Run A Session

The Digital Storyteller Screen (from now on, just DSTS) is a set of tools designed to be used while you run a session. It includes an encounter manager, a notebook, a log tracker, a handout screen and a virtual diceroller (among others). This page will guide through all the options in the DSTS.

Starting a session

Assuming you have already prepared your campaign, go to the Sessions section of the campaign and click on the green Start button of the session you want to start running:

You don't need to keep the tab open to keep the session running, so don't worry if you accidentally close it (or if you want to take a break)! You can go back to the DSTS using the Resume button (you'll find it in the place of the Start button) or the Open your Storyteller's Screen, which you can find at the top right corner of any page.

Using the DSTS

Home

The Home page of the DSTS looks like this:

The Home page is the general dashboard of the session. Let's break it down:

Top menu (red): it contains all the different sections of the DSTS. Read below for more information on each section.

Party box (purple): you can see the profile picture of the PCs of your party. Clicking on the View Party link will take you to another screen where you can manage different party settings (see below). You can also click the pictures of the characters to quickly see their profile.

Message box (green): use this to send messages to your players. You can also send them as private so they will be for your eyes only.

Session stream (yellow): below the message box you can find a stream of everything your players post during the session.

Dice roller and log (cyan): Click on any dice to roll it! You can also input the formula using standard dice format (e.g. 3d20+5). All dice rolls are logged and will appear in the dice log box below it (including your players' rolls).

Party

You can access the Party screen by clicking the View party link in the DSTS sidebar. This will open a page with the PCs, the quests and the shared equipment you set while configuring the campaign. The options in this section work just like the ones explained in Guide to campaign creation, so take a look at that guide for more information.

Notes

The Notes section lets you take session notes (as well as read other sessions' notes). The Notebooks are persistent and universal, meaning that they won't be deleted when the session ends and will always appear, no matter what world or campaign you are in. When you first open Notes, you will find a single notebook called My First Notebook and, if you had any previous notes before Heroes, they will appear inside an Old Notes section. In the following screenshot, you can see three sections: Dungeons and Cookies (another campaign), Old Notes and The Lair of the Cookie King (which is the currently selected one):

To create new notes or sections just click on the + Page or + Section links. To create a new Notebook, click on the small hamburger menu and then on the + Notebook link. Notes allow all BBCode, so if I click the eye button on the top right, the above note will look like this:

To delete a note, just click the Delete page at the bottom of the edit box.

Library

The Library lets you quickly look up articles and blocks for your campaign world. When in the Library section, use the search box at the top of the screen to find them. When you click on them, their full text will appear:

The Show to players button will post the article or block in the Handout screen (see below), while the Add to Library will add it to the sidebar library box. To remove the article from the library, just click the red button. Additionally, all recently opened articles will be displayed in the sidebar too. Just click on their names to put them in the Library.
Note that the Library is visible to you only. If you want your players to see an article, you have to post it to the Handout screen.

Media

Image Gallery

The Image Gallery contains a list of all images you have added in your campaign (including NPC art). To upload new media, just drag and drop them in the box (or click on it to select from your computer). When the image is uploaded, three buttons will appear on the image, as you can see in the screenshot:

The screen button will send the image to the handout screen, while the edit button will take you to the image edit page of your world. The red bin button will delete the image from the campaign.

Audio/Video Collection

You can also add Spotify, SoundCloud or YouTube files in your campaign? Just name them and paste a link in the text box and click the Add to Library button:

The video or audio will appear in the sidebar of this page. Click on them to play them and bring some epicness to your session!

Story

Plots

This section of the DSTS is similar to the Library. The sidebar has a list of all plots you added to the campaign before the session started. Clicking on a plot will bring the World Anvil article up so you can read it form the DSTS:

Encounters

Happy Coming Soon Fairy by Basic Dragon

COMING SOON!

Open...

Watch Live Stream

Clicking on this option will take you to a public page where people can follow the campaign in real time. All handouts are posted there, as well as the party members and a dice log.

Campaign Public Page

This is the public homepage of your campaign. It has the list of your cast members, as well as all past and scheduled sessions and links to the campaign's world, maps, timelines and NPCs.

Session settings

From the session settings you can invite players, send them messages, and edit the session details. This is also where you can delete the session (careful, if you delete it there's no going back!).

Rather watch a video? This Quick Guide unpacks the complete Digital Storyteller's Screen!

Navigation

FAQ

I have started the session, but I can't enter it. Why?

Make sure you create the session after all characters have been invited to the campaign. Any session that starts before the characters are added to it will not allow characters that join later.