A Truly Lazy GM: Mike Shea on Making GMing Easier

Today, we’re talking to Mike Shea aka Sly Flourish, the author of a number of popular TTRPG supplements. He’s best known as the creator of the Lazy Game Master, a series of books that help DMs to create campaigns fairly quickly with less work. It’s been a consistent source of advice for fans. Now Shea is crowdfunding Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster, a supplement that updates the original book’s guidance and frames it so that non-D&D games (Draw Steel, Daggerheart, etc) can use it.

TTRPG Insider chatted with Shea about the history of the Lazy Gamemaster, how it fits into the changing TTRPG scene, and his thoughts on how to improve.

1. Where did the concept of "Lazy Game Master" arise? You've now published multiple books around this idea. 

In 2012, I had been writing for slyflourish.com for about three years and had already self-published a couple of other books — Lazy DM Tips and Running Epic Tier Games. D&D 4th edition was nearing its end and I started getting exposed to other RPGs like FATE and seeing other ways to prepare our games. I realized that simplifying prep was a common desire among many GMs and that many veteran GMs talked about how often the less they prep, the better their games were. I ran with that concept in the original Lazy Dungeon Master published in December 2012. But it didn't really land the full mark. People loved the concept but it wasn't quite as practical — even I didn't use the steps I outlined in it. I also had some other ideas that really resonated with me like "secrets and clues" that wasn't in the book.

So in 2018 I wrote and published Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, which outlined eight steps for lazy GM prep — the same ones I use every session now and the same eight I dive into even deeper in Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster. It really helped to talk to hundreds of GMs and get feedback from thousands more on how the process works for folks.

But the core concept remains the same as it did over 14 years ago — run great games by preparing less.

2. While non-D&D fantasy games are not a new subject, we have seen a surge of interest in stylistically different alternatives like Shadowdark and Daggerheart. How have those caused you to adapt your tips and writing styles?

When writing Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master back in 2018, I had already played a bunch of stylistically different RPGs like Dungeon World, FATE, Numenera, 13th Age, and two very different versions of D&D (4th and 5th edition). It helped to have such a widespread view of what RPGs could be. Even though we have many new RPGs these days — Daggerheart, Shadowdark, Dolmenwood, Tales of the Valiant, D&D 2024, and so on- the main principles work now because they also worked back then. Whatever RPG you tend to run, the eight steps can help out. Some games are just purely structured differently than others, such as Blades in the Dark, and not all the steps work as well for games where you have truly emergent storytelling going on, but for most games, the steps and processes still work.

Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster does refine the eight steps though, based on lots of experience with other games. How to prep and run dungeons is different now as we find more old-school style dungeons with lots of rooms. What we capture in our scenes step can vary too. Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster takes a hard look at each step to capture all the ways you can customize the step to support your favorite RPG. I'm playing a ton of different RPGs now and I'm really glad to see how useful the eight steps continue to be.

3.  Have you seen any notable shifts in how people are thinking about DMing between your first version of LAZY GM and the latest version?

I don't know if it's a hobby-wide shift, but lots of GMs seem to resonate with the ideas in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master even if they end up with their own prep style. Our ability to talk to so many different GMs all over the world gives us insights and ideas we might not otherwise get. I am seeing fewer GMs lamenting that they wasted hours and hours on prep that never had a solid impact on the table, though, but that just might be the GMs I tend to hang out with the most.

4. Improvisation appears to be core to the eight steps you present in your books. How do you think about refining and developing that ability?

I think there are lots of small things we can do to get better at improvising without having to join the local theater troupe (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Little things like asking players about their characters, asking them to define parts of the world around us, and being willing to change things up when the story takes a different direction. One of the concepts I talk more about in Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster is forcing ourselves into positions where we have to improvise. For example, you can lay out a dungeon and offer three different ways in. Now you have no idea how they'll traverse the dungeon — you can't plan for it because you know you have no idea what path they take. Things like that help us understand where best to put our time so we can let the story evolve as the players make choices and the world responds.

Whether you’re a designer, content creator or just the biggest fan at your table, TTRPG Insider delivers in-depth reporting, original interviews and regular roundups of the news that you will not find anywhere else. Let us help you become the best designer, player or dungeon master at your table.

Subscribe now and get the advantage you require to excel in this exceptional hobby and industry.

Lazy DMing for non-traditional TTRPGs

5. Your book appears to focus primarily on the more adventuring-oriented versions of fantasy TTRPGs. Are there any ways to adapt what you've presented to more "Fiction-first" games (I'm thinking Blades in the Dark, Powered by the Apocalypse), or do those require different approaches?

I did use the eight steps with Blades in the Dark, and it was a challenge. I've also used them with other Powered by the Apocalypse games, though, and they worked fine so it might just be my own approach for Blades. When you're really building out the whole story with the input from your players, it’s harder to plan much ahead of time. That's one of the only games where I had real trouble figuring out what I should prep and what I should leave for the moment.

6. I've often heard about a 'lack of DMs' as a key barrier for entry into the TTRPG space. There have been some efforts to try and lower the barrier (see the recent D&D Heroes of the Borderlands expansion). What are your thoughts on how game masters and TTRPG communities (stores, Discord servers, etc) can help lower that obstacle?

I'd love to see designers write RPGs with a big focus on making it easier to prep and run games. RPGs that have clear frameworks and lots of tools to help you improvise are at the top of the heap. Ones that have a lot of complex mechanics to manage and expect you'll spend a lot of time preparing each scene ahead of time aren't doing as good a job I don't think. I haven't found a perfect one (I'm really enjoying Nimble at the moment, though!) but it's something I think about a lot. The good news is that many games are good enough that we're still seeing the hobby grow. According to WOTC, D&D alone grew by like four times over the past eight to ten years, so something must be working.

But I always think there's more that can be done to help GMs prep and run games more easily. 

Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster is available for crowdfunding on Kickstarter today, and will be available until early August.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].