Docs
Guides for using DnD Manager — characters, campaigns, sessions, and more.
Getting started
A short path from signup to your first session.
- Create an account
Sign up, then confirm your email. Until you do, the account is pending (an admin can approve it).
- Create a character
Explore races, classes, skills, and gear on the Character builder map — pick one of your characters to see their path, or use New character to roll abilities and build a full sheet. You can also Import JSON from a Fifth Edition Character Sheet export.
- Join or create a campaign
On Campaigns, start a table or accept an invite. Link your sheet to the party.
- Schedule a session
Open the Calendar, add an event, then write notes and link characters, NPCs, or loot after you play. Campaign sessions also share a Table timer, private Safety tools, and party Polls.
Characters
Full sheets you own, plus sheets shared with you.
- Not sure what to play? Open the Character builder to start from race, class, or background and see which skills, gear, and spells that path unlocks — or pick a skill or spell first to see what you can be. Load one of your existing characters to map what they already have. Send a promising mix into New character when you are ready.
- Stuck on your turn? Open the Action Guild map and pick one of your characters to use their weapons, spells, and class features. You can also start from Action / Bonus / Reaction, the situation, or a weapon or spell. Your sheet also has a Your turn flowchart for rolling attacks.
- Browse owned and shared sheets on Characters. Under My characters, a heatmap shows sheet edits over the past year. See every share in one place on Shared. Import JSON creates a new sheet from a Fifth Edition Character Sheet
.json(Google Drive XML exports work too). The import checker compares the file to the mapped sheet before anything is saved, then checks the stored sheet after you confirm. - Star favorites so they stay at the top of your lists and dashboard. Use the pin to keep a character, NPC, or combat on the right sidebar (toggle it from the top bar). That sidebar also has a personal timer that stays on your device. The top bar calculator is handy for quick math mid-session.
- Open a sheet to view stats, notes, inventory, and spells. Use Level up to raise level, HP, hit dice, and proficiency (optional spell-slot tables). If the character meets the usual ability-score prerequisites (typically 13 in the class’s key ability), Level up also offers a multiclass choice so the new level can go into another class. To go back a level, open a level-change entry in the Change log and choose Revert to level — that restores class, HP max, hit dice, and proficiency from that recorded level. Use the Play panel for short/long rests, hit dice, spell slots, and marking spells cast. Toggle Play mode for larger taps, a sticky Play panel, and a combat-first layout mid-session (also under Settings → Appearance). Use PDF to open a printable sheet and Save as PDF from your browser.
- Open a sheet to view stats, notes, inventory, and spells. Use Menu → Arrange (or Arrange while editing) to drag sections into the order you want and save — the same order is stored on your account for every sheet you open, and you can also change it under Settings → Sheet layout. Use Jump to to jump to a section. Campaign awards granted to this sheet (or to the party in a linked campaign) appear under Achievements.
Public links use stable IDs (UUIDs), so sheet URLs stay usable when you share them.
Campaigns
Tables for your party: members, linked sheets, notes, and sessions.
- Create a campaign, then invite players by username/email or a shareable invite link under Members. Invitees get an in-app notification and a queued email. The campaigns list includes a heatmap of table activity over the past year. Owners can add a Discord invite link under Edit campaign so the table can open the server from the campaign page.
- Owners can transfer ownership to another registered player from the campaign Menu or the Danger zone at the bottom of the page. You stay on the campaign as a member; the new owner gets a notification.
- Link your character (or full NPC sheet) so the whole party can open it from the campaign page.
- Owners manage shared Maps, Places, Lore, and Timeline for the setting; all members can read public entries. The timeline section has a scrollable visual rail; open Timeline view for a full-screen map of world history. Owners can mark entries GM only and add private GM notes.
- Track party goals under Quests — owners create them, anyone at the table can close or reopen.
- Owners create custom Achievements for the campaign, optionally hide them until earned, and award them to the party or a linked sheet. Players are notified when they receive one, and earned awards show on that character sheet.
- Open Connections in a new tab to see how campaign characters and NPCs are linked. Use View to hover for details and connections; owners switch to Edit to add or remove links.
- Open the campaign Menu for collapse/expand all, Arrange (drag sections and save — stored on your account for every campaign you open), pin, combat, connections, timeline view, and scheduling.
- Cross-link Places, Lore, Timeline, Sessions, and Characters with Related links on each entry (owners manage links).
- The campaign Activity feed shows recent public edits; GM-only world/lore/timeline changes stay hidden from players.
- Open Combat from a campaign (or session) for an initiative tracker, roster, quick HP, conditions, and death saves. Encounter HP is a scratchpad; use Push to sheet when you want to write HP back. Owners can mark combatants hidden from players. The combat log records turns and HP; save it to session notes, copy it, or download it. Ended fights stay under Saved encounters. Pin a combat to keep it on the right sidebar.
- Track the party under Where are we: owners add stops in order, mark where the group is now, and click the campaign map to drop markers. Drag a pin to move it. The path connects markers in travel order. Use New window or Map window to open the map with the current marker on a second screen.
- Upload a campaign map or image and click it to drop place names. Saving labels also adds those names under Places. Open a map to zoom with the buttons, scroll wheel, or pinch; drag to pan. Upload other images on character sheets, places, lore, and sessions (JPG/PNG/WebP/GIF, max 5 MB).
- Add table Music by pasting a Spotify or YouTube / YouTube Music playlist, album, or track link (Share → Copy link). The player embeds on the campaign page so anyone at the table can play it. Anyone can add a link; you can edit or remove ones you added.
- Shared notes are visible to members; personal notes stay private to you.
- Campaign sessions appear on the calendar for everyone in that table. Scheduling a campaign session notifies other members in-app and by email if they have email alerts on. On the session notes page, the shared Table timer stays in sync for everyone — the GM can lock it from players, and anyone can copy it to their personal sidebar timer. Safety tools let players privately signal the GM (pause, ouch, redo, fade to black, check-in); on the session page the GM sees new signals and the notification bell update live without refreshing. Anyone at the table can open a Poll for party decisions or food. On the campaign page, use separate sections for Scholarships, Botany, Horoscopes, and Astrology. The campaign owner can Give items & boons to linked characters (optionally writing them onto the sheet). After play, ask the table for Stars & Wishes from the campaign Sessions list or the session notes page — players are notified to share a Star and a Wish.
NPCs
Two tools for cast members: full sheets and lite cards.
- Full NPC sheets use the same character sheet builder — create one with New NPC.
- Lite NPCs are quicker cards (AC, HP, abilities, notes) from NPCs.
- Pin a full NPC sheet or a lite NPC to the right sidebar, same as player characters.
- Archive hides a sheet or lite NPC from lists. Restore it later from Settings → Archive.
- Attach NPCs to a campaign so players can find them on the campaign page and in session links.
Calendar
Personal plans stay private; campaign events are shared with the party.
- Filter by Personal, All, or a specific campaign.
- Click a day or event to schedule or edit. Colors mark personal vs each campaign.
- Open Session notes after play to add a short summary, a full recap, prep notes, and link characters, NPCs, or catalog items. Campaign owners can also keep private GM notes on a session.
- On a campaign session page, use the shared Table timer so everyone at the table sees the same stopwatch or countdown. Anyone in the campaign can start, pause, reset, or set presets (1m / 5m / 10m). The campaign owner (GM) can lock the timer (lock icon in the card header) so only they can change it; unlock when players should control it again. Use the panel button to Copy to sidebar timer — that pushes the current table time into your personal pins-rail timer (device-only, not shared).
- Use Safety tools on a campaign session (or the campaign page) for a private message to the GM only — Pause / X-card, Ouch, Redo, Fade to black, Check-in, or a freeform note. Other players cannot see it. The GM gets an in-app notification and can reply privately or mark a signal Got it. On the session page, the GM’s Safety tools list and notification bell update live while the page stays open — no refresh needed when a player sends a signal.
- On a campaign session, anyone at the table can create a Poll (Decision, Food, or Other) with two or more options. Members vote, see live counts and who picked what, and can update their vote until the creator or campaign owner closes the poll.
- On the campaign page, use Scholarships, Botany, Horoscopes, and Astrology as separate sections for patronage, plants, readings, and celestial omens. Reorder them under campaign layout if you like.
- On a campaign session, the owner can Give items & boons to a linked character — type a name or search the catalog. Optionally add items to Equipment and boons to Additional features on that sheet; the character’s owner is notified. Removing a gift record from the session does not undo sheet changes.
- After a campaign session, the owner (or whoever scheduled it) can Ask players for Stars & Wishes — a Star for what went well and a Wish for next time. Players get a notification, fill it in on the session notes page, and the table can read every reply. Use Cancel ask to stop prompting; any replies already shared stay.
Contacts
A private list of players you know, with stars for favorites.
- Open Contacts to see people from your campaigns and sheet shares.
- Star a player to keep them on top. Use the Favorites filter to show only starred people.
- Add someone by username or email even if you do not share a table yet. Remove only affects people you saved — campaign mates still appear while you share a table.
- Your contact list and favorite players stay private to your account.
Reference
Catalogs for sheets and sessions, plus community homebrew anyone can add.
- Browse classes, races, spells, items, and more under Reference.
- Star catalog or homebrew entries to save them to Reference favorites. Filter any catalog or the Homebrew list with the Favorites button.
- Share player-made spells, items, monsters, and house rules in Homebrew. Anyone signed in can add; you can edit or delete only what you added. Official catalog lists stay separate; character create and sheet add pickers include matching homebrew.
- Use top search to jump to catalogs, homebrew, or your own characters, campaigns, and NPCs.
- From a session notes page, search the catalog to attach loot or rules references to that session.
Settings
Account, look and feel, backups, plans, and billing.
- Account and Password update your login details. Account also controls email alerts and lets you permanently delete your account and owned data.
- Security lets you enable two-factor authentication (2FA) with an authenticator app. When 2FA is on, sign-in asks for your password and a 6-digit code.
- Appearance controls theme, accent color, sidebar, and sheet play mode — saved to your account.
- Language sets menus, settings, and sign-in pages to English, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, or Thai. Catalogs and character sheets stay in English for now.
- Mobile controls swipe navigation on phones and whether character sheets use a vertical (stacked) or horizontal (wide) layout.
- Sheet layout reorders character sheet sections for your account. You can also use Arrange on any character sheet.
- Sidebar lets you rename, reorder, and show or hide the main sidebar tabs, including Experimental tools and reference catalogs.
- Archive lists characters and NPCs you archived so you can restore them.
- Export downloads JSON backups, Fifth Edition Character Sheet
.json, or a Markdown ZIP for Obsidian (campaigns, characters, NPCs, lore, places, sessions, and more); Import always creates new copies (nothing is overwritten). Import also accepts Fifth Edition Character Sheet.jsonand XML files. - Plans shows your tier, usage, and what each listed plan includes. Paid plans go through Venmo or Stripe Checkout when payments are enabled. Venmo asks for your Venmo username so the payment can be matched. Billing is for your payment method, invoices, and canceling at period end.
Apps
Desktop and mobile packages when builds are published for this install.
Offline / install
Use DnD Manager at the table even when wifi is flaky.
- Install from your browser (“Add to Home Screen” / install app) using the app manifest.
- The top bar shows Online / Offline, plus a count when changes are waiting to sync.
- Visit dashboards, sheets, campaigns, combat, and sessions once while online so they can be cached for offline viewing.
- Most form edits made offline are queued and replayed when you reconnect (uploads and log out are skipped).
Tips
Small habits that make the app smoother at the table.
- Use the dashboard for recent sheets, campaigns, NPCs, and upcoming sessions.
- Collapse the sidebar on smaller desks from Appearance when you want more sheet space.
- Keep the session page open as GM so Safety tools and the notification bell update live when a player signals you.
- Lock the Table timer when you do not want players changing it; copy it to your sidebar timer if you want a personal countdown that travels with you across pages.
- Export before big edits if you want a personal backup copy.
- Prefer campaign-scoped calendar events when the whole party needs the same night.
- Before a session with weak wifi, open tonight’s character sheets and combat page once.