The Lazy Dungeon Master by Michael E. Shea

 

This is a reread of one of my favorite books of all time. There is a newer version that is also amazing, but I still find value in rereading this book.

It's hard to give a revue of a book that you love so much that all you feel you can say is "Whatever you are doing drop it now and go read this book!"

This book fundamentally changed how I view gamemastering. Reading it again I find details that I can apply to help hone my game. I know that when I read it again I will no doubt once again find more advice to apply.

This is all to say, whatever you are doing drop it now and go read this book!

Some of the points I found in this reading that I wish to apply:

• Describe your campaign in one sentence and don't make it more complicated.
• Don't sell an ending you can't deliver. Realize that you are doing a character focused story and those rarely end well. Keep it simple and never over promise.
• Do 3-4 month mini campaigns.
• Too many tools can be a problem.
• The descriptions in monster entries in published books can be a whole mini campaign in itself.
• A good tool should save you time, not take it away. It should give you more freedom.
• Sort through my random maps and make the best stuff of each category easy to find.
• Delegate a player to keep track of ongoing effects.
• Ask the players what is one distinguishing physical feature of this new NPC.
• Delegate to the player who is the most distracted.
• Relax. Players just want to have fun and relax with friends. You don't have to be a perfect gamemaster. Your players aren't expecting that, why are you expecting it from yourself?
• Act as if you are relaxed even if you are not.