What are some tools you personally use for prep?
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As the title says, what’s your go-to when it comes to things like notes and maps. Personally, I like Obsidian and Tabletop RPG Map editor II from the lead dev of Dead Cells.
I also like https://when2meet.com/ for resolving scheduling conflicts.
Logseq for notes and “Lazy GM” checklist, GIMP for carving out maps from the ones I have, Tiled to populate them. Tarot (I mean the cards, not some software) for populating initial background connections when I’m completely stuck
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As the title says, what’s your go-to when it comes to things like notes and maps. Personally, I like Obsidian and Tabletop RPG Map editor II from the lead dev of Dead Cells.
I also like https://when2meet.com/ for resolving scheduling conflicts.
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Windows finally has persistent workspace order? Last time I was forced to try Windows out, there was no way to consistently switch to a workspace without looking at it to figure out which one it is
Yeah, it works well enough. I haven’t had any issues, at least. On Linux, I prefer something along the lines of Workspace Matrix to get a proper two dimensional layout, but on Windows, the built-in workspaces have been at least sufficient for game night and don’t require any additional setup
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Obsidian is a must have.
Since sessions are frequently run over Discord, I use HammerTime to make sure everyone is seeing the same time being displayed.
I’ve been running Lancer for over a year, so all my tools are very particular in their uses. Lancer Map Creation Tool has been extremely handy in, well, creating maps and RetrogradeMinis in making up PC and NPC tokens. I also use this Pixel Art Furniture Pack for human-sized encounters, as its the only one I know that’s more focused on modern aesthetics instead of vaguely medieval fantasy.
Never heard of that Map Editor before, I’ll give it a look, thanks for the rec.
I personally like the lightweight option at https://r.3v.fi/discord-timestamps/
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out of curiosity, why do folks gravitate to Obsidian over something like Notion? Obsidian always struck me as a bit intimidating.
Everything’s a text file on your computer.
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I’ll add https://lettucemeet.com/ to the pile of scheduling sites.
This is a fine lettuce.
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Logseq for notes and “Lazy GM” checklist, GIMP for carving out maps from the ones I have, Tiled to populate them. Tarot (I mean the cards, not some software) for populating initial background connections when I’m completely stuck
I’d be interested to hear more about how you use tarot cards as prompts!
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As the title says, what’s your go-to when it comes to things like notes and maps. Personally, I like Obsidian and Tabletop RPG Map editor II from the lead dev of Dead Cells.
I also like https://when2meet.com/ for resolving scheduling conflicts.
Not that much special tools. I try to keep my game prep short, at a point I found out there is no need to write long text when I am the only one reading them, so I keep some bullet lists
I recently switched to a *cloud note taking app (anytype) as it syncs well between PC and tablet, rather than good old Libre office.
Stable diffusion when needing illustration and in the mood to play with image generators.
Illwinter map making app, that I got at some steam sales, when I want to do a map. So maybe 10% of the case
For pregen characterà my goto is now Libre office impress to fill a character sheet + backstory + goals, this assume that I don’t find a sheet at another format
A small paper notebook, for my ongoing notes, and usually I ask the PC to do the session recap while writing down the stuff they want to develop and finishing the game prep at this moment
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I’d be interested to hear more about how you use tarot cards as prompts!
I’ll put writing a post about that on my to-do list
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As the title says, what’s your go-to when it comes to things like notes and maps. Personally, I like Obsidian and Tabletop RPG Map editor II from the lead dev of Dead Cells.
I also like https://when2meet.com/ for resolving scheduling conflicts.
Google drive for notes, DungeonFog for maps.
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The Goblin’s Notebook. It’s a great prep tool that allows you to break up all your notes based on what things are, allows custom relationships between objects, and allows what is displayed at any given time to change based on whether specific objects in your notes are relevant to the current chapter of your campaign. And that’s just scratching the surface of all the cool features. ~$3/mo thru patreon to fully unlock all features. I swear by it and I’ll probably never use another tool to keep all my notes organized as long as I’m GMing.
The custom connections are my favorite feature, and I use them a lot to inform the decisions any given entity in my world makes. Example of custom connections attached, lol.
Also really love this tool. I tend to make up a lot on the fly (or roll on tables) and the goblins notebook is quick to capture it all.
![coyotino [he/him]](https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/e91d8190-23a7-48b6-a777-d1f55c7e51e7.webp "coyotino [he/him]"){kind=avatar}
