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Build a campaign home note, then add a small set of folders for sessions and recurring campaign elements such as PCs, NPCs, locations, quests, and factions. Link session notes to the people, places, and story threads they involve, and use simple templates to make recurring notes consistent. Obsidian does not require a particular RPG layout; this is a practical starting point you can adapt.
Start with a small campaign folder structure
Create a campaign folder with only the categories you expect to look up repeatedly. This starter layout follows the kinds of folders used in the Campaign Codex community listing, but it is an example—not an official Obsidian standard.
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Campaign Name/
Campaign Home.md
Sessions/
PCs/
NPCs/
Locations/
Quests/
Factions/
Items/
Templates/
Maps and Handouts/Keep the top level small at first. Add a folder when it makes retrieval easier, rather than trying to catalogue every possible kind of worldbuilding before the campaign needs it. Campaign Codex is one example of a campaign-oriented setup with folders for PCs, NPCs, quests, locations, sessions, factions, and items.
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Use Campaign Home.md as the note you open when preparing or running a game. Link to the next session, current party roster, important locations, open quests, factions, house rules, and GM-only planning. These links give you useful routes into the campaign without requiring a complicated database.
#1 Best Overall
- Ultimate 5e Player's Journal for D&D Campaigns: Take your Dungeons & Dragons experience to the next level with this expertly designed Player’s Journal, tailored specifically for 5e campaigns. With a detailed layout, it enables both beginner and veteran players to meticulously track every facet of their character's journey, from creation to campaign’s end.
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Connect sessions to the people, places, and threads in play
Give each session its own note in Sessions/. Link from it to relevant PCs, NPCs, locations, factions, and quests. A session note can then serve as a record of what happened and a launch point for finding the connected campaign material. When a recurring fact belongs to an NPC or location, keep it in that note and link to it instead of copying it into every session.
This approach keeps navigation straightforward: use folders to find broad categories, the Campaign Home note for common destinations, and links to follow relationships between notes.
Rank #2
- Ultimate 5e Player's Journal for D&D Campaigns: Take your Dungeons & Dragons experience to the next level with this expertly designed Player’s Journal, tailored specifically for 5e campaigns. With a detailed layout, it enables both beginner and veteran players to meticulously track every facet of their character's journey, from creation to campaign’s end.
- Track Spells, Equipment, and Character Stats: Keep everything you need in one place with dedicated sections for spell tracking, equipment management, and character stats. The journal ensures you’ll always have the critical information at your fingertips when planning your next move or leveling up.
- Massive Notes Section for In-Game Details: Stay organized during sessions with a generous notes section that allows you to jot down key details, NPC interactions, quests, and important developments. Never forget a plot twist or character moment with this essential tool for detailed campaign tracking.
- Stylish Art and Design for a Personal Touch: Not just functional, this journal features stylish art throughout, adding personality and flair to your character’s story. It’s a practical tool that also looks great on the table, adding an extra layer of immersion to your gaming experience.
- Multiple Color Options and Portable Size: Available in Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Purple, and Red (one color per pack), these journals are compact and portable at 5.63" x 8.27" x 0.59". Bring it to every session with ease and combine with our 5e DM’s Journals for full campaign tracking power for the entire group.
Use templates and properties for recurring note types
Templates help make session, character, location, quest, and faction notes predictable. Obsidian’s Properties feature supports values such as text, lists, numbers, checkboxes, dates, date and time, and tags; templates can include properties and merge them into a new note. See Obsidian’s Properties documentation.
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Possible fields below are organizational suggestions, not required Obsidian fields. Choose only those that you expect to search, filter, or keep consistent.
Rank #3
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| Note type | Possible properties |
|---|---|
| Session | type, date, status, party, locations, open_threads |
| NPC | type, faction, location, status, first_appearance |
| Location | type, region, faction, status |
| Quest | type, status, patron, related_locations, next_step |
Skip a property if you will enter it once and never use it. A short, useful template is easier to maintain than a long form full of fields that do not help at the table.
Separate GM-only material from player-facing notes
Decide which notes or attachments players may see before sharing campaign material. Keep secrets, unrevealed plans, and private GM notes clearly separated from player-facing notes and handouts; do not assume that a note is safe to share just because it is linked from a public-facing page. Choose a workflow that makes the intended audience obvious when preparing files to share.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choose a dedicated vault or a campaign folder
Obsidian defines a vault as a folder on your local file system. A vault holds notes, attachments, and Obsidian-specific settings, while notes are Markdown-formatted plain-text files. You can create a new vault or open an existing folder; see Obsidian’s Create a vault, How Obsidian stores data, and Manage vaults documentation.
| Choice | Works well when | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated vault | You want campaigns isolated, independent settings, or a workspace focused on one campaign. | Campaign notes and shared references are kept apart from your other vaults. |
| Campaign folder in an existing vault | You want shared notes or rules references and one search space. | Campaign material sits alongside other notes, so keep its folder and audience boundaries clear. |
These are workflow trade-offs based on how Obsidian stores vaults and files, not official rules about how RPG campaigns should be organized.
Best Value
- Two 64-Page Character Journals
- Books measure 4.75" x 7.5"
- Pages contain fields for game information, character data, and level-by-level notes
Use Canvas and campaign plugins only if they solve a problem
Canvas for visual planning
Canvas can arrange cards that refer to notes alongside text-only cards, making it useful for brainstorming, relationship diagrams, or laying out map references. Obsidian stores Canvas data in .canvas files using the JSON Canvas format. One practical limitation: a text-only Canvas card does not appear in Backlinks. Convert it to a file if it needs to behave like a note with backlinks. Ordinary notes and links are enough for a functional campaign vault. See the Canvas documentation.
Campaign Codex and other optional automation
The Campaign Codex community plugin listing describes an initialization command that creates campaign folders and templates, along with features for entities and session management. The listing also identifies Templater as useful for customizable prompts and Dataview for advanced queries. Treat these as optional community tools, not prerequisites: the basic folder, template, and linking approach works without them. The plugin listing is not an independent assessment of reliability or compatibility.
Quick Recap
A practical setup checklist
- Create the campaign space. Choose either a dedicated vault or a campaign folder in an existing vault.
- Add the home note and core folders. Begin with sessions, PCs, NPCs, locations, quests, factions, and templates; add other folders when useful.
- Link the home note. Add links to the party, next session, key places, active quests, and other frequent destinations.
- Make a few templates. Start with session and recurring entity types, using only properties you expect to reuse.
- Connect notes as you play. Link sessions to the relevant characters, places, factions, and open threads.
- Mark sharing boundaries. Keep GM-only planning distinct from anything intended for players.
- Add optional tools selectively. Use Canvas or a campaign plugin only when a specific visual or automation need justifies it.
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