Improvising Legendary Monsters the Lazy DM Way!

D&D, DM/GM Tips, RPG

Yesterday Sly Flourish put up one of his DM Tips/Short Cuts videos that was about “Improvising Legendary D&D Boss Monsters” (video embedded below).

I love videos like this. I love how they help DM’s, whether new or old, have the tools to help them up their game while running a D&D session. But especially videos like this that help build up tools you can use to react to unplanned events at the table.

After all even in my short time as a DM I know that the party of adventurers will go off book, do the unexpected. You can’t plan for everything. And the way of the Lazy DM doesn’t try to.

But it does give you the tools to be able to handle everything. Even if you are making it up as you are going along at the table. Or improvising as it’s called.

I was going to write up some notes on the video for me to refer to at the table. An aid memoir.

But before I did that I thought let’s just see if Sly Flourish has written a blog post on this to go along with the video. He had not. There was a post on “Improvising Colville-style Action Oriented Monsters in D&D” which has been added to my notes.

There was one last place to check before sitting down and scribbling down some stuff. That place was the Uncovered Secrets pdf on his Patreon for patreons (although later this year will be part of a third book in the Lazy DM series).

I hit pay dirt. Sly had written up the notes for me already. How kind. That saves me a lot of time. I know I have the pdf, and can print the page out. But I’m hoping that when it comes to putting the new book together that this makes the cut. Sly has said on his live streams that one or two of the Patreon articles that makes up Uncovered Secrets and the Adventure Generators pdf (both will make up the new book) will remain Patreon exclusives.

I’m also crossing my fingers that the above linked article about Action Oriented monsters gets added.

So you’ve just read a post about how I haven’t made some notes on a video I like! Is this a none post? I’ll try better in the next post.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 31

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

So here we are the big finale. The final post of this years hashtag.

Apart from starting a day late, it felt a little strange to be doing this at the correct time.

I do like the daily prompts to write something (no matter how half hearted the words are). I’ve treated each post as a longer format tweet than an in-depth well written witty take on that days theme.

I certainly don’t do this to generate traffic to the site. I barely promote my participation. I think maybe five or six times (if that) I shared a link to the entries on Twitter. There was no noticeable jump in page views or visitors from doing so. So it’s lucky I don’t do this blog for self promotion or to make a living from.

Let’s do this one last time…

This post has to be a thank you post really.

They won’t see this, but I think I need to say thank you to the likes of Matt Colville, Sly Flourish, Nerdarchy, Jim Murphy, Seth Skorkowsky, The Arcane Library, and The Secret Cabal’s Lords of the Dungeon for their inspiration and great content.

A big thank you to The Luxe for allowing our D&D group to play on their premises.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say thanks to my best friend Duncan for his friendship and printing 3D stuff for me to enhance the table top experience of my sessions.

An even bigger thank you for our D&D group, for their kindness, support and patience as I find my feet as a DM.

And finally a big thank you to you the reader for suffering my ramblings.

Normal service will now be restored until next time.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 30

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

The penultimate hashtag post.

We’ll look at how I think this years has gone tomorrow.

In the meantime here you go…

Probably the hardest theme of them all.

However as I was thinking wtf am I going to write about this one it came to me.

I forgot to mention an RPG that I owned yesterday!

Yeah I know it’s weak. But it’s the best I could come up with.

So what RPG did I forget to mention?

Why Labyrinth The Adventure Game.

It’s a complete RPG with everything you need to play it in a single book.

Well almost. You still need to print out character sheets, and use pens or pencils.

You can read my first look at it in a previous post here.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 29

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

Wow is there really only two more posts left after today? This years hashtag has flown by.

So here is today’s post…

For me today’s theme is straight out the different RPGs out there (and there are a lot).

Below is a list of the different RPG systems I own:

  • Genesys (Terrinoth, Android, Keyforge)
  • Judge Dredd and Worlds of 2000 A.D (Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper)
  • Paranoia
  • The End of The World (Zombie Apocalypse, Alien Invasion)
  • Alien
  • Cyberpunk Red
  • Star Wars RPG 30th Anniversary edition
  • Thunderbirds
  • Judge Dredd RPG 1985
  • Judge Dredd RPG 2002
  • Elfquest
  • D&D 5e
  • Fate Condensed
  • Twilight 2000 4e
  • The One Ring 2e

I know, I know the last two aren’t officially out. But I do have the early pdf copies of the rules that they released to backers. After all I backed them, and shipping chaos allowing will have the physical stuff before the year ends.

What surprises me is how many of the ones I own are d6 based, and build a dice pool of some kind.

There is only one that uses custom dice, and that is the Genesys system. Although the dice app for it is now free. With those d6 systems some may have official dice with one or two of the numbers replaced with a symbol. That is a nice touch and doesn’t stop the game being played with regular d6. Unlike the Genesys system that is unplayable without its custom dice.

The only d20 based systems I have are the obvious D&D and the 2002 Judge Dredd RPG.

I also like how my RPG collection is more scifi leaning than fantasy. Although I love both genres.

After coming across the year zero engine in the Alien RPG from Free League I’m impressed how flexible the system is. It is used in all of there RPGs which cover a handful of genres. But I’m still impressed with how they used it in the Alien RPG and it’s stress mechanic. It sold me on the game. So it’s not a surprise that I have more than one of the Free League RPGs now.

It looks like I also skew to systems that are for an IP I like or love such as LoTR, Judge Dredd, Star Wars, Elfquest and Thunderbirds.

I’d love to know what you think my RPG collection says about me.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 28

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

As life starts to move with tentative steps in the direction of “normal” I’m left thinking how much of the old “normal” do I want back? Now is the time to come up with a new “normal” and as the song says them times are a changin’. Particularly diet wise and eating less meat.

And here we go again…

Thought I’d go with a little dungeon delve today using The Deck of Many Dungeons to generate a little single level dungeon to explore for a low level party.

Testing,Testing,1,2,3,Testing

Fenland Gamers, game night

“It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled
It’s been a long time since I did the stroll
Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back
Let me get it back, baby, where I come from” Led Zepplin, Rock and Roll

It’s been a long time since we gamed at The Luxe.

But last night we finally returned to our gracious hosts for a test gaming session with limited attendance.

The plan was hold a game night at The Luxe. See how it went. Review the evening and make a decision about restarting regular club nights.

Our game for the evening saw Lost Ruins of Arnak hit the table. A game that joined my collection over a year ago and remained unplayed until last night. I hadn’t even punched the cardboard until Tuesday when I discovered I hadn’t even done that.

Naturally I arrived a few minutes before the designated start time for the evening to get set up. It’s a little thing but it does ensure that the majority of our game time is spent playing and not setting up and packing away.

And that brings me to my main comment about the Lost Ruins of Arnak. It’s a lot of setting up. Lots of fiddling about with mixing up tokens and placing them on the board, shuffling decks, shuffling of piles of tiles.

Once you start playing it’s a lovely game, a great mash up of deck building and worker placement. I can see why this was getting a lot of buzz when it came out.

I love how it’s 5 rounds and that’s it. It forces you to focus. And seems a popular mechanic in some great games (Imperial Settlers and Wingspan come to mind). Like those other games you are left wanting at least one more turn. Which I like.

Also like those other games you start off not being able to do much and as the game progresses you are able to do more and more on your turn as you buy items or artifacts to make your deck more powerful.

Naturally there were misplays and a need to refer to the rule book on a regular basis through out the evening. Our impression of the rule book was it wasn’t great. We found trying to find information not easy due to it being spread over multiple pages, if it had what you were looking for. Plus on more than one occasion we found that it was also unclear in the information it was giving. I think our best example of this was artifact cards, buying them and using the ability straight away.

I loved that new cards (unless an artifact) went on the bottom of the deck. Getting to use the new cards quicker is cool.

The research board is a great addition as you race the other players up it to claim bonuses before the others.

I was surprised how few sites we explored to. In the end there were 4. I think it’s more that we all got distracted by the research board at the cost of exploring.

Photos taken by Jonathan and therefore his

Jeff took the honours and romped home to the victory. Sadly I came last by a point to Jonathan. So now I got to live with that until I can return the favour and crush him.

The general consensus around the table was we liked Lost Ruins of Arnak. Definitely a game we want to get back to the table (aren’t they all?)

It was felt the evening went well. We all felt safe enough. The precautions our host have in place to mitigate risk were excellent. Although the cinema wasn’t busy, no crowds in the foyer. So we decided to go ahead with holding regular gaming sessions again. But at a slow, cautious pace. What that means is instead of weekly gaming sessions on a Friday they will be fortnightly. As for the monthly meet up. Before starting that up we decided to get some feedback from the club members about the best night to hold that.

For those interested we are asking that those attending are either vaccinated against covid and/or have taken a LFT (which is negative) in addition to any requirements that our hosts The Luxe require.

I’m hoping to get Dune Imperium, Star Wars Outer Rim, Rolling Rome and Vampire the Masquerade Vendetta to the table over the coming weeks.

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 27

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

The end of another week, and the start of a bank holiday weekend. Which as a full time carer means diddly squat. Especially over the last 18 months plus because of world events.

But gaming sessions with friends has started to become a thing again. And that makes a big difference to things. Something to look forward to again.

This evening we have a test gaming session at The Luxe. If this is a success then gaming sessions for Fenland Gamers will start back up on a regular basis (assuming world events don’t conspire against us). So here’s hoping things go well.

One more time with feeling, here is today’s thing…

Taking the easy route out with today’s entry for the hashtag and going for one of the alternative themes, Group. Which will also be very very short, thankfully.

Having the right group of people around the table is so so important.

Not every group is made up of life long friends. Often it is a group of strangers who eventually (maybe) go on to become friends.

So that session zero before a campaign is so important for everyone. It helps bond the group (or hopefully starts the process), makes sure that players and DM/GM are on the same page when it comes to expectations (play styles, themes, direction of campaign) , and topics that are off limits.

I’m lucky I have a great group for our D&D campaign. Some are new friends, others are friends I have known longer. All I have met through our game group Fenland Gamers. And I’m looking forward to continuing our campaign with them and seeing where we take it.

RPGaDAY2021 Day 26

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

After this post there are 5 remaining to struggle through, and then it’s over for another year.

Let’s get on with this thang!

I’m taking the easy way out on this one. What do you need to play an RPG?

  • Some-one to be the DM/GM
  • Players
  • A copy of the rules for the system you are playing
  • Pencils and paper
  • Character sheets
  • Dice

That’s the bare minimum. Everything after that such as:

  • DM/GM screen
  • Miniatures
  • Terrain and scenery
  • Battle map
  • Published adventures
  • Additional rule books
  • Tablets/laptops
  • Speakers and background music

Are just icing on the cake so to speak. They aren’t necessary but they do enhance the experience.

It’s even possible to play for “free” or more accurately very cheaply if you take into account having to purchase dice. WotC make the basic rules free to download for D&D, along with pre-made characters. Get the free Matt Colville adventure The Delian Tomb that he created in the very first Running the Game video. Watch the first three Running the Game videos whilst there for running the adventure.

If memory serves me right several other systems have free getting started adventures that you can download to try them out. The Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. had one. These usually include a stripped down version of the rules, pre-made characters and a short adventure.

The next step up from these are starter kits. They usually have cut down rules, an adventure, a set of dice, and pre-made characters as a minimum. After that they might have maps, cardboard standees, a cardboard DM/GM screen, and cards. I want to say these are inexpensive but that’s a relative thing. But usually fall in the £20 to £40 range. And a great way to try out RPGs with your friends.

It’s never been easier to play an RPG, pick a system/theme you and your friends like, get the starter kit and play!

#RPGaDAY2021 Day 25

#RPGaDAY 2021, #RPGaDAY2021

Today the latest campaign book for the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D., The Judge Child arrived. Along with the Rogue Trooper one shot collection.

I do love how EN Publishing are doing the major Judge Dredd story arcs. In the near future we will be getting the Apocalypse War. Which naturally will cover block wars.

I’m also hoping that EN Publishing will also release a one shot collection for Strontium Dog to complete the set for the three 2000 A.D. characters covered so far.

In the meantime let’s read today’s hashtag post…

“Welcome to my nightmare
I think you’re gonna like it
I think you’re gonna feel you belong
A nocturnal vacation
A necessary sedation
You wanna feel at home ’cause you belong
Welcome to my nightmare” Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare

Is how I feel about my homebrew campaign.

There is always a bit of self doubt, insecurity nagging away that the players won’t like the way the campaign is going or the particular session.

You hope that they like it. After all you gave them options to choose from for the campaign setting. They chose the one they wanted. You gave them a one sheet about the campaign for the session zero.

But still there is that nagging sensation in a dark recess of your brain telling you they don’t like it, they aren’t having fun, they don’t feel part of the world you are weaving together.

It’s hard to overcome that feeling of imposter syndrome.

If only they knew your doubts and insecurities as they chuck their dice.

That DM screen hides so much more than just your notes, dice and miniatures.

Welcome to my nightmare…

Commanding Rivals

Commander, Game day, magic, MtG, Rivals, Vampire the Masquerade Rivals, vampire the masquerade: rivals

This morning three people gathered to duke it out on the battlefield with their chosen commanders.

It was a casual smack down using WotC Commander precon decks. I had all the precon decks from 2017 to now with me (except the anthology decks) for us to play with.

Gavin was using his own precon, while Diego and myself chose from the recent D&D ones. My precons were “naked”! I have 3 years worth of precons to sleeve. Which is a lot of decks, and I need to find the funds to purchase the Dragon Shields to do the job.

Here are the commanders we played.

  • Me – Vrondriss, Rage of Ancients (D&D precon)
  • Diego – Galea, Kindler of Hope (D&D precon)
  • Gavin – Adrix and Nev, Twincasters (Strixhaven precon)

Early on Diego established himself as a big threat. His Commander with a couple of nasty bits of equipment that gave it +10/+10 and double strike was scary. One hit death to Commander damage if it landed. Thank god there was no trample added to it.

I was way behind both of them on the land drops. So I was happy for Diego to be the big distraction as I tried to catch up and build up a winning board state (see the photo above). All I needed was to be able to chump block if attacked by him.

Luckily there were very few answers for them both to stop my flyers chipping away at them or stop me using direct damage to control their board state (ie remove potential blockers or sending Diego’s Commander to hell). It was also lucky that Diego wasn’t able to give his equipped Commander hexproof. That would have made life extremely difficult.

But in the end the dragon horde prevailed and won the game.

Next up was a learning game of Vampire the Masquerade: Rivals.

We played using the pre-constructed decks. I gave Gavin and Diego first choice and I played what was left. Below is who played what.

  • Brujah – me (rival was Gavin)
  • Toreador – Gavin (rival was Diego)
  • Ventrue – Diego (rival was me)

After a poor explanation of the rules and picking our rival we started playing.

Our first play was definitely a game of two conflicting experiences.

Gavin didn’t enjoy the game at all. He was polite and put it down to the cards he drew, and there being little he could do to make use of his clans abilities. I don’t think the poor rules explanation helped either.

I’m sure there were more rule misplays than the one we had. Well technically it wasn’t a misplay more missed rule! We missed that you could discard cards during the torpor/mend stage to heal vampires. Which would have kept Gavin in the game instead of seeing me win it. Thanks Diego for spotting that after the fact and casting a shadow over my glorious victory.

The Brujah deck I was playing was probably the simpler deck to play compared to the Toreador deck Gavin was trying to play. It is the Rivals version of a MtG aggro deck. Which is definitely one of the deck archetypes I like to play.

When Diego played Long-Term Investment I got a distinct Netrunner vibe and reminded of cards like Kati Jones.

Like Netrunner there is a lot of jargon to get used to, especially if you are not into the whole Worlds of Darkness thing. Which can add to the confusion and make the learning curve a bit more steeper than it already is.

So while Gavin won’t be playing Rivals again Diego and myself will be. I need to play the other decks. And then want to get into deck building.

But once again it was great to be playing in real life again. Especially when I win. Plus there is more gaming to look forward to at the end of the week.