Gnome Stew

Stop Self-Limiting Your Ideas

Posted by Phil Vecchione | Jun 26, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0

Gnomecast 239 – Perfecting Genre Details

Posted by Poddy Gnomington | Jun 17, 2026 | Gnomecast | 0

Gnomecast 238 – Teaching New Rules

Posted by Poddy Gnomington | Jun 3, 2026 | Gnomecast | 0

Campaign Management in Obsidian

Posted by Phil Vecchione | May 29, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice | 0

GM/Player Interactions, Part 2

Posted by J.T. Evans | May 22, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice | 0

Gnomecast 237 – New Campaign Beginnings

Posted by Poddy Gnomington | May 20, 2026 | Gnomecast | 0

Stop Self-Limiting Your Ideas

by Phil Vecchione | Jun 26, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I was GMing my Blades in the Dark game, and my players were setting up for a score, one that was a bit outside of their comfort zone. As they were brainstorming, one of them said something like, “Well, we can’t do that, because they [the opposition] will clearly have done…”. Here’s the thing. I...

Gnomecast 239 – Perfecting Genre Details

by Poddy Gnomington | Jun 17, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GC_239_Perfecting-Genre-details_finals.mp3 Join Ang, along with Jared and friend of the show, Carl Lehmann, as they talk about all the little details you need to have in place when playing RPGs in certain genres. We talk about genres with broad...

Gnomecast 238 – Teaching New Rules

by Poddy Gnomington | Jun 3, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GC_238_teaching-new-rules_final.mp3 Join Ang, Josh, and JT as they talk about how to teach new rules to your tables. They cover their best practices, the difference between one-shots and campaigns, and many other aspects of incorporating new rules,...

Campaign Management in Obsidian

by Phil Vecchione | May 29, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

I feel like I may be a latecomer to Obsidian, but I am here to sing its praises. I have been using it for my most recent campaigns, as an information manager to organize all the campaign elements, and it has been fantastic. A game changer for me. Using it has allowed me to keep all my NPCs,...

GM/Player Interactions, Part 2

by J.T. Evans | May 22, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice

Last month, I introduced some aspects of GM/player interactions, and I’m going finish off what I have for you on this topic here and now. Make Things Interesting What are we going to do? GMs should set up and introduce interesting/difficult choices to the players. They don’t always...

Gnomecast 237 – New Campaign Beginnings

by Poddy Gnomington | May 20, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GC_237_New-Campaigns_final.mp3 Join Ang, along with Jared and guest Andy Jaksetic as they talk about starting new campaigns and everything we need in place before we can start to think about session zero. LINKS: Matinee Adventures Origins Game Fair...

Gnomecast 236 – Real Life Interruptions

by Poddy Gnomington | May 6, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GC_236_Interupting-Life-final.mp3 Join Ang along with Josh and JT as they talk about how to navigate the curveballs life throws at us and gets in the way of us playing RPGs. It’s going to happen at some point or another, so let’s figure...

GM/Player Interactions, Part 1

by J.T. Evans | Apr 29, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice

The tabletop role playing experience is a collaborative one. That’s a well-established fact. To properly collaborate, everyone at the table needs to be aware of the interactions at the table. I’m not talking about what NPCs the PCs know or how the Big Bad Villain interacts with their...

Gnomecast 235 – Short Campaign Considerations

by Poddy Gnomington | Apr 22, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GC_235_short-campaign-considerations_final.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and Tomas as they talk about short campaigns. They cover the major differences between a traditional long campaign with a short one, the reasons we might want to run one, and...

Gnomecast 234 – Positioning the Narrative

by Poddy Gnomington | Apr 8, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GC_234_Fictional-Positioning_finals.mp3 Join Ang along with Chris and JT as they talk about Narrative Positioning! What even is that and what does it mean for our games? They dig in and have a conversation about it. LINKS: The Streets of Avalon...

Introducing Gnome Stew’s new AGI – Artificial Gnome Intelligence

by John Arcadian | Apr 1, 2026 | General

Never let it be said that Gnome Stew doesn’t keep up with the times. We’ve heard all this buzz about LLMs and CCCs and ROPs and whatever and we know that the future is AI. It’s one of the few rare advancements in technology that comes with no downsides and has no drama around it....

10 Year Retrospective

by J.T. Evans | Mar 30, 2026 | Game Mastering

10 Years Wow. I’ve been roaming these halls and avoiding the stew pot for 10 years now. Just wow. Rough Start I’ve been writing for Gnome Stew for ten years now. My first article dropped on March 28, 2016. It was an attempt to describe the differences between gaming, narrating, and...

Give ’em A Little Free Play

by Phil Vecchione | Mar 27, 2026 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

My Blades in the Dark campaign is due for some free play soon. After every four or five Scores, I do one whole session that is just free play. No scores. Every character gets their own mini-story for the evening. This is in contrast to where our score sessions are a self-contained story, where the...

Gnomecast 233 – Player Types: The Pros and Cons

by Poddy Gnomington | Mar 25, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GC_233_Player-Types-The-Pros-and-Cons.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and friend of the show, Carl Lehman, as they talk about four different player types we often see at our tables. We go over the good and the bad they can bring to the table and offer...

Gnomecast 232 – The Art of the Con Game

by Poddy Gnomington | Mar 11, 2026 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GC_232_Art-of-the-con-game_Final.mp3 Join Ang along with guests Jason Haskins and Mike Mistele as they talk about the components that make for a good convention one-shot! Links: Origins Game Fair Matinee...

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It Came From The Stew Pot

Hey you. Yeah, you. Do you know about Gnomecast 21? Why isn’t it in the archives? What are they hiding? If you value your safety… don’t go searching for Gnomecast 21…

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