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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

Jul 27, 2010 by 20

Tips for Running Narrative Combats: No Minis or Maps Required

Over in the Suggestion Pot, Gnome Stew reader renner asked us to write an article on this topic: How do you handle a narrative combat? Mainly, if you are used to miniatures and maps, and don’t want to use them anymore. Prior to D&D 3.0, the majority of RPGs used narrative combat -- IE, combat that's largely descriptive, with a sketchy map if a map is used at all. From ...
Jul 12, 2010 by 51

Hot Button: Player Characters Should Never Be Killed

Reading a fascinating Guild Wars 2 design diary about character death penalties (via Penny Arcade) got me thinking about PC deaths in RPGs -- and specifically, about why PCs should ever be killed at all. For your consideration: Dying? Yawn In the vast majority of traditional-style campaigns, regardless of the game, PCs almost never die for good. D&D is the main example, and also the source of why this stereotype tends ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.