How to Build a Notion Workspace for Your D&D Campaign
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I tried tracking my D&D campaign in three different ways before settling on Notion. Apple Notes was too unstructured. A pile of Google Docs lost the threads. A spreadsheet was too rigid for narrative.
Notion was the system that finally worked. Four months in, the workspace has earned its keep — and the secret isn't the individual pages, it's the relations.
The structure
Six interconnected databases:
- Sessions — date, summary, XP awarded, players present.
- NPCs — role, location (linked to Locations), motivation, status, last-seen.
- Plot Threads — active / dormant / resolved with priority + linked NPCs.
- Locations — cities, dungeons, regions with notable inhabitants and hooks.
- Magic Items — rarity, attunement, owner, effect, found-in-session.
- Quests — status, quest giver, reward, deadline.
The relations are the magic
When I link an NPC to a Location, I can open the Location page and see all NPCs there. When I link an item to the session it was found in, I have a full provenance chain. When I tag a plot thread with the NPC who introduced it, I can find every plot thread for a character in one click.
This is the part you can't easily replicate in Apple Notes or a Google Doc. It's why Notion specifically is the right tool.
Views worth setting up
- Sessions → Calendar view. See your campaign's pacing at a glance.
- NPCs → Filter by Status: Alive AND Last Seen > 4 sessions ago. Reveals NPCs the players have forgotten about (great for callbacks).
- Plot Threads → Board view by Status. Active threads in one column, resolved in another. Drag to update.
- Locations → Gallery view with cover images. Players love it when you share screen with this.
The mobile angle
Notion's mobile app is what makes this actually work at the table. Quick edits during play — adding a session note without breaking immersion, tagging a new NPC the moment they appear — is what separates a workspace that gets used from one that gets abandoned after week three.
Ready-made template
We took our exact workspace structure, cleaned it up, and packaged it as a one-click Notion duplicate. Tablekeeper DM Campaign Hub ($14) gives you the whole thing, pre-furnished with sample data. Or build your own from this article — both paths work.