42.png
 

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 1,110 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

May 25, 2010 by 4

Sure he’s the Villain, but is he the Bad Guy?

In a lot of RPGs there’s an unspoken assumption that the PCs are the good guys, the villains are the bad guys, and everything is clear cut and black and white, but in real life, few if any people actively identify themselves as “Bad Guys”. They may not identify their actions as “Bad Guy” actions and even when they do, they usually rationalize their motives. When creating ...
Oct 14, 2009 by 15

Gnomes do really bad really good

There's a trend I've seen in rpgs towards using small enemies at low power stages of campaigns and then dropping them during high power stages of campaigns. This trend is stronger in certain genres and playstyles, but it's pretty normal in most cases. That makes sense. Small enemies aren't generally physically imposing and they're usually portrayed as having high pitched voices or Napoleon Complexes, so it's easy to ...

,

What's Gnome Stew?

Written by a team of veteran GMs, Gnome Stew is the most widely read game mastering blog on the planet.

Subscribe

3,945 subscribers strong. Let us send Gnome Stew articles your way via RSS feed or email.

Our Books for GMs

Written by the authors of Gnome Stew, Eureka offers 501 system-neutral adventure plots and Masks provides 1,000 system-neutral NPCs.

Support

Click one of these links, shop normally, and we earn a small percentage (at no cost to you).

Connect

Tell us how we can make your time behind the GM's screen easier and more fun.

More Delicious Stew

The only good gnome is a stewed gnome.

Gnomish Stuff

Other things you'll find in the Stew.

Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.