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
Arrr, ye fair and gentle readers. Ye be knowing what today be, donch'a? Why of course it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. That be meaning we ought to be talking about, and like, Pirates. Well ole redbeard Johnny has a small treat for ya. In honor of the day, I'll be dropping some nuggets o'wisdom on how to make your game a little more piratical. ...
As Game Masters, I think we’ve all been in the place where we get wrapped up in creating a world or game with an intricate backstory or lots of details. (When I refer to backstory throughout the rest of this article, I mean the intricate details that surround a world or campaign. ) Whether it is the detailed story of the intricate social-politcal relationships at court, the ...
I’m likely going to make the world meta-explode with this one, but let’s take that risk and talk about games. Not just the tabletop games we play, or the video games we play when we aren’t running a game or playing in one. No, let’s talk about games within the games we play. Amalgamation When we sit down to play a ...
So stop me if you’ve heard this one before:
A Dragonblooded paladin who is trying to make a more noble name for his people, a shadowy thief/assassin Eladrin kicked out of his people for his devious ways, a high ranking human cleric of pelor fresh from the convent, and a tiefling warlock with a dark past walk into a tavern where a man in a corner gives them a ...
It’s safe to say that I’m a bit of an easy sell when it comes to miniatures. Every time I go into a game store, I buy dice or miniatures from their bargain bin. The fantasy games I generally play call for odd or unique minis, so your standard knight in armor rarely works, especially when I need minis to represent the vast array of unique enemy personalities. ...
My latest game is a short miniseries campaign with a mix of new and old players. I planned it short to prevent GM burnout and to be able to interview new potential players. At the beginning of the game I asked for elements the players wanted to see in the game. Recurring enemies was a big one, but I had only planned this game out for 5 ...
One issue that comes up at the start of every campaign, at least in my group, is whether everyone speaks a common language or not. Sometimes we talk about whether the game setting should even have one? Something that acts as a lingua-franca, a widely spread language shared by many people throughout the world. With Gnome Stew being translated into other languages, this seems like the perfect ...
Many of my articles are inspired by moments I witness in games that I am running or playing in. Something about a situation catches in my mind and I start to extrapolate on the various reasons behind a player’s action or a Game Master’s way of handling things. This one is different. The idea behind this article came from reading a passage in a book, equating it ...
On my last post about running an Improv game, Toldain asked if I could share my setup for Improv games. Since I run a lot of convention games, I thought the best way to share the setup would be to do a photo filled post showing exactly what is in my setup.
It all starts with a box . . .
THE BOX
I usually carry a courier bag to conventions, ...
Thank you for flying Gnome Airlines today. Your pilot for today is Gnome Arcadian, and while he has not yet officially received his pilot’s license, he has logged many hours in flight simulation video-games. While most of these have been space fighters, he assures us that the actual presence of gravity should not be a problem. If you would please buckle your seatbelts, the stewardesses will come around ...
A few weeks ago I was preparing for running games at Ancon, a local gaming convention. A million things were occupying my time, and I only got two out of the three games written that I had to run. Waiting to meet someone at a table in a coffee shop, I decided to start taking notes for the final game I needed to write up. Having only my ...
You know what I do when I’m mowing my lawn? I fly a spaceship. You know what I do when I’m folding laundry? I think about exactly what concurrence of events would lead to me getting superpowers. You know what I do when I am waiting in a doctor’s office or stuck at a meeting that has absolutely nothing to do with my job? I watch an ...
Soundtracks are used to great effect in Movies, TV Shows, and Video games. They up the emotional investment of the viewer, create a connection on another sensory level, and they act as cues for the type of action going on. Having a soundtrack for your game can really increase the enjoyment and investment from your players. Having a soundtrack is a lot more than just playing ...
Way back when, at Gencon 2009, I was comped a copy of Runepunk. I’ve been meaning to sit down and write a review, but I never feel right about doing a review unless I’ve gotten deep enough into the product to really understand it. I finally found enough time to really get into Runepunk and see what it is all about. So, a little under a ...
One issue I always have when I’m on the players’ side of the table is with common world and game knowledge. How much does my character actually know about the monsters or magic in the world he lives in? Does my character know in-depth info about the political structures of the megacorp he is working against, or just that they have them like any large company? Will saying ...
