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
Recently, I've been reading the five Otori novels, and have really enjoyed the complex world that they've created. I don't know a lot about Japanese history, so I have no idea how closely the concepts correlate to real world events, but it's a great, complex world that I'd love to game in. But it'd only work well under unusual circumstances.
Playing in her world is similar to playing ...
Languages in RPGs have a lot of potential, but they often get relegated to the realm of soulless mechanics, or even hand waved completely. Looking at novels, we see that languages are used as inspiration, flavor, and to instill a sense of wonder.
Languages are mysterious:
If no one in the group knows a language, that language and what it holds is a mystery. This is especially true if it's resistant to magic ...
One of the most iconic ceremonies is the wedding ceremony. In this article we'll look at weddings throughout history and see how you can create weddings that reflect the traditions of your world-- or even glance slantwise at our own. Along the way, I hope you find yourself incorporating a wedding into your upcoming games and worlds.
Weddings and marriage have consequences. Some researchers suggest that marriage came ...
Gnomestew reader Idran's comment on Martin's article on the Decamer Campaignstarted me thinking about RPG monsters. Turns out, they're quite an international bunch, and while I certainly don't begrudge the creators and designers of RPGs from drawing from a myriad of sources, and though it's never bothered me before, suddenly it became obvious the nonsensical nature of the convention of retaining original names when drawing from a wide variety of sources.
Using Martin's ...
