Gnome Stew
4,086 FOLLOWERS
Written by a team of veteran GMs, Gnome Stew is the most widely read game mastering blog on the planet. The Stew won a silver ENnie Award for Best Blog in 2011 and 2010. It is a multi-author blog about tabletop RPG game mastering, written by GMs, for GMs.
Gnome Stew
5d ago
In any adventure, the party of player characters (PCs) will inevitably encounter other intelligent creatures and people. These are the non-player characters (NPCs) of the world that are largely controlled, run, an enacted by the game master. There are moments (and some systems greatly support these moments) where an NPC will be “taken over” by ..read more
Gnome Stew
2w ago
It being that time of the year, I decided to reflect again on my year of gaming and see what lessons I learned. This is the second year I have done this. Overall, this year I gamed less than 2023. There were two main reasons. The first was that at the start of the year ..read more
Gnome Stew
3w ago
Full disclosure before I launch into my review of the promo issue of Shadowcat Magazine: I received the PDF for free (you can too!) from Chaz Kemp, the creator of the magazine. Additional disclosure: Chaz and I have been good friends for a number of years now, but that has not colored my review and ..read more
Gnome Stew
3w ago
An interesting side effect of having multiple iterations of D&D 5th edition based on the 5e SRD is that some content allows publishers to produce content that works in their game but may also be helpful to people who aren’t utilizing the entire ruleset. One of the most prominent examples of this are monster books ..read more
Gnome Stew
3w ago
https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CG_203_Gaming-Resolutions-2025_final.mp3 Join Ang, JT, and Tomas as they look at what they hoped to accomplish RPG wise in 2024, how that turned out, and what they’re hoping for in 2025. Links: Libby JT’s Amazon Link JT’s Website Tomas on Bluesky ..read more
Gnome Stew
1M ago
Snowys Maps has been kind enough to come to me to talk about their product. They offered me 2 of their spiral booklets for free (just a press review version which is not the complete one) and allowed me to speak my mind of them. When this happens I try not to post negative reviews ..read more
Gnome Stew
1M ago
Players love getting handed real-life, physical artifacts that tie their characters into the ongoing adventure. There are oodles of props, maps, handouts, images, and so on that can be tossed over the GM screen into the middle of the gaming table. Not everyone has time, energy, or skill* to get super in-depth with this kind ..read more
Gnome Stew
1M ago
Usually, I try to be more timely with reviews here, but I kept running into interesting hurdles while working on my review for Building Better Worlds. I had heard rumors that Alien: Romulus would remove Prometheus and Alien: Covenant from the movie timeline going forward. Then, we received news that there would be a second ..read more
Gnome Stew
1M ago
You may have noticed some significant developments in fantasy games that rely on the 5e OGL for their core rules. Not long after the Great OGL Debacle of 2023, Kobold Press announced that they were working on their own set of 5e OGL fantasy rules, and part of the draw for this set of rules ..read more
Gnome Stew
1M ago
https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CG_202_Survivingtheholidays-Mixdown-1.mp3 Join Ang, Matt, and Senda as they talk about how to help your gaming group survive the inevitable scheduling woes of the holiday season. Links: Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons 1970-1977 Grinding Gears ..read more