Markdown

## The Lazy RPG Prep Toolkit

- Dice, pencils, and dry-erase markers
- GM's notebook
- Campaign worksheet
- Curated random name list
- 3×5 index cards
- Numbered initiative cards
- GM screen or cheat sheet
- Dry-erase flip mat
- Published books and adventures
- Miniatures, maps, and terrain as needed

## Building a Lazy Campaign

- Develop a spiral campaign with the characters at the center
- Build a campaign hook focusing on a single major goal
- State the six truths of your campaign
- Define three fronts incorporating goals and grim portents
- Run a session zero to help build the characters and tie them together

## Running Your Game

- Relax
- Focus on your strong start
- Listen to the players, and build off of the ideas they bring you
- Trust your preparation to help you run a creative, flexible game
- Ask the players to summarize the events of the previous game session
- Draw players into the story by asking them to describe killing blows, define monster characteristics, and describe interesting events during travel
- Imagine the world as a living place when building scenes and situations
- Let the world and the NPCs react to the characters' actions
- Use a mixture of combat styles, including theater of the mind, gridded maps, and abstract maps
- Maintain a good pace by staying close to the action
- Cycle between action and relaxation, and alternate upward and downward emotional beats
- Use specific hopeful or fearful beats to send the action in a specific direction

## Thinking About Your Game

- Prime your GM's brain with great books, movies, and TV shows
- Remind yourself of the player characters' names and backgrounds
- Ask what the villains and NPCs are doing right now

## Embrace the GM's Truths

- Players don't care as much as you think
- Players want to see their characters do awesome things
- The GM is not the enemy of the characters
- Be a fan of the characters

## Lazy RPG Tricks

- Award levels at key points in the story
- Improvise ability and skill checks
- Delegate certain tasks to the players
- Use static monster damage