- Gnome Stew - https://gnomestew.com -

The State of the Stew: Year One, May 2008 to May 2009

Posted By Martin Ralya On In Gnome Gnews | 12 Comments

Today, Gnome Stew turns one year old — we launched on May 12, 2008.

We’re rocking our anniversary with a contest, which has its own article. Check it out and enter for a chance to win a set of Battlegraph combat tiles [1].

At the close of 2008, when I did the last State of the Stew [2], we were going like gangbusters. After 12 months, we’ve passed every milestone I hoped for in the first year, and then some. It’s humbling and crazy-exciting all rolled up into one.

We’ve also redesigned the site [3], assembled the top 30 articles page [4], ramped Gnomenclature: The RPG Glossary [5] up to 290 definitions, written Gnomes Gone Wild [6] (the worst adventure in existence), and written a host of articles based on your suggestions in the Suggestion Pot [7].

So…quite a bit has changed — but what hasn’t changed is what we’re about: GMing, baby.

We started Gnome Stew because we believe that GMs are under-served in the RPG community. There are few websites and even fewer books dedicated to game mastering — GMs usually get one chapter in a larger work, and that often doesn’t address a lot of what we actually do at the gaming table.

Many of our articles address practical GMing topics from the trenches. We’re all experienced GMs, and we love sharing our knowledge–and learning new GMing tricks and techniques from our readers.

In just one year, we’ve built that mission into what is conservatively one of the largest repositories of game mastering material in existence — in print or online — and one of the best damned communities on the web.

We love GMing, we love to write, and we love giving back to the gaming community that’s given us so much. I know that sounds clichéd, but it’s true: you, our readers, and our love for the hobby are what keep us coming back to write new material every day.

Thanks for a great year. We’re not going anywhere, and we hope you won’t either. From all of us gnomes, we wish you happy GMing.

12 Comments (Open | Close)

12 Comments To "The State of the Stew: Year One, May 2008 to May 2009"

#1 Comment By spenser On May 12, 2009 @ 5:22 am

Congratulations! As a long-time eater of the Stew and Gnome friend, I’m very happy to see the success you have achieved. Keep it up!

#2 Comment By Troy E. Taylor On May 12, 2009 @ 7:29 am

Congratulations Martin.

I raise a glass of Gnome punch to your leadership and inspiration.

Thanks for bringing me along for the ride.

#3 Comment By Kurt “Telas” Schneider On May 12, 2009 @ 8:40 am

When Martin mentioned this on GnomeGnet (our super-secret gnetwork), it completely took me off guard. It’s been a year already?

And what a year! GnomeStew growing beyond our wildest dreams, two Gnomelings born (hatched, really), and at least one more on the way. There will be a next generation of gamers! (/sidetrack)

Congrats, Martin! You’ve been the driving force behind the Stew, and deserve the lion’s share of the praise for everything you’ve put into it.

Congrats to the rest of the Gnomes! I’m constantly challenged to keep up with the quality of your work.

And a tremendous thank you to our readers! Without y’all, we’re just a bunch of babbling geeks with funny little red party hats.

#4 Comment By drow On May 12, 2009 @ 9:14 am

i have to say, that cat looks an awful lot like the wicked banana of waterdeep.

#5 Comment By BryanB On May 12, 2009 @ 9:26 am

It is nice to see the stew doing so well.

I find most of the articles here to be useful, and even the ones that aren’t very useful to me usually make me stop and think about my own games. This is a good thing.

#6 Comment By Scott Martin On May 12, 2009 @ 9:31 am

Thanks for being our gnomish ringleader Martin. I look forward to another year of scribbling and insane laughter. Wait, we’re not svirfneblin, right?

#7 Comment By Karizma On May 12, 2009 @ 9:50 am

Gnome Stew is my number one blog when it comes to GMing. The writers are responsive, the frequency is high, the advice is system-neutral, and the humor is light and enjoyable.

Here’s hoping for more strong years!

#8 Comment By zencorners On May 12, 2009 @ 11:37 am

Awesome and congrats to all the gnomes. And please remember no gnome was willingly harmed during the making of this site.

#9 Comment By Tony Graham On May 12, 2009 @ 1:32 pm

Gnomes!
Year One and counting…

#10 Comment By hattymchappy On May 13, 2009 @ 9:36 am

Congratulations! And thanks so much for giving me such awesome advice.

#11 Comment By Martin Ralya On May 14, 2009 @ 7:55 pm

My congrats to the entire Gnome Stew team. We would not be here, one year later, without each and every one of you.

Thank you all for the kind words. 🙂

#12 Comment By Falcarrion On May 14, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

congrats on the b-day.