# Obsidian with pinned maps ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps.webp]] [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYoxeRLAgwA) · 2:17 · Josh Plunkett · 2023-06-28 > [!info] YouTube Short (2:17), uploaded June 28, 2023. Written from the video's full English automatic captions (en-orig track, fetched from YouTube's timedtext caption URL after the yt-dlp clients were rate-limited) plus video frames. The video has no description or chapters. It's a vertical phone recording of his monitor with a TikTok watermark (@obsidian.md.ttrpg) and a "www.obsidianttrpgtutorials.com" caption, so on-screen text is only partly legible. Plugin names below that he doesn't say aloud are inferred from what's on screen and marked as such. ## Outline - **0:00 - Every DM's problem.** "If you're a dungeon master, can you relate to this?" You've got your adventure module, maybe in a PDF, maybe in a book, and a map, and you want to go to room **A15**. - **0:13 - Scrolling the PDF.** How do you get to A15? You keep scrolling until you find it: "that's A4, we've got to keep going down further... this sucks, this is so inefficient. I hate PDFs." ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps-t0014.webp]] *The PDF map he's searching, labeled "Level 1: Gauntlight Ru..." (1 square = 5 feet), with room A15 in the middle.* - **0:31 - "Let me show you a better way."** This is **Obsidian.md**, a free note-taking tool ("that's right, I said free"). - **0:44 - A pin note with a Leaflet map.** On screen is a **pin note** with an **Obsidian Leaflet** map: a "Map Level 1" map covered in red location pins next to the room notes (a "4. Kobolds' Den" section with read-aloud text and a list of kobolds). He can look at the map, see which room the players are in, and the information for that room is right there. ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps-t0048.webp]] *The pin note: a Leaflet map labeled "Map Level 1" (with "...berg Lagoon" and "Arauthator's Lair" written on it) covered in red pins, beside the "4. Kobolds' Den" room notes.* - **0:57 - Following the players.** When the players say "we go left" ("of course, because they always go left") and walk into another room, he just clicks that room's pin and its notes come up. "That is insanely easy in comparison to using a PDF." - **1:11 - Encounters and a combat manager.** It gets better: the rooms have encounters. Clicking the **join combat** button opens a **combat manager** that keeps track of everything going on in the fight (the frame shows an initiative list of kobolds with hit points). ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps-t0120.webp]] *The combat manager panel listing the encounter's creatures (several kobolds) with their numbers, above a goblin stat block.* - **1:25 - Stat blocks one click away.** To see a monster's stat block, he just clicks it and there it is. You can also make custom stat blocks; he shows "a nice advanced one" for a dragon fight he has coming up (an **Arauthator** dragon stat block). - **1:37 - Hover to read spells.** You can hover over a spell to see what it does without having to look it up; hovering over one in the dragon's block pops up **Otiluke's Freezing Sphere**. ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps-t0142.webp]] *The custom Arauthator stat block with a hover preview of Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (6th-level spell card with its own art).* - **1:45 - What you're missing.** If you're still using PDFs, or maybe OneNote, "you're really missing out." Obsidian.md is "amazing." - **2:00 - Learn it here.** To learn how to use it, go to **ObsidianTTRPGTutorials.com**, which shows what the program can do and teaches you how to use it. ![[images/Obsidian-with-pinned-maps-t0205.webp]] *The Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials home page with its purple crystal artwork and "Obsidian.md" banner.* - **2:12 - Sign-off.** "Come down the rabbit hole, guys. It's life-changing, seriously." ## Things mentioned ### Obsidian plugins and features - **Obsidian Leaflet** (community plugin, free) by Jeremy Valentine (javalent): interactive maps with markers inside notes. He names it as the map on his pin note; each pin opens a room's notes. - **Pin notes**: his name for a note with a pinned map whose markers link to the adventure's locations. - **Combat manager / "join combat" button**: the encounter tracker he opens from a room. He doesn't name the plugin; it looks like the free **Initiative Tracker** community plugin (also by javalent), which can launch encounters from a note. - **Stat blocks, including custom ones**: clickable creature stat blocks and a custom "advanced" dragon. Not named aloud; this is what the free **Fantasy Statblocks** community plugin (javalent) does. - **Hover previews**: hovering over a spell link shows its full text (Obsidian's built-in Page Preview behavior), demonstrated with Otiluke's Freezing Sphere. ### Tools and websites - **Obsidian.md** (free app): the note-taking tool he runs the adventure in, and the whole point of the pitch ("that's right, I said free"). - [ObsidianTTRPGTutorials.com](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com) (free): Josh's tutorial site, which shows what Obsidian can do and how to set it up. - **PDFs and books**: the usual way of running an adventure module, which he calls "so inefficient." - **Microsoft OneNote**: the other tool he says people are still using instead of Obsidian. - **TikTok**: the clip is a repost of his TikTok upload (@obsidian.md.ttrpg watermark). ### TTRPG systems and content - **Dungeons & Dragons** style adventure modules: he addresses dungeon masters generally; no system is named aloud. - **The PDF map with room A15**: labeled "Level 1: Gauntlight Ru..." on screen, which looks like the Gauntlight ruins from Paizo's **Abomination Vaults** (Pathfinder 2e); not named aloud. - **Arauthator**: the dragon whose custom stat block he shows for an upcoming dragon fight; the map on his pin note also marks "Arauthator's Lair," with a "Chapter 10 - The Sea of Moving Ice" heading in the notes. - **Kobolds and a goblin**: the creatures in the encounter he launches. - **Otiluke's Freezing Sphere**: the spell he hovers over in the dragon's stat block. ## Bios - **Josh Plunkett**: Australian game master and YouTuber who makes Obsidian TTRPG tutorials, runs ObsidianTTRPGTutorials.com and offers a ready-made Obsidian TTRPG vault through Patreon. - **Jeremy Valentine (javalent)**: Obsidian community developer behind Obsidian Leaflet, Initiative Tracker and Fantasy Statblocks, the plugins behind most TTRPG map, combat and stat block setups in Obsidian. - **Arauthator**: a named white dragon from the Forgotten Realms setting, known as "Old White Death," who lairs in the Sea of Moving Ice; Josh is preparing a custom stat block for a fight against him.