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Handbooker: Turn Markdown into D&D Player's Handbooks

· 3 min read
Max Clayton Clowes
Max Clayton Clowes
mcclowes
metamagic-games/handbooker
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If you've ever tried to create custom content for tabletop RPGs, you know the struggle of making it look professional. You want your homebrew rules, custom classes, or campaign guides to have that authentic Player's Handbook aesthetic—but design tools are time-consuming, and collaborative editing is a nightmare.

That's why I built Handbooker: an npm package that converts Markdown files into beautifully formatted PDF handbooks with the classic D&D 5e aesthetic.

The problem​

Creating tabletop RPG content involves a few common pain points:

  1. Design complexity: Tools like InDesign or even Homebrewery's web interface work great for one-offs, but they don't fit into modern development workflows
  2. Version control: Tracking changes across multiple contributors is nearly impossible with visual editors
  3. Collaboration: Git-based workflows are standard in software development, but not for game content creation
  4. Automation: You can't easily generate or update handbooks programmatically

The solution​

Handbooker bridges the gap by letting you write in Markdown—a simple, readable format perfect for version control—and converts it into stunning handbook PDFs styled like the D&D 5e Player's Handbook.

Key features​

  • Markdown to PDF: Write your content in plain Markdown, generate professional handbooks
  • Multiple file support: Combine multiple Markdown files into a single cohesive document
  • Built-in styles: Ships with D&D 5e styling based on the Homebrewery project
  • Custom styles: Bring your own CSS for complete control over appearance
  • Git-friendly: Perfect for teams using version control and pull request workflows

Technical implementation​

Handbooker is built on top of the excellent Homebrewery project's stylesheets, adapted for programmatic use. The codebase is 99% SCSS with a simple JavaScript APIAPI A set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. APIs define the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information..

Basic usage is straightforward:

const { handbooker } = require("handbooker");

const target = "./rulebook.md";
const destination = "./rulebook.pdf";
const options = { "style": "dnd" };

handbooker(target, destination, options);

For multi-file projects, just pass an array:

const files = [
  "./chapter1.md",
  "./chapter2.md",
  "./chapter3.md"
];

handbooker(files, "./complete-handbook.pdf", { "style": "dnd" });

When to use Handbooker​

Handbooker isn't meant to replace Homebrewery or other visual tools—those are perfect for quick one-off creations. Instead, Handbooker shines when you need:

  • Version control: Track changes, review contributions, maintain history
  • Team collaboration: Multiple people working on the same content
  • Automated workflows: Generate handbooks as part of a build process
  • Content reuse: Combine and recombine content modules programmatically

Try it out​

handbooker
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Install from npm:

npm install handbooker

Check out the sample project to see it in action.

Links: