Side Quests That Matter
In my previous article about side quests, I talked about “Side Quests for the Fun of It.” In this article, I’m going to talk about side quests, but from a slightly different angle. This time, I’ll be talking about side quests that directly matter to your main plot. Even...
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Alien: The Roleplaying Game and Colonial Marines Operations Manual First Impressions
I have wanted to look at the Alien RPG since the game first came out, and I’ve owned the core rulebook in PDF from the time it was available, but time kept getting away from me. Once Free League sent Gnome Stew a review copy of the Colonial Marines Operations Manual, that was the push I needed to...
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Troy’s Crock Pot: the Lord’s Protectors
A motley group of adventurers meet each other for the first time at a tavern. It’s only natural that adventure finds them before the first round of drinks is consumed, right? That’s about as likely as a group of strangers quickly agreeing on a pizza order. As gamemaster, here are simple...
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Gnomecast #127 – Side Quests!
Join Ang, Chuck, and J.T. for a discussion about how to make good use of side quests and other departures from the main plots of your campaigns. Download: Gnomecast #127 – Side Quests! Check out J.T.’s Gnome Stew article “Side Quests For The Fun Of It.” Follow J.T. at...
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The Bugbear’s Threads
bugbears are “just a raid by bugbears” if the players WANT them to be just a raid by bugbears
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What do hit points actually mean? – Analysing Game Design in RPGs
Let’s talk about game design for a change, which is something I really enjoy writing about. What is something most RPGs have in common? You have hit points or some resource that tracks whether you can or cannot keep playing. Does this mean that your character is dead once you run out of hit...
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Southlands Worldbook Review
Third-party support for Dungeons & Dragons 5e has blown up in the last few years. One of the first companies to provide this third-party support and one of the most well regarded has been Kobold Press. Since the release of the 5e OGL, the Midgard setting has been moved forward ten years and...
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Gnomecast #126 – Interpersonal Relationships
Join Ang and Senda for a discussion about how to handle different kinds of relationships at your table, whether between players or characters. Download: Gnomecast #126 – Interpersonal Relationships Follow Senda at @IdellaMithlynnd on Twitter, catch her on The Misdirected Mark Forums, and...
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Gamification of Art (And the Art of Gamification)
Last Friday I waited in line with a queue of other masked travelers to pass through the metal detectors to enter the main Quantum Department of Transportation Terminal. QDOT recently opened their multidimensional transportation hub to the Convergence — a convergence of four other worlds from...
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Losing Focus
A few weeks ago, I tweeted this… Just curious… in this whatever part of the pandemic we are in, does anyone else have problems concentrating or being creative? I have trouble reading and can’t even bring myself to play Minecraft. All I can do is watch TV and TikTok. — Phil Vecchione...
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It Came From The Stew Pot
Written by a team of veteran Gamers and Gamemasters, Gnome Stew is a widely read gaming blog with multiple awards, ennies, and thousands of articles. We’re dedicated to helping gamers have more fun at the gaming table.
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