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
'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; ...
Before GenCon, one of the requests that I got, was to review the new Vincent Baker game Apocalypse World. We at the Stew love to please our readers, so I took some time at GenCon, and got a chance to play a small demo of Apocalypse World (AW) with it’s creator, Vincent Baker, as well as picking up a copy of the book.
My intention was to do ...
Many games revolve around the idea of the heroes preventing an end of the world scenario, but I've often found the "end of the world" feel missing when hearing about, or playing, these types of games. I'd like to see it included more. How could an apocalypse affect the game you are currently running? Whether it is a looming disaster that the party is attempting to deter, a ...
Building a world
Mo spread Simon C's way to use a deck of cards to generate characters who relate to their cultures-- kowtowing to social pressures, rebelling against their peers, and more.
Paul Tevis pointed out Superstruct, a game/future forecasting of the world in 2019, after one of several drastic changes. It's a big collaborative project that started October 6th and runs through November 17th.
Speaking of ways for the world ...
Von Bek has an excellent question about making character failure interesting.
Hi all,
One thing I sometimes struggle with is player failure, I’ve come up with a few simple failures, like taking more time, or breaking something, but wondered if there were others I might have missed out on.
I know of GUMSHOE, I believe a system that treats failure differently? But are there other systems out, or things that work ...
