I recently reread the first Dune book in preparation for the movie coming out later this year, but while I was reading it, I remembered how much I love the world it’s set in. What better place to look for inspiration about creating a fantasy world than other fantasy worlds? How could I use a Bene Gesserit-like faction in my campaign? One thing I’ve begun experimenting with is processing my fiction reads the way I do my nonfiction reads. I am also a voracious fantasy reader, and consider everything fair game for “stealing” for my games. However, I still do read campaign books, for D&D as well as for other systems, for inspiration. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with running published campaigns I just personally enjoy world-building and being able to tailor the environment to what I know my specific players will like. Many DMs run published campaigns, but I’m not one of them. Outside the gameĪlthough I use Obsidian while playing D&D, I use it most for D&D between games: fleshing out the world, getting inspiration for new adventures, or preparing for specific sessions. I go into detail for some, but not all of these, in the article below.Īdditionally, feel free to skip around to different sections by clicking on the hamburger menu on the upper right-hand corner and selecting the session that interests you. This is going to be a long article, so if you’re just after the plugins I use, here they are up front!

But I only do it because I enjoy it! Plugins I use In many ways, my setup is the Non-Lazy DM’s approach to preparing for D&D games: high-effort, high-touch, and high-return. I’m a relatively new DM (I’ve got 39 games under my belt at the time this writing, and Obsidian is at the center of my workflow for improving my DMing skills, getting inspiration, preparing for a game, running the game, and making sure my players are having fun. This is about my second weekly game, in which I am the Dungeon Master for a 5e campaign. Last month, I wrote about how I use Obsidian for D&D as a player in a 4e campaign (I play a half-elf hybrid wizard/cleric).

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