enjoys the process of running dungeons. For some, dungeons can be tedious slogs — inching along old corridors, poking the floor with ten foot poles, while the DM stares narrow-eyed over the edge of the screen waiting for a "gotcha".

Today, I offer seven tips for running better dungeons. As always, quoting George Orwell, take those you find useful and omit those you find outright barbarous.

Prep Dungeons Like a Lazy DM

Preparing a dungeon delve need not be difficult. We can prepare dungeon adventures in much the same way we prepare any other adventure. If you're into the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, the steps work just as well for dungeon adventures as any adventure. Here are a few steps to consider:

Grab a map. I'm a huge fan of grabbing the first Dyson Logos map that serves the goal of the dungeon I want to run. Don't overthink it.Choose a goal. Why are the characters here? What do they need to accomplish? Note where the goal can be accomplished on the map. Reinforce this goal with your players regularly.Choose Inhabitants. Who or what lives in this dungeon? Write out a list of potential monsters, creatures, and foes. A few different types makes the dungeon feel more alive. You don't have to populate each room but it helps to know what might be lurking about. Remember that the dungeon is a living place so creatures might move.Note Important Features. List out evocative feature names for various chambers in the room. You can just list these out. Examples include "maddening statue", "breathing pit", "dripping stalactites", or "crumbling statues".Note Traps, Hazards, or Secret Doors. If it makes sense, add some traps and hazards. Remember that traps are mostly fun if they're discovered so don't try to play "gotcha". Let the characters discover and deal with traps.Offer Meaningful Choices

As the characters explore the dungeon, ensure you're giving them enough information to make meaningful choices. Give them risks and rewards. Maybe they can battle through the front doors but will clearly make their presence known or crawl in through the forgotten sewers below where rumors whisper of the ghoulish crocodiles.

Give the characters enough information to make meaningful choices even if they don't have the full picture. One passageway feels hot while in the other they here whispers in an ancient language.

Add Upward Beats

Dungeons are notoriously easy to run as a series of downward beats: hard battles, tricky traps, dangerous hazards, difficult doors. Sprinkle in upward beats. During your prep, write down such a list and keep it on hand. Be prepared to improvise upward beats when running the dungeon to off-set downward beats. Here are ten potential upward beats for dungeons.

Escaping NPCCorpse grasping magic scrollUnaware enemiesCracked wall leading to healing fountainDead monster inside triggered trapMosaic revealing a useful secretDefecting soldierAbsurdly weak and egotistical enemyFallen adventurer with healing potionsDungeon mapRun Easy Battles

Too often DMs run only hard or deadly battles. Easy battles, they justify, are a waste of time. Easy battles are the ultimate upward beat. Players can choose how to they want to approach easy battles. They can clearly wipe out their opposition but what about coercion or intimidation instead? What about just letting them be? Give players situations in which they control how they're going to interact with their weaker opponents.

In published adventures, you are under no obligation to run encounters as is. If you've run a series of hard or long battles already, feel free to change, or even eliminate, upcoming battles to avoid the one-hard-battle-after-another slog. One great way to do that is to make battles easier.

Bathe Dungeons in Secrets and Clues

Dungeons beg to be slathered with old mosaics, crumbling statues, ancient dusty tomes, and all sorts of vehicles for secrets and clues. Bathe your dungeon in tons of little pieces of lore the characters can pick up and learn from. Like all secrets, ensure these are interesting and relevant to the characters. Maybe they're even about the characters. Let them learn things. These revealed secrets are the core reward of exploration. Revealing secrets is like discovering loot.

Include Roleplaying Opportunities

It's easy to think of a dungeon as a dead static place full of monsters and traps but there's plenty of ways to drop in opportunities for roleplaying. It's easy to forget to do so, however, so make sure to add it to your dungeon-building checklist. Here are ten ways to add interesting roleplay opportunities into your dungeon:

A shady vendor.A petrified statue with a stone-to-flesh scroll clutched in its hand.Spies of warring factions who hate each other more than the characters.A confused ghost or spirit.An awakened animal.An intelligent magic item.A dream or portent.A caller over a scrying mirror.Neutral intelligent humanoids.A lost explorer.

Include NPCs for roleplaying into your dungeons.

Ignore Fiddly Mechanics and Micromanagement

Some DMs find running dungeons frustrating because they want a system. They want rules as well defined as combat when exploring dungeons. They want dungeon exploration turns. They want to count squares. They want to worry about rations and light-sources and the number of arrows and obsess about the number of battles between rests. If you're tracking all that sort of thing and having fun, go with the gods.

But if you find a lot of that to be tedious, you don't need it. Run dungeons like you run any other part of D&D:

Describe the situation.Ask the players to describe what their characters do.Ask for an ability check if it's something risky where failure is interesting.Adjudicate the results.

Think about your dungeon as a real place with real creatures and real things going on. Paint that picture for the players as their characters explore it. Ignore fiddly details that get in the way. Focus on the parts that make the whole adventure more interesting. Play Dungeons & Dragons.

Last Week's Lazy D&D Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy D&D Talk Show in which I talk about all things D&D. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

The Mouthless One Archlich from Level Up Advanced 5eA5e.Tools Level Up Advanced 5e Resource WebsiteThe Night of the DissolutionAlphastream on Finding Your PassionProducts of Drag and Drop Encounters for 5eReviewing the Characters for One-Shot AdventuresContent Creators for Player-Focused TipsHandling Character DeathBuilding Challenging Combat Beyond the Four DialsWhich D&D Books Would You Buy in Order?Related ArticlesThe Beats of a Dungeon CrawlRun Easy BattlesUpward and Downward BeatsMaking Awesome Dungeons I, DungeonGet More from Sly FlourishRead more Sly Flourish articlesWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master The Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures