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The Lazy DM's Companion

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The Lazy DM's Companion is a 64 page book of guidelines and inspirational generators to help you build, prepare, and run awesome D&D games. Sitting alongside Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and The Lazy DM's Workbook, the Lazy DM's Companion streamlines play and fires off your imagination to build awesome and unique worlds for you and your players to explore.

Each page of this 64-page book offers useful guidelines, an adventure or campaign generator, or a versatile map within which to build your own adventures. These include:

Lazy DM Guidelines

  • Tools for Improvisation
  • Quick Tricks for Lazy DMs
  • Building an RPG Group
  • RPG Safety Tools
  • Session Zero Checklist
  • One-on-One Guidelines
  • Playing RPGs Online
  • Running Single-Session Games
  • Teaching New Players
  • Strong Starts
  • Creating Secrets and Clues
  • Building Situations
  • Understanding Exploration
  • Spiral Campaigns
  • Revised Guidelines for Theater of the Mind
  • Zone-Based Combat
  • Point Crawls

5e Tools

  • Options for 1st-Level Play
  • Lazy Combat Encounters
  • Stress Effects
  • Monster Difficulty Dials
  • Elemental Monster Templates
  • Undead Templates
  • Improvised Legendary Monsters
  • Running Hordes
  • Lazy Treasure Generator

Campaign Tools

  • NPC Generator
  • Villain Generator
  • God Generator
  • Fallen Kingdoms
  • Cult Generator
  • Alien Worlds
  • Random Environmental Locations
  • Settlement Generator
  • Wilderness Exploration
  • Underground Exploration
  • Land of the Fey

Adventure Inspiration

  • Core Adventure Generator
  • Quest Templates
  • Dogs of War: Running Wars
  • Haunted Lairs
  • The Traitor
  • The Beast
  • Vengeance for Hire
  • Protect the Village
  • The Keep
  • Invaders
  • Hunt for the Artifact
  • The Heist

Maps

The Lazy DM's Companion includes a number of maps drawn by Daniel Walthall built for the same kind of versatility, including overland maps, castle ruins, dungeons, and caverns. Each map is intended to serve multiple themes in multiple ways, working hand-in-hand with the adventure generators included in The Lazy DM's Companion.

Videos

Learn more about the Lazy DM's Companion with the following YouTube videos:

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Reviews (39)
Discussions (21)
Customer avatar
Mike S December 11, 2023 8:37 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
POD version is now online!!
Customer avatar
Adrian H May 28, 2023 8:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Also waiting for the POD option :)
Customer avatar
Stefan F January 18, 2023 1:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'd love to print this and work with it off-screen, but the background kills my ink.
Any chance for a white-background version?
Customer avatar
Marco F December 28, 2022 11:59 am UTC
PURCHASER
Why is there no POD option? I have bought the workbook on Drivethru and it looks great.
Customer avatar
Leonard P July 20, 2022 9:19 am UTC
POD option?
Customer avatar
Kelly W July 14, 2022 3:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
can you make a printed verison or a print friendly one please?
Customer avatar
Robert B May 26, 2022 9:29 pm UTC
Any pod for this coming up? Only one I'm missing
Customer avatar
Tim K May 24, 2022 12:13 pm UTC
Will there be a print option available at any stage?
Customer avatar
Matt R May 03, 2022 5:40 am UTC
Sly Flourish's work is ALWAYS excellent. Interesting and, more importantly, extremely helpful.
Customer avatar
Jay H February 23, 2022 10:41 pm UTC
Thinking of purchasing due to my lack of confidence and my willingness to want to get my kids and wife into Role Playing. I have just lost a lot of confidence over the years and this appears to be on the right path. Looks like work is well done, Mike. Nice Job. I most likely will be purchasing them. That being said I would like to gather as much (lazy/aid) world-building material as is offered. Any recommendations on other products to help plant the seeds of creation?
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Customer avatar
andrew M March 23, 2022 11:59 pm UTC
I highly recommend Worlds without Number for fantasy and Stars without Number for Science Fiction.
Customer avatar
Harold A February 15, 2022 1:10 am UTC
I am part of Mike's Kickstart for this product and this PDF. I'm not a 5e DM. I'm just getting started in the DM biz but I've look at - and purchased - lots of 'help' products trying to get my legs (and build up my nerve). This is a great product. When I get a product, I usually go through it and print out the page or pages that look to me to be useful. The Companion is one the higher print-out products. This is the best 'Lazy DM' product yet.
Customer avatar
Darrell O February 09, 2022 1:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Yet again Mike Shea puts out a product useful to every DM, doubly so to those who can get behind his Lazy DM philosophy. Instant buy, highly recommended for simply dipping into, for finding the spark of a seed of inspiration for something more to spawn from, for ideas to prep your game and improvise from. See also Lazy DM workbook and Return of the Lazy DM. Although aimed squarely at D&D5e, other systems in a similar intended playstyle will also find value here as there's nothing so system specific it can't be liberated for use elsewhere. Why work if you don't have to? Spend the time at the table instead, and Mike makes that very possible. Looking forward to the print copies later in the year.
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Customer avatar
Mike S February 09, 2022 7:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thank you so much!
Customer avatar
Neil S February 07, 2022 11:10 pm UTC
POD
Reply
Customer avatar
Mike S February 09, 2022 7:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
We're going to be doing a full off-set print run. They'll be available later this year.
Reply
Customer avatar
Robert B June 13, 2022 10:55 pm UTC
Yay!
Reply
Customer avatar
Henrik W July 14, 2022 8:46 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This makes me happy!
Customer avatar
Ben N February 07, 2022 2:45 am UTC
PURCHASER
I bought this one after reading & using earlier books from the same author. Its a useful tool for fast building good quality games for busy game masters. It is mostly D&D focused but its no issue to apply the same ideas for whatever you are playing. It works best as a companion to the Return of the lazy dungeon master, but is still useful on its own. I also picked up the workbook. Ultimately I recommend it to make a game masters life easier.
Reply
Customer avatar
Mike S February 09, 2022 7:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thank you!
Customer avatar
Benoit M February 06, 2022 4:02 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Mike my favourite lazy person ;) has done it again -- an awesome piece of work for anyone interested in RPGs (and an all around fun read).
6/5 love this guy, buy his stuff, follow his channel! (And he is NOT paying me to write this LOL)
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The Lazy DM's Companion
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Author(s)
Michael E. Shea
Artist(s)
Chloe Bollard, Dungeon Baker, Jack Kaiser, Saga Mackenzie, Matt Morrow, Daniel Walthall
Rule System(s)
Pages
64
File Size:
106.28 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
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These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

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File Last Updated:
April 12, 2022
This title was added to our catalog on February 01, 2022.
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