Margo

Obsidian is a free, locally-stored Markdown note-taking application that the TTRPG community has widely adopted as a campaign wiki, session planner, and lore database. Originally designed as a personal knowledge management tool, it stores everything as plain text files on your own machine with no subscription required. Description Unlike purpose-built platforms such as World Anvil, Obsidian was not designed with TTRPGs in mind, which means it arrives without templates, stat block support, or any TTRPG-specific structure out of the box. GMs who want those features need to install and configure community plugins themselves, which carries a steeper setup cost than dedicated alternatives. For those comfortable with that process, however, the result is a highly customizable system with no ongoing fees and no vendor lock-in. A thriving plugin ecosystem has filled most of the gaps, and the tool has become a genuine alternative to subscription-based worldbuilding platforms for technically comfortable Game Masters. The plugin ecosystem extends well beyond what is listed here, with community tools covering everything from database-style note querying and cross-device sync to interactive maps and combat automation. A full directory is available at community plugins.

A portable, offline-first DM and worldbuilding tool. Build worlds, run sessions, share with others and play together, all in one app. License: CC BY-NC 4.0 · Free to use Everything core works **without an account**. You only need one to play online, publish to the marketplace, or download other users' content. /images/general-media/1791564204_7DEx9r3t.webp Worldbuilding - Era Timeline: Split your world's history into eras on a timeline bar and move between them. Each era keeps its own map, pins, nested location maps and day-by-day timeline pins linked to cards and sessions. You can show the same city before the war and after it. - Templates & Packages: Every world is built on a template (D&D 5e is built in) and pulls content from packages. A package is a bundle of cards you can install into any world, link to other packages, or share on the marketplace. Custom templates are coming. - Codex: Schema-driven cards for NPCs, monsters, spells, items, locations and more. Every reference is a tappable link. Pin cards to the top, preview any card with a long press, and search by name, tag, category or text. - World Map: Pins, grid and scale, drawing, fog of war, and nested maps you can walk into (districts, dungeons, taverns). - Mind Map: An infinite canvas with linked nodes, workspaces, freehand drawing and undo/redo. /images/general-media/1791564252_TB7zwrCp.webp Running the Session - Second Screen: Give the table its own view. Pop out a window onto a second monitor, cast to a TV or projector, or project into every connected player's app. You choose how battle maps, images, cards and PDFs go out. Fog of war and hidden tokens stay hidden. - Battle Map: The session screen *is* the map, with the encounter panel and event log on top. It has layers, fog of war, AoE templates, 5e diagonal rules, creature-sized tokens, shapes and text, a DM-only layer, hidden tokens, movement trails for the round, and two maps joined into one. - Combat Tracker: Initiative, HP (with hit-dice rolls), conditions, turn order and an event log. - 3D Dice: Dice roll across the screen with named styles. Skills and saving throws roll from the character sheet with one tap. - Soundpad: Layered ambience with gapless loops, fades and ready-made soundpacks. - PDF Library: PDFs kept inside the world, opened in tabs and shareable with players. /images/general-media/1791564292_BnuuXJTS.webp Characters - Full 5e rules: Species, class, subclass, background and feats fold into one sheet. Each sense, resistance, proficiency, trait and always-prepared spell shows where it came from. Also covers multiclassing, spell slots, class resources (Rage, Bardic Inspiration, sorcery points…), weapon mastery, and short and long rests. - Character Builder: Pick species, class, subclass, background, ability scores, skills, starting equipment and feats from the SRD and any installed pack. - Level-Up: HP, proficiency bonus and hit dice update automatically. ASIs, feats, subclass and spell picks wait as pending choices. /images/general-media/1791564330_JBRRDNZ4.webp Playing Online - Online worlds: Put a world, package or character online and it stays the same on every device you sign in on. Players see the pictures even when the DM is offline. - Players: Join with an invite code, claim a character, move your own token on your turn, and send dice rolls to the DM's log. Shared cards update when the DM edits them. - .dmtz files: Export a world, package or character to one file and import it anywhere. No account or network needed. Content - SRD 5.2.1: Built in and works offline. - 19 one-tap packs: Tome of Beasts (1–3, 2023), Creature Codex, Monstrous Menagerie, Black Flag SRD, Deep Magic, Tome of Heroes, Vault of Magic, Tal'Dorei and more. - Ready-made worlds: 99 Devils of Uzrah's Palace (Shadowdark), Army of the Damned, The Cold Bounty, and soon our own campaign Aegis Act . - Marketplace: Publish worlds, templates, packages and characters as versioned snapshots with content previews. - Social: Profiles, follows, an activity feed, direct and group chats, and game listings with applications.

Codex Cryptica is an AI-assisted worldbuilding and campaign management tool built around a living knowledge graph instead of a folder of loose documents. Every character, faction, location, and event you create becomes a linked entity, so your world stays connected and explorable as it grows. Genre-agnostic across fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk, horror, post-apocalyptic, western, steampunk, and more.

A new kind of toolkit for any RPG and GM. Import a rulebook or build your own RPG, and RPGadget fills every tool for you. NPCs and monsters arrive with full stats and lore. Adventures become flowchart storyboards. Players make their characters on their phones before the session starts. Everything you need is in one place, so you can focus on your players instead of hunting for page numbers.

Dungeondraft is a specialized, standalone map-making software designed specifically for creating high-quality TTRPG battlemaps. Developed by Megasploot (the creator of the world-building tool Wonderdraft), it was released in 2020 and has since become the industry favorite for GMs who want to build detailed, tactical maps without needing professional graphic design skills. It is famous for its "smart" tools that handle walls, lighting, and object scattering automatically, allowing a full encounter map to be completed in minutes. Description Dungeondraft bridges the gap between simple grid-sketching and complex image editors like Photoshop. It features a unique, hand-drawn aesthetic that fits perfectly with modern fantasy games. The software is built for efficiency; drawing a room automatically places floors and walls, and the integrated lighting engine allows you to place torches that cast realistic shadows in real-time. In 2026, it remains a "buy-once-own-forever" staple, free from the subscription models that have taken over much of the creative software market.

VVTT is a virtual tabletop built for the chase and combat phase of vehicular encounters: infernal war machines tearing across Avernus, warships trading ballista fire off Saltmarsh, or anything you build yourself.