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The perfect game notebook doesn\u2019t exist. I\u2019m making that statement to tempt the universe into proving me wrong, because I\u2019d love to be wrong about this. But until irony catches up to me, we\u2019re left with imperfect options.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, out of all of the notebooks I\u2019ve tried\u2014physical, digital, or otherwise\u2014I\u2019ve yet to find an option as close to perfect as <\/span>Obsidian<\/span><\/a>. I love it a lot, and what\u2019s the point of writing for a TTRPG blog if you can\u2019t share that nerdy love with others? So here\u2019s a rundown of why I think you should try Obsidian, with some tips for how you can use it to organize your campaigns, improve your prep, and evolve the way you run sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n Core Obsidian is a markdown-based note-taking app available on almost as many platforms as Doom. The barebones installation is pretty simple (some might say boring), but this app has a lot going for it.<\/span><\/p>\n For one, it\u2019s completely free. Yes, there are options for giving the development team your hard-earned dollars, but none of those options keep features locked away behind the paywall. This isn\u2019t a \u201cSure, the guy said it was free, but all of the good stuff requires a subscription\u201d version of free. This is a \u201cgo download the app, use it, love it, and then years from now boggle at the fact that you\u2019ve never paid a single cent for this program\u201d version of free.<\/span><\/p>\n The real power of Obsidian, however, comes from its plugins\u2014community-created add-ons that can completely transform the base app into pretty much anything you need it to be. Plugins can do something as simple as changing the icons of your note folders, all the way to completely overhauling the interface or even integrating the app into third-party services like Git.<\/span><\/p>\n To be fair, it can be a little overwhelming if you\u2019re just getting started, but the community that\u2019s been built up around the app is amazingly welcoming (their Discord even has a dedicated TTRPG channel!) and there\u2019s a lot of great resources on YouTube. A couple of my favorites are:<\/span><\/p>\n After you\u2019ve got Obsidian installed and running, you\u2019ll want to start creating some files, but if you\u2019re like me, you\u2019re gonna worry about organizing those files. Personally, I use a variation of <\/span>Johnn Four<\/span><\/a>\u2018s folder organization system. It\u2019s simple and keeps everything where I expect to find it.<\/span><\/p>\n Whenever I start a new campaign, the first thing I do is make five folders in my Obsidian vault:<\/span><\/p>\n (These are basically the same folders Johnn makes, but I renamed as many as I could to P-words because I\u2019m a sucker for alliteration. Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t come up with a P-word for rules, but if you\u2019ve got an idea, lemme know in the comments.)<\/span><\/p>\n From there, I create notes for the elements of the next session. As I\u2019m brainstorming potential situations and encounters, I\u2019ll make stub notes for every new NPC, important piece of treasure, or McGuffin I come up with and then sort those stub notes into the appropriate folders. (You\u2019ll see why in a second here.)<\/span><\/p>\n These are the must-have plugins that sold me on Obsidian as my go-to campaign manager. They\u2019re so useful, I use them in my everyday life outside of TTRPG prep, too.<\/span><\/p>\n THIS is why I create stub notes for each NPC, magic item, location, etc. Because after I do that, whenever I want to reference that thing, the link is already right there in my notes.<\/span><\/p>\n (This is also great if you\u2019re on the other side of the GM screen. GM casually mentions an NPC named Reginald, but you can\u2019t, for the life of you, remember who that is? No problem. You just type out \u201cReginald\u201d into your notes, and Obsidian automatically links you to the little dossier you created on him.)<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to the community-created plugins, Obsidian has a number of built-in features that are incredibly powerful if you know how to use them. These are the two game changers for me as a GM.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a relatively new feature, but it allows you to turn any of your folders into a kind of limited database that you can sort and filter using the note\u2019s tags and properties. Why is this handy?<\/span><\/p>\n Well, let\u2019s look at your Persona folder. The one full of every named NPC you plopped into your campaign. If you tag those files with things like the NPC\u2019s faction allegiances or location, or speciality, then you can use the Bases feature to pull up, say, every NPC currently located in the capital city. And you\u2019ll also see who\u2019s loyal to the monarchy, who\u2019s a rebel, and who knows how to source parts for guillotines. All displayed on one page. Practically automatically.<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but when I\u2019m running a session, I like a lot of horizontal space. The more I can spread out my virtual notes across a digital GM screen, the more confident I am that I can guide everything through a successful time at the table.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s why I love infinite whiteboard apps like Apple Freeform or Obsidian Canvas.<\/span><\/p>\n The Canvas feature allows you to take any note in your vault and add it to a digital whiteboard. You can then connect those notes to each other, move them around, or arrange them as you see fit.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s one of my old sessions to give you an idea of what I mean. I had to zoom out pretty far to fit the whole session into this one example image, but all of those colored boxes are filled with notes, and you can see some of the maps, clocks, and rules snippets I included as well.<\/span><\/p>\n The Advanced Canvas plugin gives you more formatting options in Canvas, which is great if you like to make your notes pretty.<\/span><\/p>\n If you ever wanted a digital version of a customized GM Screen, or if you\u2019re the kind of person who needs sticky notes everywhere in order to remember the grappling rules, Canvas can do that. It\u2019s great for folks who think visually or need a non-linear way of keeping track of their encounters.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, like I said, no one campaign notebook (app or otherwise) is perfect, and Obsidian does have its limitations. For one, if you work from a tablet, it doesn\u2019t handle sketching\/handwriting very well. There are a couple of plugins (there\u2019s always a plugin when it comes to Obsidian)\u2014Ink and Excalidraw \u2014but neither works seamlessly, and the workflows end up a little clunky, IMO. Additionally, I\u2019ve found that the way Obsidian handles PDFs is a little lackluster. It\u2019s fine for quickly referencing, but you probably won\u2019t want to read your books from cover to cover in this app.<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately, the best notebook app for you is the one that sparks joy in your GM heart when you open it up, but if you\u2019re looking for a way to upgrade your digital prep, Obsidian\u2019s flexibility could be the almost-perfect solution you\u2019ve been looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n (And seriously, what word should I use for my rules folder?)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This post is brought to you by our wonderful patron Amedeo Rosa<\/span>, supporting us since June 2020<\/span>! Thanks for helping us keep the stew fires going!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The perfect game notebook doesn\u2019t exist. I\u2019m making that statement to tempt the universe into proving me wrong, because I\u2019d love to be wrong about this. But until irony catches up to me, we\u2019re left with imperfect options. That said, out of all of the notebooks I\u2019ve tried\u2014physical, digital, or otherwise\u2014I\u2019ve yet to find an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117686,147154],"tags":[1256,28532,54963],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-318692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-mastering","category-tools-for-gms","tag-game","tag-obsidian","tag-prepping"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Obsidian?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Organizing Everything<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Useful Plugins<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Core Features<\/span><\/h2>\n
Bases<\/span><\/h3>\n
Canvas<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gnomestew.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Session-37-1024x703.png\")
<\/p>\nLimitations<\/span><\/h2>\n
Closing the Book<\/span><\/h2>\n