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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

Nov 14, 2011 by 5

Do You Do Things as a GM That You Would Hate as a Player?

There's a gulf between GMing theory and actual GMing, and standing in the middle of that gulf is you, the GM. You decide how to bridge what you know about GMing and what you actually do at the gaming table, and for me this is one of the trickiest aspects of GMing. I know a lot about GMing. I've been a GM for over 20 years, published two GMing ...
Jan 11, 2011 by 32

Hot Button: Rerolling Failures

Have you ever had this happen at a game? “I roll to see if I know anything about ancient ankthyrian architecture and where they might have hidden a secret door. Crap, didn’t get it. Let me just try that again…” or how about? “Ok, I know I’ve rolled 8 times to try to force the door, but the 9th time is the charm!” ...
Dec 4, 2009 by 16

How Much Metagaming is Too Much?

There are lots of ways to metagame, including: Using out-of-character knowledge for your in-character benefit, generally regarded as a bad thing Discussing mechanics during a session, which runs the gamut from useful and fun to a terrible idea Considering the rules in a way that your character probably wouldn't, which I consider to be common to most RPGs, and often just fine Sharing mechanical tips with other players, a real mixed bag ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.