The Dm's Deep Dive With Mike Shea

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike discusses and ranks nearly all the hardcover WOTC-published D&D adventures. Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Support Sly Flourish on Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master  Guide to Published D&D Adventures Video Contents 00:00 Beginning 03:52 Lost Mine of Phandelver 06:17 Dragon of Icespire Peak 08:47 Curse of Strahd 12:10 Ghosts of Saltmarsh 16:05 Tomb of Annihilation 22:23 Storm King's Thunder 26:15 Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat) 29:52 Waterdeep Dragon Heist 33:32 Out of the Abyss 36:07 Rime of the Frostmaiden 42:01 Princes of the Apocalypse 44:13 I've enjoyed ALL of these adventures 45:25 Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus 48:04 Even rough adventures can be great fun Amazon Associate Links for these adventures... D&D Starter Set: Lost Mine of Phandelver D&D Essentials Kit: Dragon of Icespire Peak Curse of Strahd Ghosts of Saltmarsh Tomb of Annihilation Cellar of Death for Tomb of Annihilation Storm King's T

Mike talks about the value of running simple D&D adventures. Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike argues for the value of published RPG material even when running our own homebrew adventures and campaigns. Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike chat's about D&D!  Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Video Contents 00:00 Intro 01:21 Scaling Adventures & Dials of Monster Difficulty 03:54 All the ways to subscribe to Sly Flourish! 06:01 Beefing up an ogre 11:10 "Roles" in 4e and 5e 13:05 Why Minions, Normal, Elite, and Solo roles don't work for 5e 17:32 Monsters Know What They're Doing is awesome 21:03 Initial thoughts on Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft 42:59 Thoughts on 6e from a indie publisher's point of view Links Dials of Monster Difficulty Monster's Know What They're Doing DM Deep Dive with Keith Amman Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e Raging Swan Press Patreon Raging Swan Press DriveThruRPG Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands  

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike discusses the value of running more easy battles in our D&D games to maintain the oscillation of upward and downward beats.  Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike chats about general D&D topics and ponders how to handle chapters 2 and beyond in Rime of the Frostmaiden. Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Support Sly Flourish on Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master  Ptolus by Monte Cook Frostmaiden Chapters 2+ Thoughts Notion Notebook Video Contents 00:00 Beginning 00:30 Become a Patreon: https://patreon.com/slyflourish 02:34 Ptolus by Monte Cook Games 11:27 Van Richten's Guide and overly positive early reviews 16:50 New Adventures c Can we see more optimistic adventures? 24:39 Are WOTC hardback adventures all about marketing? 34:50 How do we steal from published adventures for our own game? 44:05 Embrace third-party D&D publishers 51:34 New Sly Flourish three-minute tip videos 56:52 Mire's End – A Patreon-exclusive adventure location coming soon 58:54 Increasing Patreon subscription for new patrons? 1:05:13 Frostmaiden: Auril's Endless Night 1:13:21 Auril as a "Front" 1:16:40 Frostmaiden as a Three-Act Story 1:21:00 Sub-

Another short episode in which Mike talks about the importance of focusing on your next D&D game. Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike offers three tips to draw players into the fiction of your D&D game in three minutes. Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike offers three quick tips for getting started running Rime of the Frostmaiden. Original Youtube Video Sam Dillon's Creed of Auril Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Podcast Contents 00:00 Intro 00:27 Tip 1: Apply the Right Character Motivation 01:33 Tip 2: Start in Bryn Shander 02:42 Tip 3: Add the Cult of Auril

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike talks with Celeste Conowitch of 2C Gaming about her upcoming Venture Maidens campaign sourcebook currently live on Kickstarter! Venture Maidens Kickstarter Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike offers guidelines for running huge hordes of monsters in D&D and looks at a number of alternative approaches. Show notes Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Podcast Contents 00:00 Intro 00:41 Mike's recommended horde system 05:03 Why we care about horde guidelines 05:58 Mike's criteria for good horde guidelines 06:54 Horde guidelines from the Dungeon Master's Guide (Chap 8, Pg 250) 08:26 4e D&D style minions 09:38 Single-stat-block hordes 10:36 5e Hardcore Mode's horde guidelines 12:09 13th Age mook rules 13:25 Mike's recommended horde guidelines review 15:53 Problems with Mike's horde guidelines 18:14 The importance of horde guidelines for D&D

Mike chats with Teos Abadia about D&D skill challenges! Original Youtube Video Mastering Dungeons Alphastream.org Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike prepares for his latest session of Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden! Original Youtube Video Notion Frostmaiden Campaign Notebook Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master

Mike gives a short talk about ability checks, failing forward, and succeeding with a cost. Show notes Original Youtube Video Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Join Sly Flourish's Patreon Buy Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Podcast Contents: 00:00 Intro 00:38 The core mechanic of D&D 01:35 You don't need an ability check for easy stuff 02:02 Easy steps to choose a DC 03:04 DCs don't change based on the character's abilities 03:52 The power of improvising ability checks 04:32 Ability checks in complicated situations 07:08 Understand the in-world situation instead of focusing on mechanics 09:09 Asking for a check without a DC to see if they succeed at a cost 10:45 The improvisational power of ability checks, succeeding at a cost, and failing forward