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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 15, 2011 by 21

Hot Button: Who’s Down with OPC?

I've seen it a thousand times. Two PCs are facing a problem and some variation of the following exchange occurs: GM (looking at Player 1): What do you do? Player 1: I'm going to do X. Player 2 (glancing at Player 1's character sheet): X? Are you kidding. You have Y, why wouldn't you use that? Player 1: Fine, I'll use Y then. This is a classic example of a player using OPC ...
Jul 25, 2011 by 7

Know Your Enemy

It’s easy to see a role-playing game as a one-way street; the flow of information is generally from GM to players. But the GM should also be collecting information on his players and their characters. If you’re paying attention to your players, you can really make the game fun for them. After all, the players are your primary audience. They’re also your opponents. You should go into ...
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 ...
Mar 10, 2009 by 2

NBOS Software’s Character Sheet Designer – Nice Tool, Great Price!

One of my favorite companies for RPG programs is NBOS Software. I am not associated with the company in any way other than being a satisfied customer. I like their products because they perform well and they are reasonably priced. To date I have purchased three of their four products and I have been very happy with each one. Please check out their trial versions and see if ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.