Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast, Gnome Stew is one of a handful of RPG blogs lucky enough to receive a pre-release copy of the Player’s Handbook 2. Ours came on Tuesday, and the book won’t be in stores until March 17th.

Understandably, we’re not allowed to post excerpts from the book — but how about a couple of photos? Here’s a shot of the front of the book (clicky for large):

And one of the back cover (clicky for el gordo):

So…why do we have this little slice of sauciness? Because I’m going to be writing about the PHB 2 from a GMing perspective, and that article will be published here on March 13th, a few days before the book comes out.

And that’s where you come in, Gnome Stew readers! What do you want to know about the PHB 2 from a GMing perspective?

I’m quite familiar with 4e, and am happy to write about rules-specific stuff as well as more general impressions — anything that falls within my mandate, “It’s all about the GMing. The what? The GMing.”

I need to have my article done by the 11th, so if there’s something you’d like to hear about, don’t wait too long to tell me. Apart from that, have at it: Gnome Stew exists to help you as a GM, so tell me what you’d love to read about the PHB 2 — and thanks!

Oh, and: I’m experimenting with using Facebook (Martin Ralya) and Twitter to communicate with Gnome Stew readers. If you’d like to know about things like this before they appear on the Stew, I’ll be sharing teasers, tidbits, random GMing ideas, and (let’s be frank) tales of baby poop in both places.