In the old school-flavored Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, they use a lot of “funny” dice. And I don’t just mean the d20 that your uncle Tom can’t stop fiddling with, I’m talking about d16s, d14s, d7s, even the dreaded d24. DCC uses these dice to describe improvement and hindrances. As your warrior...
Read More
TT reader, RPG freelancer and author of Opening Credits via PowerPoint Walt C. emailed me about the most basic division of the GM’s roles. I thought this would be a good topic for discussion, and Walt gave me the thumbs-up on turning his email into a guest post. Thanks, Walt! – –...
Read More
TT reader Joaquim Ball-llosera (Quim in the comments), co-founder of the Spanish indie RPG company Maqui Edicions, emailed me this nifty idea. He was gracious enough to let me share it with you — thanks, Quim! – – – – – While designing my new Rifts campaign, I...
Read More
At this year’s Mastering Your GM-Fu seminar, RPG freelancer and TT reader Walt C. mentioned that he uses a PowerPoint presentation to do opening credits for his game sessions. I thought that this sounded awesome, so I asked him if he’d be kind enough to share his technique with the...
Read More
This guest post is by Aluion, whose insightful comments on Cutscenes: One Simple Approach suggested that he knew a lot more about this topic. And he does: A GM since 1994, Aluion started using a version of this technique for cutscenes and cutaways 10 years ago, and has refined and expanded it over...
Read More
This is Part 2 of a guest post by TT reader bignose (Ben Finney). In Part 1, Ben covered prep and what happened during the game; now it’s on to what he’d do differently, what worked well and the resources he used. Thanks, Ben! – – – – – Things I’d do...
Read More In the same vein as I Was a Virgin Convention GM and How I Lost My Play-by-Post Virginity comes Part 1 of this detailed after-action report on starting a group with new players, written by TT reader bignose (Ben Finney). Thanks, Ben! – – – – – After talking with some...
Read More Today’s guest post is by Walter Ciechanowski (Walt C. in the comments here), author of Thrilling Tales: Dragon Island, d20 MasterKit: Fantasy Occupations and numerous other Adamant Entertainment products, as well as the long-running RPGnet column Keeping Kosher. In it, Walt tackles a topic...
Read More This guest post by TT forum moderator and veteran GM Patrick Benson (AKA VV_GM) comes at the topic of fudging die rolls from a new angle, with solid results. Thanks, Patrick! – – – – – The topic of fudging die rolls seems to be one of those hot button issues that...
Read More In judging the Guest Post Contest, we arrived at a three-way tie between TT forum members brcarl, mephistus and twwombat for 3rd Place. This guest post presents all three 3rd Place entries (in alphabetical order by username). Congratulations, twwombat, mephistus and brcarl! – – –...
Read More
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.
"I check Gnome Stew every day."
— Monte Cook —
"fantastic blog for game masters, dungeon masters, and rpg fans"
— Wil Wheaton —
"If you aren’t reading Gnome Stew, you’re missing out."
— Wolfgang Baur —
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
EurekaThrough 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 Productions
Rockerboys and Vending Machines
Character Cache
Hydro Hacker Operatives