I feel like I may be a latecomer to Obsidian, but I am here to sing its praises. I have been using it for my most recent campaigns, as an information manager to organize all the campaign elements, and it has been fantastic. A game changer for me. Using it has allowed me to keep all my NPCs, locations, ideas, etc, organized and accessible while I am prepping my sessions and running my game. Let’s talk about it. 

Prepping Your Game In Obsidian

Last year, Josh wrote a great intro article to Obsidian using it for prep: here. You should read that article as well. 

Obsidian In a nutshell

In essence, Obsidian is a low-tech database (vault). The application is quite smart. At its core, Obsidian data is just markdown (formatted text) files in folders. The application sits on top of that structure and provides functionality and formatting. 

What is great about this setup is that the data is yours. Should you want to change applications or Obsidian vanishes one day, your data is sitting in readable text files in a set of folders, and not trapped in a proprietary database container. You can port this data anywhere you want. 

Markdown text gives you a good amount of formatting options, and if you get handy at the syntax, you can format your text without having to take your hands off the keyboard, speeding up text entry, while still having a clean and organized look. 

Finally, Obsidian has plugins that are community-created and extend the functionality of the core application. 

Obsidian as your Campaign Manager

I do not use Obsidian to prep my games. I have been a OneNote fella for years, and OneNote is still my go-to for prep. Where I find the best use for Obsidian is as my Campaign Manager. 

Campaigns require managing a lot of information, and a lot of it is kind of small. Some entries will be large and detailed, but there will be an equal number (or more) of short descriptions for things like that Bartender in that town the characters went through in session 12. You won’t always know when a campaign element will be important again. 

Before Obsidian, I kept this data scattered in session prep pages and index cards that I filled out during the game. It was haphazard and required that I remember when something happened in order to track it down. It was inefficient during prep, when I had the time to look through things, and worse during the session, when I wanted to avoid “dead air” by looking things up. 

Using a database for managing the data is much better. For starters, I can see all my entries in a tree format, or I can search my notes, and there is a cool web tool that shows me the linkage between pages. Looking up items during prep or during play is much faster now. 

My Core Obsidian Setup

For any given game, I have a core Obsidian configuration that I build from. I keep this template as its own Vault in a folder. When I start a new campaign, I deploy a copy of this vault and finish customizing it. You could just use one vault for all your games, but I like having a vault per game. Keeps things tidy.

Community Plugins

I have some default community plugins that I find useful:

  • Buttons – lets me make clickable buttons in a page that link to other pages.
  • Dataview – this lets you write queries on pages (i.e., all the NPCs associated with a location). 
  • Homepage – this creates a landing page for me anytime I open the vault.
  • Paste Image Rename – this cleans up image names when you paste things into the vault.
  • Tag Wrangler – I love using hashtags on my pages. Tag Wrangler helps you organize, fix, and migrate tags.
  • Templater – allows you to create templates for certain types of pages (i.e., NPCs)

Core Folders

As Josh mentioned in their article, you can create folders to help organize your Obsidian entries. I have a core set of folders: 

  • Assets – holds images and other attachments
  • Characters – a page for each character in the campaign
  • GM Notes – a place for my own notes
  • Ideas – a folder for future ideas for sessions
  • Locations – contains the various locations in the campaign. 
  • NPCs – this contains entries for each NPC in the game
  • Setting Materials – any entries for setting information in the game I am running.
  • Templates – holds page templates for things like NPCs.

For each game, I will add folders based on the needs of the game. My Obsidian vault for Blades in the Dark has folders for Scores (where I keep a summary sheet of each score) and Factions (where I have a page for each major faction in the game). 

Custom Theme

I will also find a custom theme for the vault that is easy to read and reminiscent of the game I am running. For me, the most important thing about the theme is that I have different themes for each vault, to help me tell the difference between them.

Technical Considerations

By default, Obsidian resides on a single computer. If you want to use it across more than one device, you can either put the vault into a shared drive (iCloud, Google, Dropbox) or you can use their online service (there is a cost). I keep mine in a shared drive. 

What that allows me to do is to manage my campaign at my desk using the desktop client, but access the data from my iPad while I am running my game. 

Things I do for Campaign Management

As my campaign manager, Obsidian holds information about various campaign elements. An element gets added to Obsidian during prep or after a session, depending on where it was created. If an NPC or location was created while I was prepping the session, then I will add it to Obsidian before the session. If the element was created during the session, then I will add an entry after the session. 

Some other good information practices: 

  • Hyperlinks – Obsidian, in a very wiki-like way, will help you create hyperlinks to other pages. Where possible, I will use hyperlinks to connect an entry to other entries. This turns your information into a web rather than a filing cabinet. 
  • Tags – Organically, I create tags for pages. Some tags are for the type of content (#npc), and others may be for a specific PC (#mist), or others for session names (#deepmoor). I can then search for things by using these tags.
  • Dataview – Dataview will let you create queries for page links, including searching for tags. I used dataview to create a dynamic list for things like NPCs related to a given PC. 

Updates

 For me, this is where Obsidian became my killer Campaign Management app. 

For me, this is where Obsidian became my killer Campaign Management app. At the bottom of each entry (regardless of type) have a Notes header. Under this header, I add a bullet for each session where this element came into play and add some notes about what happened. This way, if I go and look at a recurring NPC, I can see a list of all the times they came up in the campaign and what happened to them. 

In my Post-Game Debrief, I will go into Obsidian and add these entries to the notes section while the game is fresh in my head. It is a bit of work, but the payoff has been noticeable. 

First, the act of adding the notes to the pages reinforces in your own mind what happened in the game. Second, it gives your campaign that dynamic feel, that things do grow and change during the game. Third, during your prep or sessions, your ability to look up a given element is aided by the fact that you can search by session number or name. Or you might have Dataviews built to show all the elements updated in a given session. 

Manage Your Way

Obsidian is so flexible that there is no one way to use it. It’s lightweight framework and active community of plugins make it highly customizable. I found it easy to get started. Just a bit of working knowledge is enough to be able to start using it. If you do get into it, you can get into much more advanced features. There is a vast amount of information on YouTube for Obsidian. There are some videos for TTRPG use, but to get down the basics, you can watch the non-TTRPG ones, as many do a great job of getting you started. From there, you can set your vault up similar to mine or go off and make your own. 

Having a vault is nice, but it will only pay off if you get into the habit of entering new data and updating existing data. Figure out in your prep and your post-game debriefs where updating Obsidian fits for you. Make it a regular task as you manage your campaigns. 

Do you use Obsidian for campaign management? How do you have yours set up? What are your must-have plugins? If you don’t use Obsidian, what do you use for managing your campaign information?