App overview

Campaign Familiar is a local-first, privacy-first desktop app for D&D Dungeon Masters that stores your entire campaign in a local database on your own machine.

The main interface

Campaign Familiar has two layers of navigation: a slim app-wide rail on the far left, and a richer per-campaign nav that appears once you open a campaign.

App sidebar (far left)

A slim rail that stays the same whether or not a campaign is open. It holds only the global destinations:

• Campaigns - Your list of campaigns (the home screen)
• Library - Shared, reusable content and imported sources
• Settings - App and AI configuration
• Admin - Only shown to the license owner

The theme (light/dark) switch and the collapse toggle live at the bottom of this rail. There is no search box or notifications bell here.

Campaign nav (when a campaign is open)

When you open a campaign, the dashboard gives you a fuller navigation, grouped into sections:

• Your World - NPCs, Locations, Party, Factions, Campaign Markers
• Session Planning - Sessions, Encounters, Items
• Notes & Query - Campaign Notes, Ask Campaign
• System tools (shown when relevant) - Table Roller, System Reference

Alongside these you’ll find quick links to the campaign’s tools:

• Quick Prep - Fast AI generators for on-the-spot content
• Connection Map - Visual map of your world’s relationships
• Campaign Intelligence - AI-assisted insights about your campaign
• Campaign Search - Keyword search across every creation type
• AI Suggestions - Your saved AI ideas

Content area (center)

Where you work: creation lists when browsing, the detail/edit view when working on one, the session workspace, your notes, query results, and the Connection Map.

Core concepts

Campaigns

Everything in Campaign Familiar lives inside a campaign. A campaign is a complete container for one game:

• All your creations (NPCs, locations, items, etc.)
• Sessions and history
• Relationships between everything
• AI-generated suggestions

Create separate campaigns for separate games. You can run multiple campaigns and switch between them.

Creations

Creations are the building blocks - the people, places, and things in your world. (You’ll also see them called “creations” in a few older places.)

Each type has specialized fields. NPCs have personality and stats. Locations have atmosphere and sensory details. Use what helps, skip what doesn’t.

-> Creations overview

Relationships

Relationships connect your creations:

• NPCs know other NPCs
• NPCs work at locations
• Items are owned by characters
• Campaign Markers involve factions

Relationships create a web of connections that makes your world feel alive. The Connection Map visualizes these connections.

-> Relationships

Tags

Tags organize your creations with custom labels:

• Story arc tags: “arc-1”, “strahd-plot”
• Role tags: “villain”, “ally”, “shopkeeper”
• Location tags: “neverwinter”, “underdark”
• Status tags: “needs-prep”, “player-favorite”

Use whatever system works for you. Tags make filtering easy.

Visibility

Control what’s for your eyes only vs. what you could share:

• DM Only (default) - Only you see this
• Player Visible - Content you could share with players

Player Visible content can be exported as handouts or shared if you use a connected display.

Key workflows

Creating content

Method 1: Manual creation

1. Open a creation type (NPCs, Locations, etc.) in the campaign nav
2. Click “Create”
3. Fill in fields
4. Save

Method 2: AI generation

1. Open Quick Prep
2. Choose a generator
3. Configure and generate
4. Save what’s worth keeping to your campaign

Method 3: Import

1. Go to Library > Import to Library
2. Select a source (Fantasy Grounds, Foundry VTT, Roll20)
3. Follow the import wizard
4. Review and adjust imported content

Session preparation

1. Create a session
2. Add objectives and key scenes
3. Link relevant creations (NPCs, locations, encounters)
4. Generate any missing content with AI
5. Review linked content before the session

-> Sessions

After the session: recap

When a session is done, open its Session Recap to capture what happened, record outcomes, and feed the results back into your campaign.

-> Session recap

Quick Prep for emergencies

When you’re short on time:

1. Open Quick Prep
2. Generate what you need - a location, NPCs, an encounter, a campaign marker
3. Use it immediately or save it to your campaign

A complete scene in just a few minutes.

-> Quick Prep overview

Finding content

Campaign Search - Open Campaign Search from the campaign nav to search across every creation type at once.

Filter by type - Browse creation types in the campaign nav.

Filter by tag - Click any tag to see everything with that tag.

Connection Map - Use the visual map to find connected content.

-> Campaign Search

AI features

Campaign Familiar’s AI helps you create content; it never replaces your creativity. AI features require an optional AI subscription (see below).

Quick Prep generators

A set of generators for rapid content creation - NPCs, encounters, locations, campaign markers, treasure, and more. Drafted material is yours to use immediately or save to your campaign.

AI generation panel

Generate content for a Creation from a dedicated panel:

1. Open the Creation and find the AI Generation panel (inside the AI Generation panel)
2. Pick a Generation Type and optionally enter a prompt
3. Set the Creativity slider and an optional Tone Preset
4. Click Generate, then Accept or Dismiss the suggestion cards

Session Companion

An AI chat for brainstorming and in-session help:

• Develop NPC personalities
• Work through plot problems
• Get dialogue and descriptions on demand
• Attach creations for context-aware responses

The Session Companion can be toggled with Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + C while a campaign is open.

Ask Campaign

Ask plain-language questions about your campaign world and get answers grounded in your own content.

-> Ask Campaign

Campaign Intelligence & suggestions

The engine analyzes your campaign and surfaces insights and suggestions:

• Potential relationships you might have missed
• Forgotten creations that haven’t appeared recently
• Unresolved plot threads

Saved suggestions live in AI Suggestions, and deeper analysis lives in Campaign Intelligence.

-> AI Suggestions · Campaign Intelligence

The app and AI subscriptions

Campaign Familiar is an app you buy once. Owning it gives you the full application - every non-AI feature works with no subscription:

AI is an optional monthly add-on:

Beta testers get full Power-level AI at no charge.

-> Subscription tiers

Data and privacy

Local storage

Your campaign data lives on your computer:

• ~/Library/Application Support/campaign-familiar (macOS)
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\campaign-familiar (Windows)
• ~/.local/share/campaign-familiar (Linux)

Your campaigns never leave your machine unless you explicitly export them.

AI processing

Campaign Familiar runs no server of its own. When you use an AI feature:

• Your prompt is sent directly to the engine provider (Anthropic)
• The engine generates a response
• The response is returned to your app

There is no Campaign Familiar server in the middle, and no separate API key for you to manage - the app handles the connection.

Backups

Campaign Familiar stores data locally. Back up your data directory regularly, or use export for manual backups.

Keyboard shortcuts

Campaign Familiar is mostly mouse- and button-driven. The one app-wide shortcut is:

In the Session Companion / chat box, Ctrl/Cmd + Enter sends your message, and Esc closes many pop-ups and dialogs.

-> Keyboard shortcuts

Next steps

Now that you know your way around:

1. Create your first campaign - Set up a campaign and create content
2. Try Quick Prep - Generate content quickly
3. Build relationships - Connect your world

Related

• Installation - Getting Campaign Familiar installed
• First campaign - Hands-on walkthrough
• Keyboard shortcuts - The (short) shortcut list
• Troubleshooting - Common issues