Quick Start

This page takes you from a fresh install to a running fight. It should take about ten minutes.

If you would rather understand the app before using it, read How it works first. It is short.

1. Install a game system

On first launch you get a Game System Required screen. Nothing works properly until a system is installed, so start here.

Tap Install D&D 5E. A copy ships inside the app, so this needs no download and no account.

Two other buttons on that screen do the same job in different ways:

• Download opens the Package Manager, where other systems live.
• Import installs a .system file you already have.

Note

D&D 5E is never installed for you. If you skipped this screen, you can install the system later from Settings → Current System, or Settings → Package Manager.

2. Find something in the library

Tap the Library button on the game screen.

The sidebar has three groups. Library searches everything, Content holds your campaigns and modules, and Compendium lists the content types your system defines — creatures, spells, items and so on.

Tap All Entries and type a name. Tap a result to read it.

3. Add creatures to the encounter

Back on the game screen, open the add menu next to the initiative window:

Action	What it does
Load Combatant	Pick a creature from the library and add it
New Combatant	Create a one-off combatant by hand
Load Party	Add every player character in the current campaign

Pick Load Combatant and add two creatures. Tap the same creature twice to get two of them.

By default a loaded creature is added to combat and placed on the map. You can change that under Settings → Combat → Load Mode.

4. Roll initiative

Tap start. The app rolls initiative for the creatures and sorts the list.

While combat runs:

• next and previous move through turns.
• Tap a combatant’s hit points to apply damage or healing.
• Swipe a row to edit it or add conditions.

Tap stop to end combat. You can start again later and pick up where you left off.

5. Put it on a map

Open the game screen menu and tap New Map, or load an existing map from your campaign.

Drag a token to move it. Tokens for creatures you loaded are already there if Load Mode included the map.

Note

Battle maps are a one-time purchase. See Purchases.

6. Show it to your players

Two ways, depending on where your players are:

• In the room — mirror the player screen to a TV or projector over AirPlay or HDMI. See The Player Screen.
• Somewhere else — start the built-in web server and send them a link. See Remote Play.

Both show the same player-facing view. Your notes and hidden tokens stay on your device.

7. Save what you built

Use Save Encounter to keep the encounter for later. Saving a map keeps token positions, fog and drawings.

Saved encounters and maps live in your current campaign, and load again in one tap.

Where to go next

• How it works — the four parts of the app.
• The Library — searching, editing and creating content.
• Encounters & Combat — the full version of steps 3 and 4.
• Campaigns & Modules — organising your material.