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Michael E. Shea

Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Paperback – December 8, 2018

by Michael Shea (Author)

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Winner of the 2019 Gold ENnie for Best Electronic Book!Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is a book designed to help roleplaying game masters get more out of our RPGs by preparing less. Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master uses the experiences of thousands of GMs to help us focus on how we prepare our games, how we run our games, and how we think about our games. It includes practical steps for focusing our preparation activities on those things that will bring the biggest impact to our game.Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master builds off of the concepts of the well-received GM's guidebook Lazy Dungeon Master, updating that book with five years of new experiences, new approaches, and new observations of the way people prepare and run RPGs. This new book is a completely self-contained work, which does not require anyone to have previously read The Lazy Dungeon Master.Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master offers a new focused approach for preparing and running our roleplaying games. This full color illustrated book includes an eight-step guide for lightweight game preparation and is focused on how we prepare for our games, how we run our games, and how we think about our games.Prepare what benefits your game.

Print length

94 pages
Language

English
Publication date

December 8, 2018
Dimensions

8.5 x 0.23 x 11 inches
ISBN-10

1726631826
ISBN-13

978-1726631822
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (December 8, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 94 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1726631826
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1726631822
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.23 x 11 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #69 in Fantasy Gaming

Customer Reviews:
1,379 ratings

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2 star		1%
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Slo_matt

As or possibly more important than the DMG

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

I've been running RPG games since I got the red box set at age nine. I'm damn good at it. Better than most I've met.

That being said, I bow before the genius of this book.

Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master breaks the creation of a gaming session into simple steps that can be completed within an hour or two. What's more, the vast majority of games will actually be improved using these methods. In his book, Mike Shea has focused in on what makes a RPG adventure great with an intensity that would put a beholder's eye-beams to shame.

I've read a lot of how-to-DM guides, from the latest DMGs for Pathfinder and 5e to Gygax's old Master of the Game and too many Dragon Magazine articles to recall. This book tops them, and makes it look easy.

The only downside to this book is that it isn't for brand-new DMs. If you've never run a game before, don't start here, it assumes knowledge you don't have yet. Once you've been at it for a year or so, however, come pick it up. Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is an absolute must-have, and a steal at the list price.

117 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Not as helpful as the first Lazy Dungeon Master book.

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

The book offers more insight and expands upon the system implemented from the first book. There is a checklist of eight steps in this book for session building vs four from the last one. Overall the theme of the book seems to "you need to do more than I said you should do in the last book."
There aren't any additional helpful tables in this book. I was a big fan of the "Here's 20 random npc names to use in your game" table in the back as well as additional quick guides. This book has options and references regarding outside resources, but nothing specific to the book.

Overall it's an okay book. I'd recommend reading the first Lazy Dungeon Master over this one and I would only recommend this one to anyone who thought that the first book didn't flesh out the ideas as much as they would have liked.

72 people found this helpful

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Fortune_Faded

Optimizing game planning to make prep time count

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book. Specifically it refocuses attention in game planning to avoid creating content that your players will never see, and instead lead you to set up games where their decisions matter, your prepared content gets used, and it's well laid out enough to be accessible when needed. From the first instance of prepping using the layout described in chapter 2, I got immediate positive results with my group. I'm going to continue using this to refine my games.

29 people found this helpful

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Justin H.

Incredibly Helpful

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

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.

11 people found this helpful

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PawnMower

A great method of easy DM prep

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book really took the stress out of DM prep. I used to over prepare which actually railroads your players. I like the previous book but this is a much better approach.

17 people found this helpful

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Lance Edward Robinson

Everything you need to know, to run your first game as a DM.

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

Let me "out" myself. I've played D&d for 3 years. With 3 different DM's in 4 campaigns. I love, love, LOVE the game! And I secretly, started thinking "I want to run a campaign -- that looks fun!"

But of course, it seemed very intimidating. I've been reading fantasy books for 30 years. How could I live up to Zelazny, Tolkien, Donaldson, Brooks...? It seemed too daunting, let alone, living up to my 3 DM's who are pretty amazing story-tellers too.

...by reading this book. That's how.

In all seriousness, you can't go wrong with this book. It lays out, clearly, and efficiently, in short chapters, how to be an efficient DM who spends time on the things that matter most to your players, and to the next gaming session you will be Dungeon Master of.

If you want to DM, then you want to read this book.

You will not be sorry. You will be GLAD, and THANKFUL, if you read this book.

*ALSO....if your have a DM you like, but they are either stressed about the time they are putting into their preparation, or they are slacking a little bit...but it for them too :)

4 people found this helpful

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Lightsleeper

Useful resource

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

If you find yourself spending a lot of time to prepare for an RPG session, this is for you. It will give you techniques for streamlining your process and avoiding the wasted work of over-planning.

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Emilio Mestiga

Only really useful for neophyte GMs

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

I bought this book on a whim, based largely on the nice cover art and its good reputation. For what is essentially a self-published book the physical quality is first rate - large format, easy to read layout, clean fonts, clear diagrams, no typos (that I spotted anyway) and an unfussy prose style. Furthermore, the art is plentiful and better than you'd find in most gaming books. There are two artists involved, one is decent, the other properly good - his is the picture on the cover.

The content of the book is another matter. All the author is really saying is - just prep your story hook, NPC's and locations with a few bullet points to remind you of the crucial bits. But since the players will probably do something you didn't expect, be ready to bin it all and improvise.

And that's pretty much it. At the end of each chapter is a paragraph which tells the reader to just go with what works best for them. Yep, I couldn't have thought of that one myself. There is also a chapter on what the book calls the DM's Toolkit of essentials to have to hand during play. This includes a notebook so that you can, y'know, take some notes. Also, the reader is informed, you'll want to have the actual rulebook of the game you're playing, presumably so that you don't have to memorise the whole thing first which is what most people must have been doing. If you are running a published adventure, you should have it to hand. If you use miniatures in your game, then make sure you have some miniatures. So you can use them.

It does seem a bit mean spirited to mock Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master like this; it is a nicely put together book and the author is clearly sincere in what he's trying to do, but I cannot imagine a DM of any experience not already doing all of what's in this book and more (or less, as the case may be). If you are a total neophyte and have zero experience, or possibly if you're going to run a convention game with a limited time slot and players you don't know, then there might be something of value here. For anyone else it's inessential.

25 people found this helpful

The Banished Immortal

Best D&D supplement going...?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

The Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is a real gem of a book. Fantasy Roleplaying is a huge market these days, and there are countless titles out there to choose from, by both long-established companies and small independents.

Where on Earth do you start? Well, no matter what game system you’re playing, the Lazy DM is an absolute godsend.

It’s ostensibly written for D&D 5E, but the advice within its 90-odd pages is universal. It’s also written specifically for DMs, though there’s plenty in there to give players food for thought, too.

In essence, it’s a slim tome of wise counsel. Fledgling DMs need to hear it, as do the long-established and certainly the set-in-their-ways. This book isn’t just a time saver; it will boost the enjoyment and enthusiasm of both you and your players a thousandfold.

Michael E Shea gets to the crux of what’s important both in terms of preparing and running a session. Instead of wasting hours planning elaborate encounters your players will probably bypass and never see, or, even worse, be forced into kicking and screaming as you impose your precious set piece upon them, Shea’s advice is to only prep the things that really make a difference. Relax. Trust. Enjoy.

Tailor the adventure to your player characters’ motives and strengths, he exhorts. Create a strong start, identify secrets and clues, outline a few great locations and invent some compelling but loosely sketched NPCs, monsters & rewards.

The author rightly emphasises the need for an improvised approach that sees DM and players working together, rather than against each other, to tell extraordinary stories.

If you follow these tips and tricks, I guarantee that your game will be transformed for the better.

The only other book that comes close is the more lengthy and less colourful “Gamemastering” by Brian Jamison, which contains much of the same advice, only with much more detail. It’s no coincidence that these two books extol the same principles of economy of preparation, organic improv and character-based storytelling. Each author has come to the same conclusions from their own extensive experience of running RPGs. The results will speak for themselves if you apply them.

Both books will save you from falling into the many traps that ensnare the unwary DM. The Lazy DM is a quicker read and has better production values than Gamemastering, and contains enough info to get you off to a really good start. If it’s working, consider getting Jamison’s book, too, which at 300-or-so pages is absolutely stuffed with great ideas and advice. Taken together, they really are the Holy Duo of good DMing! It’s a pity really that this sort of wisdom isn’t to be found in the core books - and it’s not just D&D that’s guilty of this omission.

The Sly Flourish series of which the Lazy DM is a part also comprises Fantastic Locations and Fantastic Adventures. Both are great resources for ideas, but if you’re going to get only one, choose this one. You won’t look back.

In fact, your whole library of modules and adventure paths will instantly turn from slavish follow-throughs that never quite work into a rich source of ideas that you and your players can riff on to your hearts’ content.

All hail the Lazy DM! Truly, it’s the best D&D supplement out there. Don’t take my word for it. Buy it, read it, absorb its ideas, apply them and watch with delight as your jaded players’ faces are prized upward from their mobile phone screens and light up with glee before your very eyes!

6 people found this helpful

Its good to be lazy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a great book for any DM. But especially good for those DM's who (like me) totally over prepare, stress and get writers cramp. The book is a philosophy in how to take less time to prepare, save paper, have more fun and relax. It is better than any official DM's guide.

4 people found this helpful

Linda

Every dungeon master should have this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

I liked all of it and I found every chapter helpful.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters that showed me how to create my own campaign. This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time but I always got bogged down and lost. This book lives up to its name and shows a lazy way of doing it but one that works.
Don't know if Sly Flourish intends a third book, but I will be first in the queue if he does.

One person found this helpful

Walter J. Throgmoyd

Great advice presented in a way to give DMs confidence to run sessions.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a great little book. Production values are high - the cover, interior layout, organization and art are lovely. It's a very intuitive tool that you can read start to finish or simply dip into. Very easy to find what you are looking for within. Great appendices sharing the results of online polls that support a lot of the book's conclusions and suggestions. A lot of it is common sense to experienced DMs - but there are also some excellent tips hitherto not considered. Has been very helpful in making game prep more efficient. Effort to reward ratio definitely maximized. Read it through once, adopt what you like, ignore anything you don't - but remember the principles extolled therein! Oh - and a bargain price to boot. Highly recommended.

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