How to Organize Materials for a Tabletop RPG?

Running a pen-and-paper role-playing campaign requires pretty magical organizing skills, I thought when starting my first campaign. Luckily the internet was full of different tools, and using a digital platform has saved me a lot of trouble.

The exciting idea of making a story took its sweet time. I had no experience of running a long-term game. Also, creative process is something I hate to force into a form. The first story ideas started piling in writing and drawing blocks, to my phone's memo, on print papers... you know.

As our monthly games started I needed to keep everything on-the-go. I decided to move my notes to free version of Trello, minimizing paper notes along the way. Some amount of paper is necessary in tabletop games, but the personal notes I have in digital form.

Materials I have uploaded for a board to be used in a one-shot game.

Main view including links to boards for places, characters and timeline.

What I like about Trello now:
  • I can see all similar info (by headlines) in one view
  • Materials can be organized in unified and visual way
  • I can quickly edit texts on my phone when getting an idea
  • It makes leading a game faster
Why not a wiki page? Practical plus: Using materials during the game is faster when unnecessary details are hidden. Personal reason: As a very visual person I am into more appealing design instead of "a wall of text".

My latest hack for story planning is digital mindmaps. I got a tip of a free tool, draw.io.

A flow chart for combats in process.

This tool has been better than most writing programs as the page size adapts and elements can be used without clicking throught a lot of tabs. It is not visually as pleasing as one could hope, but produces a tidy visualization that helps me to keep in track of game mechanics and narrative twists.

As my side of table gets in order I aim to create materials for players too.

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