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
1,183 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
I love it when my gaming interests intersect with real life — or at least — the lives of our family's mini-mes.
The First Born’s final class assignment for her social studies unit on the medieval period was to construct a catapult. So, armed with scrap wood from my shop, an instructional video from the good folks over stormthecastle.com, a table saw and good length of rope, we set ...
Looking to recharge creatively, I’ve been diving back into an old friend, my collection of pulp fiction. Specifically, this bit of inspiration came from the Robert E. Howard Conan tale, “The Servants of Bit-Yakin.”
The first part of the serialized novella is a cliffhanger, for Conan stumbles into a trap as he explores the jungle palace ruins. It reads:
He turned toward the arch — with appalling suddenness the seemingly ...
For a variety of reasons, I've cut way back on the number of gaming books I've bought over the past year -- and as a bookworm who never has enough space for all of my books, and whose wife drops regular hints that her Kindle really cuts down on the impending need for additional shelves, that feels pretty weird.
As a GM, I'm used to buying a lot of ...
Pulp Gamer’s “Out of Character” is on the short list of gaming-related podcasts I listen to regularly. It’s recent episode — “A Novel Idea” — struck a nerve because I often rely on novels as backdrop material. While I usually respond to a podcast on its own messageboards (they started the discussion, after all, and in fairness, it's best to respond in their own forum).
But I thought the ...
I’m an unapologetic fan of the “Wheel of Time” series by the late Robert Jordan and its current author, Brandon Sanderson. (1)
It was interest in trying out the 2001 roleplaying game based on the d20/Third Edition system that moved me to the GMing side the screen in the first place.
I ran two solid campaigns using those rules. It went pretty well. Yes, the channellers can rule combat encounters ...
It is time for me to announce the three randomly chosen players for my first “Game with a Gnome” online session. I could just put the names up here, but what fun would that be? Instead imagine you are in a darkened theater and on the screen a large green box with white lettering appears and you read “The following preview has been rated GG for Gnomey Goodness ...
I received two emails recently about items I think will interest Gnome Stew readers, both from friends of the Stew: Shelly Baur of Kobold Quarterly and Open Design and Jonathan Jacobs of Nevermet Press.
Kobold Quarterly Anniversary Sale
This Sunday is the 5th anniversary of Open Design, the company behind Kobold Quarterly and numerous Open Design projects, including Midgard, and to celebrate the filthy lizards kobolds are having a sale.
Specifically, ...
An idea has buzzing about in my head for quite a while now, and I want to see it become a reality. I would like to host an online game for three Gnome Stew readers using ScreenMonkey and Skype. The game system will be Fudge with a few of my own variations to the rules. The setting is science fiction inspired by the film Blade Runner, and the ...
I've been gaming since 1987, and in that time I've observed that the majority of gamers, at least in the U.S., are white guys. I gave it away in the title, but the meat of this article is an open question to the gaming community:
Why are most gamers in the U.S. white and male?
We're about to talk about race and gender on the Internet, and I believe this ...
What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of GMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack.
We've had so many fine suggestions in the Stew lately about how to apply templates to your game prep. DNA Phil wrote about his goals in this regard ...
Last year, my group had two simultaneous D&D 4e games going, one set in the Forgotten Realms and one in Eberron. They both ended, and I don't see myself ever playing a long-term 4e game again -- and I just realized that this isn't the first time this has happened.
A quick aside: I could care less what anyone else plays -- as long as you're having fun, you're ...
What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of GMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack.
Nothing ups the ante in a fantasy roleplaying game like having the party confront a dragon. After all, dragons are the baddest actors in the realm — or at least, ...
A couple of days ago, Shelly Baur, the other half of Wolfgang Baur's Kobold Quarterly and Open Design empire, emailed me to ask if I'd be interested in running a piece on a project they'd be announcing on the 9th, and I asked what I always ask: "Will it be of interest to GMs?"
She said yes, and that in fact GMs in particular would be interested. That was ...
As part of our holiday-themed entry during the Gnome Stew break, here’s a rundown of building your own Excelsior-class (refit) starship as a Christmas gift and prop for your Star Trek game. What? Doesn’t everyone do this?
The building of a 50 year old starship from a 15 year old model in pictures.
I will confess to two great passions — among many — that include Star Trek and gaming. ...
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house Not a Halfling was stirring, not even to grouse; (Because they were all killed in the great purge of October, frigging dirty Halflings.) The gnome hats were hung by the chimney with ease, And St. Nick would fill them with gifts, else we’d break his knees; ...
