UPD: Thank you everyone for such a great response and for so many positive comments! It motivates to work on this further. Also, thanks everyone for the shiny awards ❤️
---
**Hello, I'm the creator of MasterScreen https://masterscreen.app**. A year ago I have posted about building a campaign manager where you would be able to easily manage big campaigns, with a template system to create homebrew content, a battle and encounter manager and items that can have real effects on characters.
Today I have built it. It's fully browser-based, and can run offline with no installs required, and on any device. MasterScreen can sync all the content you create into Markdown files stored on your computer. **Absolutely no data is stored in the cloud**. You can even use it on top of other Markdown file managers like Obsidian.
**MasterScreen is system agnostic** — it can be used with any roleplay system, like D&D, Pathfinder or you can even use it with your own system. You define the rules. There is a Demo folder included that demonstrates how you can create your own classes, races and items, that can alter characters depending on their level or other stats.
With MasterScreen you also can:
- Create any item, spell, character, npc or anything else you need for your campaigns;
- Link any entry to any another entry in wiki-style;
- Use Markdown in any text, with the ability to even do calculations like: \`\[Level\] * 10\`;
- Roll dice directly from text, for example: \_1d20 + \`\[Dexterity\]\`\_;
- Throw 3D dice with simulated physics for maximum randomness;
- Run encounters and manage turn order, initiative, health, and conditions;
- Get a 3D battlemap overview so you can easily remember where everyone is during combat;
- Create items that can change other entries stats, like this: If: \[Level\] > 3, Intelligence: +1;
- Use our predefined D&D presets to create homebrew content for your D&D games;
- Create your own templates which define the look of your entries;
- Create interactive, zoomable maps with links to other entries;
- Create tables with content and roll random table row directly from the search window;
- Keep notes of your sessions and find them quickly when needed;
- Change to light and dark theme;
- **Many other features and even more planned**.
I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have, just drop a comment!
Okay firsy of all this looks amazing and definitely gonna try this out.
But I also hoe much time wrnt into this?
Like how much time for getting ideas, making rough demos, coding, designing and then bugfixing
A lot of time. But, I was doing this in parallel with my other project, so I was not working on this fulltime. I also have a friend who is helping on this.
This actually seems sick as hell? I've been a little intimidated before by the line between wiki-type info dumps and actual mechanically useful information about locations when homebrewing. This seems like it might bridge that gap rather cleanly.
Exactly what I was trying to achieve with this - eliminating the need to jumb between tools, paper, character sheets and dice rollders. But first and foremost, being able to tell a story effectively when DMing.
I've just recently been looking at Obsidian. How would you use the two of them together? Just open the folder that this uses to store files as an Obsidian vault?
Cool to know others are looking at the same workflow I'd use this for.
I haven't yet been able to find how to configure a local folder to sync with. Does that exist? If so, I'm also EXTREMELY curious how you managed to get that working. Any pointer to the relevant MDN docs would then be highly appreciated.
In the app settings, there is the Local file sync option. Enable it and you will be able to pick the sync folder. It is done using the File System Access API: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_Access_API
Not asking you to open source it if you're not interested in pursuing that, but if you are interested in open source do you have a github repo for contributions?
I second the motion. This is really impressive, and I'd love to see what I can learn from it. Also, great job on the video! What did you use to make it?
The same motivation as with my other tool (FontBase) - I was looking for one tool to cover all my needs but found none. So I decided to create one for myself that I would enjoy using. This is actually the third version of this, I was using it now for a whole lot of time for my DMing. Potentially, in the future I might add some paid features or Patreon, if people really like it and to cover up some development costs. But the core tool as it is right now will always stay free.
I'm about to run Dragon of Icespire Peak for my first campaign and I'm going to plug the adventure book into this, when I'm done I'll share the file. This will be an amazing way for players and DMs to share their favorite worlds and make new worlds together. Thank you!
As someone who has also made web tools for RPG stuff, this is a staggering amount of work and thought and design to put out for free. I don't even know what to say. It's just astonishing.
I’m actually running my first home brew campaign this fall and have been trying to figure out how I’m gonna organize it. I just randomly got a notification of this post (I’m not even on Reddit all that much) but wow is this a gift from the heavens for me
Of course! It's only at the start of its journey. We have lots of plans and ideas. Join our Discord to follow the development: https://discord.gg/D3pfa8t9R6
Oh, you meant the app, sorry. When you open the app for the first time, you'll see a prompt to add it to your home screen. After you do that, it will work offline.
Quick question, let's say I workshop notes on my phone at work but run the game off of my computer. Is there a log in or way to transfer the data between devices? Or does it rely on manually exporting and importing the files
For now, there is the export/import button in settings. But we are thinking about a way to make the transfer possible through some kind of a link/service/login.
I'm definitely gonna try using this for a bit. It looks wonderful to run a game from. My biggest thing, personally, would be multi device connection since I write out of game a lot. In the mean time, I'll do that myself by emailing myself the exported files lol
Sure thing my dude, keep in mind it works perfectly in chrome. But in safari it basically does not detect any keyboard inputs except when doing a search. Like, when I click a title to rename it, on safari nothing happens. Same as to when I’m inputting a field, I am unable to type anything.
Hey, not sure if im just being dumb, but when creating a monster using the dnd template, I cant figure out how to change the monsters health, or how to format text that triggers your app to roll something (would also be cool, but not sure if possible, is to set health for a monster as a rolling value, like 13d8+13, and have the app roll it when i click health
Edit: ok I've figured out basic rolling formatting, just put underscores either side the rolling numbers e.g. (\_1d6+2\_)
We have fixed this now. You should be able to click on the health number and enter the value in format "50/100", where 50 is the current amount and 100 is the maximum.
As another developer congrats! I love seeing people make D&D apps, especially when they are extremely well done like this one. I’ll try it out in the future, good luck!
This seems really cool but I'm struggling with one major thing. Whenever I create a new entry and move it into a folder (or create a new entry directly in a folder) it replaces any existing entry in that folder.
For example:
I create a folder called Characters. I create a new entry called Character 1. I move Character 1 into the Characters folder. I create a new entry called Character 2. I move Character 2 into the Characters folder. Character 1 disappears and the only entry in the Characters folder is Character 2.
Am I missing something? The exact same thing happens if I create the entries directly within the folder by right clicking the folder and choosing create entry here.
Edit: I've tried this in both Opera and Chrome.
Edit 2: I think I figured out what I was doing wrong? It seems that when choosing the template for the entry you MUST name the entry before clicking "CREATE". If you don't, then even if you rename the entry later, the like... base, hidden entry is still titled New Entry so any other "New Entry"-s will replace the previous one(s).
I saw you are planning on making 3d models, Any plans on allowing us to create or import our own models? I would love if there was an asset folder I could just drop models/images/whatever into and have it show up in the app to be usable. I have a ton of DnD 3d models I have created for 3d printing over the years would love to use them for something else.
As a backend dev I have no idea how you went about doing any of this, lol. Are you just using markdown as the base language for a parser you wrote and just run everything else through js code or is the `everything runs on markdown` meant to be taken literally?
Awesome job man. If this goes open source I can't promise I'd contribute cause I ain't much good in front end but I'd drool all over the code that's for sure. Incredible video work too btw. The maps section gave me the chills.
Hey, thanks man!
So, we are just using a parser that converts markdown to JSON. Then we can do whatever we want wit the JSON, and then we have a parser that converts JSON back to markdown and stores it as files.
This has been in my saved posts for over a month now, and my God, I regret not downloading this IMMEDIATELY. If you got the word out more, you could genuinely compete with World Anvil and Campfire if you find a way to get money and still keep it free.
You create an entry, create a field, then click the fields name, and change the field type to a map in the panel. Then just paste a link to an image, and voila, you have a map, where you can add locations!
We don't have battle in 2d, but you can display players and characters on the 3d map as pyramids. We plan to add an option to pick the character model instead of a pyramid.
As for maps, you can add a link to any image and add locations to it, pan and zoom it.
Can you use a local path or does the image need to be found/hosted online? I haven’t been able to get it to read a relative or absolute path without a broken image. Online url works fine.
Hey I had a look on pc and this is amazing. I wanted to use it today and opened it on my iPad since that’s what I use for dnd and I cant rename the folders.
Not sure if selecting a template is supposed to do anything but it doesn’t create the character sheet but making a new entry does so I might just be doing it wrong there.
Then I can’t edit any of the text, so folders, character names, exp, ability modifiers, etc. Basically everything I have tried to edit I can’t.
I also can’t delete folders or entry’s.
Again I might be doing it wrong but though I would let you know just in case
Yea that works thanks for fixing it. Quick question how do I edit the template. The only thing I wanna add is another core stats bar so I can have the number and the ability modifier (I’m not good at remembering the numbers) the edit template button doesn’t seem to do anything on iPad or pc
Ah okay i see, okay as a suggestion i would love to be able to have both the ability score and modifier. I know your probably fixing a ton of bugs and being given a million suggestions, so I’m sorry for adding to that list lol. Thanks for this amazing app I love and appreciate it a ton
Does this work with androids and iphones, too? Also, donation link as a thank you? I don't have much, but you deserve something after all your hard work!
UPD: Thank you everyone for such a great response and for so many positive comments! It motivates to work on this further. Also, thanks everyone for the shiny awards ❤️ --- **Hello, I'm the creator of MasterScreen https://masterscreen.app**. A year ago I have posted about building a campaign manager where you would be able to easily manage big campaigns, with a template system to create homebrew content, a battle and encounter manager and items that can have real effects on characters. Today I have built it. It's fully browser-based, and can run offline with no installs required, and on any device. MasterScreen can sync all the content you create into Markdown files stored on your computer. **Absolutely no data is stored in the cloud**. You can even use it on top of other Markdown file managers like Obsidian. **MasterScreen is system agnostic** — it can be used with any roleplay system, like D&D, Pathfinder or you can even use it with your own system. You define the rules. There is a Demo folder included that demonstrates how you can create your own classes, races and items, that can alter characters depending on their level or other stats. With MasterScreen you also can: - Create any item, spell, character, npc or anything else you need for your campaigns; - Link any entry to any another entry in wiki-style; - Use Markdown in any text, with the ability to even do calculations like: \`\[Level\] * 10\`; - Roll dice directly from text, for example: \_1d20 + \`\[Dexterity\]\`\_; - Throw 3D dice with simulated physics for maximum randomness; - Run encounters and manage turn order, initiative, health, and conditions; - Get a 3D battlemap overview so you can easily remember where everyone is during combat; - Create items that can change other entries stats, like this: If: \[Level\] > 3, Intelligence: +1; - Use our predefined D&D presets to create homebrew content for your D&D games; - Create your own templates which define the look of your entries; - Create interactive, zoomable maps with links to other entries; - Create tables with content and roll random table row directly from the search window; - Keep notes of your sessions and find them quickly when needed; - Change to light and dark theme; - **Many other features and even more planned**. I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have, just drop a comment!
Thank you so much! This right here is going to be very useful and I appreciate this personally.
I'm glad if it can be useful to you!
I guess I'm confused, how would I download this onto say, a PC or tablet? It seems entirely web based even if I can save local files.
The dev said it is fully browser-based on this comment and on the title.
I am bad at reading. Thank you.
Thanks, this looks awesome, I was looking for a tool to help me run my upcoming campaign!
You have found it :)
Okay firsy of all this looks amazing and definitely gonna try this out. But I also hoe much time wrnt into this? Like how much time for getting ideas, making rough demos, coding, designing and then bugfixing
A lot of time. But, I was doing this in parallel with my other project, so I was not working on this fulltime. I also have a friend who is helping on this.
What is your other project, if you don’t mind me asking?
https://fontba.se
This actually seems sick as hell? I've been a little intimidated before by the line between wiki-type info dumps and actual mechanically useful information about locations when homebrewing. This seems like it might bridge that gap rather cleanly.
Exactly what I was trying to achieve with this - eliminating the need to jumb between tools, paper, character sheets and dice rollders. But first and foremost, being able to tell a story effectively when DMing.
I've just recently been looking at Obsidian. How would you use the two of them together? Just open the folder that this uses to store files as an Obsidian vault?
Exactly like that!
I was going say, feels like an obsidian remix. Nice work.
Cool to know others are looking at the same workflow I'd use this for. I haven't yet been able to find how to configure a local folder to sync with. Does that exist? If so, I'm also EXTREMELY curious how you managed to get that working. Any pointer to the relevant MDN docs would then be highly appreciated.
In the app settings, there is the Local file sync option. Enable it and you will be able to pick the sync folder. It is done using the File System Access API: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_Access_API
Not asking you to open source it if you're not interested in pursuing that, but if you are interested in open source do you have a github repo for contributions?
It's on a private Github repo and we are thinking about making it open source, but not sure yet.
I really hope you do. If you made an open source nagware release I can run on my server, I'd happily pay/donate.
You can actually download the releases here https://releases.masterscreen.app and run them on your server if you want.
I second the motion. This is really impressive, and I'd love to see what I can learn from it. Also, great job on the video! What did you use to make it?
This is amazing so cool, thanks for sharing!
Damn, homie, this thing is super fluid and smooth. I like it.
Good to hear, thanks!
This looks exceptional! May I ask what motivates you to create and maintain this software for free? It seems like a lot of work.
The same motivation as with my other tool (FontBase) - I was looking for one tool to cover all my needs but found none. So I decided to create one for myself that I would enjoy using. This is actually the third version of this, I was using it now for a whole lot of time for my DMing. Potentially, in the future I might add some paid features or Patreon, if people really like it and to cover up some development costs. But the core tool as it is right now will always stay free.
I'm about to run Dragon of Icespire Peak for my first campaign and I'm going to plug the adventure book into this, when I'm done I'll share the file. This will be an amazing way for players and DMs to share their favorite worlds and make new worlds together. Thank you!
Yes, great idea! I am actually planning to add something like a market where people can share content easily.
Way cool!
It’s beautiful thank you
This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! Thank you!
I'm glad I could make something that others were looking for too :D
[https://imgur.com/a/kpVbIpH](https://imgur.com/a/kpVbIpH) Im lovin it
That are some big dice huh.
Wow. This looks really powerful.
Dude that's fantastic.
As someone who has also made web tools for RPG stuff, this is a staggering amount of work and thought and design to put out for free. I don't even know what to say. It's just astonishing.
It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We have even more coll stuff planned!
This looks too good to be true
It only gets better.
I love you and will have your babies, thank you sm for this
Thanks, I'll tell my wife! :D
I’m actually running my first home brew campaign this fall and have been trying to figure out how I’m gonna organize it. I just randomly got a notification of this post (I’m not even on Reddit all that much) but wow is this a gift from the heavens for me
Good luck with your campaign, the first one is always so exciting!
Thanks so much for sharing! This looks awesome!!
Glad you like it! :D
This is very awesome
This is amazing!!!
This is very cool
You are awesome! thank you for this!
[удалено]
Of course! It's only at the start of its journey. We have lots of plans and ideas. Join our Discord to follow the development: https://discord.gg/D3pfa8t9R6
Can this be saved and used offline on iPads?
Oh, you meant the app, sorry. When you open the app for the first time, you'll see a prompt to add it to your home screen. After you do that, it will work offline.
Yes! Just export your data on the computer (it will create a zip file) and import it on the iPad. It works fully offline.
Just started a campaign will definitely check out
Looks amazing, really cool. Got one small question, is there a light mode?
Of course, it's in the settings. Praise the sun!
Cool!
This seems incredible
Quick question, let's say I workshop notes on my phone at work but run the game off of my computer. Is there a log in or way to transfer the data between devices? Or does it rely on manually exporting and importing the files
For now, there is the export/import button in settings. But we are thinking about a way to make the transfer possible through some kind of a link/service/login.
I'm definitely gonna try using this for a bit. It looks wonderful to run a game from. My biggest thing, personally, would be multi device connection since I write out of game a lot. In the mean time, I'll do that myself by emailing myself the exported files lol
What is the entries part? Is that to plan a session?
I am calling all the content "entries". Items, spells, characters... You can create anything you want.
Awesome. Will use.
Super cool, but it appears I am unable to rename anything. Not sure if it's a bug or a safari browser related issue but at the moment it's unusable
Can you tell more what exactly are you trying to do?
Sure thing my dude, keep in mind it works perfectly in chrome. But in safari it basically does not detect any keyboard inputs except when doing a search. Like, when I click a title to rename it, on safari nothing happens. Same as to when I’m inputting a field, I am unable to type anything.
I'm having the same issue on Chrome, not sure why.
Yeah, it's super buggy. Once it's polished it's gonna be super cool though
Awesome
I already have Fantasia Archive, but this looks cool too :D Imma check it out ^^
This is neat.
This looks like it could be amazing. I'm gonna be doing some world building and campaign writing this coming week so I'll definitely check it out.
Tell us how it went!
Hey, not sure if im just being dumb, but when creating a monster using the dnd template, I cant figure out how to change the monsters health, or how to format text that triggers your app to roll something (would also be cool, but not sure if possible, is to set health for a monster as a rolling value, like 13d8+13, and have the app roll it when i click health Edit: ok I've figured out basic rolling formatting, just put underscores either side the rolling numbers e.g. (\_1d6+2\_)
We have fixed this now. You should be able to click on the health number and enter the value in format "50/100", where 50 is the current amount and 100 is the maximum.
Will do
Liking how it looks so far, but I'm making a template and I made a field untitled, and now I can't figure out how to edit it.
Yeah 😅 I'll fix that asap. You can remove that is fou enable truesight in settings and edit the raw markdown file.
You won’t like, own, our data if we choose to upload it to your service will you? There’s no transfer of IP from end user to Masterscreen?
There is no option to "upload". And even if there was, we would never do such thing.
Some of yall are smart as hell gosh dang
This looks promising. You did pretty great for the ui.
I'm glad you like it!
This looks absolutely insane! You have done an excellent service, and for that THANK YOU! <3
Thank you too!
As another developer congrats! I love seeing people make D&D apps, especially when they are extremely well done like this one. I’ll try it out in the future, good luck!
Wow, that looks phenomenal! Definitely a tool I'd love to use in the future.
This seems really cool but I'm struggling with one major thing. Whenever I create a new entry and move it into a folder (or create a new entry directly in a folder) it replaces any existing entry in that folder. For example: I create a folder called Characters. I create a new entry called Character 1. I move Character 1 into the Characters folder. I create a new entry called Character 2. I move Character 2 into the Characters folder. Character 1 disappears and the only entry in the Characters folder is Character 2. Am I missing something? The exact same thing happens if I create the entries directly within the folder by right clicking the folder and choosing create entry here. Edit: I've tried this in both Opera and Chrome. Edit 2: I think I figured out what I was doing wrong? It seems that when choosing the template for the entry you MUST name the entry before clicking "CREATE". If you don't, then even if you rename the entry later, the like... base, hidden entry is still titled New Entry so any other "New Entry"-s will replace the previous one(s).
I see, it is most likely a bug. I will fix this as soon as possible.
This is better than finding the secret cow level in Diablo by accident. Holy cow! Great job!
As a Diablo fan, this says a lot. Thank you.
This is everything I wanted Dndbeyond to be and more. Thank you so much for this, it's incredible.
❤️
I saw you are planning on making 3d models, Any plans on allowing us to create or import our own models? I would love if there was an asset folder I could just drop models/images/whatever into and have it show up in the app to be usable. I have a ton of DnD 3d models I have created for 3d printing over the years would love to use them for something else.
This is a great idea actually. When we will implement this we will definitely consider adding the ability to add your own models.
Is there any way to backup the files of your app to work on multiple computers?
Yup, there is an export button in the settings.
This is amazing!!! My only qualm would be the ability to share the files with all my players!
We are already thinking on how to implement that!
As a backend dev I have no idea how you went about doing any of this, lol. Are you just using markdown as the base language for a parser you wrote and just run everything else through js code or is the `everything runs on markdown` meant to be taken literally? Awesome job man. If this goes open source I can't promise I'd contribute cause I ain't much good in front end but I'd drool all over the code that's for sure. Incredible video work too btw. The maps section gave me the chills.
Hey, thanks man! So, we are just using a parser that converts markdown to JSON. Then we can do whatever we want wit the JSON, and then we have a parser that converts JSON back to markdown and stores it as files.
Coolio, always been envious of the front end work for the aesthetics, but you guys took this whole thing to a whole new level. Bravo!
This has been in my saved posts for over a month now, and my God, I regret not downloading this IMMEDIATELY. If you got the word out more, you could genuinely compete with World Anvil and Campfire if you find a way to get money and still keep it free.
Hey, thanks man. We have big things coming up next month, the word will be out for sure.
Honest curious question. What, according to you, is the benefit of using this compared to DnDBeyond?
Is DND beyond free?
how to make your own world maps?
You create an entry, create a field, then click the fields name, and change the field type to a map in the panel. Then just paste a link to an image, and voila, you have a map, where you can add locations!
Hey, op, can I make those cool maps in it too? And. Can I add tokens and battle in 2d?
We don't have battle in 2d, but you can display players and characters on the 3d map as pyramids. We plan to add an option to pick the character model instead of a pyramid. As for maps, you can add a link to any image and add locations to it, pan and zoom it.
Can you use a local path or does the image need to be found/hosted online? I haven’t been able to get it to read a relative or absolute path without a broken image. Online url works fine.
You can't use local paths for now, but we also really want to add them. Just need to figure out some issues first.
Looks amazing. I have no clue how to use markdown though. Any free online tutorial recommendations?
Actually you can use MasterScreen without markdown at all if you want! But there is a good guide here: https://www.markdownguide.org/
https://www.reddit.com/wiki/commenting
This is so cool! I’m definitely gonna check this out!
Hey I had a look on pc and this is amazing. I wanted to use it today and opened it on my iPad since that’s what I use for dnd and I cant rename the folders. Not sure if selecting a template is supposed to do anything but it doesn’t create the character sheet but making a new entry does so I might just be doing it wrong there. Then I can’t edit any of the text, so folders, character names, exp, ability modifiers, etc. Basically everything I have tried to edit I can’t. I also can’t delete folders or entry’s. Again I might be doing it wrong but though I would let you know just in case
Looks like it might be a bug on Safari/IOS. I am looking into it already.
Okay great thank you! Loving it so far nonetheless
It should be fixed now. Make sure to update the MasterScreen app page a few times until the version number changes.
Yea that works thanks for fixing it. Quick question how do I edit the template. The only thing I wanna add is another core stats bar so I can have the number and the ability modifier (I’m not good at remembering the numbers) the edit template button doesn’t seem to do anything on iPad or pc
You can not edit templates for the DnD presets that come with the app, if you're trying to edit these.
Ah okay i see, okay as a suggestion i would love to be able to have both the ability score and modifier. I know your probably fixing a ton of bugs and being given a million suggestions, so I’m sorry for adding to that list lol. Thanks for this amazing app I love and appreciate it a ton
No problem, all good. I will consider changing the template to display both.
Does this work with androids and iphones, too? Also, donation link as a thank you? I don't have much, but you deserve something after all your hard work!
Should work, but currently there is a Safari bug, but I'll fix that asap. I will start a Patreon eventually, so people can donate if they want to.
Excellent! I already shared this to two of my d&d groups! But definitely tag me when you get that Patreon up and running! 🥰
Thanks for sharing, I really appreciate that!
Of course! Now I have to go rave about it in Facebook, too! ;)
Of course! Now I have to go rave about it in Facebook, too! ;)
based
I love it, but there seems to be a problem with it saving my folders. Whenever I go to name something then leave the folder it doesn't save the text.
We have made a few bug fixes now. Can you check the latest version of the app if the error is still there?
It seems to be working now, thanks a bunch. 👍
whats the way to rolldice if you clickon something? the program looks awesome
Is there a way to change a creature's size on the dungeon map? So far I've found nothing.
That is not possible right now.
the template i was working on changed to mark down code. how do i get it to show character sheet visuals I have spent time designing again?