Depending on how closely you follow the RPG industry, you may or may not know that Wizards of the Coast has been facing stiff criticism recently. It has come from multiple fronts, and depending on who you ask, their response to...
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Cursing is an interesting part of our culture. The idea that certain concepts can be inherently offensive, but only when voiced using words derived from a certain language stock is a strange one. Have you ever given this concept, its origins and the nature of it serious consideration? Today...
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I was talking to a fellow GM recently and they said (paraphrased): “You know what I like to do when I GM and you should write an article about: I like to sprinkle in random dressing and clues with no pre-planned purpose in my world and see what the players make of them and maybe...
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And the old Gnome Emeritus Walt Ciechanowski speaks from the comfort of his rocking chair on the porch of the Gnome Retirement Home… My D&D 5e group is a mix of 5 seasoned players (including myself) and 2 teenage newbies. Obviously, there’s a bit of hand-holding for the new players and it can...
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You may have heard about the recent court decision over the card game Bang! and a clone of it called Legends of the Three Kingdoms. At issue was the fact that, while thematically different, Legends of the Three Kingdoms was, rules and character ability wise, almost exactly the same as Bang!. The...
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As a GM, one of the things I find most puzzling is the negativity some players have towards red herrings (a false clue or something else that distracts the party from the adventure). I find red herrings very useful and appropriate for the types of games I like to run (usually intrigue,...
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Ever since my long-ago teenage years, when I wasn’t allowed to play D&D – just look at the books, I’ve played a kind of mental game with the spell lists from the various editions of D&D — What spells would I want to be able to cast if I could do so in real life? As a mental exercise,...
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While proofreading the final draft of Focal Point I re-read a story I presented about a time when I was a less-than-stellar player. I’d allowed an encounter that went bad for me early on hang over the entire session and I’d resisted any attempt to get back on board no matter how hard...
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Dear game publishers, Listen, I get it: sex sells. And I know we’re in this enlightened age where no one cares what anyone is into and no one is ashamed of their body (or at least those statements SHOULD be true and we’re working on it), but I belong to the gender that’s often accused of primarily...
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The discussion on how much we GMs should play instead of run has been a bit of a hot topic here at Gnome Stew. John F. just did an article discussing the many good reasons for GMs to make sure to occasionally sit on the other side of the table, and Matthew posted one yesterday discussing Exiles of...
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Calling all Writers! Come write for Gnome Stew!
We are always looking for new articles and gnomes to throw in the stew. Drop an article proposal over at
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Guest authors get paid the same per article rate as full time staff gnomes.
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Unframed
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Never Unprepared
Masks
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Rockerboys and Vending Machines
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