It’s Tuesday, which means someone, somewhere, decided to just create their own holiday today! Because that’s like a thing now! But here at the Stew, we’re exceptionally excited by any gaming holidays, especially those that lend assistance and inspiration to prospective GMs. Enter National New Gamemaster Month or–wait for it–NaNewGaMo!

The brainchild of the folks over at Monte Cook Games, NaNewGaMo–as the name strongly indicates–focuses on helping new gamemasters find their own voice. The name, while inspired by National Novel Writing Month, isn’t related to that month-long exercise; you don’t have to write a 50,000 word adventure, for example. (Whew!)

All January NaNewGaMo has a weekly nugget of instruction to help a new gamemaster, walking them through the process of running their first game. The foundation of NaNewGaMo is based on Monte Cook Games’ house Cypher system and the Numenera setting. In fact, the instruction presumes you are setting up to run said game, although aspects of the advice given certainly could apply to any game you choose to run. In addition, Monte Cook Games has a team of GM volunteers to provide helpful advice and mentorship to make the process a little less scary.

Are you interested in learning more? Head over to the NaNewGaMo feed to read up about it. There’s still time if you’re interested in participating!