Running your campaign in Notion?
Here's the honest comparison.
Notion is a genuinely capable workspace, and a lot of GMs run great campaigns in it.
Grimoire is a different shape: a campaign manager built for the job, instead of a blank
canvas you turn into one. Here's where each one fits.
Free tier on every plan. No credit card. MCP included. We never charge for AI tokens.
The pattern
Why GMs love Notion, and where it starts to strain
GMs reach for Notion for good reasons: it's flexible, it's familiar, and the template
ecosystem is huge. None of that is in question. The strain shows up later, and it's
structural, not a quality complaint.
The recurring patterns:
"I designed the whole structure myself before I could use it."
A working campaign means building databases, wiring Relation fields, setting up rollups, and deciding your own schema, or buying a template and then maintaining it. The flexibility is real. So is the design work.
"My relations are there, but I can't see the shape of my world."
Notion links entries through Relation fields, but it renders as table cells and lists. There's no political map, no geography, no timeline view of how everything connects.
"Offline at the table is a problem."
Notion's offline mode caps databases at 50 rows and disables embeds, buttons, and AI blocks. A campaign built on big linked databases hits those limits exactly when you need them, mid-session.
"Hiding secrets from players is a manual chore."
Notion sharing is page-level. Keeping GM secrets out of player view means separate pages and careful permissions you maintain by hand, not a per-entity visibility system.
"My AI reads my pages, but not my campaign."
Notion AI summarizes inside the workspace, and even through Notion's MCP server your AI client sees pages and databases it searches as documents. It doesn't get a typed campaign it can traverse by faction, location, or thread, so it misses things or opens the wrong page.
If those land for you, keep reading. If they don't, Notion's flexibility, its familiarity,
and its all-in-one breadth are real strengths. Staying is the right call.
Notion
What is Notion?
Notion is a general-purpose workspace built on pages and databases. For TTRPGs, GMs build
interconnected databases (Characters, NPCs, Locations, Factions, Loot, Sessions) and link
them with Relation fields, or buy a ready-made template
from the marketplace.
Its strengths are flexibility and breadth: the same workspace runs your to-do list, your
prep docs, your scheduling, and your worldbuilding. Most GMs already know it, it
collaborates in real time, and it looks clean. There's a deep ecosystem of D&D
templates and guides.
If you want one tool for your whole life with your campaign inside it, and you like
designing your own structure, Notion has earned its popularity.
Grimoire
What is Grimoire?
Grimoire is a campaign manager for homebrew GMs running active campaigns. It ships with
a pre-built schema for 14 typed entities: NPCs, Locations, Factions, Quests, Items,
Vehicles, Creatures, Lore Entries, World Rules, Planar Forces, Session Recaps, Session
Preps, Custom Mechanics, Player Characters. Every entity is typed, queryable, and
connected through multi-projection knowledge graphs.
It includes a real-time collaborative wiki, a player portal with three named visibility
tiers (common knowledge, player knowledge, GM secrets), and Grimoire MCP:
one OAuth click connects your campaign to any MCP-compatible AI client (Claude, ChatGPT,
Cursor) so the AI reads your world live on every query. Grimoire never charges for AI
tokens.
Grimoire isn't general-purpose: it does one job, running a TTRPG campaign, and ships the
structure for it already designed. If you want a single workspace for everything in your
life, Notion's breadth is the better fit, and this page will say so again.
Which one is right for you
Five GM types. The right pick depends on what you need the tool to do.
You want a campaign manager that already knows what a campaign is
You don't want to design databases, wire up Relation fields, and fix rollups before you can add your first NPC. You want typed entities for NPCs, factions, quests, and locations that already exist when you open the tool.
Grimoire fits this.
Pre-built schema across 14 typed entity types, designed for TTRPG campaigns and maintained for you. No databases to model, no template to outgrow.
You want one workspace for everything, not just the campaign
Your to-do list, your session prep docs, your scheduling, and your worldbuilding all live in the same place. The campaign is one part of a bigger system you already run in Notion.
Notion fits this.
Notion is general-purpose by design. If the value is having your whole life and your campaign in one workspace, Grimoire's campaign-only focus is a worse fit. Notion wins on breadth.
You want to see how your world connects, as a graph
You want to ask "every NPC tied to the Vale faction in Greyhaven" and see it as a map. Allies and rivals as a political web. Events on a timeline. One world, many lenses.
Grimoire fits this.
Notion's Relation fields link entries but render as table cells and lists. Grimoire's knowledge graphs are relationship-typed and render as political, geographic, timeline, and custom projections.
You already use Claude or ChatGPT for session prep
You paste your notes into a fresh chat every session. You re-explain who Mira and Cyrus are. The chat compacts and forgets. Next session you start over.
Grimoire fits this.
Notion has an MCP server too, but it serves your workspace as pages to search. Grimoire's MCP serves a typed campaign your AI traverses by structure, in your canon. That's the difference that matters here.
You want total freedom to model an unusual schema
Your system is weird, your tracking needs are specific, and you want to invent the exact databases, properties, and rollups that fit. Constraints frustrate you; a blank canvas is the point.
Notion fits this.
Notion's databases model anything you can imagine. Grimoire ships a fixed (if deep) set of 14 typed entities plus custom fields. For a truly bespoke schema, Notion's flexibility wins.
A campaign manager with the schema already designed. No databases to build, no template to outgrow.
One full working campaign, forever. Free tier includes the player portal, knowledge
graphs, and Grimoire MCP. No credit card.
Relation fields and linked lists (no graph visualization)
Built for TTRPG
Yes. Entity types, visibility, and workflows are campaign-specific
No. A general workspace adapted to campaigns
Player sharing
3 named visibility tiers + dedicated player portal + invite-code auth
Page-level share / publish; secret-hiding is manual structure
Offline at the table
No (web-only)
Limited: 50-row database cap offline; embeds, buttons, AI disabled
At-the-table play
None (prep-and-canon tool)
None natively
Real-time collaboration
Yes (Y.js CRDT wiki)
Yes
AI integration
MCP-native. Serves a typed campaign the AI traverses by structure (entities, relationships, threads)
Official MCP server + Notion AI add-on, but exposes pages/databases the AI searches as documents
AI token charges
Never (bring your own client)
Notion AI billed as an add-on
General-purpose breadth
Campaign-only by design
Runs your whole workspace, not just the campaign
Price
Free tier (1 campaign, MCP included) · Pro $10/mo
Free personal tier · paid plans + Notion AI add-on
Maturity / ecosystem
Early-stage, purpose-built
Massive: huge template marketplace, familiar to most GMs
How it actually feels different
Five places where the two tools diverge in practice.
Design it vs. fill it in
Notion hands you a blank database canvas. Grimoire hands you a campaign schema.
In Notion you model the databases, wire the relations, and tune the rollups, or you adopt
a template and maintain it as the campaign grows. In Grimoire an NPC already has fields
for motivations, relationships, secrets, and visibility, because most NPCs need them. You
fill instead of design.
Relation fields vs. relationship graphs
Notion links your entries. Grimoire shows you the shape they make.
Notion's Relation fields are genuinely useful: this NPC belongs to this faction, this
quest touches this location. But it lives in table cells and linked lists. Grimoire renders
the same connections as a political web, a geography, and a timeline, so you can see the
duke's whole network at a glance instead of clicking through rows.
Player sharing
Grimoire has a player portal with named visibility tiers. Notion has page permissions.
Grimoire ships three visibility levels (common knowledge, player knowledge, GM secrets)
and a dedicated player portal with invite-code auth, so players see exactly what you
intend, per entity. In Notion, you partition secret and shared content into separate pages
and manage permissions by hand.
AI integration
Both have MCP. Only one serves a typed campaign.
Notion AI writes and summarizes inside Notion as a paid add-on, and Notion's official MCP
server lets an AI client connect to your workspace. But it exposes pages and databases the
AI reads as documents and finds by search. Grimoire's MCP turns your campaign into a typed,
structured source the AI traverses by entity, relationship, and thread, so it answers with
your NPCs and your factions and respects your canon. One OAuth click; the connector stays
put. Grimoire never charges for AI tokens, and the free tier covers MCP.
Breadth vs. focus (where Notion wins)
Notion runs your whole workspace. Grimoire runs your campaign. That cuts both ways.
This is the cleanest concession on the page. Notion's general-purpose breadth is a real
advantage: your to-do list, your prep docs, your scheduling, your worldbuilding, and your
campaign all in one place, with no context switch. If that single-workspace value is what
you want, Grimoire's campaign-only focus is the wrong tool.
Plenty of GMs run both: Notion for everything else, Grimoire for the structured campaign
their AI client reads live. They cover different jobs.
The honest concessions
When Notion is the better choice
Pick Notion if:
You want one workspace for everything, with your campaign as one part of a bigger system
You already live in Notion and the context-switch cost of a second tool matters to you
You want total freedom to model an unusual schema, with your own databases and rollups
You like the look and feel of Notion and have a template you already enjoy
You collaborate with co-GMs or players who are already comfortable in Notion
Your campaign tracking is light enough that a couple of linked databases is all you need
You value breadth and flexibility over a purpose-built structure
Grimoire is not trying to win any of those. They're real, and Notion owns them.
The real question
Both have a free tier. The question is whether you want a workspace or a campaign manager.
Notion's free tier is generous and Grimoire has a full free tier. Price isn't the deciding factor. Purpose is.
Notion gives you a flexible, familiar workspace and the freedom to model your campaign
however you like, alongside everything else you track. For GMs who value that breadth, the
result is one tool for their whole life.
Grimoire gives you the campaign manager already built: typed entities, relationship graphs,
a player portal, and MCP, on a free tier, with no schema to design and no template to
outgrow. For GMs who'd rather prep the session than build the tool, that's the trade.
Notion is the blank canvas you shape. Grimoire is the campaign manager already built.
That's the choice.
If you want one workspace for everything and total schema freedom: Notion. If you want a
purpose-built campaign manager with relationship graphs, a player portal, and live AI on
day one: Grimoire. Both are free to try.
Migration
Moving from Notion to Grimoire
There's no one-click import. Two practical paths, and your export helps.
Path 1
Manual, entity by entity
Notion in one tab, Grimoire in the other. Use Grimoire's structured forms to recreate
NPCs, locations, and factions. Faster than it sounds: the schema is built, so you fill
in fields rather than design them. Most migrators land a session-ready skeleton in an
evening.
Path 2 · Recommended
AI-assisted via MCP
Export your Notion pages (Notion exports to markdown) or copy the content. Connect
Grimoire MCP to Claude or ChatGPT, paste it into the chat, and ask the AI to parse it
into typed Grimoire entries. The MCP write tools create NPCs, locations, factions, and
relationships directly. A cleanup pass after, and you're session-ready.
Keeping Notion for general planning is a perfectly good plan. Many GMs run both, with
Grimoire as the structured canon their AI client reads live.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is Grimoire really free? What's the catch?
Grimoire's free tier is one full working campaign, unlimited entities, 50 MB storage, knowledge graphs, the player portal, MCP integration, and data export. No ads, no credit card, no time limit. Paid tiers unlock more campaigns, larger storage, and custom fields. Most homebrew GMs running one campaign never need to upgrade.
Notion has a free tier too. Why switch?
You might not need to fully switch, and plenty of GMs keep Notion for general planning. The difference isn't price, it's purpose. Notion is a blank workspace you turn into a campaign manager by building databases or buying a template. Grimoire is a campaign manager already built: 14 typed entity types, relationship graphs, a player portal, and MCP, with nothing to design.
I already bought a Notion D&D template. Doesn't that solve the setup problem?
A good template gets you a long way, and templates like Lore Keeper are genuinely nice. The honest difference is what happens after. A Notion template is a fixed set of databases and relations; when your campaign outgrows it, you're editing schemas, fixing rollups, and maintaining the structure yourself. Grimoire's schema is the product, maintained for you, and it comes with relationship-graph projections and a player portal a template can't add.
Can Notion show my world as a relationship graph?
Not really. Notion's Relation fields link database entries (this NPC belongs to this faction), and that's genuinely useful, but it renders as table cells and linked lists, not a graph. Grimoire's knowledge graphs are relationship-typed and render as projections: political (who allies with whom), geographic (what's where), and timeline (when things happened). You can see the shape of your world, not just click through links.
Does Notion work offline at the table?
Only partially, and it's worth knowing before game night. Notion's offline mode caps databases at 50 rows offline, and embeds, AI blocks, forms, and buttons don't work offline. You can only open pages you downloaded while online, and sub-pages aren't automatically available. For a basement table with spotty wifi, that's real friction. Grimoire is a hosted web app too, so it also needs a connection; the difference is that Notion's database-heavy campaign layouts hit those offline caps hardest.
Does Grimoire have dice, initiative tracking, or statblocks?
No, and neither does Notion natively. Grimoire is a prep-and-canon tool, not a virtual tabletop. If you need an at-the-table tactical layer (dice, initiative, statblocks, battlemaps), that's a job for a VTT or for Obsidian's TTRPG plugins, not for Notion or Grimoire.
Do I have to use AI to use Grimoire?
No. Grimoire is a complete campaign manager with zero AI features turned on. Knowledge graphs, the typed wiki, the player portal, and structured entities all work standalone. Grimoire MCP is an optional layer for GMs who already use Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI client. AI is a power feature, not a requirement.
Notion has AI and an MCP server. How is Grimoire's different?
Notion AI writes and summarizes inside your workspace (a paid add-on), and Notion also ships an official MCP server with one-click OAuth, so an AI client can connect. The difference is what the MCP exposes. Notion's serves your workspace as generic pages and databases the AI reads as documents and finds by search. Grimoire's MCP serves a typed TTRPG campaign: the AI traverses by entity, relationship, thread, and narrative state, answers in your canon and homebrew, and pulls the right context instead of guessing which page to open or missing it on a misspelled query. Grimoire never charges for AI tokens.
Can I share a Notion campaign with players the way Grimoire's portal does?
Partly. Notion sharing is page-level: you share or publish pages, and hiding GM secrets from players is structure you maintain by hand (separate pages, careful permissions). Grimoire has a dedicated player portal with three named visibility tiers (common knowledge, player knowledge, GM secrets) and invite-code player auth, so players see exactly what you intend, per entity, with no manual partitioning.
How do I move my Notion campaign into Grimoire?
There's no one-click import. The practical path: export your Notion pages (or copy the content), connect Grimoire MCP to Claude or ChatGPT, paste the content into the chat, and have the AI parse it into typed Grimoire entities (NPCs, locations, factions, relationships). Because Notion exports to markdown, it pastes cleanly. Most migrations land a session-ready campaign in an evening.
When is Notion actually the better choice?
When you want one workspace for everything, not just the campaign: your to-do list, prep docs, scheduling, and worldbuilding side by side. When you already live in Notion and the context-switch cost matters. And when you want total schema freedom to model something unusual. Those are real strengths, and this page names them plainly.
The campaign manager, already built.
Free to start. No credit card. No AI required. MCP included on every tier.
Love your Notion setup? Keep it for everything else. Try Grimoire on a new campaign and see
if the typed-entity model and live AI fit how you actually run your sessions.