Your first session

From an empty campaign to the first fight: the campaign creator, the character builder, the lobby, the first turn, and the tutorials that appear along the way.

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This is the path a new table walks, in order. Each screen has a guided tour the first time you see it, replayable from Help, so nothing here is required reading; it is the shape of the evening.

1. Create the campaign

New campaign opens three steps: Essentials (who runs the game, players, level, difficulty, setting and premise, with optional world, character rules and prep), Experience (narration and character voices, atmosphere, safety and the other optional table features), then Review. Edit any section from the review before creating. You can also save these choices as your personal defaults for future campaigns on this server. See Create a campaign for the full walkthrough.

In the apps, Opens on names which host New campaign, Characters and Workshop use; Change switches it. Quick start appears only when that host offers an AI storyteller and allows you to create campaigns. It makes a one-evening adventure with ready-made heroes. A campaign's cover can be uploaded or painted when an image backend is available.

Step 1 of 3, Essentials: the title, four ways to run the table, players, starting level and difficulty — Essentials comes first, then Experience and Review.

2. Choose a character

The lobby's Choose your hero offers Ready-made hero, From your library and Build your own, with the likeliest one marked. From your library opens Choose your character: your own heroes, Pregens from your adventures (heroes a workshop or an imported adventure was written for), the table's ready-made heroes, and Build a new character. Every pick there opens a short sheet that says what changes at this table, such as the level it plays at, and checks the rules before it seats you. The same choices appear for a solo adventure or a player joining during play.

From the lobby, or from Characters on the home screen, the builder walks six steps, named under its diamonds: Hero (how you want to play, name and background), Ancestry, Class (class, subclass at its level, skills, fighting style, expertise), Abilities (throw six sets of 4d6 into a tray and place them, take the standard array, or point buy), Spells (cantrips and spells, recommended picks first, then the class's starting equipment; Gear for a class that does not cast), and Finish. In a hurry? Help me build asks four questions and offers two suggested characters, and Fill what's left fills only the empty picks and reads back what it chose, with Undo. New builds offer Resume if this device has a saved draft. Each step lists the choices still owed, and when Continue is held the reason sits beside it with Show me, which takes you to the missing pick. Every description is one press away, and every option names the book it comes from. A new character's first save lands on its hero page, with three things to try on your first turn.

Characters live in your library and can be filed under several campaigns. A campaign can also let you play more than one.

The character builder's Class step: a card grid of classes with the setting's recommended ones starred, and the skill and expertise picks for the chosen class — The Class step and the finished sheet on a phone.

A finished character sheet on a phone: painted ability tiles, a hit point bar, and icon chips for features and gear — The Class step and the finished sheet on a phone.

3. Fill the lobby

The lobby shows the cover, the room code panel and the party list. Share the code (how). Each player picks or builds a character and presses Ready up. Under Party story, the table can write a shared backstory of who the characters are to each other, or draft one from their own backstories; the Dungeon Master reads it once it is written. The lead can edit campaign details and manage seats, while story authority controls table settings and imported prep. The campaign owner or DM presses Begin the adventure when everyone is ready.

4. The first turn

The table opens on the chronicle: the Dungeon Master's narration, your party's words, and the rolls, all in order. Under it is the message box with four modes: Do for an action, Say for words in character, OOC for out-of-character talk, and Direct for an instruction to the Dungeon Master (party lead only). Type what your character does and send. The Dungeon Master narrates, asks for rolls, and starts fights when they happen. At a table with more than one player, the AI Dungeon Master waits until everyone with the table open has acted or pressed Pass, then answers them all in one turn; a banner says whom it is waiting on.

On a player's first visit, a five-step Your first turn tour covers sending an action, asking a question, finding the sheet and getting help. Help replays the full table tour; completed world tours follow your account across devices. The first fight has its own tutorial, which explains the Hand: your options as a fan of cards.

The table mid-story: Dungeon Master narration in the chronicle on the left, the battle panel, the Hand and the message box with Do, Say, OOC and Direct modes in the middle, and the side panel with Lead, Party, Battle, Map, Story, Notes, Chat, World, Context and Settings tabs on the right — The table on a desktop. Narration on the left, the side panel on the right.

5. Dice, rolls and turns

When the Dungeon Master asks for a roll, a roll card appears. The app rolls for you unless you chose typed physical dice or a paired Pixels die for that shape. Rolls tumble as 3D dice if you left that on, and on a phone you can hold them until you shake. The dice menu in the header also has a tray for rolling your own dice, with Roll in secret. In combat, initiative runs along a rail of portraits, a banner calls each turn, and the Hand shows what you can do with the numbers from your sheet.

Where to go next

The table, Combat and the Hand and Dice.
Create a campaign and The Settings tab for party leads.
Human DM mode if a person is running the table.