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. Gnomes shouldn’t drink and drive The D&D Third Edition Arms and Equipment Guide is chock full of DMing goodies. My favorite is the list of ales and wines. From Dragonbite bitter ...

The players have gathered at their table for their first session in a new adventure. Each player has rolled up a new character, then shared their creation with the others in a quick once-around the table. A grim realization dawns.  “Oh noooooooooo! We don’t have a cleric! We’re all gonna die!” And the DM smiles ... and it’s an evil smile. Play on Must every party have a cleric, ...

In Boss Around the Gnomes, I asked Gnome Stew readers what you'd like to hear about the 4e core books from a GM's perspective. I wrote a lengthy, detailed post about my first impressions, and now I'm ready to tackle the specifics. Rather than C&P large chunks of my other post, if a question was substantially covered in my review I just pointed thataway for a few answers. It ...

With D&D 4th Edition launching today, there'll be lots of places where you can read general reviews and discussion about the nitty-gritty of the rules, but I have a hunch that there won't be many sites other than Gnome Stew talking about the three core books -- Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual -- specifically from a GMing perspective. That doesn't mean that there's nothing here for ...

Big News! Today's big news, of course: Kung-Fu Panda opens in theaters... Oh, That Big News Ahem. D&D 4th Edition launches today! Some of you may have already checked out the leaked PDFs, but I'm willing to bet plenty of folks are doing exactly what I'm doing: Counting the minutes until, the gods of Barnes & Noble willing, I can pick up my 4e core books after work, devour them and ...

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. Laugh it up, fuzzball Francis, the batted-around badger minion from D&D’s 4E promotional vid introducing the tiefling as a core player race, makes an appearance in the promotional posters provided to game ...

It’s inevitable. DM long enough, and kids will crop up in your adventure. They’ll either need to be rescued from a trap or a villain, one decides to tag along for protection or curiosity, or like Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Boys, you’ll come to rely upon a gang of them to run errands and gather information. So it’s a good idea to have some standard children rolled up. ...

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. Gnome-je vu Why all the 4E fuss? I’ll tell you why.  Gnomes are in the Third Edition Monster Manual, too. And they have a lair (“Gnomes make their homes in hilly, woodland lands. They ...

So, your party is traveling through the woods or across that fantasy city, and you roll for a random encounter (‘cause, as a DM, that’s what we do, right?) You register the die roll result and refer to ye ol’ wandering monster chart. And instead of giving you a monster you can run right out of the Monster Manual, you see something like this: 3d6 bandits (Rangers level ...

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. Leggo my Legos I’m installing laminate flooring in the front room of my house. It’s this stuff that looks like hardwood, but isn’t, so it’s cheaper. Anyway, the laminate boards are about four ...

Faster than a Tectonic Plate Do your combats seem to take forever to resolve? Do you hesitate to begin an encounter in the last hour and a half of a session? When a combat is taking place, are your players’ eyes glazed over, or are they looking around for something less boring? Good news: We can rebuild your combats. We can make them better… faster… stronger. I find that faster combats ...

It seems Hamlet had a less vexing decision than the one that seemingly faces many DMs of Dungeons and Dragons. Namely, do I switch to the new fourth edition of the game, or stick with the version I’m playing? I think it’s fair many factors will go into your thinking. Here’s what I’m weighing, right now. Cost The biggie. At $104.95 msrp for the three core rulebooks, this ...

When D&D 4th Edition launches on June 6th, many GMs will be making a tough decision: to 4e or not to 4e. Several of us gnomes have already made that choice, though, and will be snagging all three core books either on or shortly after launch day. We'll be rubbing our grubby little gnome-paws all over them anyway, and we'd love to write about all three core books from ...

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. Wisdom score, check I went in for my annual eye examination, and Doctor Mike told me that my vision had improved. “That sometimes happens when you get older,” he said. Really? I ...

“Son, you got a panty on your head,” the old hayseed tells Nicolas Cage’s convenience-store robbin’ character H.I. in “Raising Arizona.” And sure e’nuff, somewhere beneath all that nylon is the Nicolas Cage we know and love — even though it’s pretty hard to recognize him just by looking. Experienced D&D/3.5 players know their monsters backwards and forwards, just from hearing the description or showing them a picture. ...