The first time a tie creates pressure, obligation, trust, fear, or leverage.
A practical D&D relationship-mapping guide
See the web. Then define what each line means.
A good map marks the type, direction, privacy, and status of each tie. It should remain quicker to update than a second database.
Open full sizeHow current Canvas lines read
Six categories. Specific labels. Clear state.
Canvas colours and marks each relationship by its record category. The line label names the specific tie—Ally, Rival, Mentor, Betrayer, or a custom label—while arrowheads, dots, and opacity show direction, secrecy, and whether it has ended.
Secret relationships become dotted and carry a lock for the DM.
Ended ties fade but remain available as history.
Direction points from source to target when the tie is not mutual.
Six relationship categories
FamilyKin, guardians, blood ties.
ProfessionalWork, service, debts, authority.
RomanticPartners, exes, attraction.
ConflictEnemies, suspicion, betrayal.
SocialFriendship, rivalry, influence.
OtherA custom tie outside the five common groups.
Not every Canvas line is a relationship. Faction memberships and note connectors come from their own records and controls.
The record behind the line
Canvas shows the pattern. The record holds the truth.
A line becomes useful when you can answer four questions: what is the relationship, which way does it run, what does each person believe, and who is allowed to know? The map stays readable while the underlying record keeps those answers precise.
3 shown
Shown with example campaign data in the Multiloop relationship manager. The underlying record remains useful even when a card moves on the board.
Campaign Canvas uses the campaign records
Campaign Canvas groups the cast and draws the ties between them.
Character cards still open their campaign records. Relationship lines come from Relationship records; membership lines and note connectors have their own sources. Movement groups arrange cards on this board only—they do not become factions or change shared campaign structure.
Open full sizeKeep the map maintainable
Add a line only when it does story work.
Only when play changes its type, perspective, state, notes, or visibility.
When the tie no longer creates a choice and keeping it active adds noise.
From line to campaign record
Map campaign relationships in Multiloop.
Relationship records keep typed direction, both perspectives, visibility, status, and character links; Campaign Canvas shows those connections spatially.
A free Multiloop account and campaign are required. The example Canvas is not imported or drawn automatically.
For a small cast, paper works
Names and arrows on paper work for a small cast.
Index cards and drawn arrows can handle a small cast. Use the relationship manager once you need both perspectives, typed direction, filtering, privacy, status, and links back to campaign characters.
Before you add another line
Relationship map questions, answered plainly
What belongs on a D&D relationship map?
Put people or factions at the ends, then label the relationship between them. Add separate perspectives when the two sides do not describe the bond the same way.
Should every NPC be on the map?
No. Add a relationship when it changes a choice, explains a conflict, or helps you perform a recurring character. Unconnected names belong in a roster, not on the graph.
How do I keep secret relationships hidden?
Keep the relationship off the player view with its whole-record visibility. A Secret status also defaults the edge to DM-only when no explicit visibility overrides it; do not rely on a vague label to conceal a reveal.
For a web that changes with play
Keep the record behind every line.
Build the simple map first. Multiloop connects relationship records, visibility, character links, and Campaign Canvas when the web needs memory.