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
It’s safe to say that I’m a bit of an easy sell when it comes to miniatures. Every time I go into a game store, I buy dice or miniatures from their bargain bin. The fantasy games I generally play call for odd or unique minis, so your standard knight in armor rarely works, especially when I need minis to represent the vast array of unique enemy personalities. ...
Ok, the last article I wrote on the physical space of the game was meant to be the one I’m writing now. I just got into a completely different mindset while writing the intro, and suddenly the intro was a full fledged article. In this article I want to talk about the revelation I had about the physical space of the game while my buddy was running ...
A buddy of mine started down the road to GMing for the first time a few months ago. While the games he has been able to run have been very short and thrown together in the minimal spare time that our lives allow, they’ve been great fun and an even greater source of ideas. Watching him go through the trials and tribulations of a newbie GM, and watching ...
While reading Patrick's article and related comments yesterday something struck me as a good Hot Button topic: As a Game Master, what do you do when two of your players break up and both wish to remain in the game?
If you've gamed for any respectable length of time, then you've probably had at least one romantic couple in your group. Sometimes they join as a couple. Sometimes one of them ...
This article isn't part of the "Table Trio" that was delivered by my more-than-capable comrades here, here, and here. It is more than likely the result of "me too-ism" on my part. But I felt like I had something to contribute to the conversation, so if it helps, consider this "Table Talk v3.5".
Whether or not you're using a table, or what kind of table you're using, you should ...
What distractions do you tolerate at the gaming table?
When I was young and still playing in my parent's basement (no, it was not last year! I was still a teenager, honest!), I had a GM that insisted he could run a game with the TV on in the background. Needless to say, every time we played like this, he'd get engrossed with what was on the screen and ...
