Sly Flourish
Helping Dungeon Masters run great D&D games.
Articles, books, videos, and tools to help you run awesome Dungeons & Dragons games.
Top Sly Flourish Articles
- Playing D&D can Save Your Life
- Getting Started Playing D&D
- The Minimum Viable D&D Game
- Running Combat in the Theater of the Mind
- The Lazy Encounter Benchmark
- Running Hordes
- Playing D&D over Discord
- Notion.so for Lazy D&D Prep
Latest Fifteen Sly Flourish Articles
- Three of Five Keys: A Quest Design Pattern - 3 May 2021
- The Dials of Monster Difficulty - 26 Apr 2021
- 13 Tips to Speed Up D&D Combat - 19 Apr 2021
- GM Intrusions and Complications in D&D - 12 Apr 2021
- Running Session Zeros - 5 Apr 2021
- Running D&D Combat with an Abstract Battle Map - 29 Mar 2021
- Safety Tools - 21 Mar 2021
- Run Easy Battles - 15 Mar 2021
- Ending Campaigns - 8 Mar 2021
- Gems of the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide - 1 Mar 2021
- Rime of the Frostmaiden Session Zero - 22 Feb 2021
- Handling Rests in D&D - 15 Feb 2021
- Building Villains Like Pro-Wrestlers - 8 Feb 2021
- Running Descent into Avernus Chapter 4 and 5 - 1 Feb 2021
- A DM's Reading List - 25 Jan 2021
- View All Articles
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- Subscribe to the Lazy DM Prep Podcast and listen weekly as I prepare for my Sunday D&D game.
- Follow Sly Flourish on Twitter and read new D&D tips daily.
Sly Flourish's Books
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Get the most out of your D&D games by preparing less.
- Lazy DM's Workbook. A book of tools, tables, and locations to help you improvise your D&D game.
- Fantastic Lairs. 23 lairs and boss battles you can drop into your own D&D 5e game, cowritten with James Introcaso and Scott Fitzgerald Gray.
- Fantastic Adventures: Ruins of the Grendleroot. Ten short adventures for 1st to 5th level set in the underground ruins of Blackclaw Mountain.
- Fantastic Adventures. Ten easy-to-run adentures for 1st to 5th level set in the town of Whitesparrow.
- Fantastic Locations. Twenty locations you can drop into your D&D game wherever they best fit.
Below find some of the top Sly Flourish articles categorized by topic.
New to D&D?
- Getting Started with D&D
- Finding Players
- Your Most Important Game
- Building 1st Level Encounters
- Gaining Confidence to Run D&D Games
- Improvisation for New DMs
- Tools for New DMs
- A New DM's Guide to Miniatures
Lazy Dungeon Mastering
- Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
- Review the Characters
- Start Strong
- Secrets and Clues
- Choosing the Right Steps
DM Tools
- D&D Numbers to Keep In Your Head
- Customizing Monsters
- Reskinning Monsters
- Notion.so for the Lazy DM
- Running Wars
- Instant NPCs
- Lazy Tokens
- Replace Flanking with Cinematic Advantage
- Making Great Handouts
- D&D Cheat Sheet
- Easy Initiative Cards
- Random Generators: Names, Monuments, Relics, Traps
D&D Advice
- Paths of DM Expertise
- Thinking Two Horizons Out
- Running Downtime Sessions
- Adventure Hooks
- Random Creativity and D&D
- Thinking Through the Eyes of your Villains
- Creative Mind Exercises
D&D Encounter Building
- Guide to Narrative "Theater of the Mind" Combat
- The Abstract Battlemap
- Running Hordes
- The Lazy Encounter Benchmark
- Letting Go of Defined Encounters
- Two Thugs in the Woods
- Set Piece Battles
- Improving Boss Fights
Running D&D Online
DM Inspiration
- 1d100 Forgotten Realms Factions
- 1d20 D&D Seeds from Movies
- 1d100 Eberron Factions
- Tier Appropriate Adventure Locations
- Harvester of Worlds: A 1st to 20th Level Githyanki Campaign Outline
- The Hunger: A 1st to 20th Level Gnoll Campaign Outline
One-on-One D&D
Rules Discussion
- Darkvision Isn't as Good As You Think
- Handling Surprise
- The Flow of Trap Detection
- The Old Man and the Bowl
D&D Surveys and Polls
- A Study of DM Tricks
- Twitter and Facebook Polls
- Analysis of DM Traits
- 2016 D&D Survey Results
- 2012 D&D Survey Results
D&D Published Adventure Guides
- Guide to Official D&D Published Adventures
- Running Lost Mine of Phandelver from the D&D Starter Set
- Running Dragon of Icespire Peak from the D&D Essentials Kit
- Running Dragon of Icespire Peak YouTube Video
- Combining the D&D Starter Set and Essentials Kit
- Running Lost Mine of Phandelver YouTube Playlist
Ruins of the Grendleroot
Descent into Avernus
- Running Descent into Avernus: The Fall of Elturel
- Running Descent into Avernus Chapter 1
- Running Descent into Avernus Chapter 2
- Running Descent into Avernus Chapter 3
Hoard of the Dragon Queen
- Episode 1: Greenest in Flames
- Episode 2: The Raider's Camp
- Episode 3: The Dragon Hatchery
- Episode 4: On the Road Part 1
- Episode 4: On the Road Part 2
- Episode 5: The Carnath Roadhouse
- Episode 6: Castle Naerytar
- Episode 7: The Hunting Lodge
- Episode 8: Skyreach Castle
- Running Rise of Tiamat
Curse of Strahd
- Running Ravenloft
- Running Curse of Strahd
- Running Death House
- Tarokka-based Random Encounter Effects
- Pool Table Dungeon Mastering in Barovia
- Strahd's Negotiation
- Running Strahd von Zarovich
- Sly Flourish's Vampires
- Running Curse of Strahd YouTube Video
Waterdeep Dragon Heist
- Session Zero of Waterdeep Dragon Heist
- Running Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 1: A Friend in Need
- Running Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley
- Running Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 3: Fireball
- Running Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 4: Dragon Season
- Running Waterdeep Dragon Heist Chapter 5: The Heist
- Waterdeep Dragon Heist Lazy DM Prep Videos
Tomb of Annihilation
- Session Zero of Tomb of Annihilation
- Running Port Nyanzaru in Tomb of Annihilation
- Exploring Chult
- Urgency of the Death Curse
- Acererak's Prepared Spells
- Lost Temple of the Eshowdow
- Lost Monuments of Chult
- Running Omu
- Handling Tag-Along NPCs
- Generating Enhanced Tomb Guardians
- The Deadly Shift in Tomb of Annihilation
- Thoughts on the Finale of Tomb of Annihilation
Ghosts of Saltmarsh
- Ghosts of Saltmarsh Session Zero
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 3, Danger at Dunwater
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 4: Salvage Operation
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 5: Isle of the Abbey
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 6: The Final Enemy
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 8: The Styes
- Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh Chapter 7: Tammeraut's Fate
- Ghosts of Saltmarsh Lazy DM Prep Videos
Storm King's Thunder
- Getting the Most Out of Storm King's Thunder
- Session Zero of Storm King's Thunder
- Fronts of Storm King's Thunder
- Adding Depth to Storm King's Thunder
- Running Iymirth
Out of the Abyss
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 2: Into Darkness
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 3: The Darklake
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 5: Neverlight Grove
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 4: Gracklstugh
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 6: Blingdenstone
- Out of the Abyss Chapter 7: Escape from the Underdark
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