PhD20 TTRPG Gamemastery, Worldbuilding, & Campaign Management
Latest article: The Only Two Questions That Matter for Game Masters
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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.
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:
- Do Our Game Master Notes Matter?
- 5 Tips for Using Images in Obsidian
- How to Manage Locations in Obsidian for D&D
- Awesome Obsidian Community Plugins for D&D
- Awesome Obsidian Plugins for D&D
- Organizing Campaigns for D&D in Obsidian
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D - Linking
- An Obsidian Philosophy for Life
- Organizing an Atlas for D&D in Obsidian
- Reflections on the 8 Steps of the Lazy GM
- The Ultimate Guide to TTRPG Campaign Managers in 2025
- My Obsidian Setup for D&D
- How to Share Your D&D Vault in Obsidian
- How I Prepare for D&D with Obsidian
- Best of 2023
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D | SRD & External Resources
- Chronicle RPG Adventures with Discord Embeds
- Getting Started with LegendKeeper for D&D
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D | Tags and Properties
- Quick Dungeon Map Prep in Obsidian
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D | The Problem With Plugins
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D | 3 Principles
- Organizing Obsidian for D&D | The Big Picture on Vaults
- Creating a Basic Interactive Map in Obsidian
- Introducing Discord Share for Obsidian
- Using D&D PDFs in Obsidian
- Getting Started with Obsidian for D&D ✨
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:
- Maybe That Big Backstory Isn't So Bad
- Campaign Worldbuilding: Worlds For Play, Not Encyclopedias
- Elder Scrolls Style Lore for D&D
- Seeding Secrets and Clues
- How to Build Fantastic Locations for D&D
- Building Better Taverns
- Awesome Obsidian Community Plugins for D&D
- Awesome Obsidian Plugins for D&D
- Use Your Best Ideas Now
- Overland Travel Is a Dungeon Crawl
- Landmark, Hidden, Secrets and Clues
- What's in a Name?
- There Is Only One That Matters
- Empty Rooms
- Organizing an Atlas for D&D in Obsidian
- NPC Paradigm Shift
- The Ultimate Guide to TTRPG Campaign Managers in 2025
- A Living World Every Session
- The Best Villains
- My Obsidian Setup for D&D
- Power of Polyhedrons
- Beyond the Plot in D&D
- Everything is Something
- Make Your Lore Optional
- Getting Started with LegendKeeper for D&D
- 3 Myths About Using Published Settings
- Why Your Next D&D Campaign Should Use the Nentir Vale
- Atomic Worldbuilding
- Worldbuilding for the Story
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:
- The Only Two Questions That Matter for Game Masters
- Don't Let Players Control the Clock
- Maybe That Big Backstory Isn't So Bad
- Do Our Game Master Notes Matter?
- Campaign Worldbuilding: Worlds For Play, Not Encyclopedias
- Dopamine & Dragons Part 2: Longer Adventure Timelines
- Dopamine & Dragons Part 1: Player Boredom
- Elder Scrolls Style Lore for D&D
- Seeding Secrets and Clues
- Unprepared and Never Better
- How to Build Fantastic Locations for D&D
- Reflecting on Homebrew Rules for 5E
- Building Better Taverns
- Use Your Best Ideas Now
- The Kingmaker Companion
- Making Death Matter
- Landmark, Hidden, Secrets and Clues
- What's in a Name?
- Running Shorter Sessions
- There Is Only One That Matters
- How to Make a Great RPG Recap
- Empty Rooms
- Don't Optimize the Fun Out of Your Game
- A Living World Every Session
- Make Each Session Better Than the Last
- 4D Combat
- Beyond the Plot in D&D
- Fast Forward
- Selling in RPGs
- Improving High Level Play
- Make Your Lore Optional
- 3 Reasons to Avoid Player Secrets in D&D
- It's Clear That...
- Satisfying Player Character Endings
Join the Community
The PhD20 community is our “coffee shop” for discussing gamemastery, worldbuilding, and all things tabletop roleplaying games like (but not limited to) Dungeons & Dragons. This is a community for TTRPGs and the gamers that love them. From advice and stories to theory and worldbuilding, all aspects of the hobby are welcome. The goal is a lasting community that we can always return to when we’re excited to talk about the best hobby on earth. Join the community to deep dive into these topics and more with me and other game masters.
