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
1,109 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
This article was written for the first annual New Year, New Game blog carnival hosted by Gnome Stew as part of the 2012 NYNG challenge.
This past weekend I wrapped up a 16-month Star Trek campaign, and ending it (always a tricky affair) made me think about how I started it -- which in turn seemed like a pretty good topic to cover for NYNG.
I'm going to talk specifics ...
In le Pot de Suggestiones, Gnome Stew reader scoopsy asked this excellent question:
I’m fairly good at coming up with adventures and adventure hooks (and Eureka! is there for those times when I’m not), but I frequently find it difficult to tie them into a larger, compelling campaign. If we spend more than 2-3 sessions on a villain or plotline, it seems I start losing people and then it’s ...
Many games revolve around the idea of the heroes preventing an end of the world scenario, but I've often found the "end of the world" feel missing when hearing about, or playing, these types of games. I'd like to see it included more. How could an apocalypse affect the game you are currently running? Whether it is a looming disaster that the party is attempting to deter, a ...
As a GM the most important tool you have is your creativity. Your creativity is what allows you to create amazing adventures, thrilling NPC’s, witty dialog, enthralling descriptions, and the ability to shape your game in response to your players. Your creativity needs to be taken care of and cultivated. When treated well the power of your creativity is at your disposal, but when it becomes fatigued it ...
With Halloween being tomorrow, I figured I would lay down a few ideas for horror/monster themed games that I’m not going to have time to run. My regular game will take the party into a city where necromancy is legal. My party plans for Saturday night will have me carrying along a block tower and characters so that I can co-opt whoever is awake at 3 in ...
I've never tried this, but it seems like a logical extension of the fact that GMs should be raging kleptomaniacs.
Over the years, I've played in some great campaigns -- including some that were truly amazing and sublime. They all had one thing in common: they ended.
That's not a bad thing, mind you -- campaigns should end. But why leave it at that?
If you loved a game from 10 ...
Evernote has changed my life.
No, seriously -- I’m not exaggerating.
Capturing Ideas
I have a spotty memory for some things, particularly random thoughts and ideas that pop into my head -- they tend to disappear quickly if I don’t write them down as soon as possible.
And I get a lot of ideas. My mental back burners are running 24-7 -- and I hate losing ideas.
I learned a long time ago ...
Yesterday, we decided to launch something new: Gnome Stew is now posting bite-sized game mastering tips on Twitter.
The Hook
It's a shared account, so all nine of us gnomes have the ability to post there. We'll be signing off with our initials so you know who wrote what, and it's not just an auto-feed of our articles (I don't have much use for those myself).
I've been enjoying Twitter for ...
