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New to the Stew? There are 617 articles packed with GMing tips and advice in our archives. Why not start with our Top 30 Game Mastering Articles?
"I check Gnome Stew every day." -- Monte Cook (see who else loves the Stew)

New Year’s Resolutions

Am I the only one creeped out by the fact that it's 2010? For me, the winter holiday season is a time of reflection when it comes to RPGs. With the hustle and bustle of the various holidays (my household celebrates Christmas, Chanukah, and New Years' Eve), I rarely have time to game in the latter half of December. With gaming in my blood, I usually do find time ...

GM Spotlight: What Pathfinder Brings to the Table

This past GenCon, Paizo Publishing released the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now if you've been a GM (or DM, I'll use the generic here since it's what the Open Game Content and Pathfinder uses) for more than a couple of weeks then you probably know that Pathfinder is a refinement of the previous (D&D3.5) version of Dungeons & Dragons. Today's article takes a look at Pathfinder from a prospective ...

What Do Your Players Really Want From Your Game?

A few days ago, after running a session, a thought struck me. It’s one of the most important things that I think can be asked by any Game Master: What do my players really want out of the game?  While it’s a simple question, and something that doesn’t seem like it would be hard to figure out, a lot of groups get into the groove of playing a ...

Alpha Omega: How to GM this New RPG

Here's a situation that should be familiar to just about any GM: You pick up a new RPG, and you're stoked about running it. You've got the player buy-in you need to make for a good game. So...how do you actually go about, you know, running it for the first time? I wrote about the general case back in May, in the article 17 Steps to GMing a New ...

Where Does The GM’s Fun Come From?

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 ...

Hot Button: Show Me the Money!

Several years ago, a GM that I was acquainted with organized his weekly group into a club. Everyone paid a fee and the GM would ostensibly use this money to purchase gaming materials that he would keep after use. A few years later (but still several years ago...darn I feel old!), I was discussing this arrangement with a fellow gamer buddy. He had a rather heated reaction against it, ...

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