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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

Aug 23, 2010 by 18

Hot Button: The Player or the Sheet?

Imagine this fairly common scenario: The character sheet talks about a backwoods, uneducated fighter with a low intelligence score. The player knows that the word puzzle on the wall can be solved by removing every third letter and putting the min order. The fighter might not know this, but the player does. Should the player be able to bring in their knowledge and find some way for the ...
May 8, 2009 by 17

Four Ways to Make Your Players Happy

Happy players (and remember, you're a player, too) make for a good game. So how do you make your players happy? Try these four tips on for size... 1. Make props Have you ever met a player who didn't like props? Even the lamest attempt at making a prop of any kind makes my eyes light up when I play -- and if you go all out, I will frame your ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.