From blank page to living campaign

A campaign is the private container for your atlas, party, sessions, handouts, settings, and journal. Players only gain access after you invite them.

1. 1

   Open Campaigns and choose Create campaign.

2. 2

   Give the campaign a recognizable name. You can change it later.

3. 3

   Open Campaign settings and choose the rules editions you want available. Set a default edition for new characters and compendium searches.

4. 4

   Decide whether death saves are public or blind and whether completed threads require confirmation.

5. 5

   Add player characters now, or let players create and claim their own after joining.

✓When you are doneYou have a private campaign workspace with the right rules and table preferences.

Chapters keep a large atlas readable. They can represent a region, story arc, sourcebook chapter, faction conflict, or any other grouping that helps you prepare.

1. 1

   Create a chapter from the Chapters section in the left sidebar.

2. 2

   Name it for the part of the campaign you expect to scan together.

3. 3

   Choose a color. The color marks the chapter boundary and label on the atlas.

4. 4

   Add starting threads to the chapter. Later chapters stay horizontally aligned so the campaign reads from left to right.

5. 5

   Edit a chapter when its name or color no longer describes the material inside it.

✓When you are doneThe atlas has a visual structure without forcing the party down one path.

Threads are the cards on the atlas. Each type answers a different question about what the party can encounter, learn, pursue, or earn.

1. 1

   Use Event for something that happens, changes the situation, or advances the world.

2. 2

   Use Location for a place the party can visit or investigate.

3. 3

   Use NPC for a person the party can meet. One NPC can be associated with several locations and chapters.

4. 4

   Use Quest for an objective the party may accept and pursue. Track it as available, accepted, active, completed, failed, or abandoned.

5. 5

   Use Encounter for opposition that can be built and run with initiative.

6. 6

   Use Clue for information the party may discover, optionally behind a skill check.

7. 7

   Use Loot for items or currency that can be discovered, unlocked, claimed, and assigned.

✓When you are doneEach campaign idea has a clear purpose and a consistent visual language.

Connections describe why one thread follows another. Lore Atlas limits branch choices to relationships that usually make sense, while still allowing converging prerequisites.

1. 1

   Hover a thread and choose Branch to see the sensible thread types that can follow it.

2. 2

   Use Required when the connection represents the expected flow of the adventure.

3. 3

   Use Optional for content the party may skip, miss, or approach another way.

4. 4

   Add prerequisites when several separate discoveries or objectives must all be resolved first.

5. 5

   Branch a quest from another quest and choose whether it unlocks after completion, failure, or abandonment.

6. 6

   When resolving a quest, choose its actual outcome. Matching follow-up quests unlock automatically.

✓When you are doneThe atlas records consequences, alternatives, and converging paths without overlapping cards.

DM-only is both a visibility rule and a visual planning state. A patterned card is private. A revealed card becomes available to player dashboards and Player Display.

1. 1

   Leave DM only enabled while creating content the party has not discovered.

2. 2

   Use the eye action on a card to reveal it at the moment the party learns it.

3. 3

   Open Player preview from Campaign settings to inspect the sanitized player experience without another account.

4. 4

   Hide a thread again only when necessary. Players may already remember information they saw.

5. 5

   Associate revealed handouts with NPC or Location threads so players can revisit the image in context.

✓When you are donePlayers see a growing record of discoveries while your plans remain private.

Invitation links add a player to one campaign. Players can then claim a prepared character or create a character of their own.

1. 1

   Open Campaign settings and choose how long the invitation remains valid.

2. 2

   Decide whether players join immediately or wait for your approval.

3. 3

   Send the branded invitation link privately. The page explains the player role before anyone joins.

4. 4

   Review pending requests in Campaign settings and approve only players you recognize.

5. 5

   Open Party to create prebuilt characters, edit levels and rules options, or review claims.

6. 6

   Unclaim a character when it needs to return to the available roster. The DM always retains this control.

7. 7

   Use Player preview to confirm the joined experience before inviting the whole table.

✓When you are doneEvery player has the correct campaign access and a durable character record.

Notifications bring important campaign changes to the global header. Collaboration lets players discuss only threads the party has discovered, while the DM controls what becomes shared campaign knowledge.

1. 1

   Open the bell in the global header to review session changes, join requests, character claims, rewards, quest discoveries, recaps, and player notes.

2. 2

   Open notification preferences to choose which campaign moments should appear and how early session reminders arrive.

3. 3

   Select a thread and review Party collaboration in the inspector.

4. 4

   Approve a pending player note to publish it to the party, or reject it when it needs revision.

5. 5

   Use quest votes and planning markers as signals, not as automatic changes to the campaign.

6. 6

   Check the player presence indicator to see who is using a player workspace. DM activity and selected secrets are never shown.

✓When you are doneThe party can contribute between sessions without gaining access to DM-only content.

Tonight’s Table is the private run sheet for one gathering. It narrows the larger atlas to the material most likely to matter tonight.

1. 1

   Open Tonight’s Table from the campaign navigation.

2. 2

   Write an opening note that puts you back in the scene quickly.

3. 3

   Add likely atlas threads, then order them in the sequence most useful for running the table.

4. 4

   Add reminders for voices, rules, unresolved decisions, safety notes, or improvisation prompts.

5. 5

   Mark prep items ready as you finish them. Do not treat the list as a script the party must follow.

✓When you are doneYou begin play with a short, useful run sheet instead of searching the entire campaign.

Sessions handles the real gathering: when it happens, what is live, what the party does, and how the record is closed afterward.

1. 1

   Choose Schedule session for a future gathering or Meet now for an unscheduled game.

2. 2

   Start the session when play begins. The player dashboard shows that the table is live.

3. 3

   Record useful notes and activity as events happen.

4. 4

   Place characters on Location, Event, or Encounter threads to show where the party is now.

5. 5

   Complete or reveal threads from the atlas as the party changes the world.

6. 6

   End the session, write the recap, and confirm the player-safe record.

✓When you are doneThe gathering has a durable timeline and the next visit starts with accurate context.

An encounter thread keeps creatures, difficulty, initiative, environment turns, health, death saves, and outcomes together.

1. 1

   Create an Encounter thread and add monsters from supported SRD editions or Homebrew.

2. 2

   Use challenge rating, creature type, size, environment, and rules filters to narrow the search.

3. 3

   Review the difficulty meter against the campaign’s player characters.

4. 4

   Add environment initiative for lair actions, hazards, reinforcements, or other battlefield events.

5. 5

   Enter or roll initiative, then advance turns while tracking damage, healing, and death saves.

6. 6

   Use the stat block panel for the active monster’s actions and traits.

7. 7

   Choose Wrap up combat and record whether enemies were defeated, escaped, or survived.

✓When you are doneCombat ends cleanly and its outcome becomes part of the session record.

Loot is a separate thread so rewards can follow an encounter, clue, or other discovery without overloading the encounter itself.

1. 1

   Branch a Loot thread from the event that grants or reveals it.

2. 2

   Add SRD equipment, magic items, Homebrew, and coin denominations.

3. 3

   Optionally add a skill check for a locked chest, hidden cache, ward, or other access challenge.

4. 4

   Complete prerequisites and mark the Loot accessed before claiming it.

5. 5

   During a live session, mark the Loot complete to open assignment controls.

6. 6

   Assign items to specific characters and divide currency evenly when appropriate.

✓When you are doneEvery reward has a source, recipient, and session history.

Handouts reveal images deliberately. Player Display puts the player-safe atlas or a selected handout on a second screen without signing in as a player.

1. 1

   Upload an image to the Handout Library and add a clear title, category, tags, and private notes.

2. 2

   Associate it with one or more NPC or Location threads.

3. 3

   Reveal it to player dashboards when it becomes known.

4. 4

   Open Player Display and scan its QR code from the second screen or tablet.

5. 5

   Use the DM controls to fit, pan, and zoom the remote display.

6. 6

   Present a handout live, then clear it to return the shared screen to the atlas.

✓When you are doneThe whole table sees the right image or atlas view without exposing DM controls.

Homebrew lives in the community catalog, independent of a campaign. Monsters and magic items use separate builders because their rules needs are different.

1. 1

   Open Homebrew from global navigation and search before creating a duplicate.

2. 2

   Create a private draft with complete rules, publisher credit, source, tags, edition, and license.

3. 3

   Preview the full reference page before publishing.

4. 4

   Publish only content you have the right to share.

5. 5

   Save or favorite useful community entries, then add compatible entries to an owned campaign.

6. 6

   Create a new version instead of deleting published content that other campaigns may use.

✓When you are doneCustom rules remain reusable, credited, versioned, and safe for campaigns that depend on them.

The journal is the lasting, readable history created from completed sessions. It combines the DM recap with safe activity already recorded during play.

1. 1

   End the live session and write a concise recap focused on choices and consequences.

2. 2

   Review encounter outcomes, quest progress, movement, and awarded loot.

3. 3

   Use player-safe preview before sharing or printing.

4. 4

   Invite players to add their own memories after the session.

5. 5

   Read the randomized story-so-far introduction before the next gathering.

✓When you are doneThe campaign remains understandable after long breaks and memorable after it ends.