Gnome Stew

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CG_209_AIandYou_final.mp3 Join Ang and special guest, Charles Cohen, as they talk about emerging AI technology and its place in the RPG space. Links: Your D&D Party is Too Big...

Adventure Design: Node-Based Design

by J.T. Evans | Mar 19, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

This is the final article in my adventure design series. Over a year ago, I put out a call on social media for ideas that people wanted me to include in the series. I guess my list of ideas (the previous 11 articles) was comprehensive enough because I only received one idea from Michael Morton,...

Gnomecast 208 – Tracy Sizemore and The Han Cluster

by Poddy Gnomington | Mar 12, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CG_208_The-Han-Cluster-with-Tracy-Sizemore_Final.mp3 Join Jared and Tracy Sizemore as they discuss her Savage Worlds setting The Han Cluster, an optimistic sci-fi roleplaying game. Links: Han Cluster Website Backerkit for Han...

Prep Your Published Adventure

by Phil Vecchione | Feb 28, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I generally don’t use published material for my games; I have always enjoyed running my material. From time to time and depending on the game, I find that the published material can either be better than what I think I can create (in the case of Dungeon Crawl Classics) or I don’t have a good feel...

Gnomecast 207 – With Great Power

by Poddy Gnomington | Feb 26, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GC_207_With_Great_Power_Final_V02.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and guest Andy Jaksetic as they talk about the immense responsibility of running Super Hero RPGs to the best of your abilities! From street level to cosmic, they talk about all the...

Adventure Design: Clues, Rumors, and Connective Tissue

by J.T. Evans | Feb 24, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

To get your PCs to move from one scene to the next logical scene, you need a series of connective tissues. These can come in the form of clues, rumors, lies, truths, and red herrings. Each one of these serves their own purpose and come from a variety of sources. Some of these will come from...

Navigating the Cosmere – Designing in Someone Else’s Sandbox

by Josh Storey | Feb 21, 2025 | General

Lydia Suen and Meric Moir have worked on properties as varied and diverse as Arkham Horror, Achtung! Cthulhu, Star Trek, The Expanse, and most recently Brotherwise Games and Dragonsteel Production’s Cosmere RPG, the game that brings together fantasy author Brandon Sanderson’s expansive universe of stories into a single game line and the game that raised over $2 million dollars within hours of its Kickstarter launch.

What is Mappa Mundi? – Kickstarter Campaign

by Tomas Gimenez Rioja | Feb 19, 2025 | Reviews

When George from Three Sails Studios approached me with a beautiful-looking game that focuses on the exploration and research of magnificent creatures instead of battling them, I could not contain my excitement. That premise sounds incredible and we really don’t have enough...

Gnomecast 206 – Splitting the Party

by Poddy Gnomington | Feb 12, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CG_206_SplittingtheParty.mp3 Join Ang, Josh, and JT as they talk about the dreaded, forbidden topic of splitting the party! Is it good? Is it bad? Does it depend? They’ll talk about it all. Links: Authors Against Book Bans Origins Game Fair...

Prepping Your Character for Play

by Tiffany Reynolds | Feb 7, 2025 | Player Advice

We spend a lot of time on GM game prepping, and comparatively little time talking about players prepping for games. I want to propose a method for players to prepare characters and the stories they want to tell in the next session or campaign. Like a GM might prepare a session, players can also do...

Coaching Yourself At The Table

by Phil Vecchione | Jan 31, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I give you all a lot of GMing advice. I also take my advice as much as possible. The hardest kind of advice for me to take is the kind that affects my table style. It’s not that I am dismissive of my own advice, but rather, in the heat of running the game, the changes I want to make get lost in...

Gnomecast 205 – Mastering Mysteries

by Poddy Gnomington | Jan 29, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GC_205_Mysteries_final.mp3 Join Ang, Chris and Tomas as they discuss all the ins and outs of running mysteries in a variety of game systems! Links: Xeno Brandon Sanderson writing Lecture Series 2025 Afternoon Maps Patreon...

You’re Playing My Game Wrong

by J.T. Evans | Jan 24, 2025 | General

My FLGS (friendly local game store) has a Discord server where patrons can chat about all sorts of subjects in clearly marked channels. Most channels are highly active, and my heart is warmed by the pure excitement shown for their wide and varied outlets for finding joy in gaming of all types....

Gnomecast 204 – Running vs. Playing

by Poddy Gnomington | Jan 15, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CG_204_runningVSplaying_finalV01.mp3 Join Ang, JT, and guest Alex Thomas as they talk about the difference in the skills needed to run games versus play games. They dive into what they like about both and why it’s important to have both sets...

Adventure Design: Supporting and Opposing NPCs

by J.T. Evans | Jan 8, 2025 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

In any adventure, the party of player characters (PCs) will inevitably encounter other intelligent creatures and people. These are the non-player characters (NPCs) of the world that are largely controlled, run, an enacted by the game master. There are moments (and some systems greatly support...

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