Award-Winning GMing Advice
Gnome Stew won the silver ENnie Award for Best Blog in
2011 and
2010 -- thank you for your support! Online since 2008, we've published
1,109 articles packed with GMing tips and advice, as well as
two books for GMs. Our
top 30 articles make a great starting point for new readers.
"I check Gnome Stew every day." -- Monte Cook
"fantastic blog for game masters, dungeon masters, and rpg fans" -- Wil Wheaton
"If you aren’t reading Gnome Stew, you’re missing out." -- Wolfgang Baur
It's an annual tradition here on the Stew to douse the fire, let the gnomes escape from the stewpot, and not try to round the little buggers up again until the new year.
Or, 'tis the season for reruns -- the week when we take a break from writing new GMing content and instead bring you our favorite articles from the past year on the Stew.
Merry Christmas and a ...
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Gnome Stew!
Whether you do more gaming or less over the holidays, whether your stocking is full of dice or coal, and whether you celebrate Christmas or another holiday, we wish you and yours the very best and a very happy new year.
20th-level necromancers have determined that approximately 40% of all gnomes turn into dust when exposed to a camera, so ...
With the publication of yesterday's article by JavaDragon, we officially kicked off our new guest article program. If you're interested in writing for Gnome Stew, read on!
Why post guest articles?
First and foremost, because we have an amazing community of over 3,700 smart, talented GMs of all experience levels, and we want to highlight your work here on the Stew.
Sure, you could all write blogs of your own (and ...
If you've ever played or run just about any edition of D&D, but especially 3.x or 4e, imagine this scenario:
Your party of 1st-level PCs all start the game with +5 weapons and 9th-level spells (or for 4e, 20th-level powers).
In the context of the average D&D game, those characters are essentially gods. Sure, they're fragile, inexperienced gods, but boy are they going to be able to make up for ...
Two quick items of news to share:
Gnomes on Atomic Array
DNAphil and I were just on the excellent Atomic Array podcast discussing the Stew's latest book, Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game. The hosts, Ed Healy and Rone Barton, put on a professional -- and killer -- podcast, and Phil and I managed not to embarrass ourselves.
One of my favorite parts was when they put Phil and ...
This year, we're trying something new: A Cyber Monday sale, today only, on DriveThruRPG: $16.95 for the Masks + Eureka PDF bundle (normally $26.95, or $16.95 individually), and $9.95 for Masks or Eureka separately (normally $16.95).
This is the best price we've ever offered on Masks and Eureka in PDF, and it will only last until the end of the day
Here are the links:
Masks + Eureka PDFs for $16.95
Masks ...
There's a gulf between GMing theory and actual GMing, and standing in the middle of that gulf is you, the GM. You decide how to bridge what you know about GMing and what you actually do at the gaming table, and for me this is one of the trickiest aspects of GMing.
I know a lot about GMing. I've been a GM for over 20 years, published two GMing ...
Gnotes from Gnome Stew HQ
RPG Mapping Software
For many years, I've felt like I wasn't a true gamer because I didn't have a world I'd been building since I was a little kid. I've built pieces of worlds, and helped write plenty of worldbuilding fiction, but never had a world all my own, like so many gamers do -- one that I'd been adding to, bit by bit, until ...
Of the many ways to give the big villains in your campaign depth and make them fun for the PCs to go up against, one of my favorites is having a developed set of motivations and other cues for the villain. If you know what the villain wants, what they're like, and how they approach the world, you can switch into "PC mode" when you're planning or when ...
The Stew has teamed up with Fear the Boot and Engine Publishing to bring you a charity auction to support the March of Dimes!
We've put together what we think is a pretty awesome package of goodies for this auction:
One copy of Eureka in softcover, plus the PDF.
One of the final copies of Masks in hardcover, plus the PDF.
Be a gnome or command a gnome: Either write the first-ever ...
Longtime readers will know that I'm obsessed with gaming widgets, especially little boxes and other containers. Office supply stores are dangerous places for me; to a lesser extent, so are craft stores, housewares stores, and the like.
I recently dropped into Pier One to kill some time, and wouldn't you know it: I walked out with a new gaming widget. Behold the false tome of holding!
Why a false tome, ...
Imagine, if you will, a geek dad who has a lot on his plate who knew that Gnome Stew's 1,000th article was fast approaching, but kind of lost sight of it over the past few days.
And imagine that on that fateful day that fellow posted a request for Gnome Stew readers to help our book, Masks, get nominated for a Golden Geek Award...and totally didn't catch that that ...
Martin's note: This is the 1,000th article on Gnome Stew! We went live on May 12, 2008; here are our initial welcome article and all of our launch day articles. Thank you for reading the Stew, spreading the word, and supporting the site for the past three years! We love sharing GMing advice and we love our readers -- happy gaming to you all!
And now, on to today's ...
Gnotes from Gnome Stew HQ
GMing Roundup
Play a New RPG Month is just what it sounds like: damned good advice for any GM (or player). If you've only run, or played, one RPG -- or even mainly one RPG -- you owe it to yourself and your group to try another one. It can be a fling, a temporary thing, but if you choose wisely it will open new ...
My friend Darren is in town this week, and as he doesn't get many chances to game and loves Star Trek, having him play in our upcoming Saturday night session is a win-win no-brainer.
I'm not an expert at running games that feature a guest star, but I've been on both sides of the screen for them and I have learned a few things. Here are the five things ...
