What's Yappening?

If you’ve ever sat behind a Dungeon’s Master’s Screen, you know that running a game has its challenges. You are juggling storylines, NPCs, rules, players and their interactions, all while trying to make the game fun for everyone. It’s a lot to keep track of so why not make the life of the Dungeon Master a tad easier? This list will help you as a DM, including both free and paid options.

1. Make your NPCs, PC’s and more: DMHeroes!

Do you lack the artistic skills to draw your character portraits and aren’t a fan of AI-generated art? This tool will be a great help. Simply pick a race, and the website will generate a character for you. You can also edit the characters and customize their appearance to fit your story. A cool feature is the use of hyperlinks: for example, if you click on the name “Brynna Seratolva”, it will take you to another generated character.

2. Notes wherever you go! With Notion.

Notion is a versatile tool for organizing D&D campaigns, sessions, and character sheets. Easily manage lore, track quests, and collaborate with players—all in one place. It’s perfect for both Dungeon Masters and players to keep track of sessions. You can also install templates to help organize your D&D adventure.

The best part is that it’s portable! You can install the app on Android, Apple, and Windows devices, or simply use it in a browser. Just make sure to make frequent backups, as I have experienced losing some of my notes before.

3. Don’t like the feel of Notion? Try Obsidian!

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking tool for organizing D&D campaigns. Easily create interconnected notes for lore, NPCs, and quests, and visualize your world with its graph view.

Perfect for Dungeon Masters to build complex stories and keep everything accessible in one place.
With hundreds of Plugins and Themes, you can also shape the software to fit your needs.

This app is also portable! You can Install this app on Windows, iOS, Android, Mac and Linux.

4. Looking for a free Virtual Tabletop? Try Owlbear Rodeo!

Owlbear Rodeo is a free and easy-to-use tool that helps players visualize maps and gameplay. It supports animated maps and works smoothly on both mobile and desktop, making it a great option for tabletop sessions. You can plan ambushes, sketch maps quickly, or measure spell effects using its drawing tools. These tools provide everything you need for a fun and dynamic game.

I started with Owlbear Rodeo, however, I switched to another tool because I needed a more powerful tabletop software for detailed animated maps. Owlbear Rodeo is better suited for still maps rather than more complicated designs.

If you are looking for a free and simple VTT, Owlbear Rodeo is a good choice!

5.Want some more freedom? Foundry Virtual Tabletop is a good choice!

Foundry Virtual Tabletop is a one-time purchase software of 50$(75 AUD), with no further subscription fees or locked features.

What sets this software apart is its incredible customizability. You can use various modules, mods, and maps to play a wide range of tabletop games, giving you full control over your gaming experience.

FoundryVTT supports Windows, Mac, and Linux and allows you to self-host a game server that players connect to for free directly through a web browser. Although I had to use a work around like Hamachi, due to limitations with my internet provider, the ability to self host, gives you complete freedom of how you run your games.

Overall if you’re looking for a highly customizable platform with powerful tools, Foundry VTT is a top-tier choice for your tabletop needs.

6. Add some immersion with Tabletop Audio!

When I first started DMing, Tabletop Audio became quickly one of my favourite tools for bringing my games to life. With over 400 tracks for any scenario possible — whether you are guiding your players through a spaceship, an unruly tavern, or a dangerous dungeon, it’s an amazing choice for an immersive experience.

What makes Tabletop Audio an amazing choice is the creative freedom it gives you. With its scenario-based soundboard, you can tailor the atmosphere to your liking in real-time, add background noise, change the weather, and keep your players fully engaged.

Overall this is a wonderful tool to keep your players fully immersed and create some wonderful memorable moments.

7. Pocketbard, the bard that fits in your pocket!

Pocketbard is a versatile Ambience App for TTRPGS, with its beautiful customizability, you can tailor the background noise and music to your liking. It provides dynamic soundtracks, ambient noises and sound effects all in one app, best part about it you can customise the intensity seamlessly with a swipe of a finger.

While there is a free version available, subscribing for $6.99(10,49AUD)/month or 49.99$(75AUD)/year unlocks a ton of additional Content, enhancing your storytelling experience even more.

8. Using Discord for your D&D sessions? Why not spice it up with Kenku!

From the creators of Owlbear Rodeo, comes this great tool, that lets you create a bot for your discord which then plays ambient music through it. It immensely helps with immersing your players even more. Now instead of screen sharing your music or using a an external bot, you have way more control over it thanks to the app.

I use it together with Pocket Bard, to make the DND experience even more interactive for my players.

DM’ing is all about creating memorable adventures for you and your players and having the right tools can make a huge difference. If you have any tools, tips and tricks that have helped you in your campaigns, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section.

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