On New Year’s Eve, I always like to look back over what the previous year has been like here on TT (here’s the 2005 edition).
“Big” is the short version. For the longer version, read on.
I know I haven’t covered everything, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something I shouldn’t have (if so, please tell me in the comments!), but here are some of 2006’s highlights on TT:
• We held the Treasure Tables GMing Tools Contest, which received a host of excellent entries and some great prize support. Forum member Kestral won it with his entry, Hand-Held Dry-Erase Boards: A Versatile GMing Tool.
• In retrospect, that contest was what kicked our Guest Posts section into high gear. Guest posts are written by TT readers, and there have been some truly sterling articles this year.
• The GMing Wiki went live. We also started the Bulk Up the GMing Wiki project. It’s been really neat to see the wiki get fleshed out with useful material.
• We started offering free PDFs, including the popular Using a GMing Wiki: It Slices, It Dices, written by TT readers John Arcadian and Amy Vander Vorste.
• With the help of TT readers, I wrote the RPG Glossary. I can’t really tell if this one’s been useful or not, but it was a fun project.
• Along with Zachary Houghton, Vicki Potter and Phil Vecchione, I was part of the panel for Mastering Your GM-Fu, a free seminar that we ran at GenCon Indy.
• There were some new additions to the Top 25 Posts page, including the widely-read When Dice Go Bad. Three of my 2006 favorites — Encounters: A Simple Formula, Being a Player is Like Using a Flashlight and Being a GM is Like Using a 150 Watt Bulb — haven’t made it on there yet, so it might be due for a Spring cleaning…
• The forums had their first birthday, and their first (and so far, only) spam attack. We went from one forum to seven (including the official Worldwide Adventure Writing Month forum), and we’re closing in on 400 members.
• We crossed several milestones, including 500 blog posts, 4,000 comments, 6,000 forum posts and over 400 feed and email subscribers. We’re also averaging 2,000+ visitors a day, which I still haven’t wrapped my head around.
The most significant thing, though, is the hardest to quantify. I probably sound like a broken record, but what keeps TT fun for me to write and run — and hopefully useful, entertaining and enjoyable for you to read and take part in — is the amazing community of smart, friendly GMs that has grown up around this site.
You, in other words.
Thank you for making this a great year on TT — I hope you get as much out of it as I do. You rock.
Congrats Martin! Great work on TT in 2006. Best wishes to you in 2007.
Oh, geez… it’s like Time Magazine. “You”. (When everyone’s special, nobody’s special.)
OK, just kidding. You’re right; there are some great folks here, and this is at least a daily stop for me.
But really, it’s Martin who got the ball rolling, and gives it a nudge every now and then.
So really, Martin, it’s you. We’re just along for the ride. Many happy returns!
Martin:
Thanks for providing THE VERY BEST place for GM-ing discussion. As a clearing house for good ideas, advice and best practices, there is none better. Keep up the great work.
Congratulations on a good year Martin. Even though I haven’t been able to post as much lately, I’m reading every article and incorporating everything I can. The community here is great, and I look forward to comments as much as I do to Martin’s posts.
I think one of my favorite parts about TT, is the great analogies for gaming. The help to conceptualize the how of GMing. Keep up the great work, and keep going strong in 2007.
Thank you! Knowing that TT is useful to GMs is one of the major things that makes running TT so much fun. 🙂
Hip hip huzzah! Three cheers for Treasure Tables and 2007.