diff --git a/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js b/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
index 9ae71214a..3a341f379 100644
--- a/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
+++ b/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
@@ -234,7 +234,188 @@ const definitionLists = {
 	}
 };
 
-Markdown.use({ extensions: [mustacheSpans, mustacheDivs, mustacheInjectInline, definitionLists] });
+const spanTable = {
+	name  : 'spanTable',
+	level : 'block',                                   // Is this a block-level or inline-level tokenizer?
+	start(src) { return src.match(/^\n *([^\n ].*\|.*)\n/)?.index; },  // Hint to Marked.js to stop and check for a match
+	tokenizer(src, tokens) {
+		//const regex = this.tokenizer.rules.block.table;
+		const regex = new RegExp('^ *([^\\n ].*\\|.*\\n(?:.*?[^\\s].*\\n)*?)' // Header
+		    + ' {0,3}(?:\\| *)?(:?-+:? *(?:\\| *:?-+:? *)*)\\|?' // Align
+		    + '(?:\\n *((?:(?!\\n| {0,3}((?:- *){3,}|(?:_ *){3,}|(?:\\* *){3,})' // Cells
+				+ '(?:\\n+|$)| {0,3}#{1,6} | {0,3}>| {4}[^\\n]| {0,3}(?:`{3,}'
+				+ '(?=[^`\\n]*\\n)|~{3,})[^\\n]*\\n| {0,3}(?:[*+-]|1[.)]) |'
+				+ '<\\/?(?:address|article|aside|base|basefont|blockquote|body|'
+				+ 'caption|center|col|colgroup|dd|details|dialog|dir|div|dl|dt|fieldset|figcaption|figure|footer|form|frame|frameset|h[1-6]|head|header|hr|html|iframe|legend|li|link|main|menu|menuitem|meta|nav|noframes|ol|optgroup|option|p|param|section|source|summary|table|tbody|td|tfoot|th|thead|title|tr|track|ul)(?: +|\\n|\\/?>)|<(?:script|pre|style|textarea|!--)).*(?:\\n|$))*)\\n*|$)'); // Cells
+		const cap = regex.exec(src);
+
+		if(cap) {
+			const item = {
+				type   : 'spanTable',
+				header : cap[1].replace(/\n$/, '').split('\n'),
+				align  : cap[2].replace(/^ *|\| *$/g, '').split(/ *\| */),
+				rows   : cap[3] ? cap[3].replace(/\n$/, '').split('\n') : []
+			};
+
+			// Get first header row to determine how many columns
+			item.header[0] = splitCells(item.header[0]);
+
+			const colCount = item.header[0].reduce((length, header)=>{
+				return length + header.colspan;
+			}, 0);
+
+			if(colCount === item.align.length) {
+				item.raw = cap[0];
+
+				let i, j, k, row;
+
+				// Get alignment row (:---:)
+				let l = item.align.length;
+
+				for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
+					if(/^ *-+: *$/.test(item.align[i])) {
+						item.align[i] = 'right';
+					} else if(/^ *:-+: *$/.test(item.align[i])) {
+						item.align[i] = 'center';
+					} else if(/^ *:-+ *$/.test(item.align[i])) {
+						item.align[i] = 'left';
+					} else {
+						item.align[i] = null;
+					}
+				}
+
+				// Get any remaining header rows
+				l = item.header.length;
+				for (i = 1; i < l; i++) {
+					item.header[i] = splitCells(item.header[i], colCount);
+				}
+
+				// Get main table cells
+				l = item.rows.length;
+				for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
+					item.rows[i] = splitCells(item.rows[i], colCount);
+				}
+
+				// header child tokens
+				l = item.header.length;
+				for (j = 0; j < l; j++) {
+					row = item.header[j];
+					for (k = 0; k < row.length; k++) {
+						row[k].tokens = [];
+						this.inlineTokens(row[k].text, row[k].tokens);
+					}
+				}
+
+				// cell child tokens
+				l = item.rows.length;
+				for (j = 0; j < l; j++) {
+					row = item.rows[j];
+					for (k = 0; k < row.length; k++) {
+						row[k].tokens = [];
+						this.inlineTokens(row[k].text, row[k].tokens);
+					}
+				}
+				return item;
+			}
+		}
+	},
+	renderer(token) {
+		let i, j, row, cell, col, text;
+		let output = `<table>`;
+		output += `<thead>`;
+		for (i = 0; i < token.header.length; i++) {
+			row = token.header[i];
+			let col = 0;
+			output += `<tr>`;
+			for (j = 0; j < row.length; j++) {
+				cell = row[j];
+				text = this.parseInline(cell.tokens);
+				output += getTableCell(text, cell.colspan, 'th', token.align[col]);
+				col += cell.colspan;
+			}
+			output += `</tr>`;
+		}
+		output += `</thead>`;
+		if(token.rows.length) {
+			output += `<tbody>`;
+			for (i = 0; i < token.rows.length; i++) {
+				row = token.rows[i];
+				col = 0;
+				output += `<tr>`;
+				for (j = 0; j < row.length; j++) {
+					cell = row[j];
+					text = this.parseInline(cell.tokens);
+					output += getTableCell(text, cell.colspan, 'td', token.align[col]);
+					col += cell.colspan;
+				}
+				output += `</tr>`;
+			}
+			output += `</tbody>`;
+		}
+		output += `</table>`;
+		return output;
+	}
+};
+
+const getTableCell = (text, colspan, type, align)=>{
+	const tag = `<${type}`
+						+ `${colspan > 1 ? ` colspan=${colspan}` : ''}`
+						+ `${align ? ` align=${align}` : ''}>`;
+	return `${tag + text}</${type}>\n`;
+};
+
+const splitCells = (tableRow, count)=>{
+	// ensure that every cell-delimiting pipe has a space
+	// before it to distinguish it from an escaped pipe
+	const row = tableRow.replace(/(\|+)/g, (match, p1, offset, str)=>{
+		let escaped = false,
+			curr = offset;
+		while (--curr >= 0 && str[curr] === '\\') escaped = !escaped;
+		if(escaped) {
+			// odd number of slashes means | is escaped
+			// so we leave it and the slashes alone
+			return p1;
+		} else {
+			// add space before unescaped |
+			return ` ${p1}`;
+		}
+	});
+
+	const cells = row.split(/(?: \||(?<=\|)\|)(?=[^\|]|$)/g);
+	let i = 0;
+
+	// First/last cell in a row cannot be empty if it has no leading/trailing pipe
+	if(!cells[0].trim()) { cells.shift(); }
+	if(!cells[cells.length - 1].trim()) { cells.pop(); }
+
+	let numCols = 0;
+
+	for (; i < cells.length; i++) {
+		const trimmedCell = cells[i].split(/(?<!\\)\|+$/)[0];
+		cells[i] = {
+			colspan : 1 + cells[i].length - trimmedCell.length,
+			text    : trimmedCell.trim().replace(/\\\|/g, '|')
+			// leading or trailing whitespace is ignored per the gfm spec
+		};
+		numCols += cells[i].colspan;
+	}
+
+	// Force main cell rows to match header column count
+	if(numCols > count) {
+		cells.splice(count);
+	} else {
+		while (numCols < count) {
+			cells.push({
+				colspan : 1,
+				text    : ''
+			});
+			numCols += 1;
+		}
+	}
+	return cells;
+};
+
+Markdown.use({ extensions: [mustacheSpans, mustacheDivs, mustacheInjectInline, definitionLists, spanTable] });
 Markdown.use(mustacheInjectBlock);
 Markdown.use({ smartypants: true });