What is TableSync DM?
TableSync DM is the game master's screen in TableSync, a free app for fifth edition tabletop games, on an Android phone or tablet or in any browser. It keeps your party's numbers, runs initiative and hit points, builds encounters from the SRD bestiary and holds your session prep.
A paper GM screen holds tables you rarely need and none of the numbers you ask for every round. This one holds the party: each hero's armour class, hit points, passive Perception, Insight and Investigation, saving throws and spell save DC, on a card that comes straight from the player's own TableSync Player sheet. When a fight starts, the party joins it in one tap and the monsters come from the SRD bestiary with their full stat blocks.
It runs on its own, with no desktop and no connection. If you also run TableSync Desktop on a Windows PC, the DM space can open its DM screen on a tablet.
What can TableSync DM do?
Five tabs on the thumb: Party, Fight, Build, Prep and Tools.
The party at a glance
One card per hero: species, classes and level, AC, current and maximum hit points, speed, initiative, passive Perception, Insight and Investigation, saves, spell save DC and attack bonus, languages and a notes line. A summary gives the party's size, average level and passive Perception line-up.
Heroes straight from the Player
A character comes from the Player space: Send to TableSync DM on the same device, or a file or a code from a player's own phone. The app works out the card from the sheet, shows you what it took, and asks Update or Keep both when that hero is already in the party.
Initiative in a minute
Add the party in one tap and monsters from the SRD bestiary by name, challenge rating or type; duplicates are numbered Goblin 1, Goblin 2. Monster initiative is rolled for you, singly or as a group, and each hero's roll goes in on a number pad.
Hit points that add up
Damage and healing take temporary hit points first, stop at zero and at the maximum, and can hit several targets at once. A monster at zero is greyed, skipped and can be brought back.
Conditions that count down
The SRD conditions and exhaustion levels, each with an optional duration in rounds that ticks at the start or end of the bearer's turn and says when it ends. A concentrating creature that takes damage gets its Constitution save DC on screen.
Stat blocks you roll from
Open any monster's full SRD stat block from its row and tap an attack or its damage to roll it. Legendary actions and resistances have counters, and recharge abilities roll at the start of the monster's turn.
Death saves and an undo
A hero at zero hit points tracks successes and failures, with natural 1s and 20s. The last actions can be undone, every fight keeps a log, and a fight survives the app being closed: it reopens on the same round and turn.
The fight, summed up
When it ends: rounds, the monsters defeated, experience points in total and per hero by the SRD's XP for each challenge rating, and an offer to roll the treasure.
An encounter builder
Build a fight against your party and see its difficulty by the XP budget, with the same numbers as TableSync Desktop's Encounter Builder, the XP shown, and what each monster costs. Write down how it can end without a fight to the death. Save, rename, duplicate, run one in a tap, or let Suggest an encounter pick monsters for the party.
Prep in the improv-kit format
State at Open, a Cast of character cards (mannerism, voice tic, wants, won't, three sample lines, a reactive beat), Places, Hooks with anchors and soft pressure, an Encounter Toolbox with exit conditions, a Cheat Sheet, Cold Close options, Pre-Decisions and After-Play Notes.
A session you can scan at the table
Open a session in its at-the-table view: the cheat sheet first and every other section folded, so the line you need is one tap away while the players talk.
A campaign notebook
NPCs, places, factions, threads and items, searchable, where a [[Name]] in any text links to that entry. Export a session or the notebook as Markdown with wikilinks, ready for Obsidian.
Generators for the moment you need one
An NPC with a look, a manner, a voice and a want; names by people; a tavern or shop with stock and prices; treasure by challenge rating; a yes-or-no oracle; weather. Roll again, copy, or save the result to the notebook.
The rules you look up mid-fight
Conditions, actions in combat, cover, DCs by difficulty, travel pace, light and vision, resting and exhaustion, in the 2024 or the 2014 printing, with a search: the SRD's own entries, with a short summary on top where a table helps. A dice roller takes any expression with advantage or disadvantage.
Phone and tablet
Laid out for phones, 7-inch and 10-inch tablets. On a 10-inch screen the fight shows the tracker and the selected monster's stat block side by side.
Everything in one backup file
Back up every campaign, party, encounter and session to one file and restore it on another device, with a confirmation that names what it will replace.
How does TableSync DM work with the other spaces?
TableSync DM is one of five spaces in the same app. A space hands its work to another in one tap on the same device, and to another device as a file or a code, with no account and no server in between.
- From the Player space: a character becomes a party card. On the same device, Send to TableSync DM opens this space with the hero waiting; from a player's own phone, a code or a file brings it to yours. The player keeps the sheet; the DM space never edits it.
- From the Codex space: a monster goes into an encounter or the running fight; a rule or a spell goes into the notebook.
- To the Map space: a map image you pick, with its grid size, on the same device or, as a file or a code, on the tablet or projector on the table.
- To another device's DM space: the party, an encounter or a session's prep, for a co-DM or your own tablet.
Anything sent of the wrong kind is refused with the name of the space that opens it.
With TableSync Desktop, the DM space opens the DM screen your PC serves, from its address or a join link, and Back returns to the app.
Should I use the Android app or a browser?
Use the Android app on a phone or tablet you bring to the table: TableSync from Google Play keeps working with no signal. Use a browser on a laptop, an iPad or an iPhone: it is the same space at undeployedadam.com/tablesync/dm.html, kept in that browser.
| Android app | Browser | |
|---|---|---|
| Get it | TableSync, free on Google Play | Open the address; add it to the home screen |
| Runs on | Android 7.0 and later, phones and tablets | Any current browser |
| Offline | Yes, always | Yes, after the first visit |
| The other spaces | One tap on their logos at the top | The same, in that browser |
| Data kept | In the app, on the device | In that browser, on that device |
How do I get TableSync DM?
TableSync DM is a space inside TableSync, one free app, so there is nothing separate to install:
- On Android, install TableSync from Google Play. It needs Android 7.0 or later.
- Open it and tap the DM logo at the top. The logos switch between the Player, DM, Solo, Map and Codex spaces.
- Name your campaign, and add your party by hand or from the Player space.
On a computer, an iPad or an iPhone, open TableSync DM in your browser instead: the same space, with the same switcher.
What does TableSync DM do with my data?
It keeps it on your device. There is no account, no TableSync server, no advertising, no analytics, no crash reporting and no third-party SDK.
- Campaigns, party cards, fights, encounters, sessions and notes stay in the app's own storage on the device.
- The only network request the DM space can make is to a desktop TableSync address you type in. Otherwise it connects to nothing.
- Sending a hero, an encounter or a map goes where you send it: another space on the device, the share sheet, or a file you save.
The full text is the TableSync privacy policy.
What does TableSync DM need to run?
- Android 7.0 or later, on a phone or a tablet; layouts for phones, 7-inch and 10-inch screens.
- Permissions: the app asks for internet and vibration. The DM space uses the internet only to reach a desktop TableSync address you enter, and vibration for the dice. The app does not ask for your location, contacts, camera, microphone or files.
- In a browser: any current browser on a computer, tablet or phone, iPad and iPhone included.
- Size: one Google Play download holds all five spaces; the SRD bestiary and rules travel inside it.
Questions
What is TableSync DM?
TableSync DM is the game master's screen in TableSync, a free app for fifth edition tabletop games on Android phones and tablets and in any browser. It keeps a party roster with each hero's key numbers, runs initiative, hit points, conditions and death saves, builds encounters from the SRD bestiary, and holds session prep in the improv-kit format.
Is TableSync DM free?
Yes. It is free, with no account, subscription, in-app purchase, advertising or telemetry. The code is MIT-licensed and the bundled rules content is the SRD under CC BY 4.0.
Does TableSync DM need the internet?
No. Everything works offline, and the only connection the DM space ever makes is to a desktop TableSync address you type in yourself.
Do I need TableSync Desktop to use it?
No. The DM space runs a game on its own. If you also run TableSync Desktop on a Windows PC, it can open that DM screen on your tablet from its address or a join link.
How do my players' characters get into TableSync DM?
From the Player space. On the same device, Send to TableSync DM opens the DM space with the hero waiting; from a player's own phone, the character comes as a code or a file. The DM space shows the card it worked out before adding it. Players keep their own sheets; the DM space never edits them.
How does TableSync DM rate an encounter's difficulty?
By the XP budget for your party's size and levels, with the same thresholds and multipliers as TableSync Desktop's Encounter Builder. The desktop shows only the word, Trivial to Deadly; the DM space also shows the XP, with a bar for the budget and what each monster costs, and Suggest an encounter picks monsters to fit the difficulty you choose.
Is TableSync DM a separate app?
No. Since version 1.6.0, DM is a space inside TableSync, the one app on Google Play: install TableSync and tap the DM logo at the top. In a browser it opens at undeployedadam.com/tablesync/dm.html.
Is TableSync DM an official product?
No. It is an independent, free tool, not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Its rules content is the System Reference Document, which Wizards of the Coast publishes under CC BY 4.0.
Licence & release
TableSync for Android 1.6.2 Code MIT Rules content CC BY 4.0
The app bundles the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 (its monsters, spells and items, and the rules sections its tools quote), used under CC BY 4.0. No sourcebook content is distributed. The generators' tables are original. The application code is MIT.
All releases and changelogs · TableSync: all five spaces · Privacy policy