Happy International Game Master’s Day! Without folks willing to sit “behind the screen,” there wouldn’t be much of a hobby, so today I’d like to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to every GM out there who’s put in time and creative effort to help groups play roleplaying games. I’m especially grateful for all the GMs who helped me discover this hobby and grow as a game master, including A.P. Klosky and the Elders of the Wittenberg Roleplaying Guild.

To celebrate, I’ve compiled some of my favorite articles I’ve written on the topic of gamemastering. You can also check out some of my recommended books for GMs that are part of the GM’s Day sale going on today at DriveThruRPG.

March Fourth for GM’s Day! Today’s the day to tell your GM how much you appreciate all that they do. And if you’re the GM, today’s a great day to treat yourself to a little something to help “fill the well.” DriveThruRPG is having a huge sale on a ton of PDFs and ebooks to help you run a better roleplaying game. What follows are some of my favorite game master resources that are currently free or discounted.

Updated for 2025

Are you gearing up to run a new RPG campaign and not sure how to keep track of the cast of characters, world information, and session notes? Do you need to get a better handle on your long-running game to more easily pull up information during the session? The following overview of different organization methods can help you choose the campaign management option that best suits your group’s needs and your personal prep style.

A Three-Ring Binder

Put the “pen and paper” back in pen and paper RPGs.

It’s for You If:

• ✔ You’re on a budget.
• ✔ You’re a crafty, DIY, or “by hand” type of person.
• ✔ You want flexibility: you can fill the binder with handwritten or printed notes, move pages and sections around easily, and you can be as vague or detailed as you please.
• ✔ You like to run your games in electrically challenged locations.
• ✔ You want to enjoy a beautiful campaign keepsake at the end.

It’s Not for You If:

• ✘ You’re constantly forgetting to bring things with you. There’s no backup or cloud access with this analog option.
• ✘ You want a “Search” function for your materials.
• ✘ You want to let players or a co-GM reference campaign material on their own time.

Another year is over, and I’m still in that reflective mindset in which I look back and consider what I’ve accomplished (or not) in 2024, and what I hope to experience in the new year. As has become tradition, the following is a list (not exhaustive) of my favorite apps, board games, books, TV shows, and video games from the last year, including many that I would recommend to others.

You can help support my author newsletter and blog by purchasing one of the books mentioned on this list. I’ll receive a small commission on anything you buy from my bookshelf or the below links. The rest of the links will take you to the page to download, watch, or buy the listed media.

Apps

• DnDBeyond Mobile App. As a player in two 5e campaigns, I use the DnDBeyond app to look up spells and magic items that don’t fit on my physical character sheet, and because I build my characters there, I have a backup in case I lose my printouts. It isn’t perfect, but it does what I want it to do, with minimal downtime in 2024 compared to past years.
• Mochi. While taking French classes this year, I wanted a no-frills flashcard app with cards I could input myself, and Mochi was much more lightweight than the other flashcard app offerings (and free of ads). I paid for the version that would sync between my desktop and phone so I could practice on the go, but it’s offline by default, which is a plus for some folks.
• Notion. After bouncing between Evernote, OneNote, Todoist, and Wunderlist (RIP), I finally found a digital notebook/task list that worked for me in the PARA Method template for Notion. Once I got the hang of creating databases and related fields, I also built for myself a games log to keep track of what I played in 2024, and a media log to compile all the book/show/movie recommendations that come my way. And the way I use Notion, I haven’t needed to upgrade to a paid plan, which is great.

What came first, the group of roleplayers, or the campaign premise?

The answer varies for each campaign—at least it has in my 15 years’ experience as a game master.

I think there are benefits to deciding up front whether you want to plan your next campaign around the players you expect to have at your table (especially if you have an established group or limited pool of players), or if you want to prioritize your current interests with regards to system, setting, and story premise. Each comes with its own risks and rewards, and it’s up to you what challenges you want to sign up for.

I’ve been sitting at that crossroads for a few weeks now, deciding whether I want to run a campaign that’s more suited to my existing player group’s tastes and interests, or if instead I want to focus on choosing the campaign that I would be most excited to run, knowing there’s a good chance it isn’t what most of the players in my current gaming network would typically want to play.