The right tools
for the right table.

Every piece of software a game master actually needs, sorted by the job it does.

Campaign Management 2 guides Maps & Virtual Tabletops 1 guide Lore & World Notes 1 guide Player Handouts 1 guide Session Prep 2 guides
CURATED BY
Marci keeps this index as a record of the tools they actually use at their own table, and the ones they tried and dropped. They have been running tabletop games for a very long time and have worked through most of these tools across their own campaigns.

The tools

vvd
Worldbuilding Platform

Keeps entries, interactive maps and a shareable player wiki in one world, so an NPC your players met in session four stays one search away.

Free tier · Hobbyist $5.75/mo · Pro $10.75/mo
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗
Foundry VTT
Virtual Tabletop

Self-hosted virtual tabletop with dynamic lighting, fog of war and a deep module ecosystem. Only the host needs a licence.

$50 one-time · hosting from ~$3.50/mo if you do not self-host
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗
Roll20
Virtual Tabletop

Browser-based, nothing to install, the shortest path to a first online session. Dynamic lighting and scripting sit behind paid tiers.

Free · Plus $5.99/mo · Pro $9.99/mo
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗
Obsidian
Knowledge Management App

Stores campaign notes as plain Markdown on your own machine, with backlinks that turn a folder of notes into a navigable graph.

Free for personal use · Sync $4/user/mo annual
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗
Kanka
Campaign Wiki

Open-source campaign wiki with around twenty entry types, maps, timelines and permissions, on a genuinely generous free tier.

Free tier · paid plans for higher limits
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗
LegendKeeper
Campaign Wiki

Per-entry player sharing that works, in a tidy interface. Long-established rather than essential, and thin over what Obsidian or Notion already do.

Free Basic · Pro $9/mo, $7.50/mo annual
checked 2026-09-22 · visit ↗

The guides

Campaign Prep
The best D&D campaign management software for long-running games
Nine tools for running a campaign past session twenty, when the bottleneck stops being prep and becomes recall.
Campaign Prep
Session notes that survive twenty sessions
Why most campaign notes become unsearchable around session twelve, and the two-step loop that prevents it.
Lore & World Notes
How to track NPCs so you can find them at the table
Forty NPCs is where memory stops working. What to record, what to skip, and how to find one in ten seconds.
Maps & Virtual Tabletops
Interactive maps for tabletop campaigns
What a linked campaign map does that a battle map does not, and which tools do which.
Players
Giving players a wiki without spoiling the campaign
Per-entry visibility is the whole problem. Which tools handle it, and what belongs on the player side.