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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
"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

Jul 30, 2010 by 10

Where did the Monsters Wander?

As a GM, wandering monsters and other random encounters can be difficult to utilize without being a burden on the game. The best illustration of this point I’ve so far seen is in Rich Burlew’s excellent comic, Order of the Stick. But is it true that the wandering monster is nothing but a boring waste of time? Where did they come from in the first place, why ...
May 21, 2010 by 4

What ever happened to the seventh son?

Reading the fantastic web comic Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic in which a recent story arc features a god-touched mute half-orc girl named Jone and her mouthy kobold sidekick, a seer from a family where every 5th female generation is gifted with prophecy, I was reminded of the fairy tales of my youth with whole menageries of characters touched by the spark of destiny, with strange magic artifacts, ...
Nov 4, 2009 by 4

Reinforcement: A Simple Tool for Conveying Theme, Tone, and Flavor

One of the best ways to convey the theme of your campaign, the tone of your game, and the flavor of the game world is to use reinforcement -- specifically, reinforcement of small things. This technique is based on two principles: Choose elements that represent what you want to convey, and repeat them. As part of your game prep, consciously choose a few things you can reinforce. They don't ...

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It's why you always kill the grand vizier.