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
Gnome Stew's first annual New Year, New Game (NYNG) contest and blog carnival both end January 23, a bit less than a week away.
The contest features a grand prize worth over $150, courtesy of our four sponsors: DriveThruRPG, Engine Publishing, Obsidian Portal, and Tabletop Adventures. You can enter it right here on the Stew.
The NYNG blog carnival, also hosted here, is themed around running new games -- tips, ...
What do Data, Odo, and the Pathfinder Gunslinger class have in common? Why is it that playing Amber with new players is so much better than with players who have played before? Why is it that splat books almost always dilute, if not ruin, the games they are made for? What the hell is the Weirdo Card? Want some answers? Lets get started.
Note: I am going to make some ...
A while back I dropped an article talking about a prep method I used, called 3-3-3 Quick Prep. It’s a method composed mostly of bullet points to give some minimal structure to a game but allow for improvisation at the table. There were some requests in the comments to show some examples of it in play. Well, I am more than happy to oblige and dug up 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 ...
I'm filled with curiosity about 5e, as I'm sure Wizards of the Coast intended with their press release. So far, I haven't figured out exactly what it'll look like, but I've been thinking about it since the announcement. I seem to have different reactions as I consider the different groups and hats that I wear.
Home Games The ongoing weekly game that I'm playing in currently is Pathfinder; thanks ...
Wizards of the Coast announces Monday it is working on a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
But what's this mean for you as a GM?
Other than speculation about what kind of game will be developed, what considerations should you be making now, before Wizards makes its first limited unveiling at the D&D Experience in February?
Some might be content to wait until 2013 (or later) for the game to ...
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 ...
It’s official, the next edition of D&D is in the works, and those Coastal Wizards are asking for help in crafting the rules. But you probably knew this; heck, it was in the New York Times. Perhaps you’ve volunteered to help out and put your stamp on the next iteration of Gygax & Arneson’s creation. Good for you. But this article isn’t about D&D, or crowdsourcing, ...
Have you sent us email at martin at gnomestew dot com in the recent or not-so-recent past? And if so, did you not get a reply?
That would be because I only NOW figured out that this address is not forwarding properly to my "hub" account and likely has not been for a very long time. I respond to every single legitimate (IE non-spam) email I get from readers, ...
Legend is a reimplementation of the d20 System core rules from Rule of Cool -- a d20 fantasy RPG that does things differently. It's as much of a change from core d20 as d20 Modern was from D&D 3.0.
Through January 14, 2012, it's available for a pay-what-you-like donation to Child's Play. If you have the slightest interest in d20, it's well worth checking out (see my recent post ...
Many RPGs treat skill selection as an even playing field; when purchasing ranks each skill costs the same as any other skill. There's no distinction in the difficulty in learning how to shoot a gun versus studying anthropology. Players are free to spend points in any way that they wish, which often leads to min/maxing.
Skills deemed most useful (typically combat-based skills or the Call of Cthulhu trifecta of ...
Welcome to the first annual New Year, New Game challenge!
New Year, New Game (NYNG for short) is a new Gnome Stew venture -- an annual challenge to GMs all over the world: Run a new game this year.
New Year, New Game is an idea that we hope will catch on with gamers all over the world, much like GM’s Day did (it’s celebrated on March 4th every year). ...
As part of our first annual New Year, New Game challenge, we're also running our first-ever blog carnival!
This is separate from the NYNG contest, although the timeframe is the same and folks are welcome to both enter the contest and take part in the blog carnival.
A blog carnival is an event that features multiple blogs contributing posts on the same broad topic, in this case posts about running ...
It’s that time of the year again, where as a belated holiday gift, I hand out my accumulated B-string campaign ideas from the previous year. Lucky you! The real gift however, is the ideas in the comments section from readers.
These are not only great campaign ideas, but they can be dropped into an ongoing game as a new location hook. And if you’re on the lookout for a ...
With our regular game canceled last week, we tried out a game that has been neglected on my shelf for too long. The game was In A Wicked Age. It features a short rulebook, simple character sheets, and seemed perfect for a fill in game. We got started a little late, didn't get all the characters tied together, and quit a few scenes before we reached the end--but ...
