DnD and Org Roam: Becoming a Better DM with Emacs

James R. Stoup - https://github.com/james-stoup, jrstoup@gmail.com

The following image shows where the talk is in the schedule for Sun 2026-12-13. Solid lines show talks with Q&A via BigBlueButton. Dashed lines show talks with Q&A via IRC or Etherpad.

Format: 20-min talk ; Q&A: ask questions via Etherpad/IRC; we'll e-mail the speaker and post answers on this wiki page after the conference
Etherpad: https://pad.emacsconf.org/2026-dnd
Discuss on IRC: #emacsconf
Status: Ready to stream

Description

Being a Dungeon Master can be quite challenging. You are expected to build a world, populate it with NPCs, and craft storylines, all the while keeping track of various plot threads, magic items, and player quests. It can quickly become overwhelming. Most DMs use a combination of paper handouts, notebooks, websites, and note taking software to keep track of everything. But there is a better way.

Using Org Mode and Org Roam, we can create a system for tracking the game in real time. Giving the DM (or player) the tools needed to record and link relevant notes, without slowing things down. Additionally, we are going to show off Org Roam's backlink visualization system for quickly discovering links in your data.

There are lots of tutorials on Org Roam that focus on the Zettelkasten method. And while that is useful, most users aren't writing research papers. This is a tutorial for the rest of us, a fun walk-through that shows off the power of Org Roam via a realistic use case.

About the speaker:

My name is James Stoup and I have been writing software for 20 years. I have really fallen in love with Emacs & Org Mode these past few years, so in my spare time I enjoy writing tutorials to help others get into it as well.

Questions or comments? Please e-mail jrstoup@gmail.com