45.png
 

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

Apr 6, 2011 by 40

Special Powers As Enablers

In one convention game I ran, my players got around a door by using a spell to turn stone into bread. They turned the dungeon wall next to the door into a brick shaped piece of pumpernickel, punched through bread and got through the door. Someone watching the game remarked that they wouldn’t have let them use the spell like that. I asked why, and they said ...
Aug 19, 2010 by 13

Gaming Across the Divide

On a recent trip, my wife and her friends wound up teaching classes during the day. I spent a few days exploring the city, but also spent a couple of afternoons gaming with their teenage sons. It's been a while since I was a teen; I admit that I remember the endless hours for gaming with a great deal of nostalgia. So it was neat to get to play ...
Oct 23, 2008 by 25

Hot Button: Distractions

What distractions do you tolerate at the gaming table? When I was young and still playing in my parent's basement (no, it was not last year! I was still a teenager, honest!), I had a GM that insisted he could run a game with the TV on in the background. Needless to say, every time we played like this, he'd get engrossed with what was on the screen and ...
Jul 31, 2008 by 16

Troy’s Crock Pot: Goodbye Gleemax, we hardly got to know each other through you

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. Gaming brains don't belong in jars Wizards of the Coast will pull the plug on the gaming social networking site Gleemax in September. The site was difficult to navigate — a crippling factor for a ...

,

What's Gnome Stew?

Written by a team of veteran GMs, Gnome Stew is the most widely read game mastering blog on the planet.

Subscribe

3,945 subscribers strong. Let us send Gnome Stew articles your way via RSS feed or email.

Our Books for GMs

Written by the authors of Gnome Stew, Eureka offers 501 system-neutral adventure plots and Masks provides 1,000 system-neutral NPCs.

Support

Click one of these links, shop normally, and we earn a small percentage (at no cost to you).

Connect

Tell us how we can make your time behind the GM's screen easier and more fun.

More Delicious Stew

The only good gnome is a stewed gnome.

Gnomish Stuff

Other things you'll find in the Stew.

Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.