The Desire is a full color 57 page PDF for Fourth Edition D&D by Nevermet Press (www.nevermetpress.com). (Also included was a grayscale PDF, oriented in Portrait, intended for easy printing. That's a nice feature, though one I didn't take advantage of.) Please note that the PDFs were freely provided by the publisher for review purposes. Structure The PDF begins with a blurb about Nevermet Press followed by A Message ...

This past GenCon, Paizo Publishing released the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now if you've been a GM (or DM, I'll use the generic here since it's what the Open Game Content and Pathfinder uses) for more than a couple of weeks then you probably know that Pathfinder is a refinement of the previous (D&D3.5) version of Dungeons & Dragons. Today's article takes a look at Pathfinder from a prospective ...

Rule-Breaker Cards My previous article on rewards mentioned ‘rule-breaker cards’ (also known as ‘swash cards’ or ‘adventure cards’). Put simply, a rule-breaker card is a one-shot exception to the normal rules of the game. Some gamers find that they add a welcomed element of chaos and opportunity to the game, and provide everyone with a ‘spotlight moment’. But some gamers don’t like that they also mess with ...

June 20th was Free RPG day, a day when the gaming industry in conjunction with various local gaming stores, gets together to celebrate RPGs by hosting various RPG sessions and giving away free stuff. Among the offerings this year, Dias Ex Machina (DEM), publishing through Goodman Games, offered up Hearts of Chaos an adventure set in DEM’s Amethyst campaign setting, which comes out this September. ...

Our first anniversary contest ended last night, and rather than dawdle like lazy little gnomes, we decided to get the lead out and announce the winner the next day -- today, in fact. The only catch is that because of the way Gnome Stew is set up, we need a certain amount of pointless, filibuster-style text at the start of this article, or you'll be able to read the ...

A couple of weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast offered Gnome Stew -- and several other RPG blogs -- the chance to write an article about the Player's Handbook 2 in exchange for a pre-release copy of the book. Specifically, an article about the book from a GMing perspective. We jumped at that chance. I've been poring over the PHB 2 since early March -- reading, taking notes, and ...

Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast, Gnome Stew is one of a handful of RPG blogs lucky enough to receive a pre-release copy of the Player's Handbook 2. Ours came on Tuesday, and the book won't be in stores until March 17th. Understandably, we're not allowed to post excerpts from the book -- but how about a couple of photos? Here's a shot of the front of the book ...

Timon and Salcheech tossed related questions into the Suggestion Pot, both dealing with gaming with 9- and 10-year-olds.  Specifically, Timon was looking for advice on pacing games for that age group, while Salcheech was interested in scaling the game to that age range, as well as, whether morality lessons could be incorporated into the sessions. Interesting questions, and I think it’s great these Stew readers are introducing the game ...

You know how a bicycle that sits out in the rain can get all funky and red, maybe a little stiff to pedal, but it will still get you where you need to go? Some of these links have been sitting out in the rain for a while... but they still go great places. Hop on and let's explore. Holiday Gaming Phil's post on the Holiday Gaming Hiatus is great ...

Oh the weather outside is frightful. Waiting four hours overnight in the parking lot of a Casey’s General Store for a snow plow to come by and clear a path home certainly provides plenty of time to think about the game effects of winter weather. Historically, winter has been the bane of warfare. While there have been notable exceptions, the general rule was that armies suspended their campaigns once the ...

Let me tell you about the schenanigans my friend and I pulled in the 4E game my wife runs last Sunday: My wife is huge on custom magic items. Some are just little flavor differences, others are completely whole cloth inventions of hers. That's how our party ended up with a magic levitating ship.  While neutrally buoyant and able to be pulled with effort, it requires magic residuum (pricey stuff) to ...

D&D 4th Edition blog At Will recently interviewed several of the gnomes -- DNAphil, Matthew, myself, Patrick, Scott and Telas -- for their d12 Interviews series, and that interview has been posted today: d12 Interviews: Gnome Stew. The focus of the interview is on D&D 4e, and the hook, of course, is that we were asked 12 questions. We're all felt hats and hot air, so naturally we had ...

What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. D&D’s creators made a bold decision with the Fourth Edition: They scrubbed clean the setting lore that too often was an obstacle to new players learning the game. The complex cosmology, the maps ...

As soon as I'd read -- and loved -- the 4e core books (reviewed right here on the Stew), I was excited about seeing the 4e Forgotten Realms setting book. I paid full price for the privilege of getting it at the one store in my area that had it on release day (our lone Borders), and tucked into it right away. After several days with it, here are ...

What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Characters with class One of the new online features for Fourth Edition, once Wizards of the Coast gets the DDI rolling, is supposed to be a character creator. But in addition to generating stats ...