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Johnny’s Five – Five Pictures For Inspiration
As Game Masters, we each have our unique and individual style for running games. There are certain elements we all feel comfortable with and enjoy using in our games. We don’t want to get stuck in the familiar and the easy when we present a new game for our players, and I recently came across a nifty way to broaden the elements I include in my games. Show More Summary
The Hidden World: Supernatural Dials
I first came across the concept of the “supernatural dial” in Dogs in the Vineyard, but I’d encountered it in casual form long before. Sometimes the supernatural dial is expressed as “How gritty do you like your fantasy?” or “It’s a low magic setting”, while similar analogues exist for modern and sci-fi games. Show More Summary
The Art of the One-Shot Character
Today’s guest article is by Angela Murray (aka Orikes), an occasional graphic designer, a sometime photographer, and one of the voices over at Rogue Princess Squadron, a new gaming blog put together by several female authors. Though she’s been gaming for years, GMing is still a new love in her life. Show More Summary
Iteration: What GMing Can Take From GameDev, a Guest Article by Richard Dansky
Today’s guest article is by Richard Dansky, who tabletop gamers are most likely to know for his extensive work with White Wolf, particularly Wraith: The Oblivion. He’s a GM, a 14-year veteran of the video game industry, and the author of six novels, including Firefly Rain. Show More Summary
Lucky Fudge
Random luck affects us all the time. Just last week, the sewer line backed up in my house. As it happened, a local plumbing company dropped off a coupon the next day, fixing our headache at a very reasonable cost. Conversely, several years ago, my brother called me to announce that my first niece was due to be born any minute. Show More Summary
A Grown-up Game Business
On Facebook recently, my friend Miranda Horner — an accomplished game editor who works primarily on Dungeons & Dragons for Wizards of the Coast — posted this: I want my chosen industry, the tabletop gaming industry, to be so successful overall that it can afford to take people away from the computer gaming industry instead of [...]
Rules Shifting – Part 1
I love my Underground campaign. Its been one of the best things I have run in some time, and it has done wonders for breaking me out of my slump. The game has been rolling along well, until we came to a small bump in the road…the rules. Show More Summary
Download a 9-Page Preview of Odyssey, our Upcoming Guide to Campaign Management
Preorders for our next book, Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management, will be opening on June 3, and we want you to be able to check out the book before deciding whether to preorder. You can now download a free 9-page PDF preview of Odyssey that includes the cover, table of contents, introduction, and opening section. Show More Summary
Learning From… The Americans
Having just wrapped up its first season, the FX Cold War spy show seems a natural selection to spend some time dissecting, looking for elements to use (or avoid!) in your games. Suffice it to say that there will likely be some spoilers involved, so if you haven’t seen up to the season finale, you may want to come back a bit later. Show More Summary
Gnome Stew is Five Years Old Today: Thank You, Readers!
Five years ago today, Gnome Stew went live with 10 articles and around 250 RSS subscribers. In that five years we’ve published around 1,400 articles, had 1.7 million visitors, drawn 25,000 comments, won three ENnie Awards and an RPG Site of the Year Award, and published three GMing books (soon to be four). Show More Summary
Getting Back Behind The Screen
Last week, one of the groups I play in decided to end our Pathfinder campaign, and after some discussion it was decided that Bob is going to run Numenera for us. It has been a little while since Bob has run something, and we got to talking about getting back behind the screen again, along with some concerns that Bob might have. Show More Summary
The Hidden World: Part Two
In the last article, we sketched out the boundaries of a hidden world. (Quick recap: A hidden world is (usually) a world that seems much like our own, but that’s just an illusion. However, the “modern world” isn’t what it seems… for some reason. Show More Summary
Announcing Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management
Written by award-winning authors Phil Vecchione and Walt Ciechanowski, the fourth book from Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing is coming in July: Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management. Opening with a foreword by RPG industry legend Kenneth Hite, Odyssey is, to our knowledge, the first book of its kind. Show More Summary
Hot Button – Player Responsibilities?
I’ve recently completed a move to Mississippi and I have two new groups of players in two very different games. I’m running a very new player friendly game for some people who are unfamiliar with role-playing in general, and I’m running a somewhat advanced game with a mix of experienced players and new to gaming players. Show More Summary
Letters from Home
Today’s guest article is by John Fredericks, and it’s a unique idea we’ve never discussed here before. Thanks, John! Introduction All GMs long for player investment in their characters and in the campaign world. As GMs, we’re often (very) caught up in the planning and running of the game. Show More Summary
Classical Play: The Caller
Back in the earliest incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons there was a player defined as the “Caller.” In addition to playing her own character, the Caller had the job of collecting all of the other players’ decisions in a round and communicating them to the GM. Show More Summary
The Frame
Today’s guest article is by Christopher M. Sniezak, the producer and host of The Misdirected Mark Podcast, one of the movers behind the Queen City Conquest gaming convention, who is slowly building up writing credits in the gaming and fiction industry. Show More Summary
The Hidden World: Part One
Last time, we talked about The Invisible World; a world that has grown so familiar that it goes unnoticed. This time we’ll talk about one of my favorite setting tropes, The Hidden World. The hidden world setting is often a world that begins by modeling the world around us, but adds a concealed truth. Show More Summary
Steal This Mechanic: Microscope’s Yes/No List
Microscope is a superb game in its own right, and one I recommend without reservation, but it also features two things that you can easily make use of in other games: collaborative setting creation and its yes/no list. Collaborative setting creation is the point of Microscope; it’s the whole game. Show More Summary
Gnome Stew is the 2013 RPG Site of the Year — Thank You!
Gnome Stew won the 2013 RPG Site of the Year award! Many thanks to you, our readers, who voted for us in the nomination round! Your voting efforts got us nominated last year as well, but the judges chose a different winner. Winning this...Show More Summary
