The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

In the first step, we focus our attention on the players’ characters.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

We spend this part of our prep remembering who they are, what they want, and what connections they have to the world. It’s the first of the eight steps so we can keep them firmly in mind while running through the other seven steps.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

“What hook can I include in the next session to draw this character into the game?”

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

The strong start draws players out of the real world and into the game. The key driver for the strong start is “something happens.”

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

Something happens, and it draws players into the world. The strong start often leads to the hook to draw the characters into the adventure if there isn’t one already.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

Your outline of scenes should be small and brief – just a few short sentences in a list. Don’t overdo it. Keep it brief and flexible and be ready to throw these scenes away if they don’t actually come up in the game.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

This is the heart of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Whatever steps you decide on for your prep, “secrets and clues” may be the main one you want to include.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

They’re abstracted from the location of their discovery. We don’t determine how the characters find a secret. We focus only on the secret itself and then improvise how characters find them as we run the game.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

You decide which secrets the characters uncover during the game itself.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

Recently, many GMs, including myself, find it easier to review your last session’s secrets and bring forward any secrets that have yet to be uncovered and are still relevant to the game.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

We decide how much detail we need for a location based on how important it might be in the game. For some locations, all we need is a name like “bloody torture chamber” or “master bedroom of shattered mirrors.”

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

We usually want enough of a description to help us improvise locations during the game but we often don’t need more than a sentence.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

If you’re running a large dungeon, you might not need anything more than the titles of the rooms in a list. If you’re running a published adventure, you might not need anything at all.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

In this step, we write down the names and any important notes for NPCs that might come up in our next session.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

Often the hardest part of preparing NPCs is remembering their names. Writing down their names might be all we need.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

More detailed NPCs might have goals and quests they follow to accomplish those goals.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25

For boss battles or big set-piece battles, we might go with the more traditional way of setting up a detailed location with a specific set of monsters. This method works well when a big battle might be our strong start.

See in context at The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM – 2023 Review

Created: 2026-01-25