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After Action Report–Modern Horror Campaign
At the risk of being ‘that guy,’ I’m going to tell you about my campaign. My gaming group recently wrapped up our 1980s Anomaly Adjustment Agency campaign. This was my first non-fantasy campaign since junior high school, and my first modern campaign ever. Show More Summary
What I Want in the Next Tomb Raider
More than anything, the new Tomb Raider game makes me enthusiastic for another game in the series that takes the best from this new vision and jettisons the game’s meanest elements. The result might be a step back toward the franchise’s earlier swagger combined with the scale, detail, and humanity of this year’s installment. Call [...]
Johnny’s Five – Five Ways To Help With High Intrigue Based Games
My room-mate and I often take a night or two a week to watch through episodes of some series together. This is the closest either of us get to watching “TV” in the traditional sense. Our latest effort, House Of Cards is a series on Netflix...Show More Summary
More Harrowing Than Fun: A Tomb Raider Review
If you’d asked me before, I would’ve been skeptical. Another gritty reboot, this time of Lara Croft, a character whose confidence and poise under pressure was part of the hook? I know people who hated the twists on Bond in Skyfall. It’s not that I would’ve doubted whether there’s a great idea for a character-driven, [...]
How to Make a Drop Map
Building on the idea of die drop tables and tools in Vornheim, I came up with a simple approach to quickly generating a region: the drop map. I had fantasy hexcrawls in mind when I wrote this, and the map I’ve created using this method is for that sort of game. Show More Summary
When the Darkness Comes
There will come a time, through no fault of your own, when you will be expected to run a game or exercise your GMing prowess and you will feel…lacking. We speak often of player and NPC motivation within the context of constructing aShow More Summary
Hot Button: Limit The Party?
Every so often I get the urge to run a game around very tight themes – a game where all the characters are thieves in a thieves guild, a game where all the players are members of a military organization with specific ranks and duties, a modern game where intrigue and politics rule the day, not pure combat, etc. Show More Summary
Fair or Foul? Do-Overs
My last session was a perfect storm of “meh.” I decided to go with a last-minute adventure idea that wasn’t quite ready for prime time and I started the session with a splitting headache that had plagued me all day. On top of that, one of my regular players couldn’t make it and I introduced a guest player for the session. Show More Summary
My Final Five: #3 Skill Domains & Boundaries
This is the third article in my final five series for Gnome Stew, and I have chosen this comment from reader LordTentacle as the inspiration for today’s article: “Skill expansion” — when players’ lack certain skills, I tend to let them use skills in a generalist way. Show More Summary
Gameable Culture
I’ve enjoyed Quinn at Thoughtcrime‘s recent posts about developing cultures in play–and his efforts to bring historical cultures not part of the western mainstream to light, with a particular focus on using them in gaming. Sounds perfect to me! Gameable Culture Let’s start with his pair of Gameable Culture posts. Show More Summary
Happy GM’s Day 2013
Happy GM’s Day! GM’s Day started on EN World back in 2002, and is now in its 11th year. The date, March 4, sums it up: March Fo(u)rth for GM’s Day. Today is also the anniversary of Gary Gygax’s death in 2008, and in my mind the coincidence of those two dates, while not a happy one because I’d much rather still have Gary in the world, is fitting. Show More Summary
Shadows of Esteren: Part 2- The Game System
This article is long overdue. I had intentions of playing SoE before I wrote the article about the game mechanics, but alas the Autumn is a very busy time for me at work, and quickly my time to organize a game and test drive SoE evaporated. Show More Summary
The Sharing of Dice
In a nice bit of synergy, I composed this piece before Matt’s excellent article on Alan DeSmet’s GameScience Dice Analysis, so it continues the die theme nicely. Unfortunately, this article doesn’t have nearly the comprehensive analysis (or fancy charts) that Matt’s did. Show More Summary
Analysis of DeSmet’s Dice Measurement Data Set
Almost every gamer has seen Lou Zocchi’s classic pitch for GameScience dice, and if you haven’t yet and have the 20 minutes, click that link. It’s worth a watch. About 4 minutes into the first video, Zocchi references his picture of stacked dice, seen to the right. Show More Summary
Hot Button: Secrets
Do you allow players to keep secrets from each other? In my early days of gaming, it wasn’t uncommon for players to keep secrets from each other, usually to each others’ detriment. The party thief (that’s back when we called a thiefShow More Summary
Modelling Sickness In A Tabletop RPG
I have recently become intimately aware of the extreme effects of having sickness ravage my body. It is the same kind of awareness I gain after most conventions I go to, or when travelling by airplane. Anytime I’m exposed to masses of...Show More Summary
Last Chance to Get Gnome Stew’s Books Integrated into Realm Works for Free
As we announced last week, we’ve licensed our GMing books to Lone Wolf Development for integration into their Realm Works campaign management software, which is currently wrapping up a very successful Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is now in its final day or so, already over $120,000 ($20,000 more than their goal, so it’s full funded). Show More Summary
Curveballs and Odd Traits
Sometimes your villain needs something a little out of the ordinary to set him apart. Or maybe that hapless NPC has a redeeming quality. If you’re feeling inspired, working out extra details for characters can be interesting, but if you’re on a deadline–or really not feeling inspired–sometimes a blunt tool is what you need. Show More Summary
Alternate Multiplayer Rules for Dungeon Command (and Blood of Gruumsh Review)
This week sees the release of Blood of Gruumsh, the latest expansion for the D&D miniatures battle game Dungeon Command. If you haven’t tried multiplayer Dungeon Command, here are some alternate rules to make your dungeon melees more exciting. First off, a quick review of Blood of Gruumsh. It’s an orc-themed set with an owlbear [...]Show More Summary
Using Obsidian Portal for a Shadowrun Campaign: A Case Study
How do you keep track of your campaigns? Do you write it down in a master list? Do you rely on an exceptional memory? What about if a campaign takes a hiatus? Here’s how I’ve used Obsidian Portal to solve some common campaign problems. Obsidian Portal is a wiki hosting service for role playing games. [...]Show More Summary
