Building Cities Like Theme Parks
Learn how to design cities for D&D and other TTRPGs using theme park principles—themed neighborhoods, memorable locations, and immersive experiences players won't forget.
2026-09-15
PhD20 TTRPG Gamemastery, Worldbuilding, & Campaign Management
Welcome to PhD20, a blog about tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. Here you'll find resources and ideas to level up your games and have more fun.
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Acererak's Apprentice Selected as a finalist by Chris Perkins, D&D's story designer, in 2011
Early TTRPG YouTuber Explorer and creator in the early days of TTRPG YouTube
GM Tech & Tools Writing about Obsidian, AI, and other areas where the TTRPG hobby intersects with technology
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My Obsidian Setup for D&D
This is how I organize my Dungeons & Dragons world and campaigns within Obsidian.
2024-10-23
Getting Started with Obsidian for D&D ✨
Obsidian is a powerhouse for organizing and managing roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. This guide will help you get started.
2021-12-20
Awesome Obsidian Community Plugins for D&D
A handful of community plugins can transform your RPG campaign management.
2025-07-03
Campaign Management
Discover awesome apps and technology for managing TTRPG campaigns. Learn powerful principles, practical tips, and even get templates to help get you started on your journey. Check out step-by-step guides for tools like Legendkeeper, Notion, and Obsidian that can change your game (and how you manage it). The digital landscape of TTRPGs is changing rapidly and these articles will help you navigate it. Start here:
NPC Note Design
Use bold, bullets, and italics to structure NPC notes around landmark, hidden, and secret information you can actually use at the table.
2026-07-16
5 Tips for Using Images in Obsidian
With a few key ideas and resources in mind, we can do a lot with images in Obsidian while avoiding headaches.
2025-12-15
How to Manage Locations in Obsidian for D&D
With just a few basic properties, we unlock a lot of powerful capabilities in how we organize and use our location notes.
2025-09-22
Worldbuilding
Learn how to build tabletop roleplaying game worlds for actual play, not encyclopedias to be ignored. Gaming worlds full of fantasy and lore are right at your fingertips and it's time to start creating. Get inspired with new ideas and tools for harnessing that creative energy. Check out models and templates to help you have more fun building your worlds and playing in them. Get started:
Building Cities Like Theme Parks
Learn how to design cities for D&D and other TTRPGs using theme park principles—themed neighborhoods, memorable locations, and immersive experiences players won't forget.
2026-09-15
Stop Sharing Your Lore. Start Using It.
Lore isn't exposition. Discover why worldbuilding serves the GM first, and how that energy translates to better games for everyone at the table.
2026-06-15
Build Your World From Within
Build your world from within. Artifactory worldbuilding turns your GM notes into in-world artifacts—letters, journals, wanted posters—that make your setting feel alive.
2026-04-13
Gamemastery Tips and Tricks
I've spent over fifteen years running tabletop roleplaying games like D&D. In that time, I've discovered hundreds of tips and tricks to running better games. Find ways to improve you and your players' experience for any part of the game. Drop in homebrew rules or try a new tip and watch the magic happen. Some of my favorites:
Agile Game Mastery
What if we ran tabletop RPGs the way software teams ship software? Adapting the twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto into a philosophy for game masters.
2026-08-13
The Most Important NPC Detail
The most impactful NPC detail isn't motivation or backstory. Start with what your Dungeons & Dragons NPC is feeling right now, then ask why it changed.
2026-07-27
Stop Sharing Your Lore. Start Using It.
Lore isn't exposition. Discover why worldbuilding serves the GM first, and how that energy translates to better games for everyone at the table.
2026-06-15