Last reviewed July 2026
Competitor features were verified against official vendor documentation on July 10, 2026. Offerings can change.
Best TTRPG Campaign Managers Compared
An honest look at the tools DMs use to organize their campaigns. We built Multiloop, so we are biased, but we have done our best to give every tool a fair shake.
Quick Picks
Start with the workflow you actually need, then use the full table for details.
Multiloop
You want active campaign memory, character continuity, reviewable Analysis suggestions, sessions, NPCs, quests, canvas, player perspectives, and table workflow in one workspace.
D&D Beyond
You need official D&D rules, character sheets, sourcebook access, encounter support, and the Maps VTT, currently labeled Beta.
Obsidian
You want a local-first Markdown notebook, offline file ownership, plugins, Graph, and Canvas.
World Anvil
You want a deep public lore encyclopedia, advanced worldbuilding templates, maps, timelines, and publishing tools.
Kanka
You want a structured campaign wiki with strong permissions, core features, export/import, and a self-hostable option.
LegendKeeper
You want map-first worldbuilding with wiki pages, timelines, whiteboards, collaboration, export, and clean visual organization.
Notion
You want a flexible general workspace, databases, templates, permissions, and web publishing for teams already using Notion.
How this comparison was reviewed
We checked the linked public vendor documentation and pricing pages on July 10, 2026. Status, access, pricing, and capabilities are recorded as separate claims because any one of them can change. This is a campaign-fit guide, not an exhaustive market census.
World Anvil
Checked July 10, 2026
Kanka
Checked July 10, 2026
- Official feature documentation describes structured campaign entities, relations, maps, timelines, and collaboration features. Features
- Campaign roles and permissions can control access to entities and individual entity fields. Permissions
- Kanka publishes a supported self-hosting path and its requirements. Self-hosting
LegendKeeper
Checked July 10, 2026
- LegendKeeper presents a map-first worldbuilding workspace with wiki pages, timelines, whiteboards, and collaboration. Product overview
- Its official pricing page distinguishes free access from paid creation and collaboration capabilities. Pricing
Obsidian
Checked July 10, 2026
D&D Beyond
Checked July 10, 2026
- D&D Beyond publishes separate subscription tiers and content-sharing benefits alongside separately purchased digital books. Subscriptions
- D&D Beyond currently describes Maps as the official D&D virtual tabletop and labels it Beta. Maps
- The current Maps page says registered users can host browser-based game sessions without a subscription. Maps access
Notion
Checked July 10, 2026
- Notion publishes Free, Plus, Business, and Enterprise plans with different collaboration, upload, and administration limits. Pricing
- Official help documentation covers workspace, teamspace, page, guest, and web-sharing permissions. Sharing and permissions
| Feature | Multiloop | World Anvil | Kanka | LegendKeeper | Obsidian | D&D Beyond | Notion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign Management | |||||||
| Session Notes | Full workflow | Basic | Yes | Yes | Manual | Limited | Manual |
| Story Structure | Yes | No | Limited | No | Manual | No | Manual |
| Timeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual | No | Manual |
| Quest Tracking | Full system | No | Yes | Manual | Manual | No | Manual |
| Encounter Builder | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Session Scheduling | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Characters | |||||||
| Character Depth | 130+ fields | Templates | Custom entities | Wiki pages | Markdown pages | Official sheets | Manual |
| Character Vault | Cross-campaign | Per-world | Per-campaign | Wiki-based | Local vault | Account library | Manual |
| Campaign Canvas | Yes | Whiteboards/webs | Relation explorer | Whiteboards/maps | Graph/Canvas | No | No |
| Player Perspectives | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| World Building | |||||||
| Interactive Maps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plugins | Maps | No |
| Factions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual | Manual | No | Manual |
| World System | Yes | Deep | Yes | Yes | Manual | No | Manual |
| Random Tables | 37,653 entries | Community | No | No | Plugins | No | No |
| Collaboration | |||||||
| Live Session Editing | Supported fields | No | No | Yes | Limited | Limited | Yes |
| Role Permissions | 5 roles | Paid tiers | Yes | Yes | No | Campaign sharing | Limited |
| Public Sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Publish | Limited | Yes |
| Platform | |||||||
| Access | Free account | Free limits | Free core | View/export free | Free app | Free account | Free limits |
| Mobile Support | Responsive | Browser | Responsive | Mobile web | Full | Full | Full |
Where Multiloop differs
Workflow differences observed across the products in this comparison. This is not a claim that no other product can provide a similar capability.
Campaign Canvas
A campaign-native relationship board for PC and NPC cards. Draw typed connections, then use groups to cluster the members of a faction or any other related set of characters; Shapes and Sticky Notes add visual context.
Player Perspectives
Players can add their own session recap after the game while DM notes remain in a separate, visibility-controlled surface. One session, multiple voices.
Live Session Collaboration
Invite co-DMs and players into live session notes and supported campaign fields. Owner, co-DM, Campaign Editor, player, and guest roles all plug into the same modular permission system.
37,653 Random Table Entries
51 tables across 12 categories: names, encounters, treasure, magic items, traps, wild magic, tavern life, and more. Built in, no plugins.
Standalone and Cross-Campaign Character Vault
Characters can start in your personal vault with writings, relationships, play journal notes, and share-safe pages, then link into campaigns when ready.
Campaign and Character Analysis
After play, get reviewable suggestions for supported campaign and character records such as NPCs, relationships, locations, quests, timelines, writings, summaries, and character fields. You approve what saves.
A Closer Look at Each Tool
World Anvil
The world-building encyclopedia
World Anvil is one of the largest platforms in this space. It offers deep world-building tools including timelines, maps, and a wiki-like article system.
The feature set is enormous, which is both its greatest strength and the main setup trade-off. It is strongest when the campaign needs a deep lore encyclopedia, public presentation, and advanced worldbuilding tools.
Best for: GMs who want to build massive, interconnected wikis for entire homebrew settings
Strengths
- Massive community and content sharing
- Deep world-building article system
- Timeline and map integrations
Limitations
- Requires more setup than session-first tools
- Many advanced privacy, map, and collaboration features sit on paid tiers
- Session tracking is secondary to world-building
When to choose World Anvil
- →Your primary goal is a massive public encyclopedia with community features and a content marketplace
- →Your primary output is long-form worldbuilding documentation, not session-to-session play
- →You want a large community and a public content marketplace
Kanka
Flexible campaign management
Kanka takes a modular wiki approach where everything is an "entity" you can link, tag, and permission. It balances power with usability well.
The interface is functional rather than flashy. GMs who think in wiki pages and nested categories tend to love it.
Best for: GMs who want a structured, wiki-style tool with good permissions and sharing
Strengths
- Clean entity-based organization
- Good permission and sharing controls
- Active development and responsive team
Limitations
- Session workflow is journal-based rather than lifecycle-based
- Relationship visualization is entry-focused rather than a broad campaign canvas
- Visual design is utilitarian
When to choose Kanka
- →You think in wiki pages, entity categories, and hierarchical tagging as your primary mental model
- →Your campaign is primarily a reference database rather than a live-workflow tool
- →You want a self-hostable option and care about data sovereignty
LegendKeeper
Map-first world building
LegendKeeper combines a wiki, interactive maps, timelines, whiteboards, and real-time collaboration. It is elegant, visual, and especially strong for map-first worldbuilding.
The trade-off is workflow shape. LegendKeeper gives you flexible worldbuilding surfaces; Multiloop gives sessions, quests, encounters, player perspectives, and character vaults dedicated campaign interfaces.
Best for: GMs who design worlds visually and want their notes pinned to locations on a map
Strengths
- Beautiful interactive maps
- Smooth markdown wiki with backlinks
- Timelines, whiteboards, collaboration, and export/data-ownership posture
Limitations
- Free plan is mostly for viewing, export, and collaboration
- No dedicated structured session, quest, or encounter workflow evidenced
- No native mobile app
When to choose LegendKeeper
- →You build worlds visually and want notes pinned to map locations as your primary interface
- →Your prep style is spatial. You think in regions, cities, and geography first
- →You want a clean map-first worldbuilding tool and are happy modeling campaign workflows manually
Obsidian
Local-first markdown notes
Obsidian is a powerful local-first note app built around markdown files, links, backlinks, and a graph view. Many DMs use it because it is flexible and works well for personal campaign notes.
The trade-off is that Obsidian is a notebook, not a campaign manager. Session workflows, player roles, quest states, campaign-specific character structures, and table-facing collaboration need to be designed manually or added through plugins.
Best for: DMs who want a private markdown notebook with links, plugins, and full control over their files
Strengths
- Local markdown files you control
- Fast note linking and backlinks
- Large plugin ecosystem
Limitations
- No built-in DM/player campaign role model
- No native TTRPG session workflow
- Requires manual setup for campaign structure
When to choose Obsidian
- →You prefer local markdown files over a hosted campaign workspace
- →You enjoy building your own campaign system with folders, tags, links, and plugins
- →Your notes are mostly private DM reference material rather than a shared table workflow
D&D Beyond
The official digital D&D companion
D&D Beyond is the official digital companion for Dungeons & Dragons. It is the right place for official D&D character sheets, purchased sourcebooks, rules lookup, encounters, and D&D-specific digital play support.
It is intentionally not the same kind of product as Multiloop. D&D Beyond is strongest as an official rules and character-sheet layer. Multiloop is focused on campaign memory: session notes, NPCs, quests, timelines, relationships, maps, player perspectives, and system-agnostic campaign organization.
Best for: D&D groups who want official books, rules references, character sheets, encounter tools, and Maps support
Strengths
- Official D&D digital toolset
- Strong character builder and character sheets
- Rules, encounters, and Maps support for D&D groups
Limitations
- Focused on D&D rather than system-agnostic campaign organization
- Not built as a deep campaign-notes and relationship-memory workspace
- Official content access depends on the D&D Beyond ecosystem
When to choose D&D Beyond
- →You need official D&D books, rules references, and character sheets
- →Your main workflow is building characters and running D&D encounters
- →You want an official D&D companion rather than a broader campaign memory tool
Notion
The flexible general workspace
Notion is a powerful general-purpose workspace. Many DMs try it for campaigns because they already use it for work or school. It is flexible. You can build almost any structure you want.
The trade-off is "can build" versus "already built." Running a campaign in Notion means recreating from scratch what dedicated tools give you out of the box: session workflows, character depth, relationship visualization, quest tracking, faction systems, and player-specific views. Every hour spent building your Notion setup is an hour not spent on your story.
Best for: DMs who are already heavy Notion users and prefer to build their own structure from scratch
Strengths
- Extremely flexible. Build any structure you want
- Familiar interface for existing Notion users
- Good general database and document features
- Strong collaboration for text documents
Limitations
- No TTRPG-specific structure. You build everything from scratch
- No relationship canvas or visual entity linking
- No native TTRPG session workflow, player perspectives, or DM/player role model
- No random tables, encounter builder, or structured character vault
- Community template quality varies widely
When to choose Notion
- →You want maximum structural flexibility and are willing to invest time building your own system
- →You only need a simple note repository with no session workflow or player collaboration
- →You already live in Notion and want zero tool-switching for light campaign notes
Switching tools? Bring a character.
Move one PC or NPC at a time from PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PNG, JPEG, WebP, or pasted text. Multiloop prepares a character draft for review before anything saves.
Document and image import
Upload one player's sheet, one NPC record, a screenshot, or Markdown notes. Character import prepares a draft of that character — stats, backstory, and image — for review before it joins your Vault or campaign.
Paste & Go
Paste a character sheet or backstory. Multiloop reads it and prepares a draft of the character. You review and approve what saves.
Why we built Multiloop
We built Multiloop because the products in this comparison emphasize different jobs. World Anvil is a deep worldbuilding and publishing suite. Kanka is a structured campaign wiki. LegendKeeper is a map-first worldbuilding workspace with timelines and collaboration. Obsidian and Notion are flexible DIY workspaces. D&D Beyond focuses on official D&D rules, sheets, encounters, and Maps. Multiloop emphasizes system-agnostic campaign memory and active-table workflow.
Multiloop is the story layer for your campaign: session notes, character arcs, relationship webs, quest threads, faction politics, and timeline events. These campaign records stay connected and searchable in one workspace.
Every feature is designed to be fast. Open it at the table, write a session note, tag an NPC, roll on a random table, check who is secretly an enemy. Then close it and play. You should spend your prep time on the story, not on the tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I get with a free Multiloop account?
Free account. No trial timer. Use core campaign and character workflows for a real campaign, not just a throwaway test.
Which TTRPG campaign manager has the easiest free start?
Multiloop starts with a free account for the core active-play workflow: campaigns, characters, session notes, canvas, and random tables. World Anvil, Kanka, LegendKeeper, Obsidian, D&D Beyond, and Notion each offer different feature sets, so compare what each provides before choosing.
How does Multiloop compare to using Notion for campaigns?
Notion is a great general workspace, but running a campaign in it means building everything from scratch. Multiloop ships with session workflows, a 130-field character system, campaign canvas, player perspectives, quest tracking, encounter builder, and 37,653 entries across 51 tables out of the box. You bring the story. The structure is already there.
What character import formats are supported?
Character import reads PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PNG, JPEG, WebP, or pasted text. Import one PC or NPC at a time and Multiloop prepares a draft of that character — stats, backstory, and image — for review before it joins your Vault or campaign.
What is the Campaign Canvas?
Arrange PC and NPC cards on a campaign Canvas, draw typed relationships, and add Groups, Shapes, and Sticky Notes for visual context. Use Groups to cluster the members of a faction or any other related set of characters. Think of it as a detective's evidence board for the characters driving your campaign.
What are Player Perspectives?
After each session, players can write recaps from their characters' points of view. DM notes remain in a separate surface governed by campaign visibility controls. This builds a richer session history and keeps players engaged between games.
Does Multiloop work for Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, or other systems?
Yes. Multiloop works with D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, Dungeon World, Fate, and other tabletop RPGs. D&D Beyond is intentionally D&D-specific; Multiloop is the system-agnostic campaign memory layer.
Can I bring my characters from another tool?
Yes, one PC or NPC at a time. Character import reads PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PNG, JPEG, WebP, or pasted text, prepares a draft in the real editor, and lets you approve what saves.
Which tool works best on mobile?
Obsidian, D&D Beyond, and Notion have mature mobile apps or mobile access. Multiloop and Kanka use responsive web workflows. World Anvil is browser-based, and LegendKeeper supports mobile web while its native mobile app remains unavailable.
Can multiple DMs collaborate on the same campaign?
Yes. Multiloop supports co-DM roles with modular permissions, plus a Campaign Editor role for trusted content work without live-session control. Permissions are set per-section, not just per-campaign.
Which tool is the easiest to learn?
The easiest tool depends on the job. D&D Beyond is the fastest fit for official D&D rules and sheets. Obsidian and Notion are easy to open, but campaign structure takes setup. World Anvil, Kanka, and LegendKeeper are strong when their worldbuilding model matches how you already prep. Multiloop aims for a defined campaign workflow instead of a blank workspace.
How many random table entries does Multiloop have?
37,653 entries across 51 tables in 12 categories: names, locations, encounters, NPCs, plots, treasure, magic items, trinkets, traps, wild magic, dungeons, and tavern life. All built in. No extensions or community plugins needed.
Ready to try Multiloop?
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