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THE AMA IS NOW LIVE

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!

I painted an owlbear the other day and realized this is going to be my new obsession for the next few weeks. So this time I did a myconid!

Let me know if you're interested in seeing more of these watercolors and if you have suggestions for what monster I should paint next. I was kind of thinking displacer beast, but I'm open to suggestions.

If you want to see more of my art, you can find me on Instagram and Tumblr @tomfoolerytotality. I don't usually plug socials, but apparently I have to hit 400 characters to post this and I ran out of other things to say.

It is often said that kenkus only know words that they have heard, and are limited to those words. that of course makes for some very funny scenes where people are only using words they are basically given. However, unless you are a freshly born or transformed kenku, that frankly isn’t what it would act like.

Do you know what other species has this learned mimic vocabulary? Humans. For the vast majority of humankind, we have only known words that have been uttered in our presence. Other than written word, that’s how we learn to speak. Kenkus aren’t unique in the ability to learn new words. That’s literally every species. Their uniqueness comes specifically from their perfect mimicry.

All that to say, you aren’t having fun correctly so I have come to shame you and tell you how to have fun.

After a ruthless vengeful betrayal, Fae's people, the Air-elven folk, are suddenly attacked & taken by a cult looking to resurrect a dead God. In a desperate attempt to flee from their attackers, she calls out for help — and a forgotten God answers her call.

As the last one of her own to remain free, she must venture outside of her home for the first time ever, all the while struggling to accept her newfound powers — the Fire God's gift.

As she reluctantly joins her new companions on the road, she struggles with her identity, the fear of loneliness, and what it means to trust after you've been burned by someone you trusted most.

hey guys! I'm a fantasy artist specializing in RPG character commissions, including creatures, monsters, and original (homebrew) character designs.

✨ What I offer:

• Bust, half-body, and full-body illustrations
• Optional add-ons, including Character Concept Sheets
• Simple or detailed backgrounds included with every commission
• Progress updates throughout the entire process (sketch → flat colors → final render)
• Unlimited revisions during the sketch stage

If you're looking for artwork for your D&D, Pathfinder, or other TTRPG characters, feel free to send me a DM! I'd love to hear about your ideas and help bring them to life.

Portfolio & Socials:

https://linktr.ee/leoncoelho.art

Final version character design. Tal is a gunslinger from the Barony of Cressia (Midworld). She ventured into Faerun and subsequently Ravenloft. She favors ranged combat with a guild revolver and hunting rifle combined with defensive spells. The above shows Tal around level 8-9 load-out as she enters end-game CoS campaign. More details on character design here: https://countzero.blog/we-deal-in-lead-ttrpg/

Hey everyone!

We’ve all been there: a combat encounter starts with high stakes, but by round 3, it turns into a static "I attack, you attack" slog. Over time, I’ve collected and tweaked a few custom mechanics to keep my players on their toes, forcing them to move, prioritize objectives, and interact with the environment.

Here are 10 encounter mechanics I use to make combat interesting, along with their thematic uses. I'd love to know what kind of mechanics you run at your tables!

1. The Countdown Dice

Place two dice face-up on the table: a d8 and a d12.

• The d8 represents the total number of successes/hits the party needs to achieve an objective.
• The d12 represents the maximum number of rounds they have to complete it. Every failed check or round passed ticks the d12 down by one.
• Uses: Completing a ritual, picking a lock before guards arrive, defusing a bomb, hacking a terminal, or stabilizing a collapsing roof.

2. Attrition Tiles

At the end of every round, any grid square that was occupied or crossed by any character (player or enemy) receives a "damage marker." If a tile is stepped on again, it is destroyed or becomes dangerous terrain.

• Hard Mode: At the start of each round, an environmental force (wind, gravity, currents) pushes everyone X feet in a fixed or random direction (roll a d4 for direction). Characters must make a Strength Saving Throw to resist.
• Uses: Fights on rickety rope bridges, frozen lakes, cooling lava crusts, or rotting rooftops.

3. The Alert Die

Combat starts with a visible d4. Every time someone casts a spell with a verbal component, fires a loud weapon, or critically misses an attack, the die steps up in size ($d4 \rightarrow d6 \rightarrow d8 \rightarrow d10 \rightarrow d12$). At the end of each round, the GM rolls 1d20 + the current Alert Die against a group Stealth check. If the Stealth check fails, a new wave of enemies or an environmental hazard is triggered.

• Uses: Infiltrating nests of blind monsters (like Grimlocks), stealth raids on an orc camp, or looting a sleeping dragon’s hoard.

4. Capture Zones

At the start of each round, designate a specific zone on the map. Whoever has the most allies inside that zone at the end of the round gains a crucial buff or halts an immediate threat.

• Uses: Holding a sacred altar to receive a god's blessing, choking a doorway against a horde, or standing in the only runic circle protected from a room's poison mist.

5. Simultaneous Attunement Keys

To deactivate a threat or open the exit, $X$ mechanisms must be activated at the same time at distant points on the map. Maintaining activation requires Concentration (as if concentrating on a spell). If a character takes damage, they must pass a saving throw or their mechanism's counter resets to zero.

• Uses: Deactivating a giant golem's power nexuses, pulling three levers simultaneously to lower a drawbridge, or channeling counter-magic to dispel a lich's shields.

6. The Phantom Enemy

Place three identical miniatures of the boss on the map, but only one is real. Every time the real enemy takes damage, starts a round, or takes a major action, the three miniatures are secretly shuffled. Players can spend an Action (using Perception/Nature/Insight) to deduce which one is real.

• Uses: Fighting a wizard using a modified Mirror Image, a smoke/fog elemental that constantly dissipates, or a demon in a room full of mirrors.

7. Crossfire Lines

This mechanic turns straight lines on the grid into alternating danger zones. At the start of the round, roll a d4 to activate a map border (1: North, 2: South, 3: East, 4: West). Trace imaginary lines from that border to the opposite side. Anyone crossing these lines or ending their turn on them takes an automatic environmental attack (arrows, ballista bolts, laser beams). It forces zigzag movement and total cover usage.

• Uses: Castle courtyards defended by fixed heavy crossbows, repeating dart traps in dungeon corridors, or narrow canyons under fire from cliffside archers.

8. Arcane Overload Die

A nightmare for spellcasters. A d10 sits in the center of the table starting at 1. Every time a player casts a spell of 1st level or higher, the die increases by the spell’s level. At the end of each round, the GM rolls 1d10. If the roll is less than or equal to the Overload Die's value, the ambient magic collapses: all active concentration spells snap, and a wild magic/anti-magic zone is generated. The die then resets to 1.

• Uses: Fighting in volatile wild magic zones, exploring the ruined crypts of dead archmages, or battling magic-devouring creatures like Beholders.

9. The Floor is Lava

A bright red die sits on the table representing "Room Instability," starting at 1. At the end of each round, the die increases by +1. Anyone who ends their turn touching the floor takes damage equal to the die's value multiplied by 2 (or a scaled damage die). Players must climb pillars, hop on tables, scramble over rubble, or use flight/teleportation to stay off the ground.

• Uses: Dwarven boiler rooms on the verge of exploding, caverns flooding with acid, or sacred temples where the floor itself punishes intruders.

10. Arcane Equilibrium

Two dice (one White, one Black) sit on the table, both set to 6, representing two magical poles powering a ritual. The party needs 3 successes within a maximum of 6 rounds. For the ritual to progress, both dice must match. At the start of each round, the GM rolls a d4 for each die to randomly add or subtract from their values. During their turn, players in the control zones can use an Action or Bonus Action (Arcana/Religion) to manually increase or decrease a die by 1 or 2 points to restore balance. If a round ends and the dice don't match, the ritual stalls and the room fires an AoE damage pulse.

Your turn: How do you keep combat fresh? Do you use timers, environmental hazards, or secondary objectives? Let’s hear your best mechanics!

In just about any major city, you can find small gatherings of certain ethnic groups (Chinatown NYC, Little Tokyo LA, Little Italy NYC, Harlem NYC, etc.). If we are to accept that a statistically significant number of Tieflings are forced from their small homes/villages due to prejudice, does it not make sense that they would gather in an urbanized areas with a greater population? In fact, you could even have a particularly cruel ruler force them to live in a ghetto in a less affluent district.

I've talked with my DM about this, and he argued that they wouldn't do this because Tieflings are an oddity. 2 Tiefling parents can produce a fully human child just as 2 human parents can produce a Tiefling child. My counter-argument is the existence of places like Castro SF and Greenwich Village NYC. Both places are well known as Meccas for the LGBT culture, despite the familial disadvantages.

(Edit: I know the title is grammatically incorrect, I'm new to posting)