Emacs as my DnD environment

I've recently started playing more DnD and convinced a co-worker to join me in both that and emacs. As a result of this I thought it would be fun to try to create a robust and interactive DnD environment inside of emacs. I have been working on my environment for a about three weeks now and have come up with a pretty good org file character sheet layout that uses table formulas to auto calculate everything based of the abilities that are defined. I have also been creating function to toggle my session target (a campaign or a character) to switch where my org-agenda and org-captures point so that I can leverage the searching and quick note taking that those provide. In addition to that I have been converting the SRD docs that I can find into ORG files that I can also search via org-agenda. Leveraging tags and properties to create queryable resources. ​ I plan on creating a demo of this environment and sharing it, but that will require a decent amount of work. So, I was wondering what the interest would be in this crossover tool, or if people have solutions that they have developed for this. ​ EDIT 1: Screen Capture of Character Creation ​ [Sorry, I noticed i missed the mini-buffer on the recording. The only relevant part was the dice roll at the end though for it. I also forgot to show the proficiency bonus column adds the PB as well. ](https://i.redd.it/kr8qkdrd8mg81.gif) ​ EDIT 2: Searching the org file SRDs [Sorry for the little windows. The tool I'm using for recording doesn't give me many pixels :|](https://i.redd.it/k7jap494dmg81.gif) ​ Edit 3: [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/sp9bni/emacs_as_my_dnd_enviornment_and_so_can_you/) is a link to the post about the new dnd-mode git repository

Yes please! I DM an online campaign via zoom. I use org to order PCs and enemies for initiative rolls and keep track of their AC to see whether they hit or not. It's basically org + decide modem. If you have something better I'd like to see it.

Well, I did not know decide mode was a thing. That would have saved me a function lol. I may have to incorporate that instead of my simple rtd function. Though I suppose it was still a good learning experience. I haven't run a campaign through it yet, but I do plan to. I have a setup that I think will be really nice though. It seems like there is enough interest that a demo wouldn't be all for nought. So, I'll try to get see screen captures and descriptions written up.

I actually have a less polished version of something like that, so here's a few packages I use that you might find helpful. Some are my own. some I've grabbed from all over the internet: \- [https://gitlab.com/Rohan-Goyal/org-lookup-dnd](https://gitlab.com/Rohan-Goyal/org-lookup-dnd) My fork of somebody else's project with a few additional features. Lets you insert links to items from PDFs (like PHB, MM, etc.) based on parsing their TOC. \- [https://github.com/Rohan-Goyal/emacs-dnd5e-api](https://github.com/Rohan-Goyal/emacs-dnd5e-api) My slightly hacky completing-read interface to the Dnd 5e SRD API. Might save you from converting the SRD into Org, although that does also sound useful. \- [https://github.com/spwhitton/org-d20](https://github.com/spwhitton/org-d20) Roll dice. \- [https://ogl-srd5.com](https://ogl-srd5.com) SRD as a giant markdown file. I used MDSaw to split this file up, and then you can basically search the SRD using something like grep/ripgrep. Or you can use pandoc to convert it to org, and then use org-agenda on that.

I'm extremely interested. I've been wanting to do this too.

[well, icymi, "great minds" and all that](https://www.reddit.com/r/orgmode/comments/sncg2z/org_for_rpgs/)

I use [org-mode heavily to organize GMing, as I describe here](https://www.reddit.com/r/orgmode/comments/sncg2z/comment/hw2m6hf/). But I also rely heavily on Foundry VTT, a wonderful purpose-built tool for sharing a space with others for this purpose. With all due respect: I don't know the point in creating a character sheet in org that the other people at the table can't use. :) (I'm presuming it's not a table of emacs geeks ;) As I talk about on the other comment, API integration for the "bits that should be shared" is probably the way to go … … Web VTT canvas in an emacs buffer, some day? :) Looking forward to the demo. You should do it.

The character sheet portion is for when I am a player. It is how I am keeping track of all the things I have. That part of it isn't really meant to be shared with other players. I am sharing it with the other emacs geek at the table lol. But I don't expect any non-emacs user to be too excited about it.

Awesome. Thanks for the links. I have looked at a few of these already and the markdown SRD is something that I really navigated toward. I actually converted the markdown files to org files and am working on adding in more meta data to allow me to run more refined queries against that data. I considered an API as well, but with org SRD I haven't really found the need to venture that direction yet. I also play in-person as well as online, and not having to worry about an internet connection has been nice. I do think that some integration with an API will help to get a more polished feel. I just haven't done any of that work yet.

This is the hard core nerd stuff that keeps me coming back here.

:D glad I could help

This is so awesome! I have recently started using emacs exclusively as a challenge and love DnD. Going to have to try and do this as well for a fun learning opportunity!

I plan on sharing the files for the setup as well once I can separate their dependence on my folder structures and such

This is rad! Thanks for sharing. Eager to see updates!

This is very cool, thanks for sharing, and I'm interested especially to see the character sheet in org mode, which is something I've wanted for a while but haven't had time to dive into. I've also explored similar things, but from a GM side. i have a system in which I can spec out monsters in org tables and calculate average damage per round for different ACs. It's pretty useful for fine-tuning encounters I plan to run. If anyone is interested I can try to get it into some kind of shape for others to play around with.

The passed couple days, I have been working on separating out the code from my config and into its own repo. I have that done and created a minor mode for it. It is still lacking documentation, but I may make a new post with a link to it and allow people interested in using it to ask questions.

I added an edit to link to the new post with the repos. If you want to try it out, i'm happy to help :D

Well, I played DnD for the first time yesterday and was considering setting up something like this... glad to see the hard work has been done already!