I recently had the opportunity to chat with Josh Fox about his latest game currently on Kickstarter, Last Fleet. I have a few different genres that I’m drawn to like a bear to honey, and space opera and its more serious cousin, science fiction, is one of those genres I find almost...
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…and I love it. Back in November 2019 I attended Kamcon, a budding convention in Canada in its second year of conception. While there I did one of my workshop panels, where I talked about messing with your players and how to secretly manipulate the pacing of the game to a science but...
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Around 9 or 10 months ago I built myself a portable, digital map solution. A TV that was on sale, a wooden frame, a piece of glare-resistant plexiglass and an HDMI cable later and I was able to stop making illegible scribbles on vinyl and hope my players understood that this scribble was an epic...
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GM Screens can be controversial things. A lot of people don’t consider them necessary, and others think they actively create a boundary between players and GMs that should not exist. On the other hand, lots of GMs want to keep their notes and resources hidden from the eyes of the table....
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As a long time table top gamer, I’ve played a pretty wide gamut of games. I spent years in crunchy Pathfinder and 3rd edition D&D before my tastes in gaming changed and sent me on the hunt for games that give me the feels. My fun has shifted away from the joy of mechanical mastery to the...
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All the way back in February of this year, Kickstarter hosted an event called Zine Quest, where RPG creators launched a huge variety of projects – short, small, self-contained projects in the form of zines. All told, 108 Zine Quest campaigns were launched in just two weeks. And for me, my...
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Content warning: as you’ve probably gathered from the title and picture, this article deals with insects and spiders, topics you or your gaming group may not be totally comfortable with....
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Ever replay a published adventure? If so, how are you making that second time through memorable? Roleplaying games have a long tradition of replay. Like an old friend, some GMs pack a tried-and-true adventure with them on a trip to conventions and run it for new strangers. Gnome...
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Playtesting can be a fraught experience, even in the best of circumstances. This goes double if the designer of the game is involved in the playtest, or if you’re friends of the designer (which is pretty likely in the early stages). I’ve found over the past year that I actually really...
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One day, a few weeks ago, I received a message from the incomparable Camdon Wright. Camdon asked me if I would be interested in looking at Thousand Year Old Vampire, a single player “journaling” RPG by Tim Hutchings, Kickstarted in November of 2018. When I started reading through the...
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Written by a team of veteran Gamers and Gamemasters, Gnome Stew is a widely read gaming blog with multiple awards and thousands of articles. We're dedicated to helping gamers have more fun at the gaming table.
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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 Point
Unframed
Odyssey
Never Unprepared
Masks
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Misdirected Mark Productions
Rockerboys and Vending Machines
Character Cache
Hydro Hacker Operatives