Monstrous Overhaul is great! It's system agnostic, but mostly geared towards osr games. You can definitely use it with 5e though. For instance, the ac of a monster will be "like leather." Whatever game you are playing you can tell what the actual number should be if you are wearing leather. Real simple
33:00 I have used the same large Chessex wet erase battle mat that I bought with the little spare money I had in high school and I've had that thing for 20 good years. The worst part about wet erase mats is ink soak. When doing dungeon crawls, you rarely erase the entire map session after session, so you could go two or three sessions between needing to erase things. If you use a darker color like purple, black, or red and leave it on the mat it can soak into the mat. Then when you erase you'll find some of the ink won't come off. It will come out over time as you draw, erase, draw, erase. Small price to pay for something that has lasted me literal decades.
The Tome of Adventure Design deserves more recognition. I'm convinced that if more people knew about it, it might've made the list. I use it more than my Dread Thinganomicon. (I do use both.)
Tome of Adventure design is great. I use it. I use Thinganomicon and Laironomicon. Another quick reference I’ve been using a lot lately is Hack n’ Slash publishing’s Downtime and Demesnes and Jason Sholstis’ The Dungeon Dozen, along with Your books Mike. Once I started digging into the wealth of assistance found in tables - and started seeking out DM references specifically - I can’t tell you how much Ben’s channel and your channel have helped me out,Mike. Keep up inspiring us, what you do is important - and it is recognized and valued. Thank you, good sir!
I'm one of those who considers the Monster Overhaul to be the best RPG monster book of all time, especially for OSR games (but not just for them). There's a lot of discussion of it over on ENWorld if you want more details. The maps and generators and zillions of variant monsters make it much more packed with content than it first appears to be. Skerples, the author, is currently working on The Treasure Overhaul, which will do the same thing for magic items, but with digressions into other content. (He's building a system-neutral illusionist for OSR games, for instance.) The Monster Overhaul is probably worth a deep dive video from you at some point. I believe Ben Milton did one a while back as well.
The 4E Dungeon Master's Guide 2 is much more useful to games across editions. I recall it having advice for group storytelling, designing organizations/factions, etc.
Thanks for telling us about the sale. ❤Just got my hardcover Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master. I can't seem to find a link to the "adventure generator with 5e micro rules" on the patreon. Any way you can provide a link? Thanks.👍
How about a video or book about how to curate/create your own book? Trimming the fat and building a single resource that's tailored to your needs and tastes. Since Mike has done this a few times now with his FoF, RotLDM and LDM's Companion, I think he's perfectly positioned to give some advice on that or at least some thoughts on his process.
I've commented this in a previous video but Flee Mortals! is great for inspiring play at the table. I use the system's bestiary for stats and then write-in abilities (sometimes just the name is enough to inspire) from Flee Mortals next to the stat block to remind me what a creature can do during its turn. I find that it adds so much more character to a monster (the ogre doesn't just have a club and javelins, it has the ability to grab and throw characters as well as a fear-inducing bellowing yell!). A lot of these abilities and actions are obvious but having them written out helps to serve as a reminder to me during play that the fire elemental doesn't just do fire damage when it hits but it starts fires around the battlefield and fills the room with smoke as the fight progresses.
Someone got me the D&D folding tile board years ago, and while it can't be compacted as much as the Pathfinder and Chessex ones, and only comes in one size, the thing is sturdy and can't roll up at the corners, which can be an issue with some of those. Recently, though, I've gone mostly grid-less with a tape measure. I've found that for some players, entire plans for their turn collapse when they look at a grid and see their full movement brings them one square short of melee range. With the tape, the players have to eyeball it, and I can give them a quarter-inch here and there to encourage crazy charges or wild team maneuvers.
Late to the party, but I feel like my game is at its best when I use the Kobold Press monster books: Tome of Beasts 1, 2, 3, Creature Codex and the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. I think the both creatures in those books but also they make me think in creative ways and then use the principles in Forge of Foes to make new creatures. (My players have played enough DnD that "regular" creatures they know everything about so I like throwing them curveballs.)
I apologize again for not seeing it was GMs asked.......I do like Xanathar's! I think Flee Mortals is the monster book I'm using most right now. And the ToV monster book.
I totally get the "build the monster, then choose the CR" on a theoretical sense, but if I have a party of level 14s, I've gotta have a monster capable of at least making the time we're going to spend in combat worth it. (rather than, say, throwing a horde of CR1s at them). So I mean, I try to not let CR dictate my monster creations, but in late game 5E, it generally does. (as in, I'll usually aim for a range of like CR 8 - 14). All that to say - monster creation in 5E is generally my least favorite part about the system, but Forge of Foes has been a vast improvement in my sanity!
I guess to reply to own message, the theory behind it is that your party should be facing threats appropriate to your Tier of Play, which is true. You wouldn't fight rats at level 17. So maybe approaching it in CR bands is a good rule of thumb.
Wait, are you serious, there's no changelogs of errata in D&D ? That feels outlandish for a game where a large part of the audience are rules lawyers. Damn the more learn about 5E, the more I'm happy I'm not stuck on this system.
Monstrous Overhaul is great! It's system agnostic, but mostly geared towards osr games. You can definitely use it with 5e though. For instance, the ac of a monster will be "like leather." Whatever game you are playing you can tell what the actual number should be if you are wearing leather. Real simple
33:00 I have used the same large Chessex wet erase battle mat that I bought with the little spare money I had in high school and I've had that thing for 20 good years. The worst part about wet erase mats is ink soak.
When doing dungeon crawls, you rarely erase the entire map session after session, so you could go two or three sessions between needing to erase things. If you use a darker color like purple, black, or red and leave it on the mat it can soak into the mat. Then when you erase you'll find some of the ink won't come off. It will come out over time as you draw, erase, draw, erase. Small price to pay for something that has lasted me literal decades.
Monster Overhaul is EXCELLENT. I am so glad I stumbled upon the Kickstarter. Well worth the cost.
Thank you for always giving great and valuable info!! I just bought all 3 Lazy Dungeon Master Books. Can’t wait to dig deep
Thank you!
The Tome of Adventure Design deserves more recognition. I'm convinced that if more people knew about it, it might've made the list. I use it more than my Dread Thinganomicon. (I do use both.)
It’s cool but it’s really big and has so much it’s hard to sort through.
@@SlyFlourish It's actually physically smaller than The Dread Thingonomicon.
Tome of Adventure design is great. I use it. I use Thinganomicon and Laironomicon. Another quick reference I’ve been using a lot lately is Hack n’ Slash publishing’s Downtime and Demesnes and Jason Sholstis’ The Dungeon Dozen, along with Your books Mike. Once I started digging into the wealth of assistance found in tables - and started seeking out DM references specifically - I can’t tell you how much Ben’s channel and your channel have helped me out,Mike. Keep up inspiring us, what you do is important - and it is recognized and valued. Thank you, good sir!
I picked up the Lazy DM’s Companion and Workbook PDFs today. Thanks so much! ❤
I bought the 4E book because I wanted to convert the adventure to 5E. And I love the points of light setting "the Nentir Vale"
I'm one of those who considers the Monster Overhaul to be the best RPG monster book of all time, especially for OSR games (but not just for them). There's a lot of discussion of it over on ENWorld if you want more details. The maps and generators and zillions of variant monsters make it much more packed with content than it first appears to be.
Skerples, the author, is currently working on The Treasure Overhaul, which will do the same thing for magic items, but with digressions into other content. (He's building a system-neutral illusionist for OSR games, for instance.)
The Monster Overhaul is probably worth a deep dive video from you at some point. I believe Ben Milton did one a while back as well.
Super agreed! It's my #1 bestiary and it's organized in such a useful way.
Love that one!
The 4E Dungeon Master's Guide 2 is much more useful to games across editions. I recall it having advice for group storytelling, designing organizations/factions, etc.
I love all Sly Flourish videos! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thanks for telling us about the sale. ❤Just got my hardcover Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master.
I can't seem to find a link to the "adventure generator with 5e micro rules" on the patreon. Any way you can provide a link? Thanks.👍
How about a video or book about how to curate/create your own book? Trimming the fat and building a single resource that's tailored to your needs and tastes. Since Mike has done this a few times now with his FoF, RotLDM and LDM's Companion, I think he's perfectly positioned to give some advice on that or at least some thoughts on his process.
Monster Overhaul is great. It's less gonzo than Flee Mortals, but it's not bad either. I just like gritty & simple stuff over silliness & crunch.
Monsteroverhaul!! I LOVE this book. It's at my table all the time.
I agree that Xanathars is one of the best 5e books. Things started to go downhill after that 😢
I've commented this in a previous video but Flee Mortals! is great for inspiring play at the table. I use the system's bestiary for stats and then write-in abilities (sometimes just the name is enough to inspire) from Flee Mortals next to the stat block to remind me what a creature can do during its turn. I find that it adds so much more character to a monster (the ogre doesn't just have a club and javelins, it has the ability to grab and throw characters as well as a fear-inducing bellowing yell!). A lot of these abilities and actions are obvious but having them written out helps to serve as a reminder to me during play that the fire elemental doesn't just do fire damage when it hits but it starts fires around the battlefield and fills the room with smoke as the fight progresses.
Someone got me the D&D folding tile board years ago, and while it can't be compacted as much as the Pathfinder and Chessex ones, and only comes in one size, the thing is sturdy and can't roll up at the corners, which can be an issue with some of those.
Recently, though, I've gone mostly grid-less with a tape measure. I've found that for some players, entire plans for their turn collapse when they look at a grid and see their full movement brings them one square short of melee range. With the tape, the players have to eyeball it, and I can give them a quarter-inch here and there to encourage crazy charges or wild team maneuvers.
"I'm not testing Cancer Drugs..."
Thank you.
RotLDM is a blast!
Late to the party, but I feel like my game is at its best when I use the Kobold Press monster books: Tome of Beasts 1, 2, 3, Creature Codex and the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault. I think the both creatures in those books but also they make me think in creative ways and then use the principles in Forge of Foes to make new creatures. (My players have played enough DnD that "regular" creatures they know everything about so I like throwing them curveballs.)
I apologize again for not seeing it was GMs asked.......I do like Xanathar's! I think Flee Mortals is the monster book I'm using most right now. And the ToV monster book.
I totally get the "build the monster, then choose the CR" on a theoretical sense, but if I have a party of level 14s, I've gotta have a monster capable of at least making the time we're going to spend in combat worth it. (rather than, say, throwing a horde of CR1s at them).
So I mean, I try to not let CR dictate my monster creations, but in late game 5E, it generally does. (as in, I'll usually aim for a range of like CR 8 - 14).
All that to say - monster creation in 5E is generally my least favorite part about the system, but Forge of Foes has been a vast improvement in my sanity!
I guess to reply to own message, the theory behind it is that your party should be facing threats appropriate to your Tier of Play, which is true. You wouldn't fight rats at level 17.
So maybe approaching it in CR bands is a good rule of thumb.
Wait, are you serious, there's no changelogs of errata in D&D ? That feels outlandish for a game where a large part of the audience are rules lawyers.
Damn the more learn about 5E, the more I'm happy I'm not stuck on this system.