Your game master spends hours every week building a world for you to wander off from. They draw the maps, voice the villains, track the hit points and somehow remember the name of the innkeeper you met six months ago. Then the party sets the inn on fire.
If you have been looking for game master gift ideas, start here. Below are small, funny gifts for game masters at every budget, plus a few free ones that matter more than anything you can buy. Every item here features original art we designed, is made to order and ships to US addresses only.
What a game master actually wants
Before you spend a cent, know this: most GMs want three things, and none of them come in a box.
- Prep time back. Running a game takes hours of planning. Anything that saves your GM time is a gift.
- Snacks they did not have to buy. The GM often hosts, which means the GM often feeds everyone.
- Players who read the recap. If your GM writes a summary after each session, reading it is the cheapest way to make them happy.
We come back to those at the end. Now, the shopping.
Under $5: stickers for the GM screen and the prep notebook
Our stickers are glossy kiss-cut vinyl in four sizes, 2 to 6 inches, starting at $2.49 and under $5 in every size. They are made for indoor use: laptops, notebooks, journals, dice boxes and that cardboard screen your GM hides behind.
- Rules Lawyer Sticker. A rulebook, the scales of justice and a d20 on a retro badge. Every table has a player who cites page numbers from memory, and every GM has had to rule on it. This one is a gift and a gentle warning.
- TPK Survivor Sticker. TPK is table slang for a party wipe, the night every character went down. Give it to the GM whose boss fight still haunts your group chat.
- Natural 20 Sticker. The best roll in the game. GMs roll dice too, and they deserve a reminder of the one time the villain rolled a 20 and the whole table groaned.
- Roll for Initiative Sticker. The three words that start every fight. Your GM says them every week. Let them put it on the prep binder.
- Murder Hobo Sticker. For the GM who wrote a careful mystery and watched the party loot the crime scene instead. This is a sticker of apology.
- Min Maxer Sticker. A min maxer builds a character to be as powerful as possible and lets everything else slide. If your GM has to balance encounters around one, they will laugh at this one first.
- No Plan Survives Contact With the Players Sticker. A battered map with a trail of footprints running straight off the edge. For the GM binder, as a warning, a confession or both.
- Scheduling Is the Final Boss Sticker. The dragon is easy. Getting five adults to agree on a Saturday is the real fight.
- That Roll Is Canon Now Sticker. A crowned rooster standing on a book of lore, for the night one wild roll rewrote the story and the GM went with it.
Want more? Our game master gifts collection has every design built for the person who runs the table.
Pins for the GM bag
GMs carry a lot of stuff: books, notes, dice, a spare pencil for the player who never brings one. Our printed metal pinback buttons come in 1.25, 2.25 and 3 inch, starting at $3.99, and they look right at home on a game bag or a convention lanyard.
- Cute Rules Lawyer Pin Button. A big-eyed chibi scholar with glasses on, rulebook open and one finger raised to make a point. Objection, but adorable.
- Cute TPK Survivor Pin Button. A battle-worn little critter giving a thumbs up among cracked shields and fresh tombstones. Pure relief, in pastel.
- Cute Min Maxer Pin Button. A tiny optimizer proudly holding a stat sheet maxed out across the board, with one very sad dump stat.
- Please Stop Dying Pin Button. A frazzled healer holding up a potion in each hand, for the GM who keeps finding ways to keep the party alive.
- Tip Your Bard Pin Button. A chibi red panda bard singing with a lute, for the GM who voices every tavern singer.
See every design in our pin buttons collection.
A candle for the prep desk
GMs prep late, usually alone, usually after the third rewrite of a dungeon nobody will ever fully explore. Give them something for the desk.
The Crying Is a Free Action Candle ($22.99) has a label with a loot chest full of tissues that promises "fresh tissues and regret." The label is the joke. The scent is real and you choose it: nine options, from Clean Cotton and Apple Harvest to Christmas Warmth, Cinnamon Vanilla or Unscented. Each one is a 9 oz natural soy wax blend in a glass jar with a cotton wick.
It works for the GM who just finished a campaign, the GM who just started one, and the GM who is about to make you all cry. All of our funny candles live in the candles collection.
A mug for session prep
Prep runs on coffee. Our mugs are white ceramic with a colored interior and handle, in 11 oz or 15 oz, with the art printed on both sides, from $14.99.
- That Roll Is Canon Now Mug. The crowned rooster on the book of lore, for keeping beside the campaign notes.
- I'd Like to Try Something Mug. A swashbuckler swinging from a chandelier, for the GM who always lets the reckless player try it anyway.
- Crying Is a Free Action Mug. The loot chest full of tissues from our candle and sticker, for the GM who has heard every excuse.
- Cute Dragon Mug. A baby dragon hugging its d20, for the GM who lends out dice and wants every one of them back.
- It's Primed. That Counts. Mug. A mouse proudly holding up one freshly primed knight miniature, for the GM who paints the minis too.
Every mug we make is in our mugs collection.
Small things for the table
- Dice Jail Trinket Dish. A gold-trimmed ceramic dish where misbehaving dice sit and think about what they rolled, $14.99.
- Keychains for the whole party. The Loot Goblin, Min Maxer and TPK Survivor keychains are clear acrylic charms about 1.4 inches tall for a dice bag or a set of keys, $8.99 each.
- Kawaii Sticker Sheet. Four of our chibi troublemakers and a little heart d20 on one A5 sheet, $9.99. Give the GM the sheet and let them hand out the stickers.
- D20 Christmas Ornament. Our retro dice crest with a 20-sided die and two six-sided dice, for the GM who has been fair all year, $10.99. More in Christmas ornaments.
Keychains and dishes live together in keychains and dice dishes.
Free gifts from the whole table
These cost nothing, and your GM will remember them longer than anything on this page.
- Show up on time, with your character sheet. Fifteen minutes of "wait, where's my sheet" is fifteen minutes of their prep wasted.
- Read the recap. If they write one, read it. Reply with one line about your favorite moment.
- Bring the snacks. Rotate it. The host should not have to feed the party every week.
- Learn your own rules. Know what your character can do so the GM does not have to look it up for you.
- Say thank you out loud. At the end of the next session, before everyone packs up, tell them it was a great game. It takes ten seconds.
- Offer to run a one-shot. A single session game run by someone else lets your GM sit on the player side of the table for once.
Wrap it with a note
A $2.49 sticker with a good note beats a big box with no note. Tuck a card in with the gift and borrow one of these:
- "For the best GM in this or any other plane of existence."
- "Thank you for not killing us. Yet."
- "I promise to read the recap. This time I mean it."
- "To the person who voiced forty villains this year and made every one of them memorable."
- "Roll for initiative. Then roll for cake."
Shipping and timing
Everything is made to order. Most orders are produced within 2 to 7 business days, then take 2 to 5 business days to reach US addresses, with tracking on every package. We ship to US addresses only. Our products are made by several production partners, so a mixed order may arrive in separate packages.
A few ways to save:
- Buy 5, get 1 free on single stickers and pin buttons. Add any six to your cart and the cheapest one comes off free, automatically. Sticker sheets are not included.
- Free US shipping on orders of $50 or more. Under $50, shipping is calculated at checkout.
We will post our Christmas order-by dates on the FAQ once our production partners publish their holiday cutoffs, so order early if the gift is for the last session before the holidays. The details are in our shipping policy.
Shopping for the whole party, not just the GM? Our guide to stocking stuffers for board gamers and RPG players has more gifts under $5. And when you are ready, every gift we make for the person behind the screen is waiting in game master gifts.