Michael E. Shea's Blog, page 24

Thinking Through the Eyes of our Villains

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Few preparation activities are as useful as thinking through the eyes of our villains. Instead of planning out a long campaign that may never happen the way we think or building a huge campaign world the details of which never hit our table; thinking through the eyes of our villains tells us how the world acts and reacts to the actions of the characters.

To engage in this bit of magic, wherever and whenever we find ourselves with some extra time on our hands, we need simply gaze into the sky and say "what is this villain doing right now?"

Asking ourselves what our villains are doing right now gives us an idea how the game evolves based on the current character-driven situation. We may have multiple villains, each with their own goals, motivations, backgrounds, and steps to achieve their goals. If we're following the idea of "fronts" from Dungeon World we might have three villains each with their own goal and steps. These steps act as a countdown clock to their final destination, each step visible to the characters to show them the progress.

Pool Table D&D

We can think of this style of gameplay sort of like a pool table. Each ball on the table is a character or NPC. Each has its own background, goal, and potential actions. We then throw the balls of the characters into all of the others and they go crashing around, each following their motivations and directions, banging into others or dropping into pockets in ways we could never have expected. We set the stage, let the characters crash into it, and describe the results.

Example: Strahd von Zarovich

We can use one of the most popular D&D villains as an example — Strahd von Zarovich from Curse of Strahd. In the beginning of the adventure, Strahd is happy to terrorize Barovia, seek out Ireena, and draw the characters into his domain for a bit of fun and respite from the mundane world in which he is trapped. As the characters grow in power, he becomes more curious about them, eventually inviting them to dinner at Ravenloft. Later, however, he may become fearful of the characters and their power, sending in his legions to thwart them or setting up unwinnable situations to bring them back to the negotiating table. As the actions of the characters evolve in Ravenloft, so too does Strahd's reactions. How does Strahd feel about the characters right now and what does he do about it?

Breaking Away from "What Will Happen"

One of the most common DM mistakes is assuming the story is going to go a certain way. Maybe you have a good guess but you have five creative brains on the other side of the table who may take the story into entirely new directions.

Far more useful than trying to plan out a campaign or build out a huge world is to prepare to improvise. Internalizing the backgrounds, motivations, behaviors, and actions of the villains prepares you to improvise as the characters go in directions you never expected.

Next time you find yourself itching to prepare your game, ask yourself what the villains in the world are doing right now and watch the world come alive for you and your players.

Related ArticlesRunning Curse of StrahdRunning Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd in a Single SessionRunning Strahd Von ZarovichPlaying D&D AnywhereStrahd's NegotiationWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Recovering From a Bad Game

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Not all D&D games go well. Games can go wrong for many reasons and often each reason needs its own approach to get past it. Today, however, we're going to offer some general advice for handling the situation when a game goes bad.

For some research on this topic I took to Twitter and asked people how they recovered from bad games. You can see the Twitter thread here. The thread contains some good suggestions and I have a few suggestions of my own. These aren't a universal cure but they might help us aim in the right direction when we need a boost after a bad game.

For a deeper look into this topic, watch my episode of the [DM's Deep Dive with Dr. Megan Connell]. Dr. Connell has some fantastic advice on how to get past bad games.

The rest of this article offers suggestions from the Twitter thread, my conversation with Dr. Connell, and some thoughts of my own.

Relax and Get some Distance

When a game goes sideways it's easy to get wound up into it. We might feel like our favorite hobby, potentially a big part of our lives, is completely falling apart. It's hard to recognize that this is a small bump in a long road of great stories shared with our friends and family.

Take a deep breath. Take a few of them. Whatever happened to cause your bad game, take a break.

It's almost never a good idea to try to solve the situation while you're still in the clutch of heated emotions unless you have to. If a game went bad, don't try to fix it right away. Give it a day or so. Get your thoughts together. Get past the initial emotionally charged moment. Give yourself time. Take a break and spend some time on another hobby. Take a walk. Anything helping you get out of the center of the emotionally charged situation can help.

Obviously, if a situation requires an immediate response, take that response. Violations of safety tools, for example, require quick intervention. If you can, take a step back and get your thoughts together.

Look at it Analytically

Once you've gotten some distance, take time to look at the problem analytically. What went wrong? What were the precursors? Once you're not in the middle of the situation you can get a better perspective of the problem. Maybe it wasn't as big as you thought it was. Maybe the problem you thought you had was actually caused by something else. Did you make a mistake? If so, don't try to avoid it. Understand it. Study the situation, your reaction, your feelings, and the reaction and feelings of your players after you've taken a step back. This helps you better understand what happened and what you might do to fix it.

Talk To Your Players

Once you've gotten some distance and looked at the problem from the outside, talk openly with your players. This might work in a group or it might work better in a one-on-one conversation. As much as we feel comfortable with texting and email to discuss things like this; face to face is often a better way to approach the conversations. It isn't always comfortable but we get a lot more information in a face-to-face conversation than we do in email or texts.

If you made a mistake, admit it. Talk about it. Don't get defensive. These are your friends we're talking about. It's much easier to get past situations like this if all the cards are on the table.

If our problem was tied to one of our players, talking to that player alone in a non-judgmental way can help. Focus the conversation on the situation and the outcome. Don't make it personal. What outcome would you like? How can the situation be better?

If it wasn't a problem with one of the players, maybe the problem was with the game itself. Maybe your players seemed bored or frustrated. This might be better as a group conversation. What went wrong? What previous games did they enjoy? What would they like to see more of? These last two are my favorite questions to ask at the end of any game. What did they love and what do they want more of? These questions work just as well for "bad" games as they do for good ones. Instead of focusing on the features of games that went bad, steer the conversation either to the areas the players enjoyed or previous games that seemed to work.

Talk to your players and really listen to what they have to say. Don't just wait for your turn to talk. Maybe a character died in a particularly gruesome way (I'm looking at you, obsidian coffin in Tomb of the Nine Gods). What would have been a better way to handle that situation? Your players may have better ideas about how to handle it than you do. Listen to them and find out.

Get Back in the Saddle

Once we've dealt with the immediacy of the issue and hopefully corrected our course, it's time to get back to the table. Keep the next game simple, focusing on the things that make D&D games great. Keep the storyline straight forward. Read up on the characters. Come up with a strong start to the next game. Plan out some interesting locations and some fun scenes that take place there. Throw a few fun monsters at them. Getting back to the basics helps us remember what makes this game so great to begin with.

The bad game we had will seem a lot less bad once we run a few good games after it.

Sometimes It's Best to Move On

Depending on the problem that came up, a hard solution might be to step away. Whether it's burning out on DMing or the wrong personalities at the table, sometimes the best solution is a clean break. This is hopefully a last resort saved only for extreme circumstances. If this happens, it's time to get back to square one and start building a new great D&D group so we can get back to the joy of our game.

Continuing to Share Our Tales of High Adventure

Bad games happen. We don't like them and, given that we're dealing with six personalities around our table, our games can get complicated and emotions can run high. These aren't easy situations to deal with. People problems are always hard to deal with. Hopefully we can get past it by taking a step back, taking a deep breath, thinking about the problems analytically, addressing the problems and solutions with our friends, and getting back behind the screen. Above all, our goal is to have fun sharing tales of high adventures with our friends and loved ones. If we can hang onto that, there are few problems we can't surmount as we share our tales of high adventure.

Related ArticlesGaining Confidence to Run D&D GamesFinding and Maintaining a D&D Group2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master QuestionnaireImprovisation for New D&D Dungeon MastersDungeons and Dragons Tips From Gencon 2015Want More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Send feedback to mike@mikeshea.net.

Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Tools of the Lazy Dungeon Master

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This article was updated from the original posted September 2017.

Prepare what matters to our game.

That's the core mantra of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. It's an easy statement to say but can be hard to appreciate and implement. Where should we focus our time? What should we toss aside? What tools provide the most value for a flexible game? The answer to these questions vary between DMs but we are likely to find some common ground.

Let's look at tools. What tools help us best run our best D&D games?

If you prefer a video, check out my Tools of the Lazy Dungeon Master YouTube video.

"When art critics get together they talk about form and structure and meaning. When artists get together they talk about where we can buy cheap turpentine."

- Pablo Picasso

A Lazy DM Tool Checklist

Here's a quick summary of the tools described in this article.

Index CardsPathfinder Flip MatLazy DM Cheat SheetThe Lazy DM's WorkbookNPC Portrait CardsThe Monster ManualCharacter and Monster TokensThe Tools to Help You Improvise At The Table

When we consider the tools we want on hand to run our D&D games, it helps to know how these tools serve us. Most importantly, these tools should help us improvise as the game moves in directions we didn't expect. The more flexible the tools, the more they'll help us run a fun and fluid game. The tools in this article all fit the ideal of flexibility.

Index Cards

It's rare to find a DM who isn't completely in love with index cards. They're probably the cheapest and most powerful physical tool in our toolkit. We can use index cards for all kinds of things and here are just a few:

Character infoNPC infoMagic item details to hand to the playersInitiative tents or listsCombat zones for abstract mapsMonster hit point trackingQuest cardsWeird symbols or sigils the characters discoverSmall maps

Here's my YouTube video on the value of index cards for D&D for more.

The list goes on and on. Grab a pack of a thousand for about $7 and you're good for a long time.

Pathfinder Flip Mat

For more than a decade the humble Pathfinder Flip Mat serves well at my table. You can use wet or dry erase markers on it and fold it up and stick it in your DM kit. For it's size, weight, cost, and flexibility it's an amazing value. Drawing maps is the obvious use for a flip mat but there's a lot more we can do with it. Like index cards we can draw all sorts of things on it including isometric or side-view maps, zones for abstract combat, initiative lists, weird symbols the characters see, and more.

Laying the Pathfinder Flip Mat in front of you is like having a horizontal white board you can use throughout your whole game. It's an amazing and versatile tool for D&D games.

The Lazy DM's Cheat Sheet

I've built dozens of different cheat sheets over the years and the current Lazy DM's Cheat Sheet is my favorite. Print it out on nice copper resume paper, cut it down a bit, and laminate it and you have an awesome dry-erasable board on one side and a host of improvisational tools on the other.

Names, Relics, Monuments, Maps: The Lazy DM's Workbook

I designed the Lazy DM's Workbook to be your improvisational companion sitting by your side when running D&D games. The Workbook contains several useful tools to help you run games including:

5e Reference Tables. A set of 5e reference tables to look up mechanics quickly. Random Names. Likely the most useful improvisational tool a DM can have on hand.Random Monuments. A generator to build interesting backdrops for scenes and encounters.Random Items. Tables to generate unique single-use or permanent magic items.Random Dungeon Monster Tables. Tables to build random encounters for your game when it's time to throw a beast or two at the characters.Lazy Lairs. Ten maps and descriptions for common locations the characters might discover including a castle, docks, sewer, catacomb, cave, cellar, dungeon, mine, temple, and tower.

This short book, best purchased in print or even spiral bound at a local printer, is a fantastic resource to help you improvise and run your games.

NPC Face Cards

Inkwell Ideas sells an assortment of NPC face cards you can use to show your players when they run into an NPC. Along with random names, face cards like this are a great way to improvise NPCs. When the characters enter a bar and you want to highlight a particular patron, flip through the deck and find the first one that makes sense. Drop them on the table and you have a new visual representation of that NPC.

The Monster Manual

A lot of DMs like to copy down stat blocks onto cards, print them out, or otherwise manipulate stat blocks for monsters. This has never been my style. Instead, I think it's easier to grab your actual monster book of choice, often the Monster Manual, and use index cards to bookmark the pages I'm likely to need. The core Monster Manual is likely the most useful single book of monsters and, when you embrace reskinning, gives you a nearly unlimited menagerie of monsters to throw at the characters.

Keep your Monster Manual on hand and you'll never be without a threat.

The Dungeon Master's Guide

The Dungeon Master's Guide gets a bad rap and one, I believe, is undeserved. While many have quibbles about it, it does contain a wealth of useful and interesting tables to help us think about our adventures. It's particularly useful while planning out an adventure or campaign, giving useful advice and inspiration for building out our games. For more details, see my Gems of the Dungeon Master's Guide article.

Character and Monster Tokens or Miniatures

Finding the right tokens or miniatures for lazy dungeon mastering is a hard problem. Pre-painted plastic miniatures offer the best representation at the table but suffer from a high expense and never seeming to have the right number of the right miniatures to fit our needs. Simply drawing representations of characters and monsters using a dry-erase marker on a flip mat remains the cheapest and most flexible option. Think of it like drawing out football plays.

My favorite solution are lazy monster tokens. You can make a set of about 30 tokens to represent nearly any monster and even player tokens for about $30 in materials short of a printer. You can likewise find crafters on Etsy selling monster tokens like this for cheap. Generic tokens have a big advantage in price, size, and flexibility. A token with a skull on it can represent everything from a skeleton to a death knight.

For a video on this topic see my YouTube video on building lazy monster tokens.

Another solution is to print and paste your own 2d standup miniatures. I love Printable Heroes miniatures. Use a good color printer with photo-grade paper and print out beautiful 2d miniatures. They're not as flexible as the generic monster tokens though. You'd still have to print and prep the minis you think you'll need.

Digital Tools

During the 2020 pandemic, I had to go from a full slate of in-person games to running my games entirely online. This article focused on physical tools but some digital tools are excellent. In particular I found Notion, D&D Beyond, Discord, and Owlbear Rodeo served as an excellent stack for me to prepare and run my games. You can learn more here:

Experiences Running D&D OnlineNotion for Lazy DM PrepOwlbear Rodeo for the Lazy DMPlaying D&D on DiscordLazy Tools for Improvisational Games

The tools described here fall under specific requirements. They need to be cheap enough that most of us can afford them. They need to be easy and quick to use. They need to support games that shift directions regularly. When building your own list of tools for lazy dungeon mastering, aim for the tools that, like the core lazy DM philosophy, help you run better games by doing less.

Related ArticlesLove Letter to the Pathfinder Flip MatCrafting Lazy Monster Tokens for D&DTools for New D&D Dungeon MastersPrepare a D&D Game in 15 MinutesA New DM's Guide to MiniaturesWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Reinforce Cooperative Character Motivations

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Even the best players sometimes build characters that just don't get along with the rest of the group. The idea of a complicated character filling the role of the reluctant hero seems great initially but at the table it can end up being a pain in the ass.

If you'd rather watch a video on this topic you can see my YouTube video on reinforcing cooperative character motivation.

Before the session zero of any of my campaigns I like to give out a one-page campaign guide such as my Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign guide, my Eberron campaign guide, and my Descent into Avernus campaign guide as examples. In each of these I like to reinforce two things: the connection between the character and the story of the adventure and the cooperative connection between the character and the rest of the group.

It works well to do this before the players start building characters. That way we slide in before they start thinking of their character as the lone wolf druid or the mercenary fighter who only cares about money or the shifty rogue who likes stealing from the group's wizard.

We can distill down this idea to it's simplest form by presenting the players with a single clear motivation they should bake into their characters:

"You're character works in cooperation with the group to accomplish X" where X is whatever the story of the campaign dictates. In Rime of the Frostmaiden it's helping the people of Ten Towns survive the endless night. In Descent into Avernus it's to serve the city of Elturel and honor the Hellriders.

Then, during character creation, you can ask the players to describe what motivates their character to work with the group. This changes the dynamic consideribly. Sometimes you'll get a blank stare as they realize they didn't even think about the group when building their character but it's better to tackle that now instead of when you're deep into your campaign.

The next time you're starting a new campaign or introducing a new character into an existing campaign, work with the player first to reinforce the motivation of their character to cooperate with the group. It saves a lot of problems down the line and gets us away from the cardinal sin of D&D, "It's what my character would do!".

Related ArticlesRime of the Frostmaiden Session ZeroBuilding a Great D&D CharacterRunning Session ZerosRunning Descent into Avernus: The Fall of ElturelRunning Descent into Avernus Chapter 2Want More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Improvising Colville-style Action Oriented Monsters in D&D

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Back in 2019 Matt Colville posted a YouTube video describing Action Oriented Monsters. The basic concept is that boss monsters typically don't have the tools or action economy to deal with a full party of adventurers. This is often true even for legendary monsters but it mostly offers a framework for a non-legendary monster to threaten a whole group and bring more drama to a combat encounter.

In a Twitch stream on 18 February 2021, Colville described his general philosophy on what made an action oriented monster which I'll summarize here:

First, action-oriented monsters are intended to hold their own against a group of characters.

Second, action oriented monsters have "villain actions" which act like legendary actions except that, on top of their typical array of actions, bonus actions, and reactions; they have additional boss actions. Often these actions can be spell-like abilities but aren't as complicated as spells. The intent is to build a highly usable and effective boss monster that isn't overly complicated to run.

These boss actions are keyed to the rounds of a battle which often mirror the dramatic arc of a story. These beats follow the typically predictable flow of combat and often follow these three steps:

First round, move into an effective position.Second round, get out of a bad position and avoid being ganged up on. Sometimes this changes the battlefield.Third round, the boss is about to die so make the characters regret ever tangling with the boss. Explode.

I like to break these down into simpler single-word ideas:

PositionEscapeExplode

Action oriented monsters also often have boosted hit points (think about that monster dial).

In the original video Matt describes a goblin boss that summons goblins, lets them move around the battlefield without provoking, and lets them get a sudden burst of attacks near the end of the fight. For an action-oriented Ankheg he describes it burrowing underground, pulling characters underground, and then spraying acid like a big sprinkler near the end of the battle.

Building Action-Oriented Monsters on the Fly

As a lazy dungeon master I like tools and frameworks I can keep in my head and apply right at the table when I need them. I think we can build such a framework for action-oriented monsters as well; something beyond just bumping up hit points, attacks, and damage like we do with our dials of monster difficulty. What does this improvisational action-oriented template look like?

Double or triple the hit points of the monster as needed. Keep your hand on the HP dial if it's too much.Give the monster initial mobility. How can this monster get into a good initial position?Give the monster mid-battle mobility. How can it escape from being pinned down? Can it roar and send everyone flying back? Can it bash its way out? Can it beat its wings and soar into the air? Can it turn into a shadow and zip away? How you flavor this for the monster is the tricky part so get creative.What is the monster's final burst? Can it attack all creatures in range? Can it explode into fire, ice, poison, or necrotic damage, damaging everyone around it? Does it have one big spell it can cast for free? Again, the flavor of the monster determines how it explodes.We may want to fall back to standard legendary monster abilities like legendary resistance and legendary actions to avoid getting pinned down with debilitating spells or effects and give it some extra actions in the middle the characters' turns. Adding legendary resistances takes little work and legendary actions can often be either a move that doesn't provoke, a single weapon attack, or a low-level spell.Building an Action-Oriented Vampire Spawn

I love vampires but there really isn't a great low-level vampire boss in the Monster Manual. The vampire spawn is solid but clearly isn't action oriented. What if we want to quickly make a low-level vampire boss? Here are some quick modifications we can make to a standard vampire spawn to make it a worthy boss for characters of 4th to 6th level.

Turn the vampire's hit point dial up to 120.When this vampire chooses to grapple a target with its claw attack, it still inflicts its claw damage.On rounds 1 and 2, the vampire spawn can burst into a cloud of bats, flies, shadowy tendrils, or some other form that lets it move its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.On round 3 of combat, the vampire can burst into its cloud-form, flying around the battlefield and attacking each character with a claws attack. If it successfully grapples one of the characters with this attack, it can follow up with a bite attack on one of these creatures.

It takes a little work and a little practice to apply changes like these to a monster on the fly but with a short checklist and some imagination, it isn't impossible.

Increase hit points.Give the boss initial mobility on round 1.Give the boss mobility to escape on round 2.Let the boss explode in round 3.Add legendary actions or resistances as needed.Frameworks to Tell Dramatic Stories

The more tools we have in our toolbox to quickly and easily change up the mechanics of our game, the easier it is to tune our game to tell dramatic and exciting stories as they unfold. Our goal is never to punish the characters but to bring the right excitement and danger at the right time.

Take some time to imagine how you would quickly build an action-oriented monster. Try it with a big brute like an ogre, a sly lurker like a spy or assassin, and a powerful spellcaster like a mage, archmage, or lich. If you can whip up abilities for those three, you're likely to have what you need to build them at the table.

Related ArticlesBuilding Legendary Creatures in 5eBuilding Legendary D&D Monsters in your HeadCollected Experiences Running D&D 5e Boss FightsThe Lazy Approach to Stronger EncountersD&D's Nastier SpecialsWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Prepare a D&D Game in 15 Minutes

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The original Lazy Dungeon Master offered recommendations for "five minute game prep". Looking back, I oversold this idea. I don't think it's realistic to fully a prep a game in only five minutes. I find it takes me about 30 minutes to comfortably prepare for a game using the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master.

That said, I think it's reasonable to ask where one would put their effort if they only had fifteen minutes to prepare. That's tight but doable. Let's look at one way to prepare for a game in only fifteen minutes.

For a video on this topic, check out my Preparing for your D&D Game in 15 Minutes YouTube video.

Pick Three Steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

The kind of game you're running dictates which steps are likely to help you the most. I've covered this topic before in Choosing the Right Steps from the Lazy DM Checklist.

For the sake of this article, we'll assume we're running something like a single-session homebrew adventure. Thus, we'll break down our fifteen minute prep into three steps:

Prepare a strong startOutline three to five adventure locationsWrite down ten secrets and clues

Even these steps will be tight in 15 minutes. Secrets and clues are powerful but not always easy. I could easily spend five minutes staring at the ceiling trying to think up my final three secrets and clues. Some days they come easy, some days they're a struggle. Still, this is a reasonable model and not far off from the original steps in the original Lazy Dungeon Master.

First Five Minutes: The Strong Start

First we can ask ourselves how our game begins. What initial scene will draw the players into the game? What happens around the characters at the beginning of the game? If we're lucky, we might have an idea for this right away. If we're not, we might be starting from scratch. When in doubt, a monster comes to town.

Second Five Minutes: Three to Five Fantastic Locations

What three to five fantastic locations might the characters discover in the next game? Think of these as scene backdrops. What sets the stage of a scene? We're going to abbreviate the normal "three aspect" style of defining what makes a location special and stick to just one. Give it a cool name. "Bridge of Teeth", "The Gaping Maw", "Statue of the Fallen King", something like that. A good evocative name is all you need for a location — something that inspires your own ideas and seeds your brain when it's time to fill it out during the game.

Much of what we're doing in this fifteen minute prep is seeding what we need to improvise during the game. Good evocative location names do that.

If you're having trouble, grab some random tables like the monuments table in the Lazy DM's Workbook or the Dungeon & Exotic Locations, Monuments, and Weird Locales tables in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Random tables are a great fast way to shake your brain out of a rut and inspire some ideas for locations.

If you have extra time, maybe grab a map from Dyson Logos to go along with your locations. A good map can often fill in multiple sessions.

Third Five Minutes: Secrets and Clues

With our final five minutes we'll hammer out some secrets and clues — up to ten if we can. This is going to be a stretch so don't overthink it. Grab onto easy ones if you need to. Seed your mind with the question "what interesting thing can the characters discover in this session?". You can start by breaking them down into particular types of secrets that may help you grab them more easily. These types include:

Character secretsVillain secretsStory secretsNPC secretsLocation secrets

When breaking them down by these types it's a little easier to come up with two or three per type and call it a day.

Tools for Improvisation

It's vital we have the right tools on hand to improvise during our game. For monsters, the Monster Manual is hard to beat. Understanding what types of monsters might fit the locations or story we're running will help us pick them. The monsters by challenge rating in the Dungeon Master's Guide and the monsters by ecology in Xanathar's Guide to Everything can help us pick monsters during the game itself.

For NPCs, we're best off with a good list of random names. According to many DMs, this is the number one most valuable improvisational tool for D&D. Beyond that we can improvise their view of the world, their motives, their appearances, and their mannerisms. If you need, grab a character from popular fiction, switch the gender, and you're ready to go.

The Dungeon Master's Guide random treasure tables can help you fill in treasure as you need. You can jump straight to the table you want for either consumable magic items or permanent magic items. Most of the time tables B for consumables and table F for permanent magic items serve you well throughout the game. There are also piles of random treasure tools on the web. Here's my favorite random treasure tool when you don't want to roll on the book.

The Lazy DM's Workbook is designed to be at your side when you're running the game to help you improvise as much as possible. It has tables for NPC names, items, monuments, town events, and monsters. It also has ten "lazy lairs" to give you ten commonly used locations with maps, tags, and descriptions when you need a location quick.

With the Lazy DM's Workbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide on hand, I'd argue you have what you need at the table to run a great game.

Creativity from Constraint

Prepping an entire session of D&D in fifteen minutes sounds like a horror show but sometimes the best horror shows lead to the most creative work. Consider the story of the Klon Concert in which pianist Keith Jarrett turned a horrible piano into one of the most popular jazz piano albums of all time. With constraint comes creativity. See what kind of prep you can get done in 15 minutes and what sort of game it produces at your table.

Related ArticlesThinking Two Horizons OutThe Minimum Viable D&D GameTools of the Lazy Dungeon MasterSpending a Whole Day Preparing a D&D GameChoosing the Right Steps from the Lazy DM ChecklistWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Good Books of Random Tables

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I love random tables. There are few more powerful D&D tools than a set of random tables feeding a creative brain. I've talked about this before in Random Creativity in Dungeons & Dragons and Breaking Conventional Thought with Random Tables.

So we know how powerful random tables can be to shake our brain out of a rut and into new paths, but where to find them? Here's a quick review of some of my favorite books of random tables.

Ironsworn and Ironsworn Delve

I'm jealous of Ironsworn. It's the kind of book I wish I had written. Shawn Tomkin wrote an awesome RPG, one you can play by yourself, with a partner, or with a group. And it's packed with the best random tables I've seen anywhere as is Ironsworn Delve, it's dungeon delving expansion. Shawn figured out exactly the right resolution, the right level of detail, to write random tables that fuel your imagination. These tables don't just give you cool ideas, they give you cool names you can use right off the page. Ironsworn is available digitally for free but you should pick up the hardcovers anyway. They're great.

Worlds Without Number

Worlds Without Number and its predecessor Stars Without Number are excellent RPGs written by Kevin Crawford. They're full RPGs but have wonderful random tables built around rolling handfuls of mixed dice. Worlds uses these handful-of-dice tables to help you build out your campaign world, from big to small things. For the randomly inspired worldbuilding alone, it's worth picking up the book.

The GM's Miscellany from Raging Swan

Raging Swan Press publishes tons of small books of random tables but three of its bigger books include the GM Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing, Wilderness Dressing, and Urban Dressing. Like Ironsworn, these books found just the right resolution to fill out our ideas. I bought all three in print and love them. The price for both print and PDF is very affordable.

The Lazy DM's Workbook

I can't write an article about random tables without pimping my own book, the Lazy DM's Workbook. I worked hard to include enough tables to help you improvise big parts of your game right at the table without overwhelming you with too many options. My next book, the Lazy DM's Companion doubles down on randomness, offering thematic packages of random tables to inspire your adventures and campaigns. If you want a sneak preview of the material, you can get it today by joining my Patreon.

The Dungeon Master's Guide and Xanathar's Guide

The Dungeon Master's Guide is an underrated book, in my opinion. It has tons of useful random tables in it. I've covered a lot of this in my Gems of the Dungeon Master's Guide article. Xanathar's Guide to Everything likewise has excellent random tables including a good set of random monster tables for various environments. Both should not be overlooked.

The Tome of Adventure Design

I'm not as big a fan of the Tome of Adventure Design but many others love it. This book, to me, is simply too much. There's just so much stuff that I get lost. The resolution is also all over the place. Sometimes it's talking about gods, sometimes its things you'd find in an old jewelry box. I'm definitely not in the majority in these opinions though. Many people love it which is why I'm including it in this list.

Online Random Generators

Books aren't the only good source for random content. There are thousands of random generators all over the web. I'm going to recommend just one, though: donjon.bin.sh. This generator is absolutely fantastic for D&D or any fantasy RPG. It has traps, treasure, NPCs, encounters, names, whatever. It has everything we could want. My only complaint is that it isn't particularly mobile friendly.

Another site worth checking out is Perchance.org. It's a website that lets you build your own random tables with tons of useful features like weighting, nesting, and a lot more. I've built a bunch of random generators using Perchance. You can even download them and save them locally in case you're not excited about having to save your random generators on a remote website. It's a powerful and useful tool.

Many Others

I'm not able to list out every single book of random tables. There are so many out there that no list can be complete. Hopefully this article gave you some ideas, though. Whatever sources you choose, embrace randomness. It's a powerful tool to fuel your creative brain.

Related ArticlesRandom Tables of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Dungeon Master's GuideBreaking Conventional Thought with Random TablesRandom Creativity in Dungeons & DragonsRun Meaningful Random EncountersTools for 5th Edition Dungeons & DragonsWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

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Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Easy Tricks from DMs on Twitter

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In July 2021 I tweeted the following:

"What simple and easy tip or trick made a dramatic improvement in your #dnd game?"

Many of the answers were outstanding and I wanted to share them. Here they are!

Asking for feedback after a session can be helpful. But listening mid session (And in post session general chat) can also be super helpful for figuring out what players want more of. - @GarethThomasson

1 real day = 1 game day. - @BrianRenninger6

Actually reading the spells my players are using (very new dm) They didn't inform me about all the details - @Gob_the_goblin

Throw away the plan. At least the overly detailed parts. - @Lazy_Spade_

Switching my notes to spreadsheets - @Cayen123

Less emphasis on xp gained per kill/encounter and more xp earned via rp/exploration/learning about the world. Takes the focus away from mindless grinding and lets the players spend more time enjoying the little things/different aspects in life/their characters - @Imyourpaladin

Only one drink per hour. - @DorianCrafts

Don't ask for rolls unless you have a consequence for failure. Also, let 'em ride. Don't keep asking for new rolls unless the circumstances have substantially changed. - @brodiehodges

Mass initiative for groups of monsters. It's an ubiquitous concept now, but when I was first DMing every DM I knew rolled initiative individually. When I saw one moving all his skeletons at once it blew my mind. - @NovemberPines

Adopting collaboration at Session Zero - @civstreet

Being unafraid to tell the players "Hey, that's a really good idea!" When they're discussing plans/tactics. - @RobertKendzie

Pack of cards for initiative :) - @Connors707

Don't ask for Perception checks. Just describe what you want them to know and use their passive Perception as much as possible. Let the players decide when they want to make Perception checks and the game goes far faster! - @BarbaricSpace

Variant skill check rule from the DMG. Let's the DM get creative with skill checks, and let's the PCs pitch ways to handle a problem that their character might try. - @m0dredus

Bookmarking my spell descriptions - @BaileyCheshir13

Asking how the character feels - @dm_zilla

I roll initiative before the game and at the end of combat. Makes a seemless transition between rp and combat. - @critacademy

Faking dice rolls - @SecretNerd6

Randomising everything I reasonably could. Like most DMs I am NOT as creative or original as I think I am. Randomising things forces you to push these boundaries. - @Wolfenight

Only plan on detail about 1 session ahead. Let the players choices on that session guide your planning for the next session - @Tempus_6

Went back to face to face games after a year and a half of online. Instant major improvement. - @Charkomangus

If you go down in combat and are brought back, you add a level of exhaustion, definitely makes the more squishy members of the party think about their placement and not just relying on the cleric to bring them back all the time with no consequences. - @dice_giant

Let the players make shit up about your world in the first session. It provides automatic buy-in and gets you used to being thrown curveballs early, often, and forcefully - @EmDeeEssEff

Using poker chips for spell slots and popsicle sticks for limited use abilities to help remind players of what they could do - @Kaotyk525

Telling my players the Monsters armor class. They can pre-plan their turns. Combat is so much faster and I find my players spend more time describing their actions. - @Thenuinn

Add a child. Love this trick! - @GethOverlord

Remember it's just a game and enjoy embracing how hilarious natural ones are - @Fwooshie

Yes and. - @JCFoxpox

You only need a map if you're fighting -- even then, if you can theater of the mind it, do it. - @Robbie_LandisCP

Prep the enemies turns while your players are taking their turns. There is a lot of dead time - rolling, strategizing, looking a character sheets - that you can use to plot your actions during a big fight. - @KaleStutzman

Farm out initiative tracking to a player - @MichaelChadd

Sending a survey before the campaign and periodically throughout with questions about character motivations, goals, and desires. As well as player preferences, experiences, and suggestions. Really helps adjust the campaign to ensure everyone is having fun and staying interested. - @cctechwiz

No combat. Hot NPCs. - @TJ_Witherspoon

Asking the players to recap the last session - @jeboyt

Prep Situations, not Plots. A Plot can go "off the rails". A situation has no rails - definitionally, whatever the players do IS the plot. Know who the bad guys are, what they want, and what resources they have. Repeat for NPCs, and the setting itself. - @ThomasJOHara2

Prerolling the initiatives for known encounters/ painting the bases of different enemies different colors to track damage and turn - @JRyan57789219

Haven't DMed in 10 years, but smoothing out combat with warning players they are on deck helped a lot. Having small side discussion outside of the game session helps the DM and PC to flesh out the story and helps the players feel safer with the RP aspect of gaming. - @SinisterSob

I ask my more shy players how their character feel instead of waiting for them to have dialogue improvised on the spot. sometimes their characters' feelings just become words naturally. - @tylereavey

I stopped worrying about balance and left it to the players. Once intiative is rolled, the fight is the fight. No numerical adjustments, no fudging. By not worrying about any of that stuff my mind is free to focus on making the fight dynamic and interesting. - @SammyTwoTooth

Simplify your plot lines. Everyone is still having a blast and you aren't chomping at the bit to see if they notice or throwing details at them to try to get them to make complex connections. - @dmleitchtweets

Track wounds not current hp. - @Letwookieewin

Parleying with enemy targets - @irunvillains

Dont write scripts, write bullet points. And learn from improv writing like Rick and Morty. - @CharlieWolfie96

I stole this trick from a meme, but I have found releasing a single bee into the room really spices things up. For extra spiciness, I'll also glue the bee to the back of a spider. Or yanno... Notes. - @mal_harrier

I have a mechanic I'm adapting into the ttrpg I'm making from a video I saw called dramatic HP. Basically, within the story you're telling, to up the stakes, there is a separate pool of hp with way less points. Works similar to vtm's system at that point. - @demi_dori

If there's a disagreement over rules, we don't hold court, DM make a ruling and we can discuss it further out of game. - @80sVillain

Create problems, not solutions to them. Don't try to anticipate what the players going to do, that's futile. More times than I can count, the players have come up with a much more creative solution than I ever would have. Roll with it! - @groshnik

Keep your sessions scheduled regularly and consider your less frequent attendees as featured players; that are mostly absent rear guard or camp keepers. - @joebelanger

Don't ever think that the DM is trying to beat the players - @SecretCollegeHL

Initiative tents on top of the GM screen. - @JesterOC

Be a fan of the players. Just cheer for their victories. Be sad for their defeats. Changes that mood right up. - @AbyssalBrews

Play with intention. Just be in the moment and invested in making sure everyone has fun. - @SolsRoles

Talking less. - @XvAgent

Fun facts (1gp reward) per session, a player does initiative (inspiration as reward, max 2) and recaps by a player (also inspiration) If someone incorporates a fun fact in session thats also inspiration. Allows the players to shape the story more due to heavy inspiration use - @Tim_du_nerd

Incorporated PBtA style investigation rules that trigger as the result of perception or investigation checks. (It's easy when you look at what PBtA rules work like.) - @joejoehasfun

Technically a house rule not just a trick, but very simple: PCs only get the benefit of a long rest in a place of relative safety and comfort, not when camping in the wilderness. Lets you run wilderness adventures like they were dungeons. - @AlexBro97829019

If someone read a spell/ability/rule wrong and already spent time to make something happen, rule it in their favor for the current session. They will be less disappointed and you won't need to have a rules debate until after the game! - @Sulicius

When a player fails a check, make something bad happen or allow success at a cost. - @errantcanadian

Round all damage to the nearest 5 at higher levels. Makes the maths so much easier. - @scrollforinit

1- listening to players more, taking ideas from them and using them on the fly. 2- having states of failure, meaning one dice rolling bad is not the end of the thing, for instance if someone is trying to persuade an NPC, rolling 1 or 2 fails just makes the npc act less friendly. - @Skinny__Bob

With my group, the players message me with the results of death saves rather than announce them to the table. That really makes 0 HP a more tense situation. - @MShades01

Don't count hit points for big bads. Just wait until someone does something epic and call it. - @ChrisMcLaugh1in

Always look smug behind the screen. Look slyly at a player opening a door. - @thecriticaldom

Delegating roles to the other players. Like looking up rules. Managing initiative order for combat. If a player makes a knowledge role. I don't tell the group what they know. I pull the player aside and tell them. This allows them to share in their own words and role play - @Michael63813

How do you want to do that? Or basically any call to describe a dramatic action during a tense moment, instead of me doing it - @mbuhtz

Not a trick or tip, but a piece of software called Foundry VTT. - @LeDungeonMaster

Adding a time limit to the turns; 15 seconds to decide what you do, applies to DM and Players. Worked wonders in my case; added tension and made things go by. This was added with the consent of the party. All my non-base mechanica are pre-approved by the party :) - @franatus

Treat roleplaying a character like a joy ride. you're doing it to have fun, it's okay if you wreck it, don't play it safe and do the thing. this advice was given to me at @EmpireLrp and it's improved my enjoyment of every rpg and lrp tenfold - @ArtNolanis

Consider the motivation of individuals. - @wildepix

Music. Even if it's just for combat. Anything to set a tone. - @CalvinOreto

Only planning situations without any regard for what players will do, then rolling with the punches. - @pedroclima_

Always look your players in the face, unless you are playing an NPC who can't/won't. #dnd - @RJD20Writes

That's a toss up between your tip, "use static monster damage" and @dungeoncraft's tip "use group initiative, especially with bigger groups"... - @mrwalters

Say yes or roll the dice. - @Quimmaqui

For theatre of the mind, on a players turn, describe the last turn / what they are seeing through the PC's POV. Ask "what is (PC name) doing?" instead of "what do you WANT to do?" This help alleviate choice paralysis and helps players who might not have caught every detail - @Marcellus_Krowe

Give a recap before each player's turn: "Alright, the orc slashes at Fightergirl, barely missing her. He screams in frustration which is drowned out by the 3 orcs screaming battle cries as they charge toward you, Wizdude. What do you want to do? It keeps the narrative going - @BZBeezley

Calling for ability checks at the point of tension rather than before any action occurs. "You jump to a narrow ledge with barely a toe-hold over the sleeping frost giant below! Dexterity Check!" - @JoshSomers11

Steal everything you have in other board games. Cards. Figurines. Weird looking tokens. There is a lot of stuffs you can do and doesnt cost you anything cause you already have them. - @Carmelo_Sutera

Bottle rings for different conditions on miniatures. Roll one initiative for large groups or mobs especially in big army battles. - @GeekMovieHouse

Music and evocative art handouts - @Navy_DM

After the session, have a post-mortem and talk about what you liked and didn't like about the session - @andreas_mwg

Asking my players to describe why they fail at something when they roll a Nat 1. It gives the player control over a dramatic moment, it lets them scale what happens based on how they're feeling at the moment, and often gives amazing insight into the characters thoughts! - @OboeLauren

Let PC's die. Players understand it's a game. Your decisions & the dice will determine your fate. They tend to start working together better when they realize your a TPK DM. Less drama/self aggrandizing & more togetherness. - @Man_O_War_Speak

If your players struggle with RP, describe how you think they'd react to something: "the sight of the viscera makes you queasy and your hands shake." Players mostly go along with it. If they disagree, they'll let you know and tell you how they react, so it's a win win. - @PursuedByABomb

Listen to what the players say about what they like to do the most and make a point of giving them a chance to do that. Like if your monk loves running up walls or the rogue steals little shiny things, plan a moment every few games where they get a chance to do that. - @madfishmonger

Passing notes to players that they get to read and immediately have to hand back. Some of which are pre written. It could be important. It could be random - like, 'there is a faint smell of cinnamon'. It could be, 'Are you having fun?' Have them answer. Then move on. https://t.co/NDEI0AjG67 - @gasolinemoth

Electric tea light candles go on for concentration spells. - @GeekMovieHouse

Tie your story to places and not characters and try to have your events chronologically independent. That way your party has a harder time derailing your campaign. And remember that it's their story. You're only the narrator. - @GearforgedI

Keeping a "cheat sheet" for player Passives, who has Darkvision, etc. - @DanIsNotNice

For virtual games: As a GM making sure that people get a word in. It's hard not to talk over one another when missing body language cues. A simple "What was that -insert name-" after a missed cue gives more people a chance to talk and makes them feel safe doing so. - @ChichaxMorada

Having Prime actions as examples of alignment so there's always a certain line to guide players towards or away from an alignment choice - @SteelUrMind

Focus on listening instead of roll playing - @micahfaulkner13

Make sure everyone's included (even if you're not the DM) - @TheAngieVOD

Have easy fights, or hard fights - no medium resource-depleting boring fights. Choose PC awesomeness or PC jeopardy for each battle! - @milnermaths

Crit rules we changed in our games. Roll one set of your damage dice + the maximum damage of that roll + modifiers. Made crits really pack a punch. Works both ways so it's just as potent for DMs as it is for players. - @VanRilisdead

Announce whose turn it is, and who's turn is after that. "Eren, it's your turn. Lysha, you're on deck." Keeps people ready to play and action moving smoothly - @TrmntdByGnomes

Related Articles2016 Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master Survey Results2016 D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master QuestionnaireOur Ability Check ToolboxSimpler Initiative OptionsFinding and Maintaining a D&D GroupWant More from Sly Flourish?Read more Sly Flourish articlesSubscribe to the Sly Flourish newsletterWatch Sly Flourish's YouTube videosSupport Sly Flourish on PatreonCheck Out Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Workbook Fantastic Lairs Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures

Send feedback to mike@mikeshea.net.

Article copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Lazy Magic Items

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Here's a simple and lazy way to create unique magic items that fit well into the story, act as great vehicles for secrets and clues, excite players, and matter to characters.

First, choose an item. Often this will be a weapon or piece of armor but it could be something else if it fits your goal.

Second, think about the history of that item. Who built it? Where did it come from? You can use the tables on page 142 of the Dungeon Master's Guide or pages 13 and 14 of the Lazy DM's Workbook to fill in a history and creator of the item but often it works best if it's tied to the history and creators that make sense in your adventures and campaign world.

Third, if it's a weapon or piece of armor, give it a +1 bonus. If the characters are above 10th level you might consider +2 or even +3 if you're very generous.

Fourth, give the item the ability to let the character attuned to it cast a spell they can't otherwise cast. They can do so once and the ability recharges on the next dawn. If you want to choose randomly, page 14 of the Lazy DM's Workbook has a table of 50 random spells you can roll on. Or, instead, choose a spell from the [Player's Handbook] or any other 5e resource you trust that fits the item.

Choose a DC or spell attack bonus that fits the power of the item; somewhere between +4 and +8 for the spell attack or DC 12 to 16 for the DC. Likewise, to change things up, you can change what type of action is required to cast the spell. Perhaps someone finds a knight's sword that can cast true strike as a bonus action instead of an action.

You can also use this opportunity to choose spells that characters often don't take the time to prepare or cast. Many spells aren't ideal when compared to the others in their spell level but when they can be cast for free on an item they suddenly become useful again.

Finally, give the item a cool name so it feels epic and unique in the world.

As an example item, we have "Moon's Sliver". This is a rapier wielded by the drow swordmage priestess at the Temple of the Moon. Our heroic rogue finds the blade in the priestess's coffin as her mummified body hands it to him, knowing he is worthy of the blade. Moon's Sliver is a +1 rapier forged from beams of moonlight by the drow bladesmiths. When attuned, the character wielding the blade can use an action to cast the spell Moonbeam once with a DC of 13. The blade regains this feature at the next dawn.

It takes hardly any effort to make magic items like this yet such items add a tremendous amount of flavor to the game and go well beyond a typical and boring +1 weapon or piece of armor.

Use this technique to build fun and unique items in your own campaign and watch your players smile as their characters wield them in their adventures.

Related ArticlesAwarding Magic Items in Dungeons & Dragons 5th EditionThe Stories of Magic ItemsD&D 5e GotchasRelics: Single-use D&D 5E Magic ItemsMaking Counterspell Awesome

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Check out Mike's books including Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, the Lazy DM's Workbook, Fantastic Adventures, and Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot.

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This article is copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.

Troublesome Quest Models

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Quest models are frameworks you can use to build interesting quests and adventures in your D&D games. There are a number of common and self-evident quest models we can use when building our own adventures. Here are a few examples:

Kill a bossRecover an itemRescue someoneDestroy a monumentClear out monsters

There are many others, some more complicated. I'm a big fan of the "heist" model in which the characters must steal something from a guarded place because it's built around a situation and lets the players choose their approach. It's perfect situation-based D&D. I'm also a huge fan of the Seven Samurai model in which the characters defend a village from marauders. You can change this model in lots of ways and still have an interesting adventure that, like the heist, is built around the approach of the characters.

Some common models seem like good ideas, though, but often fall apart in play. These include:

ChasesCapture and escapeSolving predefined mysteriesAll-or-nothing collection questsFacing insurmountable bossesSolving puzzlesRecovering stolen stuffDream sequences and flashbacksEscaping villainsBetrayalSubsystems

We see quests like this often because they're so common in popular fiction. Chases, mysteries, escape from being captured; these are all common stories that should fall right into our D&D games, but why don't they work?

All of them tend not to work for a few reasons:

They assume the characters act a certain way.They often remove character agency.

Many times these quests rely on the characters doing something in just the right way for the story to go forward. Sometimes, in order to ensure that the quest goes that way, the adventure forces them. You can run, but not too fast or you gain exhaustion. You can stay where you are but if you do, you'll be overwhelmed and killed off-screen. You can fight the adult blue dragon but if you do, she'll kill you with one blow.

The tricky part is that sometimes these models can work. We see them often enough and they don't always fall flat, but, I argue, it's much harder to get these quests to work well than more open-ended quests with a greater opportunity for character agency and multiple paths.

Often these troublesome quest models work fine if they happen organically. Yes, bosses can escape, but they may not. Yes, you might have to chase someone or something but you might catch up quickly or it might get away. You might end up facing an insurmountable villain early or they might take your stuff and you have to retrieve it. All of these things work much better if they happen as a course of the story. They fall apart, however, when they're the expectation and not the result of the character's actions.

Better are resilient quests offering multiple options and paths. Think about how many ways the heist or village defense quests can go.

Resilient quests offer meaningful choices and options to the players and work regardless of which choice they make. Brittle quest models fall apart if the characters don't act a certain way.

Note that, for the sake of this article, I'm using the term "quests" loosely. In many cases these are more like encounters than quests. Sometimes they're full-length adventures, sometimes just a scene in a larger context. Forgive the misuse of the term quest when it doesn't fit.

Here are some examples of brittle quests often requiring the characters to act a certain way or remove character agency to move the story forward.

Chases

Page 252 of the Dungeon Master's Guide includes rules for a chase, as does chapter 4 of Waterdeep Dragon Heist. How can this quest model be bad if they're baked into D&D? Let's look at a quote from Waterdeep Dragon Heist:

The Stone of Golorr possesses an intelligent, alien intellect and has enough prescience to realize that the characters are destined to find it. The stone doesn't want to be found too easily, though.

If the characters obtain the stone earlier than expected, it proves uncooperative and tries to separate itself from the party as quickly as possible, refusing to share any knowledge with characters in the meantime.

This is the problem with a chase. You need things to go just right to keep the chase going. What if the characters use misty step and grab the stone too early? The stone decides it doesn't want to be caught. Lame. What if the characters take a long rest before the chase begins? Does the chase stop until the characters start chasing it again?

Forcing a chase is one of the worst forms of railroading. It requires characters to act exactly a certain way so they don't finish the chase too early or not at all.

Fixing the chase. Chases, when they do occur, should happen naturally at the table, and not be planned ahead of time. Anytime you think a chase might happen, ask yourself if the chase will work if it ends quickly or never gets followed at all. The chase is a tool you can use when the situation happens spontaneously but planning one out usually ends in ways you can't plan for.

Capture and Escape

Another common story in fiction, escape seems like it should be a great story idea for our D&D games. The problem comes with the capture. Players, generally, hate losing and if you have to throw an overwhelming force at them to get them to lose, they'll hate that too. Worse, they may find a way to circumvent it or, even worse than that, half of them will find a way to avoid capture while the other half are captured. Good luck running that situation.

Throwing an overwhelming force at your characters just to stick them in a jail cell isn't going to be as much fun as you think.

Fixing Escape Quests. Escaping capture only works if the characters begin in captivity and, I'd argue, this only works well if the players know ahead of time that they'll begin captured. This, for example, is the way Out of the Abyss starts and I know if I ran it again, I'd ensure, during my session zero, that the players know they begin enslaved by the drow.

Being captured as part of the ongoing story is a fine way to handle a potential total-party-kill, should it happen. Being captured isn't a problem if it happens organically during the game. Forcing the characters to be captured sucks.

Solving Predefined Mysteries

Mysteries, like the other quests here, have centuries of history in our fiction so surely they make for a fun D&D game, right?

Not so much.

Like chases, many mysteries assume the characters find the right clues at the right time to figure out the mystery only when the time is right. All too often the characters either figure it out right away or miss the vital clues completely. What happens during the rest of the adventure if a character figures it out and stabs the murderer in the first scene? What do you do with the other 3.5 hours of the adventure?

Fixing the mystery. Like other solutions described in this article, a mystery can work well as long as you don't make assumptions about what the characters learn and when they'll learn it. Mysteries can work well as situations as long as how the characters find the right clues isn't pre-defined. Justin Alexander, for example, recommends the three clues style, in which you ensure that, for any vital piece of information, three clues exist. My own secrets and clues approach gives you ten secrets or clues that can drop into the game anywhere which will, eventually, lead to the discovery you want the characters to find. If your mystery depends on the characters finding the right things the right way at the right time, it's probably too brittle.

All-or-Nothing Collection Quests

The cult of the dragon needs the five dragon masks to summon Tiamat. The characters need the nine puzzle cubes to open the door to the Tomb of the Nine Gods. These seem like nice and clean quest models except for one big problem. What happens if the characters get just one of the masks and throws it into the ocean? What if the Red Wizards of Thay get one of the puzzle cubes and hide it in Szass Tam's fanny pack? You're screwed. Now you have to force some sort of heist, either by the characters or the villains depending on who needs it. All-or-nothing quests are brittle because just one item falling into the wrong hands ends the whole quest. It forces DM to contrive situations just so the quest can continue.

Fixing the all-or-nothing quest. My solution to the all-or-nothing collection quest is the three of five collection quest model. If you need only the majority of items to succeed, now things get interesting. The opposing side must collect more than half to thwart the other side. It becomes a race with many different paths and many different options. You can see more about this in my three of five collection quest Youtube video.

Facing Insurmountable Bosses

Another common trope is the early face-off with the insurmountable foe. Hoard of the Dragon Queen commits this sin twice in the first chapter. The characters, 1st or 2nd level, find themselves face to face with an adult blue dragon. How exactly is that encounter supposed to go? Why wouldn't the dragon just kill them? What are the characters supposed to do? What options to they have? Groveling and hoping for a high persuasion check is about it.

Big villains are rare so low level characters aren't likely to run into them. Best keep powerful bosses for powerful characters.

Strahd is an exception. He loves to personally check out the fresh meat.

Solving Puzzles

A lot of DMs likely disagree with me on this one but I'm not a fan of puzzles. First, they're hard to prep; definitely not lazy. Second, they rarely make sense. Why would anyone spend the time and energy to protect something with a puzzle? Why not just put a good lock in place? Do they have to navigate their own bullshit puzzle every time they want to make a withdrawal?

Puzzles also often fail in gameplay. Rarely are all players invested in a puzzle and those that aren't quickly grab onto their phones. Stick to the core mechanics and gameplay of D&D and leave puzzles aside.

Recovering Stolen Stuff

Likely every DM makes this mistake at least once in their lives. What better motivation for the characters than recovering their stolen gear? The problem is that loss aversion is real and players hate it when their stuff gets stolen. They also don't feel good even when they get it back. They feel like they're back where they started. Don't steal the characters' stuff.

Dream Sequences and Flashbacks

Another common quest model, why not show some history with a flashback or take the game into a new dimension with a dream sequence? The problem is that the characters usually end up where they started only three hours later. The characters don't get much from these. They don't really have agency. They can't change history. It's usually the longest lore dump ever. Skip dream sequences or flashbacks unless you have a really good reason and the characters have some agency over the situation.

Exception: a cool Inception-style dream heist might be a lot of fun. You might also use a dream sequence or flashback as a way to write history by the actions of the characters. Like the players deciding the location of the key items in i6 Ravenloft or Curse of Strahd, they might define things by their actions and choices in the past.

Escaping Villains

Like losing gear, watching villains run off too often sucks, particularly when the characters know there was no way to stop it from happening. It's one thing if a villain manages to escape on their own. It's something else when the DM forces the issue. Lichs and vampires have built-in escape options so they're an exception. Otherwise, forcing a villainous escape feels lame.

Betrayal

Here's another bad idea DMs often try once. When trusted NPCs betray the characters, you're breaking trust with the players. The same is true when one of the player characters betrays the rest of the party and the DM is in on it. It seems fun and exciting but it's really just lame. It breaks trust all around the table and that's not fun and won't lead the game in the right direction. Avoid betrayals.

There are clear exceptions to this rule when the players know there's betrayal going on and it's all discussed and agreed upon in a session zero.

Subsystems

DMs often love tinkering with the mechanics in D&D. Why not have an entire vehicle sub-system or a whole mechanical subsystem for handling complex rituals? What about a system for running a bar or piloting an airship?

The problem with subsystems is that often the mechanics don't work nearly as well as the rest of the game. Players don't want to learn them because they know they're temporary. You also don't really need them. Ability checks cover just about anything you need to do in the game. Anyone who remembers the Mako from Mass Effect knows what I'm talking about. The players are invested in their characters and the existing mechanics of D&D. Let them focus on that instead of having to learn new and buggy subsystems for things an ability check likely covers.

Use Flexible Quest Models

When you seek quest models to build your D&D adventures, seek those offering robust and flexible options for your adventures. Find those that build off of situation-based adventures in which the characters have meaningful options and multiple solutions. Use quest models where even you have no idea how they'll play out at the table. As for these troublesome quest models? Let them happen if that's how the story evolves but don't use them as an incoming assumption ahead of time.

Keep flexible quest models in your bag of tricks and run awesome open-ended adventures with your friends. Play to see what happens.

Related ArticlesThree of Five Keys: A Quest Design PatternRunning Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden Chapter 1Facing Insurmountable FoesRunning Dragon of Icespire Peak from the D&D Essentials KitRunning Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 4: Dragon Season

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This article is copyright 2021 by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish.