Not too long ago, I had my performance review at work. Most people dread this event, but I always look forward to it. For me the performance review is a chance to get the recognition for my accomplishments for the year, but more importantly, it’s a chance to get a list of things that I can improve upon for the upcoming year. I am always interested in improving ...
No GM should be an island of ideas. As a GM we are a creative bunch and have many ideas floating around our head: a plot for a future session, a killer encounter, a new artifact, an NPC, etc. Let’s be honest not all of our ideas are great, and worst a lot of them sound great to us, but fail to impress the players when we drop ...
When we last left off, I had taken you through the Fiasco book and mechanics. (If you missed yesterday’s article go back and read it…now). The real question is, how does this game actually play, without any prep or any GM? The short answer is that it does it quite well, but to really understand, let me tell you about a guy name Rico.
Rico Is So Dead
Shortly after ...
Today I am going to review a game that does not require a GM. Yes, its true. Let me repeat that. Gnome Stew, the leading blog for GM advice, is going to review an RPG that does not use a GM. Today I will take you through the game book and discuss the nuts and bolts, and then tomorrow, I will show you why playing it will make ...
One of the challenges in a new campaign occurs when the players discover that they do not like their characters. Given time, the lack of excitement on the players’ part will degrade any efforts to sustain the campaign and ultimately lead to its collapse. Even the greatest plotline or the most richly described world will not hold your players at the table if they have no passion or ...
Get your bull's-eye lantern, a 10 ft pole, and some spikes, because we are taking a journey into the dungeons of yesteryear. For those of you who did not battle the Slavers, wander the Borderlands, defeat the Giants, and stood in the Demonweb Pits, you are in luck. Goodman Games provides you an old school Sherpa, in the way of The Dungeon Alphabet.
Disclaimer—Goodman games was kind enough to ...
Dais Ex Machina (DEM) Games has just released a free adventure using their Amethyst rules, called Biohazard. It is being released in Combat Advantage #15 from Emerald Press, which should be available for download today.
Some Disclaimers—First, I was a playtester for this adventure, running this for some friends at GenCon this year. For the record, it was a lot of fun to run. Second, I was provided a ...
While I love the creative and storytelling aspects of being a GM, also I love the mechanical aspects of games. In my downtime from running games and stirring the Stew, I read a lot of rulebooks, many for games I am not planning to run, just to read about different mechanics. I love to see how different designers handle skill checks, car chases, or character growth. With my ...
After the Dungeon Crawl, the Heist is the second greatest of all RPG tropes. From stealing the scepter of Arkurs, to a stealing an AI out of a cyber fortress, the Heist transcends all settings. There is something about the planning, the sneaking, and eventually laying your hands on the object that strikes a chord with nearly all gamers.
The Heist is a tricky type of scenario to run. ...
I am guessing that most of you are like me and are voracious readers. I am always reading some book, and most often I have second one I am reading casually on the side. There is nothing that gives me more anxiety than when I get to the end of a book, and don’t know what I am going to read next. My favorite type of reading material ...
As a GM the most important tool you have is your creativity. Your creativity is what allows you to create amazing adventures, thrilling NPC’s, witty dialog, enthralling descriptions, and the ability to shape your game in response to your players. Your creativity needs to be taken care of and cultivated. When treated well the power of your creativity is at your disposal, but when it becomes fatigued it ...
As many of you know, Google has released in a limited beta its new communication platform, Wave. This will not be a review of the Wave software; that you can find all over the net: TechCrunch, Wikipedia, LifeHacker. What this article will be is a look at how Wave can be incorporated into your game.
Without getting all technical, Wave is a communication platform that can best be described, ...
One of the keys to the success of any campaign is the party of characters. The party, using the classical term, is the group of characters who are working together (for the most part) to advance the plot within the campaign. Who those characters are, what talents and skills that they bring, and how they react to one another, can propel your campaign into a Tolkien-like greatness, or ...
In yesterday’s article we looked at the character creation system in HackMaster, but let’s face facts, if you are interested in HackMaster, you want to know about the Combat system. So let’s not waste any time and get right into it…
Combat Overhaul
With the new edition of HackMaster gone is THACO! The new combat system focuses around competing attack and defense rolls, but that is just the tip of ...
Back before GenCon, I asked you guys what game you would like me to review, and you chose HackMaster Basic. I picked up the book at GenCon and started reading it right away. I kept you up to date with my progress on Twitter with the tag #hmbreview .
Now, weeks later, summer breezes have turned to autumn chills, and I have finally gotten through the book and done ...
New to the Stew? There are 619 articles packed with GMing tips and advice in our archives. Why not start with our 
