Gnome Stew

For the most part, I pick the games I am going to run by, as the kids today say, vibes. It has always been instinctual. I hear about a game, the right ones set off my Spidey Sense, and I am hooked. That has been my method for the last 43 years. At different points during those years, I have...

Gnomecast 227 – Actual Play and Your Game

by Poddy Gnomington | Dec 17, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/GC_228_AP-and-your-game.mp3 Join Ang, along with Chris and Josh as they talk about Actual Play games as entertainment and what we should and should not take away from them to use in our own games. Ang has been on a Critical Role kick and wants to...

Gnomecast 226 – Get this Party Started

by Poddy Gnomington | Dec 3, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GC_226_Getting_Started_final.mp3 Join Ang, Chris, and JT as they discuss different methods to pulling a party of characters together at the start of a campaign. They talk about everything from strangers shoved together to deeply established...

Background Events

by Phil Vecchione | Nov 26, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

One of the things I love about Blades in the Dark is that it has a mechanism for creating background events for your campaign. During Downtime (though I do this after a session), you roll to see how various factions make progress (or not) on their goals. Mechanically, this is a series of Fortune...

Prepping Your Game in Obsidian

by Josh Storey | Nov 21, 2025 | Game Mastering, Tools for GMs

The perfect game notebook doesn’t exist. That said, out of all of the notebooks I’ve tried—physical, digital, or otherwise—I’ve yet to find an option as close to perfect as Obsidian. I love it a lot, and what’s the point of writing for a TTRPG blog if you can’t share that nerdy love with others? So here’s a rundown of why I think you should try Obsidian with some tips for how you can use it to organize your campaigns, improve your prep, and evolve the way you run sessions.

Gnomecast 225 – What’s Your Type?

by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 19, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC_225_Whats-Your-Type-.mp3 Join Ang, Jared and Josh as they talk about the types of characters they like to play, why they love those types, and why it’s also good to branch out and try other characters. Links: Global Comix Seth Skorkowsky...

Make It Personal

by J.T. Evans | Nov 14, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice, Player Advice

Session zero is packed. Like, really packed, with so many things to do and consider and take care of. There’s establishing the style/theme/tone of the game. Discussing safety tools. Establishing a genre to experience. Determining which system to use. Figuring out what setting to romp around...

Gnomecast 224 – Tabletop Safety Toolkit Interview

by Poddy Gnomington | Nov 5, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC_224_Safety-toolkit-list-Final.mp3 Join Jared as he interviews Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk, the folks behind the Tabletop Safety Toolkit, a resource providing gamers with access to a variety of safety tools. There’s a ton of options...

Preludes

by Phil Vecchione | Oct 29, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

In my current Blades in the Dark game, I started to post preludes in our Slack channel a few days before the game. These preludes are short narrative pieces, centered on one of the characters, and convey some information to the players about the upcoming session. It is not the first time I have...

Gnomecast 223 – Getting Spooky with Bridgett Jeffries

by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 22, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC_223_Getting-spooky-with-Bridget-Jefferies_final.mp3 Join Ang as she chats with guest Bridgett Jeffries about all things spooky and scary games. Need some insight into how to bring the best of horror to your table during this spooky season? Listen...

Making Second Chances Cinematic: Introducing the Invocation Reroll

by Jesse Edmond | Oct 17, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

The problem isn’t the mechanic. It’s the framing. Rerolls are inherently dramatic — a refusal to accept failure, a desperate second chance — but most games treat them as paperwork.

The solution is simple: give rerolls a ritual.

A Look at The Art of Kobold Press

by Jared Rascher | Oct 13, 2025 | Reviews

Kobold Press sent me a review copy of The Art of Kobold Press, a book showcasing the artwork used by the company over the course of its lifespan. That gives me the perfect opportunity to recall my connection to RPG art over the years. I was really fortunate to play RPGs in an era when some amazing...

How to Steal a Story (to Use in Your Campaign)

by Josh Storey | Oct 10, 2025 | Game Mastering, GMing Advice

“Everything’s a reboot. There’s nothing original anymore.” Boring statements. Defeatist. Ironically, not even original complaints. “Everything’s a remix.” Punk as hell. Creates opportunities. Empowering. Whether we’re talking about Marvel movies, the...

Gnomecast 222 – Combating Analysis Paralysis

by Poddy Gnomington | Oct 8, 2025 | Gnomecast

https://polygamero.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GC_222_Combating-Analaysis-Paralaysis-final.mp3 Join Ang along with Jared and JT as they talk about how to combat analysis paralysis! What do you do when your players get stuck overthinking and overanalyzing things and start dragging the game down!...

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