D&D and RPG news and commentary by Mike Shea of
Video Contents
00:00 Show Start
00:49 Product Spotlight: Crown of the Oathbreaker Physical Book
03:57 Sly Flourish News: The Lazy GM’s Resource Document in the Creative Commons
08:14 Sly Flourish News: Lazy Solo 5e generator on Perchance
10:04 Commentary: Developers! Help Open5e!
14:22 Commentary: Will WOTC Use Open5e?
15:58 Commentary: Playing Five RPGs in Three Days
18:57 Commentary: Playing Dungeon World at 1d4 Con
21:15 Commentary: Playing Pathfinder 2 at 1d4 Con
25:57 Commentary: Playing Call of Cthulhu at 1d4 Con
29:05 Commentary: Playing Dungeon Crawl Classics at 1d4 Con
32:12 Commentary: Playing My Friend’s New RPG at 1d4 Con
34:29 Patreon Question: Players Questioning the GM’s Logic
38:04 Patreon Question: Remembering Campaign-Specific Rules
40:18 Patreon Question: Is the DM the Storyteller or the Referee? Neither!
42:53 Patreon Question: Running 45 Minute Battles with No Tweaking
47:19 Patreon Question: Reigning in Wanderlust in an Island Hopping Campaign
Links
Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter
Support Sly Flourish on Patreon
Buy Sly Flourish Books:
Crown of the Oathbreaker
Crown of the Oathbreaker Spotlight
Lazy GM’s Resource Document
Lazy Solo 5e Generator
Open5e
Open5e Discord Server
Dungeon World
Pathfinder 2 (Affiliate Link)
Call of Cthulhu (affiliate link)
Dungeon Crawl Classics (affiliate link)
#dnd #lazydm #dndtips #dmtips…(read more)
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Crown of the Oathbreaker is very impressive but I have no idea why the adventure stops at level 15. I have been on the lookout for a complete campaign book that goes to level 20 to save me quite a bit of work but it looks like that's not happening here. All the great designers and authors out there and no one wants to write a campaign to cover tier 3 and 4 play. I'll shell out my money when someone does.
The best way (in my experience) to get a player to chill out questioning the game or the rulings … is to get them to GM. When I have done that they have quickly understood what it’s like behind the screen and in the future they even start helping me build and maintain the fiction instead of challenging it.
Where can I get Dungeons of Fate? I love to play Fate Core 🙂
Keep it up Mike! Always looking forward to every new upload!
Regarding Patreon question #1; It is probably a reasonable estimate that the typical GM makes an average of 1 determination, description, or adjustment every 60 seconds of gameplay. In a 4 hour game, that's about 240 potential GM adjudications or relays per session–as a minimum. The average margin of error for humans is 5.5% in most professional endeavors. That's around 13 GM mistakes per 4 hours. It stands to reason that all players will not agree with all of our facilitations, and that we will make mistakes. If a GM has players that can't accept that, it isn't on the GM 😉
Call of Cthulhu's skills has the interesting advancement mechanic – if you succeed at a skill, you get a chance to roll to increase that skill (you have to succeed in game, then fail to see if you advance, then roll the points you advance).
I came (back) into the hobby through PF1, but in the end "rules not rulings" – and having to run Pathfinder Society alone for a couple years in my area – just burned me out. I just prefer the flexibility of 5E. I struggle with Apocalypse world just because I seem to roll like crap on 2d6. I failed so much in a Masks game that I was an entire advancement ahead of the rest of the team and was still failing. It made for good drama though, which is pretty much the point of Masks.
I’m so jealous of your opportunity to play so many different games in such a short time! I really need to find a convention like that near me. My group has been stuck in a 3.0/Pathfinder rut since 3rd edition came out!
We have 7 folks in our group and rotate DMing among our 4 most senior members. Two of us (2/3 of the group’s OG) really enjoy RP and working together to craft a good story. We couldn’t care less about 5 foot steps, all the super specific feats, or optimized builds. We are close to calling it quits. However, I think that I’m successfully persuading folks to try some other games the next time my turn to DM rolls around.
Should ask bob the worldbulding to GM dcc for you and film it
I think wanderlust might mean the character wouldn't want to wait around and set down roots after a quest is finished, not want to move to a different location every session or every other session or maybe every few sessions. This might be one of those things that helps to sit back and zoom out a little bit and this trait can be roleplayed out but just because it says wanderlust doesn't mean the character can't sit in the same spot for 5 minutes. Maybe the player can roleplay out that their mood changes the longer they haven't seen or been to a new location but doesn't have to be disruptive necessarily.
Very cool to see your opinion on Pathfinder 2! Even though it's less crunchy than PF1 and 3.5, it's clearly more gridded and tactical than 5e. The big thing about the three actions to me is that it allows characters with options to use them: a rogue can feint and attack with sneak attack, a bard can give support and also cast their spells. a ranger can use their animal companion and also do an attack… I can see how this may look as "weak actions" but for those kind of characters the fantasy is reinforced much better than 5e.
Love your content!
If you are running an open world game and the players are having trouble staying on task, this is where having Portents if Doom are handy.
That is to say, Portents of Doom are tangible things that happen in the world of the game as the bad guys complete minor goals or get closer to completing major tasks. If your bad guy is trying to conquer the area, and the party keeps putting off the things they know they need to do for it, that’s when you have the bad guy raze a few more towns and have refugees stagger sooty and blooded into town raving about the enemy army.
Re: Ryan's question about Questioning the GM's Logic. I feel like I'm sometimes that guy who is asking questions.
The reason is often that I've had experiences where the GM is being a bit inflexible about something where I feel like my character should have some agency. As a player in that situation, what I want is for the GM to work with me to figure out what's a cool outcome where I get a say in what is happening. Not just railroad me into their preconceived outcome without any room for building the experience together.
And don't give me nonsense about how being a GM is hard, I GM myself. I'm not perfect, but at least I try to have things make narrative sense, and listen to the players if they want to approach the situation in a way different to what I had in mind.
@SlyFlourish your TTRPG system preferences for a fast, lightweight, and big action rules set describes my experience with ICRPG. Maybe next year?
You went to a convention to try other games and played other versions of dnd and call of Cthulu?
I’m happy to hear your quick thoughts on the various games you played. I’m not a big fan of Pathfinder — I’ve played it several times, and it’s OK, but just not my cup of tea — and when I say that to most RPG players, they act like I just insulted their best friend. Haha 🙂 Anyway, thanks for the always-inspiring weekly shows. Always a YouTube highlight for me!
Something ive learned recently with one of players, without them saying it, that they see the action economy as the controller for 5e. So when i told him you can try to end combat with dialogue, i kinda broke his brain, and he didn’t understand how that worked in the game. So i wrote up a new action economy homebrew one page to keep with everyone’s character sheets, and now they’re using different actions, prepping reactions, charming their way through encounters left and right. So i completely get what your wife was saying, having it written is part controller/ quick sheet for choices
8:14 This wholesome response is amazingly heartwarming and I'm super excited to check this out!
You bring so much value to the community, it’s invaluable!
Thanks
You said source and adventure book, but all i can see is phone book disguised as a dnd tomb
Love me some DCC! I hope you get to play more!
I like DCC a lot, but is not a fast game, you have to constantly look in to critical, fumble and spells tables for everything, playing it in a good VTT helps a lot, but still is not fast at all. In the other side the level of good unpredictability is quite engaging.
Is there a way to connect Open 5e into Roll20?
I guess five RPGs in three days could be noteworthy for someone who's never been to a convention, but IME five RPGs in three days is taking it easy!
I've been wondering if you will talk about AI. I know, it's a tired and ubiquitous topic. But everything I see addresses how/if it can replace the dm. I'm far more intrigued with ai as a lazydm. It's like having random tables for encounters, treasures, plot hooks, etc at your fingertips. Dm replacement seems unlikely, but it does seem like a Swiss army tool for creativity for a DM and that's just as valuable in some cases.