Chances are, you’ve run a session that was less than stellar, and one of your players has given you the most common player boredom clue ever: stacking dice. Now, sure, when you see this cue, it’s important to re-evaluate the pacing of your adventure, but more importantly, you should be evaluating their dice stacking skills. After all, you’re the GM, and a player stacking dice at your table ...

In yesterday’s article we looked at the character creation system in HackMaster, but let’s face facts, if you are interested in HackMaster, you want to know about the Combat system.  So let’s not waste any time and get right into it… Combat Overhaul With the new edition of HackMaster gone is THACO! The new combat system focuses around competing attack and defense rolls, but that is just the tip of ...

Happy GM's Day! As part of Gnome Stew's March 4th blitz, we're holding our third contest. We thought, "What does every GM need?" And the answer was "A set of badass metal dice." The Prize Specifically, a set of 16mm solid metal polyhedral dice with a brushed steel finish from Crystal Caste. Crystal Caste makes great dice, and these puppies are $45 -- they're not your grandpa's worn, un-inked plastic nuggets. Sure, they're ...

It's been a little while since our last contest, and we thought we'd get 2009 started off right with another one. This time around, you can win one of two sets of dice or a custom Gnome Stew dice bag. Thanks to Our Sponsors This contest is sponsored by Game Master Dice, who provided the two sets of dice, and Marsbarn Designs, who gave us the custom Gnome Stew dice ...

Need a new dice bag? Then man do I have a recommendation for you -- hell, even if you like your current bag (I did), you might be surprised how appealing this particular dice bag looks. Why a New Bag? I'm pretty obsessive about small things (as anyone whose ever spent much time with me can tell you), and that certainly extends to dice bags. I bought my first one ...

A few months ago, I decided I wanted to buy my first dice tray. My druid character in our ongoing D&D 3.5e campaign uses a lot of dice, and our GM (who comments here as Sarlax) has always used a dice tray and seems to quite like it. I knew I didn't want the generic light wood/green felt octagon that I've seen in most gaming stores. It's too large ...

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. Just a little peek The more I DM, the more I want to roll in the open. Mostly, it keeps me honest and it dampens hard feelings when the rolls go against the players. ...