The Best AI Tools for Dungeon Masters in 2026, by Job

The short answer: there is no single best AI tool for a dungeon master, because a DM does several different jobs. Use a general chatbot such as ChatGPT or Claude to brainstorm, a lore tool such as LoreKeeper to remember your world, and specialist tools for maps and the table. If you want the AI to run the game itself, look at Friends & Fables.

Below, each job gets the tools we would actually recommend. We make LoreKeeper, so we have said plainly where it fits and where something else does the job better.

1. Brainstorming and improvising

ChatGPT and Claude are the best all-round idea machines. Ask for ten villain motives, a pantheon, a heist plan or a rival adventuring party and you will have options in seconds. They are also good at improvising mid-session when the players do something you did not plan for.

Watch out for: continuity. A long campaign thread slowly forgets its early sessions. We explain why, and how to fix it, in why ChatGPT forgets your D&D campaign.

2. Remembering your world and answering questions about it

This is the job most GMs discover they need after a few months: an AI that knows your canon and does not make it up.

LoreKeeper

LoreKeeper gives your world a permanent home. Upload PDFs, Word documents, notes and session recordings, and every chat answer draws on that lore. An entity library keeps your NPCs, monsters, factions, items and locations organised, and characters can speak for themselves in chat. Because it knows your world, the characters, monsters, maps and art it generates fit your setting, and it can turn the whole thing into a printable sourcebook. It runs on Anthropic’s Claude.

Best for: long campaigns, big homebrew worlds and GMs moving a campaign over from ChatGPT (there is a free migration guide).

Tabletop Arc

Tabletop Arc focuses on capturing what happens at the table. It turns session audio and notes into recaps that link each fact to its session, and keeps a campaign wiki up to date as you play.

Best for: groups who record their sessions and want recaps written for them.

NotebookLM

Google’s NotebookLM answers questions from documents you upload. It is not made for tabletop games, but it is a free way to query a stack of PDFs.

Best for: asking questions of rulebooks and source material.

3. Letting an AI run the game

Friends & Fables is an AI game master: it narrates a text adventure, handles 5e-style combat and supports multiplayer, with its own worldbuilding tools. AI Dungeon is a freeform AI storytelling game. Both are great for solo play and quick one-shots.

Not to be confused with us: lore-keeper.com is a separate AI game master product. Our comparison page explains the difference between the LoreKeepers.

4. Building a world wiki

If you want a traditional, hand-written encyclopedia of your setting, these are the established choices:

• World Anvil: the most complete worldbuilding platform, with articles, maps and timelines. Ideal for a polished setting you want to publish.
• Kanka: a campaign wiki with a generous free tier that is quick to learn.
• LegendKeeper: a fast, collaborative wiki with strong interactive maps.
• Obsidian: linked Markdown notes stored on your own computer. Free, flexible and private.

These wikis store your lore beautifully but expect you to write and maintain it. A lore-aware AI such as LoreKeeper reads what you already have and works from it, and many GMs use one alongside the other.

5. Making maps

• Inkarnate: hand-crafted world and region maps in the browser.
• Dungeon Scrawl: fast, free dungeon maps with a clean old-school look.
• Watabou’s Medieval Fantasy City Generator: instant, free city layouts.
• LoreKeeper Map Generator: describe a dungeon, battlemap, city or region and get a map with a square, hex or no grid, plus a key of named locations, ready for any VTT. Free in the browser.

6. NPCs, monsters and names on the fly

LoreKeeper’s free generators run in the browser with no account: the NPC Generator gives you a portrait, stats and personality, the Monster Generator builds a full 5e stat block balanced to any challenge rating, and the Name and Tavern generators cover the rest. Results save straight into a LoreKeeper world. For classic random tables, donjon has been a DM favourite for years.

7. Running the table

• Foundry VTT: a powerful virtual tabletop you buy once and host yourself.
• Owlbear Rodeo: a simple, free browser tabletop for maps and tokens.
• Quest Portal: an online RPG platform with maps, notes and a built-in GM assistant.

Three setups that work

The solo prepper

Brainstorm in ChatGPT or Claude, keep your canon in LoreKeeper, and use the free generators for NPCs, monsters and maps.

The long campaign

LoreKeeper as the source of truth, with session recordings uploaded after each game, a virtual tabletop such as Foundry VTT or Owlbear Rodeo, and a read-only lore page shared with your players.

The one-shot night

Let Friends & Fables run it, or prep in ten minutes with the free generators and our 30-minute prep method.

How to choose

• Does it know your canon? A tool that reads your own lore will invent less than one that starts from a blank chat.
• Can you bring what you already have? Prefer tools that import your existing notes and documents, so you do not start from scratch.
• Does it fit your system? Check it handles your rules or lets you upload house rules.
• Will your players see it? Some tools share lore with players. Decide whether that matters to your table.

Frequently asked questions

Try it on your own world

The quickest test is your own campaign. Create a free LoreKeeper account, upload your notes, and ask it something only your world could answer.