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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 1,109 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

Jun 4, 2009 by 21

Deep as a Puddle: Character Development with Tarot

Tarot readings are an inspirational technique for developing characters. Inspirational techniques are great when an NPC needs more personality, but you don't have enough of a handle on the character to know what the right answer to a question would be. They are also good when you are in a hurry. Beyond adding detail to a character, tarot readings can also give you new ideas for PCs and ...
May 28, 2009 by 10

You’re Deep as a Puddle: Making More Lively PCs and NPCs

When was the last time your players actually talked to an NPC? Was it a rewarding conversation, or was the NPC made out of cardboard? Or, on the flip side, have you been yearning to have a session where the players do something other than kill people, but the numbers are the only part of the character that they've bothered to flesh out? Fear not-- a lot of ...

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