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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

Aug 17, 2009 by 13

Double Down: Gambling in RPGs

There is a very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune: go there with a large one. -- Jack Yelton Gambling works for just about every game world. In our world, gambling was so popular in the renaissance that kings and popes banned playing cards. There's something iconic about Han and Lando playing sabbac for the Millenium Falcon, Croaker's admonishing the Black Company watchmen ...
Jan 9, 2009 by 10

Troy’s Crock Pot: Chiming in on Spotlight Encounters

Do you include Spotlight encounters — those designed to challenge individual characters — in your adventures? Giving your cleric or thief a chance to shine sounds easy enough, right? You throw undead at the cleric and traps with pointy things that spring out at your thieves. Likewise, wizards need magic to dispel and fighters require opportunities to perform feats of strength. But, c’mon, that gets a little old after a ...
Sep 18, 2008 by 11

Troy’s Crock Pot: At the end of my Use Rope

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. Tinker, tinker, soldier Why? As a DM, I don't tinker with the rules much.  Oh, as a writer, I've dabbled plenty — articles in Dragon magazine and in a couple of pdf supplements. But ...
Jun 30, 2008 by 20

D&D Burgoo (3.5): Don’tcha got a job, or something?

PCs are adventurers. I get it. They’re not slaving away at some lousy 9-to-5 job hoping the boss won’t drop a ton of work on their desk before the weekend or pining for that promotion that will never come. It’s not in their makeup. They’re adventurers! They’re goblin-killers and tomb raiders and dragon-slayers, for goodness sakes. They don’t punch-in at a timeclock and they aren’t worried about the ...

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