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.
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"If you aren’t reading Gnome Stew, you’re missing out." -- Wolfgang Baur
A card game that’s played by creating the cards with which it is played, 1000 Blank White Cards is a perfect game for those times when your group is between games or unable to play your regular game for whatever reason.
According to lore, 1000 Blank White Cards was created by Nathan McQuillen of Madison, Wisconsin. During a coffee run, he spied a box labeled, “1000 blank white cards” ...
NewbieDm, of the blog of the same name recently contacted the stew and asked us to take a look at his PDF product rpgKids v1.5. RpgKids is intended as an introductory RPG for children ages 4-7 and my daughter is 10, but I jumped at the chance to review it because I’m desperate. I’ve tried several different systems to introduce my daughter to RPGs and nothing has ...
There is a Greek legend about a thing called the Gordian Knot, a knot so complex that no one could untie it no matter how long they attempted to work it out. Then along comes this douche bag Alexander The Great, who whips out his sword and quick as you please slices the thing in two. He then goes on to conquer most of the known world. Ever ...
The other day, I was thinking back to the last ongoing campaign I ran, a story-heavy Mage: The Awakening game, and something occurred to me: Among the mistakes I made in that campaign there remained at least one that I'd never given due consideration.
Lessons Learned
As a GM, I tend to take a hands-off approach when my players seem to be having fun. If they're not doing what I ...
If you’ve kept abreast of the latest round of fudge-related articles penned by Kurt (here, here, oh, and here) then you’re no doubt aware that this topic tends to fuel some, ahem, passionate replies at the Stew. In this particular case there was one specific bit that stood out to myself as rather unfortunate and it really has nothing to do with the fudge in question.
It’s all about ...
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 ...
I’ve got this really super-cool idea for a campaign/adventure/encounter. I mean, it’s the coolest thing ever, like Shaft meets Napoleon Dynamite in a deep freeze kinda cool, you dig? It’s such a cool idea that when it happens, the whole table’s going to have to put on their shades, just to keep from going blind from the sheer coolness of this idea. It’s so fucking cool that Quentin ...
Every time with every group that I have ever been in, when the GM was bringing his or her campaign to a close the question "Who want to GM next?" came up. With some groups the hands shot up without a second thought. With other groups you might as well have asked "Who wants a red hot poker in the eye?"
That isn't the issue I'm addressing though. Thinking ...
