You already use Discord. You do not have to stop.
Discord is where your friends are. It is also where your session notes, NPC descriptions, character sheets, and scheduling threads go to die. Convoke handles the campaign. Discord handles the hangout.
No credit card. 5e today, more systems coming.
We are not here to replace Discord.
Discord is an incredible communication platform. Millions of TTRPG players use it daily, and for good reason:
- Real-time voice and video for live sessions
- Large community servers for finding groups and sharing content
- Bots for dice rolling, music, and utilities
- It is free and everyone already has it
Where Discord stops and Convoke starts.
IC/OOC separation
Discord
Separate channels (honor system)
Convoke
Built-in toggle per message
Tone and atmosphere
Discord
Nothing — copy is copy
Convoke
Tone tags (tense, hopeful, comedic, wry)
Whispers
Discord
DM the player separately
Convoke
Inline whispers — GM always has visibility
Dice rolling
Discord
Bot command (!roll 1d20+5)
Convoke
Inline in your message
Character sheets
Discord
External link (D&D Beyond)
Convoke
Integrated 5e sheets with 122+ trackers
Resource tracking
Discord
Manual or external
Convoke
Automatic — rest types recover the right resources
Session recaps
Discord
Someone takes notes
Convoke
Campaign Scribe AI drafts, GM edits
Lore / worldbuilding
Discord
Pinned messages (max 50)
Convoke
Full wiki with per-player knowledge levels
NPC management
Discord
A text channel of stat blocks
Convoke
NPC library with portraits, reusable across campaigns
Session scheduling
Discord
@everyone + when2meet
Convoke
Blast the Horn — async votes, auto-confirm
Calendar
Discord
None (external)
Convoke
Dual calendar — real-world + in-world
Push notifications
Discord
Everything or nothing
Convoke
Granular per feature
Search
Discord
Basic text search
Convoke
Contextual search within campaigns, lore, NPCs
New player onboarding
Discord
"Read the pins and scroll up"
Convoke
Session recaps, lore wiki, character sheet
Mobile experience
Discord
Discord mobile (general purpose)
Convoke
PWA optimized for campaign play
Campaign organization
Discord
Channel categories (manual)
Convoke
Structured campaigns with status tracking
Media management
Discord
Uploaded to chat (lost in scroll)
Convoke
Media library linked to lore and characters
Initiative / combat
Discord
Bot-based (Avrae, etc.)
Convoke
Built-in initiative tracker
Discord works until it does not.
For the first few sessions, Discord is fine. You make a server, add some channels, pin the important stuff, and start playing. Then:
Month 2
The lore channel has 400 messages. Nobody remembers where the quest objectives are pinned.
Month 4
A new player joins. You tell them to "read the pins and scroll up." They do not. They can not. There is too much.
Month 6
The campaign is technically active, but the last three sessions were cancelled because scheduling died in general-chat between memes and off-topic debates.
Month 8
The campaign is dead. Nobody said it out loud. The Discord server is still there, a monument to what could have been.
This is not a Discord problem. This is a "using a general chat app for a specialized task" problem. Convoke is the specialized tool.
Convoke + Discord. Not Convoke vs. Discord.
Many groups will use both. Here is how:
- Discord: Voice/video for live sessions. Community hangout. Memes. Off-topic banter. Bot integrations.
- Convoke: Campaign chat (IC/OOC). Character sheets. Lore wiki. Session scheduling. Recaps. NPC library. Async play.
Switching takes five minutes. Literally.
- Create a free Convoke account (30 seconds)
- Create your campaign (1 minute)
- Invite your players via link (30 seconds)
- Players create characters or import from D&D Beyond (2-3 minutes)
- Post your first scene in party chat
Your Discord server stays. Your Convoke campaign starts. Nothing is lost.
Bots were the best we had. Now there is something better.
Avrae, Tupper, Dice Maiden — these bots are incredible community achievements. They turned Discord into a barely-functional RPG platform through sheer ingenuity.
But they are band-aids on a tool that was never meant for this. Every bot is a separate configuration. Every command is a context switch. Every crash is a session delay.
Convoke builds all of this in natively. Dice rolls, character identity in chat, resource tracking — no bots, no configuration, no downtime.
Your campaign deserves its own home.
Free in open beta. Keep your Discord for hanging out — give your campaign a platform that was built for it.