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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 1,109 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.

"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

Apr 5, 2011 by 7

D&D Burgoo (4E): When the Wheel Weaves a Conversion

I’m an unapologetic fan of the “Wheel of Time” series by the late Robert Jordan and its current author, Brandon Sanderson. (1) It was interest in trying out the 2001 roleplaying game based on the d20/Third Edition system that moved me to the GMing side the screen in the first place. I ran two solid campaigns using those rules. It went pretty well. Yes, the channellers can rule combat encounters ...
Aug 3, 2010 by 3

Troy’s Crock Pot: Shopping list adventure planning

Even obsessive-compulsive planners such as myself — you know, full stats for every NPC, meticulously-drawn maps, crafted handouts — will have to go off the page and run a session in a more impromptu manner (especially if those rascally players refuse to snag that adventure hook you dangled so temptingly in front of them and want to set off for the dark forest instead — you know,  that ...
Jan 21, 2009 by 16

Troy’s Crock Pot: Oh darn! The NPC just rolled a 1

The gnome NPC just rolled a 1. Tracking down the source of the rumors led to a paranoid gnome minstrel named Barty  who just couldn't stop telling tales about the true (and imagined) indiscretions of the daughters of the finest families in town. Barty was causing other problems, too, which is why the PCs felt that had to intervene. Of course the problem was a particularly sticky one: How do ...
Jun 23, 2008 by 23

D&D Burgoo (3.5): Don’t Get So Defensive

With D&D going more and more to static numbers for saves and defense, especially in the Fourth Edition of the rules, I know I’m swimming upstream with this suggestion for Third Edition DMs. All the same, here it is: I think defenders should roll for their Armor Class, and thus, oppose the roll made by the attacker. After all, the use of opposed rolls is a key component ...

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