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
I admit it. I’ve resisted using a mounted whiteboard for my game for a long time.
It’s not that I have anything against dry-erase markers. On the contrary, a dry-erase initiative tracker and a basic Flip-Mat brand 5-foot base map are both fine GMing tools that have a place at my table.
(And yes, I realize, they are just smaller versions of the same thing.)
My resistance to the mounted whiteboard ...
What’s the Crock Pot? Just a simmering bowl of lentils and herbs, with a dash of GMing observations. Don’t be afraid to dip in your ladle and stir, or throw in something from your own spice rack.
We've had so many fine suggestions in the Stew lately about how to apply templates to your game prep. DNA Phil wrote about his goals in this regard ...
Chances are good that as a GM, you've heard about Tact-Tiles (often mis-identified as Tac-Tiles): modular, interlocking dry-erase boards with built-in 1" grids suitable for use with miniatures. And if you're lucky enough to have bought a set while they were still being produced, you guard them with your life.
I've used my set more or less constantly for over three years, and every single person I've gamed with ...
Well good old Johnny has decided to take a step away from his usual deep (and mostly bullshitted) posts about meta-gaming to try something different. I'm going to start a series of posts called Johnny's Five, wherein I detail 5 nifty things about Gaming, 5 ideas that might help out a GM or 5 unique pieces of . . . something you can use in a game. You ...
Most of the local terrain around my house is flat. This part of north central Illinois is prairie — flatlands in every direction.
It’s no surprise, then, that the dungeons we design around here are flat too. The grid paper we design dungeons on is flat. The coffee tables we gather around are flat. The footmaps and map tiles we buy are flat. The minis we use certainly stand ...
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.
Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em
Card stock buildings, erasable battlemaps, D&D brand Dungeon Tiles, homemade encounter areas drawn with crayon. Those have been my tools in trade ever since I landed on the ...
