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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

Jun 2, 2010 by 19

GMing Screens: What Are They Good For?

Over in the Suggestion Pot, Stew reader AquaFox said: I haven’t seen many articles that give good insight on the GM screen. Its usefulness, what it’s there for, what its alternatives are. I would love to see an article like that on Gnome Stew, since I have not seen anything similar anywhere else. I'm our resident screen fetishist, with around 10 screens in my library -- I love GMing screens ...
Jan 5, 2010 by 21

Why Do You Love Game Mastering?

"Why do you love GMing?" is a deceptively simple question, and I'd like to ask it in a specific way. In doing so, I think our answers -- the responses from everyone who reads this article and comments on it, whether here or elsewhere -- have the potential to be incredibly useful to each other. As a self-reflective person, I'm always interested in looking back over things like this ...
Oct 13, 2009 by 25

Whose Campaign Is It, Anyway?

When I was writing "My Players" and "Your Players," Not "The Players," this question was also kicking around in the back of my head, and it seemed like it was meaty enough for its own article: Whose campaign is it, anyway? In other words: When you run a game, is it your campaign? In terms of how you refer to it in conversation, I'd wager that -- like every GM I've ...
Jul 14, 2009 by 9

An Unpleasant Truth: Your Players Have Stopped Enjoying Your Game

Over in our Suggestion Pot -- the section of Gnome Stew where you can request articles -- Crushnaut related the following problem: The game started off well. Everyone seemed excited about playing, but now I get the feeling that my player’s interest has waned, although they do not seem to want to admit it. I ask the players if they are enjoying the game and they tell me, “YES! ...

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It's why you always kill the grand vizier.