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
Gnotes from Gnome Stew HQ
GMing Roundup
Play a New RPG Month is just what it sounds like: damned good advice for any GM (or player). If you've only run, or played, one RPG -- or even mainly one RPG -- you owe it to yourself and your group to try another one. It can be a fling, a temporary thing, but if you choose wisely it will open new ...
Gnome Stew readers posted so many great suggestions for RPG background music in the comments on RPG Background Music: 41 Awesome Soundtracks that I decided to make a "reader tips" edition as a follow-up article. Combined, there are 99 recommendations between these two pieces.
I've already picked up one album based on your comments (the BSG Season One soundtrack, which is amazing -- and also great music to prep ...
I love background music when I'm GMing and when I'm playing -- for me, it's an integral part of the gaming experience. It's been two years since I wrote about background music here on the Stew (Creating Simple, Deep Playlists for RPG Background Music), and it's time for an update.
The advice in that article, which focused on building playlists, still holds true for me today -- that's ...
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 ...
I'm a big fan of having music in the background when I GM (and when I play, too), and have really gotten into it over the past four years. In that time, I've learned a few things that I find useful; they're all based on having a digital media library (in my case, on my iPod):
No vocals. When the primary activity of the evening is sitting around and ...
