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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

Sep 12, 2011 by 12

“Justify It”

At the beginning of my last game session I asked my players if any of them spent their experience points (this for WitchCraft, if it matters).  Only one of them did, and he announced that he'd spent some points on improving his Martial Arts. That's when I threw him a curve ball. I asked him to justify it. He looked stunned, primarily because it's not something I normally ask. I ...
Jul 13, 2009 by 14

Just Rewards

What’s your party fighting for? Traditional RPGs like D&D reward the party for overcoming obstacles and defeating foes. Many modern RPGs reward the party for advancing the plot, playing to character traits or goals, or even for losing a challenge (Dogs in the Vineyard). Some groups simply give a standard reward each session.  Why is this important? Because your players will work hard to earn ...
Jul 2, 2009 by 5

You Set the Baseline

I was running a Star Wars campaign a few years ago (revised pre-Saga) edition. One of the most helpful sections in the core book was a list of stat blocks for NPCs. As I wanted these stat blocks to be challenging for the PCs, I decided that the PCs would be standard by-the-book characters. When I showed up to the first session, I discovered that the group had a ...

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Metagaming, Noooo

It's why you always kill the grand vizier.