If you play D&D 4e, there's a decent chance you use WotC's D&D Insider Character Builder. It automates a lot of things that frankly would otherwise be a pain in the ass, like creating power cards and calculating 99.9% of what's on your character sheet. For a crunchy, tactical, numbers-heavy game like 4e, it's a real boon. My whole group relies on it, and anecdotally I'd say most D&D players ...

One of the most fun things for me to do at GenCon is to wander the Dealers Room and check out the new stuff. GenCon is a natural place for RPG Publishers to launch new books and this year was no exception. One of the books that caught my eye was Fantasy Craft by Crafty Games. After the con, I received a free copy of Fantasy Craft for this ...

Ryan and Jay, those d20-rolling enthusiasts over at 3.5 Private Sanctuary, devoted   Episode 87 of their podcast to the subject of divinity and the role of gods in a campaign world. And at one point, Ryan and Jay make a solid case for always using default pantheon — the Greyhawk-lite list of gods and goddesses from the Player's Handbook — for every campaign. Basically, their argument boils back to the ...

This past GenCon, Paizo Publishing released the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now if you've been a GM (or DM, I'll use the generic here since it's what the Open Game Content and Pathfinder uses) for more than a couple of weeks then you probably know that Pathfinder is a refinement of the previous (D&D3.5) version of Dungeons & Dragons. Today's article takes a look at Pathfinder from a prospective ...

Two readers are stirring the Suggestion Pot with map-making questions. BladeMaster0182 writes: Hi guys. I would like an article on mapmaking. Every DM does it and I couldn’t find an article on it. I know many of us do it by hand but some of us (like me) lack the artistic talent to draw out their dream world. There are some map making programs, but most I have found are ...

What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. So, with a gazillion cable TV channels — why is it there is so little on TV that appeals to me, as a gamer?  I mean, you can’t spin the dial without ...

Our first anniversary contest ended last night, and rather than dawdle like lazy little gnomes, we decided to get the lead out and announce the winner the next day -- today, in fact. The only catch is that because of the way Gnome Stew is set up, we need a certain amount of pointless, filibuster-style text at the start of this article, or you'll be able to read the ...

What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle  and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Back in the saddle again First, thanks to Martin and the gang for allowing me to take a short hiatus. Dave Arneson, 1947-2009 Unfortunately I wasn’t able to post my appreciation of D&D co-creator Dave ...

My group is currently playing a D&D 4th Edition campaign, and I love having lots of accessories in front of me when I play. I have a couple hundred D&D Miniatures from past sets, and they rock -- for the price, they simply can't be beat. And I've been using fan-made power cards, printed out on cardstock, ever since we started our campaign. As a GM, I like any ...

As a GM, pacing is one problem I often struggle to address. When you're planning things out, you probably imagine how much time things are going to take. Then you get to the table and it doesn't work out as you imagined at all. In recent sessions, the characters have been harassing and besieging a dwarf controlled city. Before the mission began, the players looked over the world map ...

A couple of weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast offered Gnome Stew -- and several other RPG blogs -- the chance to write an article about the Player's Handbook 2 in exchange for a pre-release copy of the book. Specifically, an article about the book from a GMing perspective. We jumped at that chance. I've been poring over the PHB 2 since early March -- reading, taking notes, and ...

Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast, Gnome Stew is one of a handful of RPG blogs lucky enough to receive a pre-release copy of the Player's Handbook 2. Ours came on Tuesday, and the book won't be in stores until March 17th. Understandably, we're not allowed to post excerpts from the book -- but how about a couple of photos? Here's a shot of the front of the book ...

A recent online search for folklore information on Scandinavian-styled trolls for a future gaming session I was planning took me to a site I hadn't encountered before. Monstropedia.com turned out to be the proverbial pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow -- and there wasn't even a leprechaun guarding it. But there was an entry for leprechaun -- and those pesky trolls, too -- full descriptions of ...

Timon and Salcheech tossed related questions into the Suggestion Pot, both dealing with gaming with 9- and 10-year-olds.  Specifically, Timon was looking for advice on pacing games for that age group, while Salcheech was interested in scaling the game to that age range, as well as, whether morality lessons could be incorporated into the sessions. Interesting questions, and I think it’s great these Stew readers are introducing the game ...

What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack. Providing news about the community your player characters use as a home base is an excellent way to make the setting come alive for your player characters. The previous post discussed sources of ...