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
Have you ever killed a PC through fiat?
A while back I was running a street-level superheroes game. Realism (in as much as any game is "realistic") was emphasized, to the point that no one wore spandex and vigilante activity would get you arrested if caught. We also started with none of the PCs knowing each other, as relationships were supposed to be forged in game.
In what was going ...
This review has been a long time in the coming. I’ve had both of these books on my shelf for a while* and I’ve been sitting on doing the review for no real particular reason. Neither of these books were comp copies and this review is unsolicited. These are just two products that I’ve had for a while and wanted to review.
Ok, lets talk about the books, and ...
Have you ever had this happen at a game? “I roll to see if I know anything about ancient ankthyrian architecture and where they might have hidden a secret door. Crap, didn’t get it. Let me just try that again…” or how about? “Ok, I know I’ve rolled 8 times to try to force the door, but the 9th time is the charm!” ...
Some of my current freelancing projects involve All for One: Regime Diabolique, which uses the Ubiquity rules system (pioneered in Hollow Earth Expedition). Under this system, you roll a number of dice and count the "evens" as successes. It doesn't matter what dice you roll; indeed, you could even use coins or playing cards if you wanted to.
At first, my players thought it was pretty sweet that they got ...
In all games there are times when it is important for a character to make some kind of skill or attribute check where it would be more dramatic if the player (and the rest of the table) did not immediately know the outcome of the result. As a GM I have handled this a number of different ways during my time behind the screen, and today I am ...
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. ...
