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.
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Last year I wrote a series of articles on my experiences from Gen Con 2007 and 2008, focusing on my prepping to be a GM. This year was a bit different, as I wasn't sure that I'd be able to go so I made no GMing plans.
That left me with a lot of time to play, so play I did! While I had a lot of fun, there ...
For the past five years, I have attended GenCon with an average of 10 of my friends. On the larger years, it has been as large as 14 people and on the smaller years around 8. Coordinating a group that large, at the largest gaming convention of the year, is no easy task. Over the years, I have figured out some tricks for organizing such a large group ...
Hi all!
I have to say that my sophomore Gen Con experience was not only better than my first but also far exceeded my expectations, both as a gamer and as an RPG freelancer. It's always great to put faces with the names in the industry, as well as the opportunity to meet them. I also got a chance to meet a few fellow gnomies (I apologize for Saturday, ...
I finally got a chance to playtest "Dead Man's Hand," the Victoriana game I'm running at GenCon. The adventure was designed as a sequel to last year's "Lost Luggage," using the same characters and background. Since the 2nd Edition of Victoriana is only now getting a full print run, I decided to run this adventure as an "introductory scenario" (which saved me from having to update the characters).
Since "Dead ...
In addition to my hats as Game Master and Gnomish scribe, I am also an RPG freelancer. One of the companies I'm contracted with is Cubicle 7, which produces the second edition of the Victoriana game. When I decided to use Victoriana as my monthly game, I asked Cubicle 7 if they had any interest in using my group as playtesters for upcoming products. I was excited when they agreed, ...
When I was approached to don the pointed chef's hat and add to the stew, one of the first posts I drafted reflected on running a monthly game. I've been running a monthly game for almost half a year now, and it occurred to me that there were many parallels with convention gaming, parallels I couldn't make if I hadn't gone to my first gaming convention (GenCon 2007) ...
