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
Ever play poker? You might be dealt three of a kind, but you are never dealt three of the same. One eyed jacks, suicide kings, and the Black Mariah all stand out from amongst their peers. “Three of a Kind” is a series that is all about providing you with three distinct versions of an NPC archetype for you to use in your game as well as some ...
*Author's note: A draft version of this article was accidentally published on 12/08/2011. That version did not accurately convey Lenny's ideas and thoughts and was quickly removed. This version is the approved final draft.*
A fairly common discussion, or argument in some cases, that I have observed gamers having is whether or not a GM should run a game exactly as the rules are written, or if it is ...
The most widely accepted theory as to what killed the dinosaurs is that an asteroid (maybe a comet) slammed into the Earth about 65 million years ago. A big enough rock moving fast enough is all it took to obliterate the largest and fiercest creatures to have ever walked upon the surface of this planet. Well asteroid Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition has been spotted and it ...
There were many fine entries, but Gnome Stew reader ManiacClown is the winner with his brilliant mash up of holiday cheer and cold war espionage in this gem of a comment:
Kris “Santa” Sinterklaas is many things. Among them is an international criminal mastermind, kept alive on a life-extending alchemical mixture. For centuries he has schemed to bring the world under his jolly boots of doom, earning the trust ...
Would your group play in a session that had Santa Claus in it? Sure, you can write off the legend of Santa Claus as nothing more than a myth used for entertaining children with, but let’s look at some of the finer details:
He has an arctic base of operations.
He passes judgment on others and decides whether or not to reward or punish them for their deeds.
He has an ...
The holiday season is upon us, and that means gifts will be exchanged soon amongst friends and loved ones. This year I wanted to share with you two gift ideas that I think are awesome items to have as a GM, but that are not actually gaming related. One is relatively cheap, and the other is fairly expensive, but I have found both of them to be wonderful ...
I am arranging a small convention that will be open to the public in the small town where I live. More details will be coming about that in future articles, but the purpose of the convention is to introduce new people to RPGs. For this reason I am building the convention around the theme of using open source systems and materials, because a free sample never hurts when ...
Variety is the spice of life. You may have your favorite game system, but it does not need to be the only game system that you play. One of the joys of this hobby is that by using a different set of rules you can have a completely new experience at the game table even if you are still playing in the same setting. Trying a new set ...
Being the GM is an intense mental exercise. You are dealing with both external stimulation (observing your players, rolling dice, listening, and so on) as well as internal stimulation (your emotional state, keeping track of the game’s activities, adjusting tactics and strategies as needed, and so on). This requires a lot of energy for your brain to operate at peak performance. This is why experts in neuroscience ...
Consider this my manifesto to GMs everywhere. I am tired of hearing about your games. Do not approach me with your stories about how awesome your past campaigns were. Do not bother to share with me how great your gaming group has been for the last X amount of years. I have no interest in your past accomplishments. They are a part of your past, and I’m ...
Over 20 plus years of gaming I have accumulated a lot of dud games, supplements, and adventure modules. Some I purchased and some were given to me, but all of them did not succeed as commercial ventures. What can a GM do with a failed RPG product? Do what any scrapyard would do: Scrap the whole thing down to its individual parts. For instance, I have ...
This is a lesson that applies to your game table and to life in general. I recently watched the documentary Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus. The filmmaker is an evolutionary biologist who takes a hard look at the debate behind teaching evolution versus intelligent design, but who also looks at the approach that proponents of both methods use in making their arguments. In one ...
While at Gen Con I met and hung out with some very nice people. Not just fellow gamers, but also industry insiders (who in the end were also fellow gamers). I had a very strong impression that anyone could spend some time with their favorite game designer, artist, or author at Gen Con. No one turned me away, and every professional that I met made some time for ...
In this episode I talk about what I am including in my GM’s kit for Gen Con 2011. I also refer to Kurt Schneider’s Index Cards for Prep articles, as well as my own Three of My Favorite Items for GMing article.
What do you have in your GM’s kit? Tell us by leaving a comment below.
Some GMs approach the players as their rivals in the game. This is not to say that they are hostile to the players, but that the GM believes that he or she must meet or surpass the players through the game’s mechanics. This approach may result in preparation decisions that are not inspired by the game’s storyline but are instead born of meta-knowledge of the players and the ...
