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
Gnotes from Gnome Stew HQ
RPG Mapping Software
For many years, I've felt like I wasn't a true gamer because I didn't have a world I'd been building since I was a little kid. I've built pieces of worlds, and helped write plenty of worldbuilding fiction, but never had a world all my own, like so many gamers do -- one that I'd been adding to, bit by bit, until ...
In the past few months I have been exploring a new way to create my session notes which I called Prep-Lite. Now several months and sessions into this exercise, I have come to realize a few things about session prep, and am starting to see a general philosophy forming based on some common themes and techniques that I have used and discussed. Today I am going to try ...
In Phil’s recent article: Prep-Lite: Maps, he proposes a system of making maps for your RPG that reduces prep time but still produces simple and elegant maps. In overview, Phil proposes breaking your map into important and unimportant rooms, making a rough map of the ways your important rooms connect, and using this as a framework for lite improvisation. However, Phil makes this provision in his article: ...
In my continuing Kwai Chang Caine-like quest to find Prep-Lite mastery, I stumbled upon another place in my session prep, that was consuming a lot of my time, and begged for some prep-lite love. This time, my prep-lite scalpel made an incision into one of the cornerstone elements of our hobby...the Map. When I was done, I had once again removed precious time from my session prep without ...
The Stew forges on, dragging you kicking and screaming into the digital age, this time with a review of the iPhone/iPad app, Battle Map. Educate yourself on this tool available for GMs willing to take their map-making skills to the “next level” (see what I did there?) and whether this application is for you.
Well, that is, if you own an iOS device, that is.
First, might I suggest you ...
Two readers are stirring the Suggestion Pot with map-making questions.
BladeMaster0182 writes:
Hi guys. I would like an article on mapmaking. Every DM does it and I couldn’t find an article on it. I know many of us do it by hand but some of us (like me) lack the artistic talent to draw out their dream world. There are some map making programs, but most I have found are ...
So you’re running late to game. The only thing you need is a map, and you need to do it fast. Here are 5 quick mapping options. 1. Dry Erase Board Dry erase markers and a whiteboard make for great mapping options. The only problem, for the tactically combat inclined, is their lack of gridlines. Some places sell dry erase boards with ...
Last week, Longtooth Studios started shipping their new Battle Graph Dry Erase Boards (aka Battle Boards). The successor to Tact-Tiles, the Battle Boards are a set of interlocking, dry-erase, map tiles. They are an alternative to the venerable Battlemat, and today, I am going to take a set of Battle Boards out for spin, and let you know how they stack up.
A quick disclaimer: Longtooth Studios provided the ...
To celebrate Gnome Stew's one-year anniversary (of the marriage between delicious dead gnome flesh and game mastering, of course!), we're giving away a set of Battlegraph Dry Erase Tiles courtesy of Longtooth Studios.
Battlegraphs
Battlegraphs are the first commercially available successor to Tact-Tiles, which were one of the best gaming products ever made.
And they look like an excellent successor. They're modular -- they lock together like jigsaw puzzle pieces -- ...
Chances are good that as a GM, you've heard about Tact-Tiles (often mis-identified as Tac-Tiles): modular, interlocking dry-erase boards with built-in 1" grids suitable for use with miniatures. And if you're lucky enough to have bought a set while they were still being produced, you guard them with your life.
I've used my set more or less constantly for over three years, and every single person I've gamed with ...
What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack.
Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em
Card stock buildings, erasable battlemaps, D&D brand Dungeon Tiles, homemade encounter areas drawn with crayon. Those have been my tools in trade ever since I landed on the ...
What's the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of DMing observations. Don't be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack.
Hip to be squares
Flip Mat brand footmaps are cool. And they work with permanent and dry-erase markers (kinda ... there’s a trick to removing the permanent markings) . They’re re-useable, and come in ...
When I started up my current Mage: The Awakening chronicle, I made a conscious decision to not use battle maps. When combat or exploration comes up, I doodle sloppy maps on the huge white board in our game room, and adjust them on the fly.
Signposts
Could I have used battle maps instead? Sure -- but I wanted to put up a signpost for my players that says, "This aspect ...
