Gnome Stew

Players love getting handed real-life, physical artifacts that tie their characters into the ongoing adventure. There are oodles of props, maps, handouts, images, and so on that can be tossed over the GM screen into the middle of the gaming table. Not everyone has time, energy, or skill* to get...

Alien: The Roleplaying Game – Building Better Worlds Review

by Jared Rascher | Dec 9, 2024 | Reviews

Usually, I try to be more timely with reviews here, but I kept running into interesting hurdles while working on my review for Building Better Worlds. I had heard rumors that Alien: Romulus would remove Prometheus and Alien: Covenant from the movie timeline going forward. Then, we received news...

Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide Review

by Jared Rascher | Dec 6, 2024 | Reviews

You may have noticed some significant developments in fantasy games that rely on the 5e OGL for their core rules. Not long after the Great OGL Debacle of 2023, Kobold Press announced that they were working on their own set of 5e OGL fantasy rules, and part of the draw for this set of rules is that...

Gnomecast 202 – Surviving the Holidays

by Poddy Gnomington | Dec 4, 2024 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CG_202_Survivingtheholidays-Mixdown-1.mp3 Join Ang, Matt, and Senda as they talk about how to help your gaming group survive the inevitable scheduling woes of the holiday season. Links: Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977 Grinding...

Adventure Design: Combo Encounters

by J.T. Evans | Nov 27, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

“I stand there and swing my sword.” Even though this approach can be effective, it’s horribly boring. That’s why games in recent decades have expanded combat options to include different combat maneuvers, cool tactical choices, ongoing spell effects (positive and negative),...

Challenging The Tropes: The Loner

by Josh Storey | Nov 25, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Tropes are frameworks for plot beats and character arcs. Cliches are the overused versions of those beats and arcs. Cliches, generally, should be avoided, but tropes are useful AF. They work like signposts, guiding your decisions when it comes to story elements and, in turn, speeding up your session prep.

Setting The Table

by Phil Vecchione | Nov 22, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Recently, one of my gaming groups decided to change games. We decided to go back to an old favorite Forbidden Lands. As we were sitting around the table, finalizing our decision, I started to survey our table situation and thought about how would we arrange all the components of the game. This got...

Gnomecast 201 – Oops! All Bards

by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 20, 2024 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GC_201_oops_all_bard_final.mp3 Join Ang, Jared and Josh as they talk about what to do when you have characters in your game whose mechanical abilities overlap and you can’t rely on traditional ‘niche’ protection to move the...

My experience with Ryuutama (Why you should try it!)

by Tomas Gimenez Rioja | Nov 15, 2024 | Reviews

All images were taken from the Ryuutama game Again I found myself in the situation of introducing someone to the TTRPG world. D&D keeps being the one everyone knows about, but it can be hard to grasp how to play a game with such depth. I looked into my TTRPG collection, looking to find...

Gnomecast 200 – Why We Do This

by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 6, 2024 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GC_200_Whywedothis_final.mp3 Join us for our 200th episode of the Gnomecast, as we talk about why we do this. What’s this? Giving gaming advice on Gnome Stew and this podcast. And who’s we? A bunch of gnomes who could take a little time...

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game X-Men Expansion Review

by Jared Rascher | Nov 4, 2024 | Reviews

When I first started collecting comics seriously (seriously meaning I wasn’t pointing at whatever the grocery store was and asking my mom to buy it for me), the X-Men weren’t even on my radar. I was focused on Batman and Spider-Man and branching out from there. Then came Secret Wars. In context...

Adventure Design: Thematic Mooks

by J.T. Evans | Oct 30, 2024 | Game Making, Game Mastering, GMing Advice

Last month, I covered thematic bosses and how they can support the style, theme, and tone of your adventure. This month, I’m moving on to those people/creatures that work for the boss. In this case, I’m shifting a bit away from directly supporting your adventure’s concepts to...

Gamers4Harris and Gnome Stew

by Jared Rascher | Oct 28, 2024 | General

Gamers 4 Harris consists of gaming professionals from video games, board games, and tabletop games. They represent the creators behind the puzzles, board games, card games, roleplaying games, and video games we love, as well as game journalists and reviewers. They are artists who bring imagination...

Give Yourself Some Time To Think

by Phil Vecchione | Oct 25, 2024 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

A few months ago, I restructured my evenings to prioritize some new activities over others. One of those activities was to have time to think creatively. Several times a week, I take 30 minutes to sit and think creatively about a topic. Most evenings the topic I am thinking about is RPGs, either...

Gnomecast 199 – RPGs for the Spooky Season

by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 23, 2024 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GC_199_Spookygames_Final.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and JT as they talk about how to bring the spooky to your table as we get deep into the Halloween season. Links: The Carnival’s Children Veiled Fate Shard’s Halloween Sale The...

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