25.png
 
New to the Stew? There are 618 articles packed with GMing tips and advice in our archives. Why not start with our Top 30 Game Mastering Articles?
"I check Gnome Stew every day." -- Monte Cook (see who else loves the Stew)

Someone Else’s House

Reading fellow Gnome Scott Martin’s article on “Setting vs. Cast” made me realize that I generally don’t enjoy RPG settings borrowed from books, movies, or television.  (For the sake of this article, let’s call them literary settings.) Asking “Why not?” led to this article, which includes advice for using literary settings. I recognize the popularity of literary settings; entire systems are written for them. But they ...

TV Case Study: Life

This is the second TV case study.  Previously we reviewed Lost . This week we leave the Island and head to LA, to look at a Life.  We will look at a few elements that make this police drama stand out from its peers, and we will talk about how you can use those same elements in your own games. Synopsis Detective Charlie Crews has spent years in prison for ...

TV Case Study: Lost

Hello, and welcome to the first TV Case Study. In this new series of articles, I will focus on a single TV show and pick out some elements that are key parts of the TV show, and show you how you can apply them to your campaigns. Our first case study will be on the show Lost. Synopsis After a mysterious and bloody airplane crash, 48 survivors ...

The Main Cast Rule

When you're watching an episodic TV show (think Lost), who does everything happen to? The main cast. And who drives the action when things aren't happening to them? The main cast. The same should be true in your campaign (which, in a lot of cases, resembles an episodic TV show more than most other types of media): Whenever something worth playing out at the table happens, it should happen to ...

,

loading search form...