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We at /r/DnD are excited to host Mike Shea of SlyFlourish.com! He'll be discussing his upcoming Kickstarter, his vast history as a freelancer in the TTRPG space, and anything else! Save all your questions and join us on Tuesday, July 7!

From Mike:

Hello!

I'm Mike Shea, writer for SlyFlourish.com and author of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and other books. A few years back I also released the Lazy GM's Resource Document into the Creative Commons to share what I've learned and gathered from other GMs into the world.

I've been playing RPGs since the mid-80s and writing about RPGs since 2008. I've been freelancing for various RPG companies for the past 15 years or so including Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, MCDM, Arcane Library, Pelgrane Press, and many others.

The Kickstarter for my latest book, Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster, is going on now! This is the latest of the Lazy GM books, expanding each of the eight steps of Lazy GM prep and taking a new focus on campaign planning, adventure types, and an expansive lazy GM toolkit. I hope you'll check it out.

I'm excited to be here to talk to you all about RPGs!

So I’m dming a campaign, and one of my players seemed upset at the result of a Nat 20

For context, they entered a dungeon, which then after they exited it became a regular wine cellar. That’s what it was at the moment. Player rolled investigation and got Nat 20. Told him he found a gamblers coin he can exchange for a large sum of money (400+ gold, and was even thinking I could lead it into some kind of subplot or side quest.)

Now said player seemed bummed out. Saying “I’ve seen a campaign where someone rolled a Nat 20 to breed w a dragon!” (I think they’re referring to critical role or some kinda dnd show) and was basically implying how the Nat 20 was underwhelming.

I don’t know what I could’ve realistically put or improvised in that Win cellar (which I kinda meta gamed and told them straight up it’s a regular wine cellar now that the dungeon is completed) than woulda satisfied him.

I do wanna mention that this player has had similar reactions in the past to passing checks not going as expected, for example he tried to intimidate guards but I told him that intimidating them isn’t automatically gonna make them run away, rather just hold a defensive stance

idk what to do cuz I did talk to him briefly and told him that whatever his expectations of passed checks or Nat 20s might be kinda high and unrealistic but like he kinda starts comparing to the aforementioned campaign shows and what Nat 20s can do

Help🙏

Most recent session my players made their way to a military camp, there they met with a commander who I set up by having her yell at a soldier over something stupid he did and through a history check I told a player this is a princess of a foreign land.

2 out of the 4 party members have signed up to be part of that military and those 2 were the only ones at that specific location, after giving the commander their report she proceeded to curtly give them their orders which both were unhappy with, however one player took offense in how she was speaking to him and decided to talk back and talk down to said commander princess.

In character I explained to said player that she outranks him and is a noble, trying to ease tially tell him if he continues down this path he will be thrown in prison, or worse executed as he is not only displaying orders but also disrespecting a noble.

He seemed to have backed off until a third player egged him on, told him not to take that kind of disrespect, to which the instigator returns to the commander to try and talk down to her again. At this point I had her call in guards and arrested him on the spot, throwing him into a cell.

Later, out of game I mentioned to my players that they should have backup characters as this is a brutal campaign setting (something I told them in session 0 and have sent them all word documents describing said world) and he asked me "what if there is only a single character I want to play." To which I replied that if that is so this is not the campaign for you, as a character can just as easily fail death saves and die in battle.

What can I do in this situation, just cut my losses and boot him from the game? I don't want to save his character as that would make absolutely no sense in the world and setting why he gets pardoned for this behavior and I do not want to enable that kind of behaviour from the player himself.

Edit: Just to clarify a few things I've seen people commenting down.

This was Session 4 (5 if we include 0), all other players seemed to understand that this kind of behaviour towards an important NPC is a bad idea, one egged him on in character as a devil in your ear kind of moment, the problem player in question then continued to belittle, demean and finally threaten the NPC by saying something along the lines of "I have a Warhammer I am trying not to use" or something of that sort.

I have the player ample opportunity to back down, something even the other players commented on someone of the importance of an NPC is quite rare as even upon his return she did not order an arrest and imprisonment until he threatened her.

A few people were surprised that a character mouthing off and displaying orders to both their commanding officer and princess would be executed, that's quite normal for any kind of fantasy especially dark fantasy? I don't see how both in real life and fiction this course of action wouldn't result in imprisonment and being court-martialed?

Finally I saw people being surprised a "brutal" campaign will lead to character death. What else does the word brutal imply when it comes to a d&d or any fantasy setting? It means death is more than likely to occur.

I know this is gonna get big downvoted just by the title, but I need to speak my truth. The 2024 PHB feels more like disjointed patch notes than it does a complete edition of D&D. Let me explain.

It is sorely lacking in basic rudimentary lore that is necessary to comprehend the roleplay aspect of a tabletop combat roleplaying game. If you haven't played in prior editions or read prior materials, you aren't given info on how to create a character with any depth (ideal/bond/flaw) and you barely understand anything about the classes besides how they perform in combat. A new player who wants to make a Cleric & has only read the 2024 PHB does not know the name of a single deity. The writers could have just hit copy-paste on all of this stuff from the 2014 PHB and it would have been fine.

Because this is not a complete rulebook, it should have been organized as a massive errata organized by backwards compatability with the prior edition. Different sections presented as "optional" rule changes that you can implement into your 5e group based on preference. Sections are split based on their ability to be amended to the 2014 rules independent of other sections. Like the idea of Weapon Mastery but want to keep classes unchanged, go for it! Only want the updates feats? Sure. Mainly just interested in the class changes because Clerics SHOULD be good at religion? Go ahead.

As a stand alone, it's organized fine. But for mix/mashing with 2014, the layout feels very inefficient.

Hi everyone. Meet Robin - she's a dwarf barbarian who works as a bouncer in a tavern "Racing Pony". Short stature doesn't make her less tough, therefore everyone knows best to not piss her off. She grew up as a part of a desert tribe, but then moved into a sprawling city of Talantus. She also well known as a boat expert - sometimes she's hired to sail the boat as well as providing security on the way. You can also check the painting timelapse for this image.

^(a player took the pic) I feel like I had more fun behind the screen than on the other side haha. Players all had a blast too! The setting is an art deco underdark city called Midnight Station. I'm shooting for 5 sessions to finish the story, with everything culminating in a heist on City Hall during Founding Day. The goal is to make it as narrative and roleplay-driven as possible, with computers handling all the numbers behind the scenes. So far, everything has felt like an epic story, not a game of stats. All the hours of work and world building paid off, and I'm really having fun improvising NPCs (including Bastion and his bodyguard, Sebastion) 😂

Not as in what subclasses are the rarest for a player to use but if you lived in a DnD world, what subclass are you least likely to run into. Like a Thief Rogue, Oath of Devotion Paladin, or Life Domain Cleric are probably so common everyone's seen one at some point in their life. But what are the odds you'll run into a Circle of Stars Druid or Gloomstalker Ranger?

In my first 3.5e campaign and it's been brilliant - playing a half orc ranger who loves his giant crossbow and making traps. Strong rule of cool in character design meant I didn't realise that the ranger ranged feats really only work with bows (DM has been very obliging with changing some of the ranged feats to rapid reload- crossbow etc)

Now I've realised I want to play a mounted ranger on my loving giant boar animal companion, Truffles.

I'm currently Ranger 4/ Fighter 2 to get all the sweet Feats for mounted combat.

I intend to Prestige Wild Plains Outrider (3) and Beastmaster (1) to get me to Lv.10 and have a ton of cavalry tricks and a strong mount.

Any ideas on what items I could use? I have a cool homebrew orcish lance, and soon I'll have light barding on the pig.

Currently plan is to do big charge damage with Rhino's Rush spell (swift cast, double charge damage), the lance, and power attack to do big big damage on the charge!

Let me know what items/ rule of cool flavour I could add for my half orc ranger and his beloved boar. Am also willing to look at other multiclasses!

Thanks in advance!

Urizen & Truffles for attention

The Sword of the King is a weapon that is enchanted so that the more people respect and adore you, the less the sword weighs. This has allowed the dynasty to gauge how well their rule is received by their people, getting direct feedback to their decrees and edicts.

One fateful day, the King has passed and a succession crisis has unfolded. The sons and daughters of the King have found that the sword weighs exceedingly heavy when they attempt to pry it from the ground where the blade has dug itself into. Their succession crisis has caused great turmoil in the kingdom.

You seek to undo this mess. To stabilize your home village and ensure that all threats posed to it are quelled and rendered null. Through your deeds, the people can potentially grow fond of you and - in time - you will claim the Sword of the King by effortlessly plucking the sword from the cobblestone road where the King fell.

Will your players be worthy of the blade? Or will they be judged poorly by the people that were scorned while others were favored? After all, negotiations can lead to prosperity for all while merely being murder-hobos can lead to favor from some and vitriol from others.

(Preface: your DM may hate you for doing this.)

Spell description:
Mold Earth - Cantrip, 1 Action, Range 30ft (affects a 5ft cube), Somatic, Transmutation. Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer.

You choose a portion of dirt or stone that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube. You manipulate it in one of the following ways:

• If you target an area of loose earth, you can instantaneously excavate it, move it along the ground, and deposit it up to 5 feet away. This movement doesn’t have enough force to cause damage.
• You cause shapes, colors, or both to appear on the dirt or stone, spelling out words, creating images, or shaping patterns. The changes last for 1 hour.
• If the dirt or stone you target is on the ground, you cause it to become difficult terrain. Alternatively, you can cause the ground to become normal terrain if it is already difficult terrain. This change lasts for 1 hour.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

The Tactic:

this uses the first option for the effect which is the only instantaneous effect you can spam. For all Examples I highly suggest securing a Rope or Ladder on the back wall for easy access for the Defenders. using Rope or ladder wont cost you extra movement. Just be sure to pull it up behind you, so your enemy cant use it.

See. Example A of the Diagram; Move a piece of Earth (S1-Green) to one side of your trench, this will be YOUR defensive wall. The resulting wall will be 5ft high, allowing for either 3/4 or Half cover (+5 or +2 bonus to AC respectively) at your DM's discretion to anyone behind it. Like wise anyone in the trench will receive the same benefit. The enemy (Red) will be fully exposed to melee/ranged attacks from Defenders in the trench, and ranged attacks from Defenders manning the defensive wall (S1-Green). Any creature Without a Climbing Speed attempting to Scale the 10ft back wall of the trench will need to expend Twice the Amount of Movement (20ft) to climb up. Meaning Red will use 30ft of movement to travel laterally 15ft, ending up on top of the Green block. (DM discretion: Add a Athletics check to climb the Back Wall)

Example B: Same idea as A. but just wider for whatever reason you might need a 10ft wide trench (for example Ball Bearings). For this, You move S1-Green as an Ex. A, then move S2-Blue to the front of your trench. This gives defenders inside the trench Full Cover, but also gives Attackers cover in the form of S2-Blue. However, Attacker Red Cannot reach the other side of the trench in one turn, without using the DASH action. If they Dash they cannot attack that turn, only use a bonus action.

Example C: Verdun. Follow the steps to make Examples A and B, then take a cube from the bottom of the trench (S3-Yellow) and place it where S2-Blue used to be. The Defender in the trench now has Full Cover, if you have a rope or ladder, the Defender can climb up to the Firing Stand on top of S3-Yellow to defend against any attackers, Use a Reach weapon to target Attackers attempting to hide behind S2-Blue. Get overwhelmed, jump down into the deepest area of trench, Since its 10ft deep only weapons with Reach or ranged weapons will be able target creatures at different heights inside the trench. At this point there is now way Attacker Red will be able to scale the back wall without a climb speed, or the use of a rope or ladder.

Note: Fireball will still hit you anywhere in this trench.

The Madness:

To Make Example A. requires 1 use of the Mold Earth Cantrip, so 1 round or 6 seconds.

Example B: 2 rounds, 12 secs

Example C: 3 rounds, 18 secs

Obviously, you probably dont want to make a trench mid combat, the most sensible option to use mid combat would be Ex. A. You'd make this during any downtime you may have as a quick defensive trench line to protect your camp for the night, protect a village your staying at, reinforce an area your defending long term.

How quick is it to make a trench line using Example A? (FOR 1 PERSON USING THE CANTRIP)

(remember there are 60 secs in 1 min, 3600 secs in 1 hour)

Example: 50ft trench line: 50ft/5ft= 10 rounds or 1 minute.

100ft trench Line: 100/5 = 20 rounds or 2 minutes

1000ft trench line: 1000/5 = 200rounds (1,200secs) or 20 minutes

1 mile: 5,280ft: 5,280/5 = 1,056 rounds (6,336secs) or 105.6 minutes/ 1hr 45mins and 36secs

to make Either Example B or C trenches just double or Triple the time respectively.

1 mile of B trench = 3:31:12 hrs (3hr 31min 12sec)

1 mile of C trench = 5:16:48 hrs (5hr 16min 48 sec)

I have no idea WHY in the world anyone would need to make 1 mile of 15ft deep 20ft wide trench line in a DnD campaign, but 1 Madlad of a Wizard can do it in under 5.5 hrs.

Design the top down layout of that trench however you want to impede sightlines, or allow easier access for you and your allies. Oil, caltrops, ball bearings, bear traps, or any spell capable of causing difficult terrain are all added benefits to increasing the trenches defensive and impeding capabilities. If your character has proficiency with carpenter's tools look into setting up Abatis using felled and sharpened trees, or Cheval de Frise all along the trench line.

Character for an upcoming campaign.

Race: Praetorian Gnome

Origin: Fleet Officer

Class: Rogue

Archetype: Strategist

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Deity: Oredeina

A quick drawing of a Character for a campaign that I'll be Dming soon. You wouldn't recognize most of the stuff listed above. Because it was made using my own system. That TTRPG (Spellsunder) was originally based on 5e though, and still has some of its blood in there despite it's differences, so I suppose that enough to post the art lol.