Own Your Data

Don't rely on other people to preserve your campaign data:

Don't lock yourself down by writing your important campaign content in a virtual tabletop or cloud-based campaign tool. Use VTTs only for mapping and dice rolling. Character sheets, logs, and campaign writings should be kept in an open format that will survive the passage of time.

The best format for most campaign data is plain text. Markdown is a great format that can be read and edited by literally thousands of apps, including on your phone. If you like to use a word processor, I recommend LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Word or Apple Pages. It is also great for spreadsheets. Other tools like LogSeq can be great too, depending on how you like to work on your campaign.

Always back up your data – campaign records, setting info, character sheets – it should all be backed up at least 3 different places. One of the backups should be stored in a physical location separate from the other two so your campaign will survive a fire or natural disaster. Try to make a backup at least once every week you play. Put a reminder in your task manager or to-do app, or set a weekly reminder in your phone.

Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and the like are not backups, they are sync. If your file gets deleted, it gets deleted there too. No syncing services count as backups.

Do not trust Demon Idol – if you find this site invaluable and want to ensure you can use it for a long time, don't rely on us to host it. You can email eapoems@riseup.net and we will send you an archive of every page on this website, any time. Eventually we will set up a way to download it yourself, and perhaps obtain it in a printable book-like form.

This goes for every service you use. Would your campaign be fine if it shut down tomorrow, lost your data, or had a security breach?

Your campaign is an important creation in your life that will bring you thousands of hours of joy. Don't lock it up with proprietary software.