Preparing for your D&D Game in 15 Minutes

It just dawned on me that your secrets and clues are basically a great tool for PCs "exploring" in TTRPGs! I have always wondered what is exploration, and now I realize it is giving your players ideas for interacting with your game! Sooo powerful! Thank you Sly Flourish!!

Really concise lecture. Thanks guy!

The captions are batshit insane

What kind of microphone do you use?

Late to this. What if you are, like great ideas but, just not a writer. How prepared do you need to be? I really need to pick up Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master.

Came across your videos while prepping for part 2 of my Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign in the Caves of Hunger. Love your prep style brother 🤙🏼

Yo sly, do you ever do voice acting? I'd really love to see you run a game, I'm curious how your process looks.

Woo! Watched it and still have over 8 minutes to spare for planning!

Always outstanding advice. I always make sure maps & monsters are taken care of, but the 10 secrets is something I ought to be doing as well. Thanks!

Sly. Have the guide and workbook. Both incredible assets and I appreciate the work you have done. They are staples at my table.

Running a NO PREP session where the players tell me the plot hook and I have 5 min to build for a 3h one shot. Needless to say, going to be studying the workbook!

Just ran my first homebrew session using the steps and it was my best session yet!

A tip I've heard is, if you have a cool monster idea but don't have the time/mind to make its stats, use a bear as the base. At least in OSR games, bears are actually kinda beefy statwise so if you just throw on a coat of paint and a cool ability or two, you're golden!

We've definitely used Dyson Logos! Fantastic maps. Great setup for the videos, Sly!

I started dming last year and I honestly don’t know if I could have done it without your books and videos. Especially the return of the lady dm, the dm workbook and your video guide on phandalin. You are great!

I like to put more emphasis on combats. Often you're able to transfer unused secrets like "They didn't discover the Thieves Guild in Town A but maybe there's a ToTaLlY dIfFeReNt [wink] Guild in Town B. But I think bad combats are the worst. Combat takes so much playtime, it should be fun, special and most of all balanced. Let's be honest, all of us have changed stats on the fly because the epic Boss fell in Round 1 or the random Goblin Raid was going to TPK the group...

The last session I ran, I didn't have very much time to plan so I felt super under prepared. I hurried and threw together a quick dungeon and thought I could railroad them there pretty easily.

Well they ended up "foiling" all my plans, and within 30 minutes we were in unknown and improved territory. I can honestly say it was one of my top 3 favorite sessions. I don't think it would work that way every time, but I actually found that less planning actually made me feel I had more freedom in my game. So the 15-minute prep can still create some amazing sessions.

"What if you only have 10 minutes to prepare for a DnD game? You'd be screwed, because this is how to prepare in 15 minutes."

Another awesome video. Thanks for the examples of strong starts as well as secrets and clues. What was the map URL, dysonlogos?

Return of the Lazy Dungeonmaster is a great read

I had a few questions though.

1) I have trouble with the strong start. Doesn't pushing the characters in a combat at the start makes session starts... Predictable? And if I don't throw them to combat, making a big event can completely derail the quest they are going through. Sure, improv is part of the DM job, but sometimes you want to gently steer characters in one direction. And if we are inside a cave or temple, that we finish the session there because we are out of time, doesn't starting again with an event break the original flow of the dungeon / cave / temple we were in when we stopped?

2) How do you keep track of all the clues, named locations and story arcs you invent each session? If I am to set up 10 or so clues / secrets each session, that makes a LOT to track no?

Now I want a 15 minute real-time video where you do all this and show that it can be done!

Attack of the procrastinating dungeon master

Related to the strong start, how often do you time skip between sessions? I worry about hindering player agency if I skip ahead a couple days and place them in a new spot to pump up the start. For example, right now I'm running ToA. They just swiped the last unguarded cube from a bunch of Red Wizards and are planning to confront the Yuan'ti. I could skip them ahead to the entrance of the lair or start them where they are hiding out in the ruins and let them find it... but potentially at the expense of a strong start.

Nice speakers. Turntable too?

A very practical video. Great to see.

Oh man, I'd just call it off. I can't improv to save my life.

MIke, another winner of a video (so much so that I'm trying to figure out how to riff on this for an episode of Radio Grognard).
It reminds me of what George Burns once said: "If you can get a great start and great finish you don't have to worry about all that dull stuff in-between."

Since Ive started watching the channel, youve turned me on to some many good techniques and resources, not just for ttrpgs but also for my own personal creative writing. Absolutely excellent content, thank you so much, it is hugely appreciated.

I have enjoyed your book so much. Thank you!!

I have been using you book the last few months. My Dm sometimes isnt able to dm for a certain week, so i will throw something together when I arrive.

But Sly.... how am I supposed to re-write a broken chapter in a WotC Adventure in 15 minutes???? lol

Pick your favorite movie and run that

What method if purchase provides you the most return? Keep up the great content

I've been using your advice from the Lazy Dungeon Master at the game table and it has enhanced the experience considerably. The secrets and clues tip is an absolute treasure that several seasoned DM's and Players absolutely fell in love with at the game table. Really enjoying your videos, keep up the great work as I am binge watching all of it!