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BFF – A Game About Girl Friendship
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mother and Son team Terri and Ross about their new game BFF. It’s a really interesting game about friendship that is doing some really innovative stuff, and is based off the roleplaying game Fall of Magic. What’s BFF about? Terri: BFF! is about...
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Gnome Stew Notables – Alex Roberts
Welcome to the second installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on female game creators and game creators of color primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview....
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Gnomecast #40 – World Building
Join Ang, Chris, and JT on this episode of Gnomecast as they build a setting together using randomly generated items from Matt’s Gnome Stew article “100 Overland Descriptors Table.” Will these gnomes’ new world be enough to keep them out of the stew? Download...
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Bringing Diversity To Our Imaginary Worlds
I remember the first time a player pushed a pregen player character back to me at a convention game. He said, “I don’t play women. I don’t know how they would act,” and I was left asking myself, “What the hell does that mean?” I’m pretty subtle in my speech so I think I said something like, “What...
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I Have A Secret (About Secrets In Play)
Me, The Character: I am the rookie on an established task force. They all call me “Boot” but my father was in this police department, and my grandfather, and as one of the youngest graduates of the academy in recent memory, I am prepared to follow in their shining footsteps. There’s something a...
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The Usual Suspects: NPCs and You
I originally discussed this topic in an older article on Rogue Princess Squadron, but after a couple of recent games I thought it was worth discussing again. One of the primary ways a GM can bring a game world to life is through the NPCs the players interact with. They can give information, point...
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Tales From The Loop — Review
When I was a kid, I saw the movie Goonies and wanted to be those kids more than anything; out adventuring with my childhood friends. When I watched Stranger Things, I was pulled right back into my childhood and relived the idea of adventuring kids. And I am not alone in this. Recently there has...
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The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power Review
Roleplaying games have been tied to fantasy literature since the original Dungeons and Dragons boxed set started to circulate in 1974. Many people see the heroic fantasy influences of Tolkien’s Middle-earth books, but the original play style (adventurers trying to get rich, famous, and powerful)...
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Troy’s Crock Pot: We don’t need a mapper, but …
Back in the day, like when polyhedrals were high tech, a role undertaken by one of the players was that of a “mapper.” If you didn’t want your fellow adventurers to get lost, you needed an accurate rendering of where you’d been. Corridors of a dungeon run deep, twist around, reach dead ends and...
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Gnome Stew Notables – Tanya DePass
Welcome to the first installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on female game creators and game creators of color primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview....
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What’s Gnome Stew
Written by a team of veteran Gamers and Gamemasters, Gnome Stew is a widely read gaming blog with multiple awards and close to 3,000 articles. We're dedicated to helping gamers have more fun at the gaming table. Over 2 million visitors can't be wrong!
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Our Books for GMs
Through our partner Engine Publishing, we've published six system-neutral books for GMs, with over 28,000 copies sold. Available in print and PDF.
Focal PointThe Complete Game Master's Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions
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UnframedThe Art of Improvisation for Game Masters
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OdysseyThe Complete Game Master's Guide to Campaign Management
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Never UnpreparedThe Complete Game Master's Guide to Session Prep
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Masks1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game
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Eureka501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters
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Through Encoded Designs
Through our partnership in the G.E.M. collective, many of the Gnomes are affiliated with creating products through Encoded Designs. Available in print and PDF.
Misdirected Mark ProductionsGnomes on Podcasts, even a Gnome Only Podcast!
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Rockerboys and Vending MachinesDo you have what it takes to save Neon City in this 80s, neon, cyberpunk game?
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Character CacheArt by Matt Morrow, Characters By Encoded Gnomes
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Hydro Hacker OperativesGnome Phil Vecchione's Dungeon World Hack About Water Rights
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