The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish · [email protected]

Not Like This – Lazy RPG Talk Show

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

Mike Shea gives Dragonbane players early heroic abilities to offset the system's low-action feel.

1. The Lazy RPG Podcast episode centers on Sly Flourish news, Dragonbane notes, a scene target number GM tip, and the commentary titled “Not Like This.” 2. Mike Shea hosts the show as the creator behind Sly Flourish and Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, and he frames the episode around tabletop RPG prep and play. 3. The episode asks how to handle expectations about future RPG products, how to improve Dragonbane for his table, and how to evaluate a prep framework. 4. Shea points back to his article Your Own Prep Framework and describes a cycle of learning ideas, prepping with them, running them, and then evaluating what worked. 5. He says the upcoming article is The Lazy Campaign Building Checklist, which breaks campaign work into initial planning, session zero, after session zero, and world-building. 6. Shea says he released 16 chapters of a new product and is still revising an 85,000-word draft with 42 chapters and appendices. 7. He says he wants the project to be a “100 year book,” useful beyond his lifetime, so he is collecting feedback from Hero Tier patrons and other readers. 8. Shea explains that Dragonbane was easy to learn because it uses roll-under checks with no plus modifiers and lets turns move quickly. 9. He says his players came from a 20-level D&D 5E campaign, so they are used to having many character options. 10. Shea says one player found Dragonbane more comfortable because everyone was learning together instead of comparing experience levels. 11. He says he does not love every adventure in the Dragonbane campaign book and thinks Roads End needed clearer curses and a clearer story. 12. Shea says he rewrote Roads End heavily, including a time-travel angle tied to a falsely accused old woman and a demon named X. 13. He compares Village of the Day Before to Edge of Tomorrow and describes its one-hour loop, five dragons, dragon dung, and a pie for a troll. 14. Shea says the first pass through Village of the Day Before frustrated the players, but the second pass helped them solve the loop and finish the adventure in two sessions. 15. He says he placed the campaign’s three statue pieces in Village of the Day Before, Ritter Mound, and Both Hills Load to give the story structure. 16. Shea says he liked Temple of the Purple Flame, Oracle Cave, and Dead Eyes Cave, but did not want to run Trollspire because of its puzzle and Fort Malice because of its moral ambiguity. 17. He says Dragonbane advancement happens when players roll a 1 or 20, so he wants to avoid unnecessary checks and track passive awareness scores instead. 18. Shea describes the show as a talkative, practical solo update with lots of concrete table advice and ongoing experimentation. 19. Listeners who like Sly Flourish prep advice and Dragonbane tables. 20. Listeners wanting only polished rules debate or finished product reveals.

As heard by us

Practical GM thinking, with Dragonbane prep, a scene-target experiment, and a caution against idealizing new RPG ideas.

Mike Shea moves through Dragonbane prep, a scene target number experiment, and a warning about expecting fresh RPG ideas to look exactly like the ideal version in your head.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want one GM idea, one table test, and one reality check about wishful thinking.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish