Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

I really enjoyed reading the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Sly Flourish. The philosophy of how to approach your gaming session was enlightening and refreshing. I am a returning DM. I used to play AD&D when I was a kid, both as a player & DM, and now am a much older player & DM that restarted a little rusty, trying to understand the "new" 5th edition D&D game. My players are my family, with no previous experience, except for them listening to podcasts like Damage Guild, Not Another D&D Podcast and the Adventure Zone. (Talk about having DM expectations from brand new players!) This guide book was fantastic for helping a nuts and bolts, follow the rules, look up the answer in the books- kinda guy like me. The way I see each session now is so much easier, more fun and entertaining, and so much more focused on my players and their characters, than just "what does the rule books say about..." My players have commented on how much better the sessions are since I've been using the philosophies covered in this book. What are the philosophies discussed, what was the biggest change in perspective? For me, it's the realization that the whole game is about the characters, the heroes, getting to do awesome things. That's what the players want, to see their character be an awesome hero! As the DM, it's not my job to know every single rule and follow every rule to the letter, it's about me presenting challenging sessions that allow the players to be amazed at how cool their characters get to interact in a fantasy world. I highly recommend this to any DM no matter what game you're playing. It's written in a philosophical way, not just for 5th Edition D&D, but is useful for any table top roll playing game. Now, go forth and create awesome worlds!

The short version: This is a great resource for new DM's looking to start off on the right foot with focusing their game prep time on the things that contribute the most to the fun while shortening their time spent on things that don't. Experienced DM's will also find a lot of really helpful ideas. Especially with planning your sessions to be able to adapt and improvise with player choices that you didn't anticipate and would otherwise derail the session. The long version: I've owned the PDF copy of the book for a few years and decided to get a hard copy to peruse more easily. The book arrived in perfect condition with no printing errors. I started DMing a few years ago as a newcomer to TTRPG's with a group of players who had also never played. I made plenty of mistakes and wasted lots of time in my session prep on low value activities like making full stat blocks for NPC's who would never be in combat. I was spending 3 plus hours prepping for a 4 hour session. Now using the ideas in this book plus my experience, I can usually prep for a session in about 30-45 minutes and feel prepared, and the sessions are more fun as well. A lot of the ideas in the book involve flexible plans with lots of room for improvisation so you can stay a step ahead of the players when they do unexpected things. For example in one of my sessions, the players cleared a dungeon of cultists and found evidence that a wealthy family in the city was involved. I expected that they would head straight to the manor and infiltrate the house. But instead they decided to go to the house of a rival family to try and get some support and Intel. So on the spot I improvised a handful of NPC's and the contents of the house, and the players were able to persuade the family to help them and created a diversion that helped them sneak in. There's no way I can anticipate every move the players might make, but with a looser improvisational game plan I can adapt to their plans on the fly and make them feel like they're actually making meaningful choices instead of reading from a pre written script. I highly recommend checking out the book, even if you don't want to run a high inprov session many of the ideas will still be helpful in running fun games.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. The whole book can be read cover-to-cover in a couple hours, but it is dense with practical and concrete advice about how to give players a better gaming experience with less prep work. It is applicable to any tabletop RPG, not just Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy games. I applied it to my Dresden Files RPG game (present-day setting with magical twists using a version of Fate rules), and it immediately paid off. I've seen several reviews that say this isn't for people who are new to running RPGs, but I disagree. Sly's 8-step preparation process isn't too onerous, and he also includes advice about how to cut it down to just 3 steps - perfect for new gamemasters. The one step of preparing and revealing "secrets" is by itself worth the whole price of the book. (If you're comparing this to his original Lazy Dungeon Master, "secrets" is an indispensable new section in this new volume.) I highly recommend this book as a gift for non-gamers to give to gamers, as it can be very useful and enjoyable to anyone who sits around a table rolling dice and making up stories with friends.

It gives a method for preparing for your game session. I think that Mike's system is great and the book is worth reading as I think everyone can pick up a few tips and tricks. The book is well structured and each chapter is concise and has a great summary checklist at the end. For an experienced DM like myself, there are a few things that I plan to use in the future, including the Create a Strong Start (which I always tried to do but didn't "have to") and the Secrets and Clues (and making them available when appropriate). I enjoy the Sly Flourish blog and podcasts and think that Mike has a great positive impact to the D&D community. My first "book" read by the author and I'll keep reading them.

I have been running various RPG games for over 40 years, (mostly various editions of D&D). I have recently been looking for advice on how to improve the quality of my games and this book is just packed with useful advice. In my early days I played a more sandbox style but as I got more proficient as a GM, I fell more and more into storyline style of play. Recently my interest has been rekindled in 'old-school' style of play and this book just has a lot of good advice on how to run a campaign. For an 'old dog', I am surprised how many new tricks I have learned from this book. This book has a lot of 'work smarter not harder' advice and a lot of suggestions that I think will greatly improve the quality of play in the games I run. Time will tell, but I am very happy with the book.

This book was a game changer for me. It provides a solid format for adventure planning that I've used for my last 10 sessions and its been great for my confidence. The guide does a good job of making sure you focus on the important stuff that enriches your sessions rather than getting caught up in the minutiae. Previously, I would just kind of outline each session like a story, adding details if they seemed important. It was alright, but it was unfocused compared to what this book taught me. The Secrets and Clues have been especially useful, as it lets me think about what lore is available to the players. I'm still learning how to integrate them into each session better, but it's been good practice. I'm someone who tends to hold onto information for far too long to make my players "earn" it, but this is helping me be more free and open with how the players move the story along.

This book started me on the journey to realizing that overprepping was hurting me more than it was helping. I don't use the exact style listed in this book, but I use it as inspiration. DMs, if you're feeling like you're overprepping and are considering buying this book, do it. It's not just for lazy people, it genuinely helps the quality of your game. It teaches you how to prep in 30 minutes, and it teaches you to rely on your most important skill: improvisation. Yes, you can learn it, and yes it's way better and more fun that constantly checking your notes. The only notes I have is that it's pretty short, but not only have I read it and gotten value, I've also sent it off to my girlfriend so she can read it, too!

I liked the quick summaries of strategies for improving TTRPGs. I don't have a lot of time to prep my campaigns because I work full time. So I want all the work I choose to do to meaningfully improve the game I run. I know a lot of GMs are passionate about their craft. I think this book is full of ideas on how to refine that craft.