Dungeons and Dragons

Obsidian is great; all the files are readable anywhere (easy to migrate out if needed) in a clear, readable directory structure, copying the structure you see in Obsidian itself. For something like $8/m, you can have their official sync tooling and have it on any devices at the same time, but there are also free options for synchronisation, which require a little work. You can probably find tools that would migrate your content from Anvil to Obsidian, but also the other way around. There are generally plugins for almost everything; however, there are too many plugins you can use; it's easy to get lost there. Also, as with many other plugin marketplaces, there is no security vetting on the plugins, so you need to be careful.

I use Obsidian notes, it's very similar to one note, but it saves everything locally as .txt files. You can pay some amount and have it sych to the cloud. Like onenote you can create folders and subfolders, you can open multiple tabs and have documents side by side, stacked or both. I even added a folder with all my dnd book pdfs and can open them in Obsidian right next to the notes, and word search the books. Super handy. You can also put links in documents to other documents. So if I reference an NPC in a lore doc I can link the name to the NPCs document. Also, when I had to transfer all the info to my new laptop, all I had to do was copy the main folder over and have Obsidian use that as the main folder. Bam, everything is exactly the same. So theoretically you could just, put that folder on a thumb drive or email it to your players and they would have the exact same set up. If you need to remove some info they shouldn't have you can just remove the text files or folders from their copy.

I use Obsidian.md for notes taking and I tend to use the tables in Worlds/Stars/Cities without numbers. I’m DMing Eclipse Phase right now and everything come from my head and help from their discord, my players are using a Google Word for theirs notes.

Another vote for obsidian notes. I like that it is cross platform (I usually use it on my phone) and the files are saved in a format that can still be opened if something happens to the obsidian notes software.

ngl, I just have a whole bunch of nested folders with names like "Places", "Plot Hooks", "What the Villain Knows", and "Maps and Tokens". I use LibreOffice Writer for everything (or a barebones text editor for when I'm taking verbatim notes when my players are talking).

If I could get my players to turn in their freaking sheets after each level up, that'd be nice.

So I'm a bit weird.

for tracking everything, I use VSCodium. Everything is in text files; I also record audio of the sessions and run that through a voice to text to get transcripts of each session locations are also doodled onto maps that marks out time between major locations. (so going from SwampyAssWater to Shitloads 'o Sand takes 14 days, which, if I'm putting random encounters has 14 chances for something to happen. or "random" encounters, heh. Mostly it's just a way of marking time as a consequence if something has a deadline.)

When I'm running a session, I'm mostly working out of the session master file which links to the location notes, important character notes, etc; and I have access to all their character and NPC files, etc.

I try to keep everything flexible, because my party loves to throw wrenches in. (I also love to give them wrenches to lead them a certain way anyhow and then TPK them for it. Just kidding. i would never do that.) (although the cleric is now being chased by the very horny daughter of Talos. He tried to murder her because they thought she was the BBEG hiding in plain sight; by using an unmovable rod and the tide to drown her... and it turns out she's into that....)(okay, so maybe they're gonna get TPK'd if talos catches up to them. Or maybe there's gonna be a wedding. we'll see how the dice roll.)

I used obsidian for a while. Now I use a big Google doc. 🤷‍♂️

I feel like tools are kind of overrated. I just need something I can write some ideas down and then modify them easily.

So many votes for Obsidian. I do have it installed but I've been hesitant to start using it because it seems to throw a fit when I try to store my vault on my NAS. I'll have to give it another whirl as I definitely want a self hosted option, even if it's for fallback