Play A Session in World Anvil Codex | World Anvil

Play A Session

Restructuring the Codex

We are currently moving articles around and changing the general structure of the Codex. Please come back later if you get lost!
When the GM creates a campaign and starts running a session, all players will get access to the session live screen. This screen has different tools and utilities that will be useful during the session. It's divided into multiple sections; let's break it down!  

Home

When you first access the live screen, it will look like that:
The home screen has different elements:
  • Sidebar: clicking on your PC's profile picture will open a drop-down with different options related to your character alone (view and edit profile, session journals, etc.). Under your PC profile picture there's the party section (highlighted in red if the GM has created a party with your character in it, the party members will appear here. Clicking on the "party quests & equipment" will open the party screen. Click on their profile pictures to get to their social profiles!
  • Post box (light green): Using this box you can post as your character right from the live screen! All posts are public by default (unless you click the private) option. More information in the Guide to character interaction. Under this box there's the stream of your campaign posts.
  • Diceroller (magenta): this is pretty straightforward: click on the die you want to roll or enter its code in the regular dice notation to roll them. Results will appear in the Live Dicelog box under the roller box and will be visible to everyone in the campaign, both players and GM.
  • Top menu bar (cyan): this contains links to different parts of the live screen. Go ahead and click on Sheet to go to the next page!
 

Sheet

This page just contains the character sheet of your PC in view mode. Click the Edit Sheet button to make changes to it, add spells, weapons, etc. To learn more about RPG sheets and how to use them, take a look at the Guide to sheets.  

Equipment

COMING SOON!
 

Handouts

This page will probably be empty when the session starts. During the course of the session, the GM might want to show you certain texts, images or other kinds of content. When this happens, the GM will post this material in the Handout screen for you to see.  

Lore

In this page you can use the right box (highlighted in red) to choose a lore article to read. The articles you can read from this page are chosen by the GM before the session starts, based on what you should know about the setting. Clicking on the Open in world link (highlighted in green) will open the article in a new tab.  

Party screen

As said before, you can access this screen by clicking the Party Quests & Equipment button in the sidebar. It looks like this:
  The left column, in red, has a list of party quests. These quests can be edited by the GM or the party members. You can change their description, track the progress and mark them as complete.   The right column, in green, has a list of all the equipment you share with the party. This is not the list of your personal equipment, so don't add things here that you don't want other characters to have or use! To do that, use the Equipment section of your character sheet.

Navigation

 

FAQ

The GM has started the session, but I can't enter it. Why?
Tell your GM to 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.

Comments

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Jun 2, 2019 19:47

"When the GM creates a campaign and starts running a session, all players will get access to the session live screen. This screen has different tools and utilities that will be useful during the session." the POST box is not shown anywhere in my GM screens. THere is no way to communicate to players in WA. Only to the group.

Jun 2, 2019 20:36

Yes. Can you please suggest that as a feature? Thanks!

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Mar 13, 2020 18:30

I passed the NPC to the player by accident. Is it possible that he would give it back to me?

Oct 5, 2023 11:48 by Саша Абсолютный ДМ

И вправду интересный вопрос. почему никто не ответил?

Mar 28, 2020 15:06

One of my players is somehow listed as a NPC, and I can't seem to fix it. Help?

Sep 23, 2020 16:21 by David Hatch

How does one play-by-post using the Storytelling screen?

Sep 24, 2020 10:52

The feature is not designed for a play-by-post playing style. I think that there's something planned on this front in the future, but I'm not sure.

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Mar 10, 2021 15:16

Yah, that should DEFINITELY be an option...matter of fact, if I were the Head Designer of WorldAnvil, I would have developed the entire system around it (since it is the basic, core mechanic of playing an rpg over the internet...everything revolves around people taking Turns, and play by post allows the break between turns to be indefinite, that’s a pretty powerful feature...to start with).

Nov 30, 2020 03:05

I still don’t get this by the way I’m new to this but I already started making a world so can someone pls help me.

Nov 30, 2020 10:10

What do you need help with? I suggest you join our Discord server, where you'll find a dedicated help channel for all your questions!

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Oct 5, 2023 11:50 by Саша Абсолютный ДМ

классно что подерживаете новичков!

Dec 23, 2020 08:03

I still don’t have a clue?

Dec 23, 2020 18:24

If you tell me what you need help with, I'll be happy to help. But I can't help you if you're question is just "I need help".

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Dec 23, 2020 21:36

Well how can you create a campaign

Dec 24, 2020 10:52

Go to the homepage (click the World Anvil logo to get there) and then click the "Your Campaigns" tab. There you'll find a "Create a new Campaign" button, on the right. Hope this helps!

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Mar 10, 2021 15:21

This is one of the easiest layouts ever made, I like it a lot. Play-By-Post should have been the core mechanic it was designed around, but that’s just mho. A turn consists of players and gm taking turns, and letting everyone know what their character is going to attempt/describe/atmosphere. D$D online back in 93 was done this way, but we used email type thingy (only 4 of us). One kid played like this with his father and showed us....memories, ahhhhh (sigh).

Aug 16, 2021 04:28

I’ve never played but I would really love to and have wanted to try it for a long time but I’m having trouble with figuring out how to make the character sheet.

Aug 18, 2021 10:05

Have you followed this guide? If so, let me know at which step exactly are you getting stuck!

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.