“…a valuable resource for a very reasonable price.” – DriveThruRPG
The No-Prep Gamemaster: Train Your Brain to Run Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Run D&D and other RPG Sessions Without the Stress
Are you a game master who’s short on time, overwhelmed by prep, or tired of burnout? The No-Prep Gamemaster is your solution.
This updated and expanded second edition of Matt Davids’ well-known guide offers a practical, inspiring approach to running unforgettable tabletop RPG sessions, with little to no prep beforehand.
Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audio) | DriveThruRPG (PDF, EPUB)
eBook (Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, etc.) | itch.io (PDF)
Inside, you’ll discover:
- A mindset shift that takes the pressure off GMing
- How to improvise encounters and adventures on the fly
- Tips for training your brain to generate ideas naturally
- The power of random tables and how to use them
- Ways to engage players without hours of planning
- Practical reflections to help you improve with every session
Whether you’re a brand-new GM or a veteran looking to rekindle your love of the game, this book is packed with tools, insights, and encouragement to help you prep less and play more.
Let go of the guilt. Embrace the chaos. Run better games.
The Prepared Player: A Guide to Becoming a Better Role-Player
Most tabletop role-playing advice is written for gamemasters. But great campaigns are not created by gamemasters alone. They are built by players who are engaged, creative, and invested in the game.
The Prepared Player is a practical guide for tabletop role-playing game players who want to improve their characters, strengthen their gaming groups, and help create unforgettable adventures.
Whether you play Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Traveller, Cyberpunk RED, or other tabletop RPGs, the principles in this book will help you become a more thoughtful and effective player.
Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, Audio) | DriveThruRPG (PDF, EPUB)
eBook (Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, etc.) | itch.io (PDF)
Inside this book, you will learn how to:
• Create characters that fit the campaign and work well with the party
• Avoid common player mistakes that can damage a game
• Share the spotlight and support other players at the table
• Engage actively with the world and move the story forward
• Strengthen your gaming group both during and outside the game
• Handle challenges like player conflicts, burnout, and mismatched expectations
If you want to help create better games, stronger characters, and more enjoyable sessions for everyone at the table, The Prepared Player will show you how.
Tabletop Role-Playing Game Resources
Forged Among Stars – Starforged Actual Play Podcast
Join Hawking Duval, captain of The Shard of the Sun, in this cinematic Ironsworn: Starforged actual-play campaign. A science-fiction RPG story of exploration, danger, and discovery across the Forge.
Dicegeeks Youtube | Forged Among Stars Spotify
Season 1 (2021) – Audio Only
Season 2 (2025) – Video and Audio
Dicegeeks Tabletop RPG Resources
DM AND ROLE-PLAYER GEAR – RPG tee shirts designed by me. Plus D&D dice.
DUNGEON MAPS FOR YOUR RPG CAMPAIGNS – Get 33 free hand-drawn dungeon maps.
LIST OF RPG SRDS – A collection of free System Reference Documents for tabletop role-playing games.
CHARACTER SHEETS – A collection of RPG character sheets for Pathfinder, D&D, FFG Star Wars, Starfinder, and more.
OPEND6 RPG FREE PDFs – Get free PDFs of the excellent OpenD6 System for free.
RPG TOOLS TO IMPROVE YOUR CAMPAIGNS – A page of different RPG resources collected together to help you run better games.
THE BOOKS OF RANDOM TABLES – A list of most of my random table books.
DICEGEEKS RPG T-SHIRTS – Want to show support for dicegeeks? Want some cool RPG t-shirts? Check out my t-shirt designs on Teepublic.
D100 RANDOM RPG TABLES FREE FOR YOUR GAMES – A partial list of my D100 random tables for TTRPGs.
WEST END GAMES STAR WARS RPG STYLE GUIDE 1994 – I found my copy of the Star Wars Style Guide from 1994.
MY CHILDHOOD D&D CHARACTERS – Check out images of my childhood D&D characters. HINT: I was a cheater.
CUSTOM STARS WITHOUT NUMBER BACKGROUNDS – new backgrounds and training packages that I put together for the SWN role-playing game.
THE BEST SOLO RPGS – My list of the best solo tabletop role-playing games.
RECOMMENDED D&D READING LISTS – A compiled list of all the recommended books for running D&D campaigns.
D&D CRITICAL HIT WEAPON DAMAGE TABLES – Extra flavor for melee weapon crits.
BEST CYBERPUNK TABLETOP RPGS – My list of the best cyberpunk TTRPGs
THE BEST SCI-FI TABLETOP RPGS – My list of the best science fiction tabletop role-playing games.
THE BEST POST-APOCALYPTIC TABLETOP RPGS – My list of the best post-apocalyptic RPGs.
TABLETOP RPG SELF-PUBLISHING RESOURCES – Want to make and self-publish your own tabletop RPG? Here are some tips and helpful resources.
D&D SPELL SCROLLS – One annoying problem of finding a random spell scroll in a dungeon while playing D&D is that the DM then has to figure out which spell and which level. This table solves that problem.
BEST TABLETOP RPGS FOR KIDS – A collection of role-playing games that are good for kids.
IS IT HARD TO BE A DM IN D&D? – A blog post about running D&D.
BEST GMLESS TABLETOP RPGS – A list of some excellent GMless RPGs.
D&D DUNGEON TRAPS AND PUZZLES – A list of resources for easily adding puzzles and traps into your D&D campaign.
RANDOM D&D RACE AND CLASS TABLES – A blog post about D&D races and class random tables.
D&D WARLOCK PATRONS – A creative list of D&D warlock patrons to add variety in character backgrounds.
BEST VIRTUAL TABLETOP DUNGEON MAPS – VTT dungeon maps are growing in popularity and here is a list of some of the best.
BEST-SELLING TABLETOP RPGS – Ever wonder what are the best-selling tabletop role-playing games? I’ve made a list.
RPG GAME MASTERS FILL YOURSELVES WITH STORIES – A blog post explaining my theory about running TTRPGs.
REALMS OF UNDERSTREET – 5E CAMPAIGN SETTING – My original D&D 5E campaign setting.
THE MOST EXPENSIVE TABLETOP RPGS – A blog post I wrote recording some of the most expensive RPGs ever created.
DICEGEEKS TWITTER – RPG news updates and awesome stories. Plus my ramblings.
DICEGEEKS FACEBOOK – Tabletop RPG news, dicegeeks updates, and other interesting bits of RPG lore.
DICEGEEKS YOUTUBE – Listen to the podcast and view my seminars on tabletop role-playing games.
