In the suggestion pot, Clem asks How about an article on ways to handle sense/detect type rolls? The spectrum goes from “player knows what attribute to roll against, what number is needed for success, and what is being checked for” to “player knows attribute only” to “just roll the dice” to “gm rolls openly” to “gm rolls secretly” to “gm rolls before the session and applies the result ...

I have no idea if this concept has been floated before, but it's new to me -- and it's been enormously helpful over the past couple of weeks. As my Mage game draws to a close, I'm working towards a specific ending scene. I don't know what'll happen in that scene -- more to the point, what the PCs will do -- but I know what I want it ...

Some could argue that the Fourth Edition designers took the bite out of Lycanthropes — literally. The Monster Manual lists only two, the wererat and the werewolf. And making the condition hereditary rather than an affliction makes them no different than shifters, at least thematically. The two shifter templates, for the longtooth and razaorclaw versions, provided in the racial traits section of the Monster Manual, can serve in ...

Last week my game group had one of our most fun sessions in a while. I'll try not to bore you with too many details [it's not just your character that you should avoid talking about at length] and we'll see if there's anything more generally useful we can pry out of the experience. The current status of the PCs The group consists of five eighth level PCs [in D&D3.5], ...

When I write GMing advice here on the Stew -- and previously on Treasure Tables, as well as for freelance projects -- one of my goals is to only give advice that a) I have taken myself, b) is based on observing other GMs or games or c) I would take if the opportunity arose. Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a series of articles outlining six ways ...

Welcome the first in an ongoing series here on the Stew: 100-Word Solutions to GMing Problems! Every 100-Word Solutions post gets its start as a question I email out to the gnomes -- a GMing conundrum of some sort. Here's the first one: "You completely spaced out on game prep -- it's 30 minutes before your players show up for tonight's game -- an ongoing campaign -- and you realize ...

The Ghostwalk Campaign Option (2003, Wizards of the Coast) is the gem of my collection of Third Edition gaming materials. Even though it is often overlooked because of its release just prior to the 3.5 revision of the rules, my appreciation for the supplement has only grown in the intervening five years.  And because the setting presents components such as the Tombyards, the Spirit Wood, a nemesis that ...

It’s a given that  your October- or Halloween-themed 4E-dungeon’s going to have a hovering ghost (page 116, Monster Manual) haunting the undisturbed crypt, at least one gruesome hag (page150) stirring a kettle with a noxious brew and a blood-thirsty vampire (page 258) waiting in the wings — so to speak — to strike. But here are some other monsters from that glorious tome you could use to slip ...

This is the fourth and final article in this series -- the home stretch. My definition of "roleplaying-intensive" is in Part 1, along with tips 1-3; tips 4-6 are in Part 2 and tips 7-9 are in Part 3.) 10. Driftable Mechanics (This topic was suggested by Gnome Stew reader Irda Ranger -- excellent suggestion, IR.) "Drift" just means taking an element -- usually a mechanic -- from one RPG and ...

October is upon us (by which I mean I'm writing this on the 1st, not that you'll necessarily see it on the 1st). While I haven't had to deal with one in well over a decade, I have no doubt that the "DnD* is a tool of the Devil" crowd are still out there and going strong, if a tad less vocal, and that one of the oddball bits of our hobby ...

Sometimes you know it's an off week, but you game anyway. I had one of those experiences last week; different players were fighting off sickness, bad news, and exhaustion. I pinned too many hopes on the game-- I was sick and hoped we'd be distracted from the bad news, and I didn't realize how little sleep people had had until halfway through. Deciding to press on wasn't a ...

“Save vs. Blue Screen” It’s the 21st Century, and we still don’t have flying cars, or meal tablets, or robo-maids. (Shut up, Roomba.) But we do have laptops at the gaming table. Ten years ago, only the very rich or slightly crazy (or both) would have a laptop at the table. Today, I’d bet that at least half of the tables out there have a laptop present. In this article, ...

Howdy! It's been a while since I did a "Short Session" post, so I thought it was time for another! When running a short session, your biggest enemy is time. You only have a short amount of it to get a lot accomplished. The last thing you need is to get bogged down with unnecessary time-consuming tasks. Here're a few time-savers I've developed over the years. Use Familiar Locations If your ...

Our very own Phil Vecchione (AKA - DNAPhil) has started GM4Hire which is a new consulting business where clients will receive personalized support from Phil for their own GMing projects. I interviewed Phil via Skype (and recorded it for a possible future podcast) to learn more about what GM4Hire is all about, what he will offer, and why GMs should turn to him for help with both designing ...

I've been working on my own RPG system for years now. How hard can it be? I've played RPGs, and I have GMed RPGs for over 15 years. Plus I'm good at RPGs. Really. I can run kick ass home and convention games and I am diverse in the systems and genres that I run. My players like my games, whether they are long time friends or total ...