I’ve been thoroughly impressed with this aspect of the comments here on TT, and the contributions to the Blogging for GMs project.

As of this writing, there are over 600 comments here. A few are trackbacks, and a fair amount are from me, but the vast majority are from readers. I haven’t deleted a single comment that wasn’t spam, and I’ve never edited one. I’ve never had to warn anyone to keep things civil, and there have been some strong disagreements between commenters on some posts. These were handled exactly as I would have asked them to be handled: with all participants being civil, amiable and wanting to share viewpoints and hear others’ viewpoints. The same is true for the contributions to the Blogging for GMs project.

That is awesome. It’s exactly what I’m going for here on TT: a community of smart, articulate gamers with interesting things to say, who treat each other with respect.

That’s not unique — most of the gaming blogs I read could be described similarly, and in terms of sites I think EN World actually does a great job of keeping the signal:noise ratio very high — but it’s still impressive to me. With no barriers to entry for leaving comments, I think it says a lot about TT readers and commenters that the discourse here has been so enjoyable.

I’ve taken the approach from the start that it’s better to do, and see what happens, than say up front “Here’s how I want things to be.” That’s been 100% enjoyable, and the results speak for themselves.

In short: TT readers and commenters, and Blogging for GMs contributors, you rock!

Wow…you’re in for a treat! Johnn’s been putting out his e-zine for about five years, and it’s hands-down one of the best resource for GMs (and players, too) on the web.

It’s one of those things that I assume everyone reads, has read or at least knows about, as a kind of baseline of gaming resources on the web. Like I said, you’re in for a treat.

Thanks for putting the Blogging for GMs project together. I also very much enjoyed reading all the material. I’m hoping by this time next year, I might have something to contribute. Thanks again!

Brannon “Ashy” Hollingsworth

This sounds a lot like the kinds of things that Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips e-zine covers on a weekly basis. The main difference would be that Johnn’s contributors email him their material, and he compiles it into newsletter form.

While I think it would be interesting to see RPG bloggers doing the same thing, I’m not sure there’s really a need. What would doing a “Blogging for Gamers” project that addressed gaming tips of all kinds offer that the RPTips newsletter doesn’t?

I’m not trying to crap on your idea, Merten, I just think it needs to have a stronger focus.

As for all participants; I’m quite sure there are lots of tips and experiences to be shared about things that do not fall right to the lap of the GM. Stuff that anyone or everyone can bring to the table, or things that have been traditionally left to either GM’s or players responsibility but can be arranged or done in new, intresting ways.

I would love to see both of those ideas come about, but the first one would be stretch for Treasure Tables. The second might work — except I’m not sure what kinds of topics would be covered. Do you have any suggestions?