Introduction: Why RPG-ify Your Habits?

Habit tracking can feel repetitive and uninspired over time. Enter the RPG-style habit tracker—a creative way to gamify your daily routines, making them feel like a quest or adventure. By integrating RPG elements like experience points (XP), leveled skills, and quest logs into your habit tracker, you can add a layer of engagement and motivation that keeps you committed. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create your own RPG-style habit tracker in Obsidian, a powerful note-taking and productivity tool.

Why Obsidian?

Obsidian is a versatile tool for building personalized productivity systems. Its support for markdown, plugins, and templates makes it an ideal platform for creating custom habit trackers. With plugins like Dataview, Templater, and QuickAdd, you can automate data collection, generate dynamic tables, and streamline your workflow.

Features of an RPG-Style Habit Tracker

Before diving into the setup, let’s outline the key features your RPG-style habit tracker should include:

  1. XP System: Assign XP points to tasks and habits. Earn XP by completing tasks, and level up your skills or abilities.
  2. Leveled Skills: Create a system where leveling up unlocks new skills or bonuses, such as increased efficiency or new habit categories.
  3. Quest Log: Track short-term and long-term goals as quests. Break them into smaller, manageable tasks (quests can be daily, weekly, or monthly).
  4. Progress Visualization: Use tables, charts, or even ASCII art to visualize your progress and XP gains.
  5. Customization: Tailor the tracker to your preferences, whether you’re a fan of fantasy, sci-fi, or another genre.

Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your RPG-Style Habit Tracker

1. Setting Up Your Obsidian Vault

First, ensure you have Obsidian installed on your device. Create a new vault or use an existing one. We recommend organizing your vault into the following folders:

  • Habits: For daily, weekly, and monthly habits.
  • Quests: For tracking short-term and long-term goals.
  • Skills: For managing leveled skills and XP gains.
  • Templates: For quick access to habit, quest, and skill templates.

2. Installing Necessary Plugins

To maximize functionality, install the following plugins:

  • Dataview: Enables you to query and display data from your notes in a structured format.
  • Templater: Allows you to create reusable templates for habits, quests, and skills.
  • QuickAdd: Simplifies adding new notes and tasks from the command palette.

3. Creating Your Habit Tracker

a. Defining Your XP System

In your habits folder, create a new note called XP System.md. Define how much XP each task or habit is worth. For example:

  • Completing a daily exercise: 10 XP
  • Reading for 30 minutes: 5 XP
  • Writing 500 words: 15 XP

Use the following markdown table to organize your XP values:

| Task                  | XP Value |
|-----------------------|----------|
| Exercise              | 10       |
| Reading               | 5        |
| Writing               | 15       |
| Meditation            | 8        |
| Meal Prep             | 7        |
b. Creating Quests

In your quests folder, create a new note called Quest Log.md. Break your goals into quests, with each quest consisting of smaller tasks. For example:

### Daily Quests
- Exercise for 30 minutes
- Read for 30 minutes
- Write 500 words

### Weekly Quests
- Complete 5 daily exercise sessions
- Read 2 hours total
- Write 3,000 words

### Monthly Quests
- Complete all weekly quests
- Reach a total of 500 XP
c. Leveling Up Skills

In your skills folder, create a note called Skill Tree.md. Define skills that unlock as you level up. For example:

### Skill Tree
- **Level 1**: Basic Habit Tracking
- **Level 2**: Advanced Habit Tracking ( unlocks XP multipliers)
- **Level 3**: Master Habit Tracker (unlocks weekly streak bonuses)

4. Automating Data Collection

Use the Dataview plugin to automate the collection and display of your habit data. For example, you can query your XP values and generate a dynamic table of your progress.

```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID Task, XP Value
FROM "Habits/XP System.md"
SORT Task ASC
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█████████████………….. 50%

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Habit Input → XP Calculation → Skill Leveling → Quest Completion → Rewards

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