RPG Resource Repository

RPG Resource Repository

5 min read

RPG Resource Repository

The RPG Resource Repository is a public, version-controlled library of GM content for tabletop RPGs. It’s free forever, with many artifacts released under Creative Commons. Stop by for inspiration, take artifacts for your games, or download the whole thing as an Obsidian vault.

🤍 Support

Everything here was unlocked from the Architect’s Vault—the Patreon companion where new content starts. Support on Patreon to get everything sooner, plus exclusives that never leave the Vault.

Licensing

Most (but not all) of the material in the RPG Resource Repository is released into the Creative Commons. Refer to individual pages for which (if any) license applies and how to use it.

Human Made Resources

All game material in the RPG Resource Repository is 100% human-made (not generated or revised by generative AI).

Community

Join a community to discuss the repository or any aspect of tabletop roleplaying games.

Getting Started

Much of the organizing approach taken by the RPG Resource Repository was inspired by this blog post about “fullstack refereeing.”

World artifacts are organized into:

  • Items
  • Locations
  • NPCs
  • Organizations
  • Tables

These notes contain the “what is true” and “how truth changes” about each topic. They are kept atomic—not linking to or depending on any other notes. As written, these types of notes are easy to steal for your own game but might not be “ready” to run. That’s where our “runtime” artifacts come in:

  • Adventures
  • Encounters

These notes are created and organized in a way to make them easy to run during actual games. They take advantage of Obsidian features and specific styling approaches to help the game master use them at the table.

How to Use the RPG Resource Repository

Discover and Share Notes

The website generates unique URLs for each note. Like a magic item or NPC? Share the link!

Steal Notes

Find a location or encounter for your next session? Copy it to your own notes! The raw Markdown can be found in the Github repository.

Download the Entire Vault

The entirety of the content is structured into an Obsidian vault (using wikilinks, callouts, snippets, etc). Download the whole thing as a .zip file at the Github repository. Open the /content directory as a vault and you’re all set.

Use Commercially

Most (but not all) of the material here is released into the Creative Commons under a license that allows for commercial use. Check individual pages to see which artifacts you can use in commercial projects and what attribution is required. Be sure to email me if you use any of this as I’d love to see and support it!

Design Philosophy

See PRINCIPLES.md and phd20.com for more on my approach to designing and running TTRPGs.

Properties Guide

categories: "npc", # Custom property. The core property shared across all RPG notes for categorizing which "type" of note it is (ex. site, settlement, item, magic-item, adventure, encounter, table, etc).
systems: "5e" # Custom property. Which TTRPG game system the note is for, if any (ex. shadowdark, 5e, etc.)
tags: "dungeon" # Default Obsidian property. Useful for categorizing/classifying notes around subjects that don't yet have a clear 'property-first' strategy.

Style Guide

RPG Resource Repository content leans into Markdown as a gold standard.

Stat blocks and rules-text live in monospace code blocks.

DREDMOR                                                    LV 3
AC 14  HP 9  ATK 2 longsword +3 (1d8)  MV near
S +2  D +1  C +1  I +1  W +0  Ch +2  AL C

Vengeful. Attacks twice with a longsword. The second attack is at disadvantage.
Carries: +1 longsword, chainmail, winged helm (+1 AC)

GM-only content collapses.

Adventures and Encounters use formatting as permission levels.

  • Bold—freely visible, demands attention
  • Bullets—discoverable, what the world responds to
  • [!secret]—hidden, GM-only truth or tips

Mermaid diagrams power visualizations where necessary.

flowchart TD
    content@{ shape: docs, label: "Your Prep" }
    toolkit@{ shape: doc, label: "RPG Resource Repository" }
    session@{ shape: bolt, label: "The Session" }

    content -->|"structured for fast access"| toolkit -->|"runs live at the table"| session

About PhD20

PhD20 provides tools, resources, and ideas for running better games. I write about worldbuilding, campaign organization, and the tools that support both. I believe that great games come from GM inspiration connected to meaningful player choice, not a story written in advance.

About the Author

👋 I’m Kirk. I’ve been running D&D since 2010. In 2011, D&D’s Chris Perkins selected my dungeon as a finalist in his “Acererak’s Apprentice” design contest—which pulled me into the early online D&D community. I went on to run a YouTube channel for five years, back when TTRPG YouTube was a small handful of creators, before Matt Colville and the rise of modern “DungeonTube.” These days I write instead, and I’m especially interested in where our hobby meets technology: the tools that help us build and organize worlds, and a healthy skepticism toward the ones that don’t.

Graph View