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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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Aug 12, 2009 by 14

Johnny’s Five – Five Reasons/Ways To Get Out of A Not fun Combat

I recently ran a game that had a far too long and not fun combat in it. The party size is a little bloated, and I had planned out a combat with lots of combatants (mostly mooks who got taken out very easily, but a few actual threats) that became very un-fun. The mooks didn't get creamed like I expected, one character decided he wasn't going to participate ...
Mar 19, 2009 by 15

Pacing and Transitions

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 ...

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