Running a role-playing campaign is a tough job. You need to create a compelling world, craft unique social and physical challenges for your characters, spin entertaining plots and manage the expectations of a half-dozen or so individuals, all of which adds up to several hours a week of hard work. It can also be a lonely task; players always have someone to talk to, but game masters often exist in their own force-fielded bubble, unable to talk out issues like campaign management, plot creation or dealing with troublesome players.

Fortunately, instead of sulking at their desks with a six-pack of Mountain Dew, they can turn to Treasure Tables, a blog dedicated to "GMing advice, tips, ideas and resources."

Updated daily by creator, longtime GM and freelance RPG writer Martin Ralya, the blog features all manner of topics important to GMs. There are posts about tools of the trade, such as laminated maps, puzzle-piece battlefields and myriad uses for index cards as well as more in-depth posts on the art of game mastery, such as soliciting feedback from players, organizing campaign content and improving your game.

Recharge Your GMing Batteries

I've always been a little envious of the game masters of Knights of the Dinner Table. In that imaginary setting, there's a robust gaming community with a half-dozen or more groups, and the GMs of those groups regularly get together for a night of game talk and beers. It's a great idea, and one I wish I could pull off in the real but one that's hard to pull off in the real world.

That's what's so great about Treasure Tables -- it provides that same sort of experience online (though unfortunately without the beer). The site's new GMing Q&A forum -- which launched in December -- is evolving into a robust community with game masters eagerly asking questions and giving answers. Questions can be broken down into two broad categories: the art of game mastering and advise for specific game systems (mostly D&D and fantasy, but a smattering of other genres as well). Ralya makes an effort to start and comment on the threads, but even without his prompting many taken on a life of their own.

The home page features a combination of long and short blog entries -- the longer ones typically focus on some aspect of game theory, while the shorter "mini" entries are quick hits highlighting some cool site or product that's useful to GMs. Many of those also spawn interesting comment threads, which Ralya then folds back into the main blog entry.

All of this serves as a great way to recharge your GM batteries. For me, reading the tips, checking out the reviews and above all talking to other game masters gets me jazzed about working on my own campaign. And sometimes, when it's been a particularly tough week at work and at home, it's exactly the sort of inspiration I need to sit down and actually get to work.

Final Analysis

Treasure Tables is an excellent gaming resource, probably the most useful one I've come across since the Hypertext d20 SRD. If you're a game master (pr a player who wants to better understand your game master) its definitely worth a visit.