The Controls Manual First draft

The table is one screen. The map fills most of it. A tool bar sits down the left edge of the map, a sidebar with tabs runs down the right, and a bar across the top holds the table name and the main buttons. A few small boxes float over the map: your character card, a token's controls and the dice button.

• Open the sandbox tableFollow along on a table that needs no sign-up.
• Players’ Guides (first draft)Learn the game itself.

• Tool bar (left edge): the map tools. See the Tools chapter.
• Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit (bottom right of the map).
• Dice button (bottom right): opens the dice tray.
• Character card (bottom left): your Persona's Vitality, Trait rolls and a Full sheet button. It starts collapsed on a phone.
• Turn bar (top centre): appears while combat runs and shows the round and whose turn it is.
• Token controls: a box that appears when you select a token.

Tip. A tab marked Game Master is simply not shown to players. If a tab in this manual is missing on your screen, you are probably a player.

The character card, token controls and prop controls each have a grip strip along the top. Drag it to move the box where you like. It stays on the board and is remembered on your device. Double-click the grip to put it back.

Each tab shows a short hint the first time you open it. Press Got it to hide that hint, or use the Turn tips off button to stop all hints.

Tip. On a phone or tablet, pinch to zoom and drag with two fingers to pan.

A table can hold many scenes, each with its own map, walls, fog, lights and tokens. The tabs across the top list them. Players are always in the scene the Game Master has sent them to. The Game Master can click another tab to prepare it without moving the players.

• A dot on a scene tab shows where your players are.
• To move everyone, open Scenes, edit the scene and press Send players.
• Tokens, walls, drawings and fog belong to a scene, so nothing from a prepared scene shows to players until you send them there.

Movement, measuring and templates all snap to the grid. One square is 1 sq by default. The Game Master can set a different size and unit (for example 5 ft) in the Table tab under Table rules, and set each map's grid in Scenes.

Pick a tool with the buttons or its key. Esc cancels what you are doing and clears the selection.

• Click a token to select it. Shift-click adds or removes tokens from the selection.
• Drag to move. Tokens snap to the grid, and players cannot move through walls or closed doors.
• Arrow keys nudge the selected token one square.
• Click a door to open or close it.
• T marks the selected token as your target (everyone sees it). Shift+T clears your targets.
• Delete removes the selected token.

Press M, then pick a shape: ruler, circle, cone or line. Drag on the map. Everyone at the table sees your measurement live, with the distance in the table's unit.

The Game Master can turn a circle, cone or line into an area effect: drag it over the map, then press Apply to targets. The list shows every token inside. Untick anyone you want to skip, tick Half for those who saved, enter the roll (for example 6d6), choose Damage or Heal, and press Roll and apply. One roll is shared by everyone in the area.

• Pick Free, Line, Rect or Ellipse.
• Pick one of six colours.
• Drag on the map. Everyone sees your drawing.
• Clear all (Game Master) removes every drawing in the scene.
• Use Erase to remove a single drawing.

Press P and click, or hold Alt and click with any tool. A ring appears on the map for everyone. Use it to say "this one" without typing.

Press W, pick Wall, Door or Window, and drag. Ends snap to half squares. Hold Shift for any angle. Click a door with the Select tool to open or close it. Use Erase to remove a wall.

Fog hides the map from players until it is revealed. It must be switched on for the scene first (Scenes, edit, Fog of war and vision), or the tool will tell you it is off.

Fog works with live vision as well: tokens with a sight radius uncover what a real line of sight allows. The Vision chapter explains how.

Press E and click a drawing to remove it. The Game Master can also click a wall to remove it.

• Persona: open the Personas tab and press Place beside your Persona. Its Vitality stays linked to its token.
• Foe (Game Master): open the Foes tab and press Place. Press Place all to put down a saved encounter.
• Prop: open the Props tab and click a prop to place it.
• Copy: select a token, and press Copy in its controls.

Use the Select tool (V). See the Tools chapter for clicking, dragging, nudging and targeting. Players can move only the tokens they control. The Game Master can move any token.

Select a token and a box of controls appears. The Game Master sees all of it. A player sees what applies to tokens they control.

Tip. A Persona token's Vitality and its sheet stay in step: change one and the other follows.

The token controls list all 24 Effects. Tick one to put it on the token. Stacking Effects have plus and minus buttons for charges, and a question mark button opens the Effect card. A token shows up to three Effect circles with their charge counts, and a +N when there are more.

• Effects in the Players’ GuideWhat each Effect does.

When the Game Master selects a Foe token, its attacks appear in the controls. Each has an attack roll and a damage roll, both sent to the chat. A token is matched to its Foe by its name without the trailing number, so renaming a token can break the link.

A hidden token is filtered out before it reaches players. It cannot be found by looking at the browser. Use it for ambushes and surprises. Use Preview as player to check what players see.

Chat is the first sidebar tab. The message box takes ordinary text and commands that start with a slash. Every roll from anywhere (the tray, a sheet, a token) lands here so the whole table sees the same result.

• Quick dice buttons: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d100 roll straight away.
• The d20 mode menu sets the d20 button to Normal, Advantage or Disadvantage.
• The message box sends text or a command. Press Enter or the send button.

Tip. For a whisper, use the person's name exactly as it appears in the member list. If the name does not match, the table tells you how to use /w.

Press the Dice button at the bottom of the map to open the tray. It builds a roll from buttons, so you never type a formula.

Rolls tumble as real 3D dice over the board. Everyone sees the same throw, and the dice land on the number that was already rolled. Each player controls this for themselves, on their own device.

• The 3D dice button in the top bar switches them on or off.
• Table tab, Your dice: on or off, dice finish, sound, volume and a test throw.
• When 3D dice are off, a roll shows as a quick number card.
• Rolls with more than 12 dice, unusual dice such as d7, and devices without WebGL always show the number card.

A roll card shows the label, the total in large type, the formula and each die. A Trait Check from a sheet shows the dice, the MOD and any EXP, Prowess or Stagger that were added. A Game Master roll is tagged GM roll and is seen only by the Game Master.

1. Click a token on the map.
2. Open the Combat tab and press Add selected. Repeat for each token in the fight. (The Combat button in a token's controls does the same.)
3. Press Roll unrolled to roll initiative for everyone, or press the dice button on one row. You can also type a number into a row's box.
4. Press Start combat. It stays grey until at least one token is in the list.
5. Press Next turn to move on. The small back arrow goes back one turn, and the square button ends combat.

Only the Game Master has these buttons. Players see the order, the round and the turn bar.

The highlighted row is whose turn it is. Defeated combatants are skipped.

While combat runs a bar across the top of the map shows the round and the order. The Game Master has a Next turn arrow in it. Each time the turn moves, everyone gets a banner and a soft chime. The player whose token is up sees "Your turn" and a brighter chime. The chime can be switched off in Your dice.

In the Table tab, under Table rules, the Game Master sets the initiative roll (default 1d20 + MOD) and which Trait supplies the MOD (default Agility).

Draft. Initiative is not in the rules I have yet, so these defaults are a stand-in.

Four switches in the Table tab under Table rules, in the box called Automation. All are off until you tick them, and they are marked Draft because the rules behind them are not final.

Tip. Plain dice rolls and Trait Checks do not change. Automation acts on the numbers on a Persona's sheet, and the turn-start switches act when you press Next turn. Each time it acts, the table posts a line in the chat.

• Each Persona you can use is listed. Press a Persona to open its sheet, or Place to put its token on the map.
• Build a Persona opens the six-step builder: Concept, Origin, Archetype, Traits, Vitals, Review. It creates the Persona and can drop a token.
• Or start with a blank sheet, or open the builder as a full page.

• Persona builderThe full-page builder on the main site.

A small card at the bottom left of the map keeps your Persona close. Collapse it with the arrow if it is in the way, or drag its grip.

• Click a Trait hexagon (or the dice icon beneath it) to roll it. The result goes to the chat.
• Shift-click rolls it with Prowess. Right-click rolls it with Stagger.
• Click a hexagon's name to open the Trait drawer: a score breakdown, the Trait's blurb, linked abilities and recent rolls.
• Tick the small box beside a Trait to mark it Adept. Adept adds EXP and Prowess.

• Vitality, Guard, Stamina and Resource each have a bar with minus and plus buttons and a maximum you can type.
• Under the meters the sheet shows what the rules say for Guard and Stamina, with a Use rules values button. It never changes your numbers by itself.
• Chance has minus and plus buttons, a Light Rest and a Full Rest button.
• Turn and Movement are numbers you type. Initiative, Light and Rest buttons sit beside them.

Tip. The sheet saves by itself. There is no Save button.

The Level up button opens a small wizard. Each level's gains are draft until the rules are confirmed. A Persona also has its own page, with Print or PDF and a Share a copy link. A shared link holds the Persona inside the address and stores nothing on a server.

A bar fixed to the bottom of the sheet keeps Vitality with minus and plus, Guard, Stamina and Chance in reach.

Add a scene, then edit it to set the map and the rules for that scene. Each scene remembers its own tokens, walls, props, fog and lights.

Tip. Quickplay maps in the Scenes tab add a finished encounter as a new scene in one click: Dockside Ambush, Rooftop Standoff, Subway Platform, Lab Breach and Dive Bar Brawl. Each has a map, walls, props and enemies in place (some hidden), with fog of war on.

• Make maps and token artThe Gemini studio has map and token prompts (admins only).

About 30 built-in top-down props (cargo, furniture, structure, vehicles, outdoors, tech and floor marks), or upload your own.

• Click a prop, then click the map to place it.
• Drag to move it. It snaps to half squares.
• Select it to rotate, resize, duplicate or delete it (the Delete key also works).

Mood holds the marks that bring a scene to life. Players never see the marks themselves, only their effects. Open a scene first.

Tip. Traps and regions run from the Game Master's screen, so keep it open during play.

Draft. Sounds play from an address you paste (for example an .mp3 link). Uploading a sound file is not built yet.

1. Fog of war and vision must be on for the scene.
2. Each token has a Sees radius in squares. A token with 0 has no sight of its own.
3. Walls and closed doors block sight. Windows and open doors let it through.
4. The scene's light level shortens how far a token sees. A token standing in light is lit and keeps its full range.
5. The vision mode changes the rules: Darkvision and Infrared ignore light, and Blindsight senses nearby squares through walls.
6. Friendly tokens share what they see with the whole party.
7. The Game Master's manual Reveal and Hide shapes add to or take from this.

• Light in the Players’ GuideWhat each level means in the story.

Set a token's mode in its controls (the Game Master can override it). A Persona can also gain a mode from gear or abilities whose name or text names it.

Press Preview as player in the top bar. The table shows exactly what a player sees, including fog, hidden tokens and hidden handouts. Press Exit preview to return.

Draft. Fog is drawn in the browser. A determined player could read wall and reveal data, though not hidden tokens or whispers. That is normal for a table of friends. Fog also does not remember where tokens have been: explored areas are only the Game Master's manual reveals.

• Search the list and press Place to put a Foe on the map as a hostile token with its Vitality set. Tick Place them hidden from players first to place it hidden.
• Saved encounters (built on the Encounters page) appear in the tab. Press Place all to put the whole encounter down.
• From a campaign: pick a campaign and chapter you can read, then place its people as hidden neutral tokens and add its read-aloud boxes as hidden handouts.
• Homebrew Foes from the Homebrew page appear here too.

Make a table with a name, the dice to roll and one result per line. A line can start with a number to weight how often it comes up. Roll it from the tab, or type /table Name in chat. Tick GM only to keep results private. Add the Complications list adds a ready-made table.

Write a note, add an image, or both. Players can read a handout from their own Handouts tab once you reveal it, or you can press Show to everyone to pop it up on every screen. Hidden handouts stay hidden. Use Edit and Remove to change them.

The Journal tab is a quick view. The full page is at /vtt/<table id>/journal, with filters, search, a what's-new banner, Start Session N+1 and export to a text file.

Intel is the Intelligence Network: events, people and places a table learns about as the story goes on. The Game Master decides what has been learned, and players see only what is revealed.

Factions tracks the Crew's Infamy with each faction or figure, from -10 to +10, built from five factors. The Game Master edits it, and players see only what is marked as shown.

Draft. Leave the Trait roll as 2d12+{mod} to use the Roll Combat check: Adept, EXP, Prowess and Stagger are then added for you. Any other formula replaces the Roll Combat check.

Press Reference in the top bar, or the ? key. A drawer slides in from the right and leaves the board usable.

Each tab explains itself the first time you open it. Got it hides one hint. Turn tips off stops them all. Hold the pointer over a button for its name and key.

• Players’ Guides (first draft)Learn the game.
• Rules ReferenceEvery rule chapter, searchable.
• GlossaryEvery rule term.

• The sidebar covers part of the screen. Use Hide sidebar to see the whole map.
• The character card starts collapsed on a small screen. Open it with its arrow.
• The sheet has a bar fixed at the bottom with Vitality, Guard, Stamina and Chance.
• Pinch to zoom the map. Drag with two fingers to pan.

Draft. The phone layout has been tested in a desktop browser at phone width, not yet on a real phone.

After your first visit, pages you have opened load without a connection, including the sandbox table. Online tables, uploads and anything that needs the database still need a connection.

The sandbox needs no account. Every browser tab is its own person, and the tab that first created the table is the Game Master. A new tab, a restarted browser or a fresh update joins as a player, without Scenes, Props or Foes and without the wall and fog tools. Press Take the GM seat to become the Game Master again.