Comparison Guide
Obsidian Alternative for D&D Campaign Notes
Obsidian is excellent for local markdown notes. If you love building your own system, it may be exactly right. Multiloop is for DMs who want the campaign structure already built: sessions, NPCs, quests, timelines, maps, player roles, and shared table memory.
Why DMs move from Obsidian to Multiloop
- Campaign-specific structure on day one: sessions, NPCs, factions, quests, locations, handouts, timelines, maps, and player-facing notes are already separate surfaces
- DM and player roles are built into the campaign model instead of being recreated with folders, vaults, publish settings, or plugin conventions
- The campaign canvas gives you a table-facing relationship map. Obsidian Graph and Canvas are powerful general-purpose thinking tools, but they are not native TTRPG relationship systems
- Built-in random tables, import flows, and campaign sharing. Obsidian can reach some of this through plugins, but Multiloop ships it as the product workflow
- Hosted collaboration without asking every player to understand markdown, sync, plugins, or your personal folder structure
Head to Head
Campaign Structure
Multiloop
Create a campaign and the core surfaces already exist: sessions, NPCs, quests, lore, locations, maps, factions, timelines, handouts, party, and player views.
Obsidian
Obsidian gives you folders, markdown files, links, tags, backlinks, Graph, Canvas, and plugins. The campaign structure is whatever you design and maintain.
Table Collaboration
Multiloop
Players can join a campaign, see the right information for their role, write perspectives, claim characters, and use shared campaign pages without learning the DM notebook.
Obsidian
Obsidian can sync and publish notes, and shared vaults support team collaboration. Campaign-specific DM/player roles, fine-grained shared-vault permissions, and same-file live editing are not native.
Search and Memory
Multiloop
Session notes, character records, quests, factions, locations, and timelines stay connected in the same campaign system, so the story remains searchable by entity and context.
Obsidian
Obsidian is excellent for linked markdown knowledge bases. It is strongest when the DM wants full control and is comfortable designing their own note taxonomy.
Choose Obsidian if…
- You want local markdown files you fully control
- You enjoy building your own campaign system with folders, tags, links, plugins, and custom conventions
- Your notes are mostly private DM reference material rather than a shared table workflow
Choose Multiloop if…
- You want a campaign manager that already understands sessions, NPCs, quests, maps, timelines, and player roles
- You want players involved without asking them to learn your markdown vault
- You want campaign canvas, import, sharing, and 36,500 entries across 51 tables without assembling a plugin stack
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Multiloop better than Obsidian for every DM?
No. Obsidian is excellent if you want a private, local-first markdown notebook and enjoy designing your own system. Multiloop is better when you want a hosted campaign workflow with sessions, NPCs, quests, player roles, and shared campaign memory already built in.
Can I use Obsidian and Multiloop together?
Yes. A DM can keep private long-form writing in Obsidian and use Multiloop for active campaign operations: session notes, player perspectives, NPC tracking, quests, timelines, maps, and shared table context.
Can I bring my characters from Obsidian into Multiloop?
Bring your characters. Character import reads PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PNG, JPEG, WebP, or pasted text - backstory, relationships, and image come along. Copy a character sheet from your Obsidian vault and paste it in; Multiloop prepares a draft of the character in the real editor.
Does Multiloop have backlinks like Obsidian?
Multiloop focuses on campaign-specific links: characters, locations, factions, sessions, quests, and timeline events. Obsidian has more general-purpose backlinking. Multiloop gives those links a TTRPG shape.
Want the campaign-native version?
Keep Obsidian when local Markdown and plugin control matter most. Choose Multiloop when players, sessions, quests, and campaign roles need to work without a custom vault system.