TTRPG Starter Vault

This vault is a clean Obsidian starting point for organizing TTRPG content. It is designed to stay mostly system-agnostic while still giving you a practical structure for notes, templates, bases, and attachments.

Table of Contents

• Get Started
• Vault Structure
• Opinionated Decisions
• Included Plugins
• Default Obsidian Setup
• Templater Behavior
• Resources

Get Started

Start by installing Obsidian from the official download page: Obsidian Download.

Once Obsidian is installed, open this vault and use Cmd+N to create a new note. Templater will ask which template you want to use, then generate the note with the matching frontmatter and move it into the correct folder under notes.

After the note is created, fill in the frontmatter metadata at the top of the file. This is where you define the main properties of the note, including the Base value that connects it to the correct base view.

To confirm everything worked as expected:

• use Cmd+O to open Omnisearch and find the note by name
• verify that the file was created in the correct folder inside notes
• open the matching base and confirm that the note appears there as expected

This gives you a quick way to validate both parts of the setup: the file organization in the vault, and the note visibility inside the corresponding base.

Vault Structure

This vault is organized to stay flexible and mostly system-agnostic, while still giving you a strong default structure for TTRPG content.

admin

Used for vault-specific guidelines and reference material. This is where you can keep documents that explain how the vault should be structured, named, and maintained.

archives

Used for files you are no longer actively using, but are not ready to delete. You can exclude this folder from searches if you do not want archived content to appear in your normal results.

attachments

Used for non-Markdown files, most often images. You can organize attachments into subfolders if you want, but the default idea is simple: drop them here so the rest of the vault stays clean.

bases

Used to group notes into focused views based on a shared relation. In practice, notes can include a frontmatter property named base, and its value should match the name of the base where that note belongs.

This vault starts with a few broad base categories that are common across many TTRPG systems:

• classes
• magic items
• modules
• monsters
• spells

These categories are intentionally generic. The goal is to keep the vault useful across different games instead of locking it into one highly specialized ruleset. If your own system needs more categories, this is where you can expand it.

notes

Used for your actual Markdown notes. The folder already includes a starting structure:

• campaign
• classes
• lore
• magic items
• modules
• monsters
• rules
• spells

Some of these names also appear in bases, and that is intentional. If a note clearly belongs to one of these categories, it is usually best to store it in the matching folder to keep the vault easier to browse and search.

templates

Used for note templates in Obsidian, so you do not have to start every note from scratch. Combined with the Templater plugin, templates let you create a new note from a predefined structure, including frontmatter and other useful scaffolding. This makes note creation faster and helps keep your notes consistent.

This structure is meant to be a clean starting point. From there, you can experiment and adapt the vault to your own workflow and the needs of your game.

Opinionated Decisions

This starter vault includes a few intentional conventions.

Folder and file names are meant to stay simple and consistent. The default structure uses lowercase names, and the idea is to avoid unnecessary formatting differences when organizing the vault. The goal is not to force one perfect system, but to make the vault easier to scan, search, and maintain over time.

The vault also ships with a small set of plugins and settings that aim to improve day-to-day use without making the setup feel too heavy. Everything can be changed later, but these defaults provide a clean starting point.

Included Plugins

Community plugins

• Templater is used to create new notes from templates. It speeds up note creation and helps keep frontmatter and note structure consistent.
• Recent Files adds a simple view of the files you opened most recently, which makes it easier to jump back into what you were working on.
• Omnisearch replaces the default Cmd+O quick switcher behavior with a more powerful search experience. It lets you search by file name and also move into in-file search from the same interface.
• Minimal Theme Settings is included to customize the Minimal theme.
• Settings Search is also installed to make navigating Obsidian settings easier.

Core plugins enabled by default

This vault currently ships with these core plugins enabled:

• Canvas
• Command palette
• File recovery
• Page preview
• Quick switcher
• Web viewer
• Bases

The built-in Templates core plugin is left disabled because this vault relies on Templater instead.

Default Obsidian Setup

The vault is configured with the Minimal theme and uses the system appearance mode. The bundled Minimal settings use the macOS light and dark color schemes.

A few practical defaults are already in place:

• new notes are created in notes
• new attachments are stored in attachments
• new tabs open with focus
• the default new-tab view is Reading view
• the default editing mode is Source mode

The custom hotkeys also remap Cmd+O to Omnisearch, and Cmd+N is set to create a new note from a template with Templater.

At the time this starter vault was published, everything included here was up to date. It is still a good idea to check for plugin and app updates when you start using the vault.

If you use Obsidian regularly and want to support the team, consider the Catalyst license. Obsidian is already excellent as a free app, but supporting its development is worthwhile if it fits your budget.

Templater Behavior

Each template contains a small Templater code block that automatically moves the new note into the correct folder inside notes. For example, a note created from the spells template is moved to notes/spells, and a note created from the monsters template is moved to notes/monsters.

This logic is only there to keep note creation clean and predictable. You may still see the Templater code when opening the template file itself, but that code should not remain in the final note after the template is used correctly.

Resources

If you want to go further with Obsidian, these resources are a good place to start:

• Steph Ango is one of the creators of Obsidian and shares useful writing and product thinking around the app.
• Obsidian Discord is the official community server and a good place to ask questions.
• Obsidian Forum is the official forum and has a large amount of guidance, plugin discussion, and troubleshooting information.
• r/ObsidianMD is an unofficial subreddit with a lot of examples, workflows, and community advice.

There is also a huge amount of useful Obsidian content on YouTube if you want to explore different workflows and vault setups.