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
1,110 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
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"If you aren’t reading Gnome Stew, you’re missing out." -- Wolfgang Baur
Should players expect that all scenes/encounters be defeatable?
I don't play D&D and its derivitaves all that often but when I do I notice that players tend to approach every encounter with an expectation that their character sheets have enough on them to get through it. If a monster or monsters confront the characters, the question is often not "should we face this or flee" but rather "how many ...
A new season begins tonight. It's not the new season of a cooking show--honestly, hardtack is difficult to make sexy, even if you have Kitchen Stadium's resources. No, tonight is the first session of the new 13 week adventure, Dark Legacy of Evard.
I'm looking forward to welcoming new GMs into the fold; a few of our players from the previous seasons are stepping up to run tables ...
Gripe all you want about 4E, but I’ve learned more than a few things from everyone’s favorite whipping-boy RPG. As a player, I spent more than a few tense moments at the beginning of many encounters, wondering how the party was going to survive this onslaught. Once I recognized the pattern (thanks to a comment by Martin), it all made sense. A number of factors contribute ...
If you've been longing to hone your GMing skills, do I have a program for you. Much like the body bootcamps advertised by gyms, this innovative system is designed to increase your flexibility, bulk up your strengths, and build your endurance. It's an intensive program--my first run lasted 18 weeks (including a couple of double sessions), and I'm currently three weeks into a 13 week commitment.
The program is ...
First Time GM is a series of articles dedicated to the newly-minted game master, making his or her first tentative die rolls behind the screen. Today’s article deals with preparing for the gaming session, commonly called game prep or just prep. For some GMs, game prep takes far more time and effort than the actual gaming sessions. We could spend weeks on game prep, but this ...
Encounter types are one of the variables with the most potential impact on games. From design, through character creation to adventure design, encounter type impacts the flavor and success of the game. For the purpose of this article, Encounter type is the main function of an encounter. Common examples include investigation, combat, social, magic, or other skills but games with odd focuses can have more unusual encounter ...
Villainy with a shadowy purpose: Rogues that strike out from dark alleys. Monsters that lurk in the dark spaces beneath the stairs. Creatures of smoke and raging spirits.
The 4E Monster Manual has an outstanding selection of opponents of dark purpose. Here are some heroic-level encounters you can spring on the unsuspecting.
(The target encounter XPs are for 5 PCs of each level).
Level 1 Encounter
Following the ...
