At the moment I'm doing this:

gems(id, name, colour, level, effects, source)

id is the primary key and is not auto-increment.

A typical row of data would look like this:

id      =>   40153
name    =>   Veiled Ametrine
colour  =>   Orange
level   =>   80
effects =>   +12 sp, +10 hit
source  =>   Ametrine

(Some of you gamers might see what I'm doing here :) )

But I realise this could be sorted a lot better. I have studied database relationships and secondary keys in my A-Level computing class but never got as far as to set one up properly. I just need help with how this database should be organised, like what tables should have what data with what secondary and foreign keys?

I was thinking maybe 3 tables: gem, effects, source. Which then have relationships to each other?

Can anyone shed some light on this? Is a complex way like I'm proposing really the way to go or should I just carry on with what I'm doing?

Cheers.