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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

May 30, 2011 by 8

Simple Tricks: Name Lists

A couple of weeks ago I was at a convention and got to jump into a game of Apocalypse World. Definitely an interesting system with some unique elements and ideas, but one of the things that struck me most about it was a very non-unique element – something I remember doing a long time ago and that somehow slipped out of my library of gaming tools. It was ...
Oct 26, 2010 by 14

My Improv Game Setup – An Article With Waaaay Too Many Pictures

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, ...
Nov 17, 2009 by 10

What’s in a name?

Gnomestew reader Idran's comment on Martin's article on the Decamer Campaignstarted me thinking about RPG monsters. Turns out, they're quite an international bunch, and while I certainly don't begrudge the creators and designers of RPGs from drawing from a myriad of sources, and though it's never bothered me before, suddenly it became obvious the nonsensical nature of the convention of retaining original names when drawing from a wide variety of sources. Using Martin's ...
Sep 22, 2008 by 23

Why I Love Coming Up With Names

I love names. As a player, naming my character is one of my favorite aspects of character creation. It usually shakes out one of two ways: I hit on the perfect name right away and it instantly helps me define the character. Sometimes this comes at the end of the process, sometimes at the start (it's better at the start). I agonize over choosing a name. I try real names, random ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.