User Guide

Creating an Account

Navigate to /register and either fill in your first and last name, email address, a password (minimum 8 characters), and a password confirmation, or click Continue with Google to sign up with your Google account instead. Click Create Account (or complete the Google flow) — you will land directly on your dashboard.

Logging In

Go to /login and sign in with your email and password, or click Continue with Google or Continue with Discord. All three land you on your dashboard with your last active combat state restored automatically. Click Enter as Guest instead if you just want to try the app without an account.

Logging Out

Click the logout icon (arrow pointing right) in the top-right corner of the dashboard header.

Players do not need an account. Your DM will give you a 6-character Session ID (e.g. AB3X9K).

1. Navigate to /join
2. Type in the Session ID — it auto-formats to uppercase and ignores invalid characters
3. Click Continue as Guest
4. You are taken to the live Player Display for that session

Optional: Player Accounts

If you'd rather not retype the Session ID every session, sign in from the "sign in for a better experience" section on /join — Continue with Google, Continue with Discord, or an email/password account at /player/register / /player/login. Signed-in players get a "Your Sessions" list for one-tap rejoining, and their account name/avatar becomes their default identity in DM messaging and Liar's Dice whenever they haven't picked a specific in-game character. Signing in is entirely optional — guest joining still works exactly as before.

The Join Gate

On the display screen, tap Join Session to enable live audio, or Continue without sound for a silent view.

When you create a new game session, Initiative asks you to choose which edition of D&D 5e you are playing. This choice shapes the bestiary, spell list, encounter difficulty system, and Quick Reference rules available to you throughout that session.

Existing sessions created before this feature was added are automatically treated as 2014 edition sessions.

The dashboard is your command center, divided into three panels:

On mobile, the sidebars are hidden. Tap Party or Enemies in the bottom action bar to open them full-screen. Tap the ✕ close button or press back to return to the main tracker.

On desktop, the Enemy panel is resizable — drag its left edge left or right to make it wider or narrower (200–520 px). Your preferred width is saved automatically.

Header Bar

• ⚔️ Initiative Tracker — app title
• Session display — active session name and its 6-char public ID. Click the copy icon to copy it to your clipboard (turns into a green checkmark to confirm).
• Guide — opens this page
• Messages — opens the DM inbox (see section 16)
• Notes — opens the current session's DM notes
• Dice Roller — opens the Dice Roller modal (see section 13)
• Liar's Dice — starts or joins a Liar's Dice game (see section 19)
• Spells — opens the Spell Reference (see section 15)
• Voice — enables hands-free voice commands, Chrome/Edge only (see section 21)
• Mixer — opens the Audio Mixer (see section 22)
• Quick Reference — opens the rules-lookup panel (see section 17)
• Generators — opens the content-generator hub (see section 18)
• Encounters — opens the Encounter Builder (see section 14)
• Sessions — opens the Session Manager modal
• History — opens the Combat Chronicle page
• Player Display — opens the viewer screen in a new tab (desktop only)
• Contact — opens your email client to contact support
• Logout — ends your session

Adding a Player

Click + Add Player to open the add-player popup. It has two tabs: Manual and D&D Beyond. Click a tab to switch between them. The popup stays open after each add, so you can add your whole party in one go.

Manual: Fill in the player's Name, Level (default 1), AC (Armor Class, default 10), and Max HP (default 10), then click Add Player.

Importing from D&D Beyond

If your players have characters on D&D Beyond, you can import them directly instead of entering stats by hand. The character sheet must be set to Public in D&D Beyond's Character Settings.

1. Click the D&D Beyond tab in the add-player popup
2. Paste a character URL (e.g. dndbeyond.com/characters/12345678) or just the numeric character ID
3. Click Fetch — the tracker contacts D&D Beyond and parses the sheet
4. A preview card appears with the imported values: Name, Level, Max HP, AC, DEX modifier, and Passive Perception
5. Click Add Player on the preview card to add them to the roster

The character's D&D Beyond portrait is imported automatically and set as their avatar. Both 2014 and 2024 ruleset characters are supported — 2024 initiative proficiency is applied to the DEX modifier automatically.

Player Avatars

Click a player's circular avatar to upload a photo (JPEG/PNG). It is automatically cropped to a square and resized to 256×256. To remove an avatar, hover over it and click the ✕ that appears.

On the initiative order, clicking a player's avatar opens it full-size in a lightbox preview — click outside the image, press Escape, or click the ✕ to close it.

Editing a Player

Double-click a player card (or click the pencil icon) to enter inline edit mode. You can change the name, AC, and max HP. Saving resets HP to the new max. Click Save or Cancel.

Leveling Up a Player

Click ⬆ Level Up below the add-player form to open a wizard that steps through the party one player at a time. Each step shows that player's current stats and lets you enter their new Level, AC, Max HP, DEX modifier, and Passive Perception. Raising Max HP carries the gain over to current HP rather than fully healing them. Click Save & Next to move on — changes save as you go, so closing partway through keeps whatever you've already stepped past.

Benching a Player

Click the bench icon to remove a player from the current initiative order while keeping them in your roster. A "Benched" label appears on their card. Click + Combat to bring them back into the fight.

Removing a Player

Click the red delete button on a player card to permanently remove them from the roster.

The Enemy Library

The right sidebar contains ~380 D&D 5e SRD monsters. Use the controls to find what you need:

• Search bar — filters by name in real time
• Type dropdown — filters by monster type (Beast, Dragon, Undead, Humanoid, etc.)
• Sort dropdown — sort A–Z by name, or group by type

Adding Enemies to Combat

1. Click a monster in the list to select it — it highlights in red
2. A panel slides out below the list — set the quantity (1–20) with the − / + buttons or by typing
3. Click Add to Encounter

When you add more than one of the same monster they are automatically numbered (Goblin 1, Goblin 2, etc.) and each gets a randomly rolled initiative based on its DEX modifier.

Viewing a Stat Block

Click the ℹ️ info icon on any built-in or bestiary-imported monster (in the library or the initiative order) to open a full D&D stat block modal — ability scores, saving throws, traits, actions, resistances, artwork, and more.

Rolling Dice from a Stat Block

Inside the stat block modal, two types of values are interactive:

• Damage / HP dice — any dice expression such as 2d6 + 5 appears in amber with a dotted underline. Click it to roll those dice and add any modifier.
• Attack rolls — phrases like Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit appear in violet with a dotted underline. Click the phrase to roll a d20 and add the listed attack bonus.

A result popup shows each individual die value, a modifier breakdown when one applies, and a Total. Use Roll again to re-roll the same expression, or click anywhere outside the popup to dismiss it.

Custom Monsters

Click the Custom button at the top of the right sidebar to open the Custom Monster Manager.

Creating: Fill in Name, AC, HP, CR, and Monster Type (all required), optionally upload an avatar, then click Create.

Custom monsters appear at the top of the library list and work exactly like built-in ones. Use the pencil and trash icons in the manager to edit or delete them.

Importing a Bestiary

Non-SRD monsters (e.g. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden) cannot be bundled with the app because the stat blocks are WotC IP. You can import them yourself from a 5etools bestiary JSON file.

1. Download the bestiary JSON from the 5etools data repository on GitHub (e.g. bestiary-idrotf.json)
2. In the Enemy Panel, click the ⬆ Import button next to the Custom button
3. Select the JSON file — the app parses it entirely in your browser (nothing is uploaded to any server)
4. Review the monster count shown and click Import

Imported monsters appear at the top of the library, tagged with a SOURCE badge (e.g. IDRotF). The badge also appears on the combatant row in the initiative tracker so you always know which book a creature came from.

Imported monsters carry their full stat block — click the ℹ️ info icon to open the stat block modal just like built-in SRD monsters. Re-importing the same file skips monsters that are already in your library, so it is safe to import repeatedly.

Setting Initiatives

Click the initiative field on any combatant row and type a number. Fields left blank show — and those combatants sort to the bottom.

Starting Combat

Once at least one combatant has an initiative set, click Start Combat. The highest-initiative combatant becomes active (highlighted in amber), the tracker auto-scrolls to bring them into view, and the round counter starts at 1.

Advancing Turns

• Next — advances to the next combatant. When the last one acts, the round increments and the order wraps to the top.
• Prev — steps back one turn (useful for corrections).

Both buttons auto-scroll the tracker to keep the active combatant in view. Dead enemies (0 HP) are automatically skipped in the turn rotation.

Ending Combat

Click End to conclude combat. The encounter is automatically saved to your Combat Chronicles.

Combatant Notes

Every combatant row has a pencil icon beside the remove (✕) button. Click it to open a notes modal where you can type any freeform text — spell concentration reminders, loot notes, roleplay hooks, etc. When a note has been saved the icon glows amber as a visual reminder. Notes persist with the rest of the combat state.

Utility Buttons

Undo

The ↺ Undo button reverts the most recent action: a damage/heal, a condition/spell-effect change, a temp HP change, a death-save update, or a turn advance/rewind. It's greyed out when there's nothing to undo.

Undo keeps the last 5 actions — clicking it repeatedly walks back through each one in turn. Taking any other action clears the whole undo history, so you can't reach further back than your most recent unbroken streak of undoable actions. The button stays available across the dashboard's own live-update echo of your last change, but it clears if a genuinely different external change comes in first — e.g. a player rolling their own initiative on the viewer screen.

Bulk Actions (AoE)

Click AoE to apply one action to several combatants at once — handy for fireballs, auras, or any effect that hits a whole group. The modal has two tabs:

Damage / Heal tab

1. Every active combatant is listed with checkboxes, all selected by default (benched players and lair cards are excluded); click a row to deselect it
2. Check Saved on any combatant who made a saving throw for half damage
3. Type an Amount, then click − Damage or + Heal to apply it to every selected, un-saved combatant at once (saved combatants take half)
4. Any concentration checks triggered by the damage are queued after the modal closes

Condition / Effect tab

1. Same combatant checklist, but Saved now means "made their save — unaffected," excluding that combatant from the effect
2. Choose a condition, an Adv/Disadv marker, a quick-pick spell effect, or Custom… to type a freeform name
3. Optionally set a number of Rounds for the effect to last (blank = indefinite)
4. Click Apply to add it to every selected, un-saved combatant in one sync; combatants who already have that status are skipped rather than toggled off

Dealing Damage

Type an amount in the damage field on any row and click Dmg. Damage is absorbed by Temporary HP first — any overflow reduces current HP. HP cannot go below 0.

Healing

Type an amount and click Heal. HP cannot exceed the combatant's max HP.

Temporary HP

For players, a Temp HP section appears on each row. Type an amount and click Set Temp HP to assign temporary hit points. Click ✕ to clear them. Temp HP shows as a yellow badge and a yellow bar extension on the HP meter. Damage reduces temp HP before current HP; healing does not restore temp HP.

HP Color Coding

Legendary Actions

Enemies whose stat block includes legendary actions automatically show a Legendary Actions row on their initiative card. Three amber dots represent the legendary action uses available each round.

• Filled dot (●) — action available. Hollow dot (○) — action spent.
• Click a filled dot to spend actions down to that position; click a hollow dot to restore actions from that position onward.
• All dots automatically refill at the start of that creature's turn.
• Click the ℹ️ icon beside the dots to open a quick-reference modal showing all of the creature's legendary action options.

This row only appears for enemies with a full stat block (built-in SRD monsters and bestiary imports). Custom monsters created manually do not have a stat block and will not show the tracker.

Lair Actions

Some powerful creatures can take lair actions — special effects that trigger on initiative count 20. Click the building icon on any enemy card to add a purple Lair Actions card to the initiative order.

• The building icon appears between the info and notes buttons on enemy cards, and is only visible when no lair card already exists for that creature.
• The lair card sits at initiative count 20 and participates in the normal turn order — it is highlighted amber when it is that card's turn, prompting you to resolve the lair action.
• Only one lair card can exist per creature template at a time.
• When the last instance of a creature is removed from combat, its lair card is automatically removed as well.
• Click the ✕ button on the lair card to dismiss it manually at any time.

On the player display, the lair card appears in the initiative list and active-turn view with purple styling and a "LAIR" label.

Armor Class Visibility

Enemy AC is hidden from the player display by default. Check the Show AC checkbox on an enemy row to reveal it to players. If there are multiple enemies of the same type (e.g. three Goblins), toggling the checkbox on any one of them automatically applies the same setting to all others of that type. Players always see their own character's AC.

Adding a Condition or Spell Effect

Click + Condition/Spell Effect on any combatant row. A dropdown lists the 15 standard conditions, the four Adv/Disadv markers, a quick-pick list of common spell effects (Bless, Bane, Haste, Hex, and more), and a Custom text field for any other effect name. Click one to apply it — the badge appears immediately on the row, styled grey for standard conditions/markers and fuchsia for spell effects. A prompt lets you set a number of rounds for the effect to last, or leave it blank for indefinite. Dead and Unconscious are not selectable: when a player drops to 0 HP they automatically become Unconscious (all other conditions cleared) and a death saving throw tracker appears on their row. Enemies at 0 HP are simply removed from the turn order.

To apply the same condition or spell effect to several combatants in one action (e.g. a fireball's Frightened save, or a party-wide Bless), use the Condition/Effect tab of the AoE modal instead of adding it one row at a time.

Standard conditions

Advantage / Disadvantage

The four Adv / Disadv conditions behave like any other condition — they appear as color-coded badges on both the DM dashboard and the player display. Use them to track situational modifiers such as the effects of spells, terrain, or class abilities that grant or impose advantage or disadvantage.

Viewing a Condition or Spell Effect Description

Every active badge has a small ⓘ info icon on its right edge. Clicking it opens a modal labeled "Condition" or "Spell Effect" showing the name and a summary of its mechanical effects — for standard conditions, the rules text; for quick-pick spell effects, a short mechanical summary; for a freeform custom name with no known description, "No description available." This works on both the DM dashboard and the Player Display.

Removing a Condition or Spell Effect

On the DM screen, click the name portion of the badge to remove it. The ⓘ icon and the remove action are separate — clicking the icon only opens the description, it does not remove the condition. Changes appear as a colored flash and audio cue on the viewer screen.

The viewer at /display/[sessionId] is the public-facing screen your players watch during combat. It updates in real time — no refreshing needed.

Sharing the Session

Give players your 6-character Session ID from the dashboard header. They go to /join, enter the ID, and are taken to the viewer. Or click Player Display in the header to open it yourself.

Join Gate

When a player first opens the viewer, an overlay asks them to tap Join Session — required by browsers before playing audio. Continue without sound skips audio entirely.

A Liar's Dice entry also appears in the viewer's header (or hamburger menu on mobile) whenever the DM has an active game — see section 19.

What Players See

Before combat starts: A large sword icon, "Awaiting Combat", and a list of all combatants with their current initiative rolls.

During combat:

• Type badge — PLAYER CHARACTER or ENEMY
• Avatar in a glowing circular frame (uploaded photo or monster artwork/emoji) — click an enemy's avatar to open the full image in a new tab
• Name in large responsive text with a colored glow
• Stats row: Initiative · Armor Class · Hit Points (players only)
• HP bar with color coding and a yellow temp HP extension (players only)
• Active conditions and spell effects as color-coded badges
• Up Next strip — the next 1–4 combatants in order

The background glows blue during a player's turn and red during an enemy's turn.

Flash Effects

Audio Effects

The 🔊 / 🔇 button in the viewer header toggles all sounds on or off.

Connection Status

• Green dot · Live — receiving updates normally
• Grey dot · Connecting… — reconnecting automatically, no action needed

Each DM account can have multiple independent game sessions — useful if you run more than one campaign or want to separate one-shots from your main game.

What a Session Contains

• Its own 6-character public ID shared with players
• A user-defined name
• An independent combat state (combatants, HP, turn order)
• Its own combat history

Opening the Session Manager

Click the Sessions button (≡ icon) in the dashboard header.

Switching Sessions

Click any session in the list to switch to it. The dashboard reloads with that session's state. Players need to use the new session's ID to connect.

Creating a New Session

Click New Session at the bottom of the modal, type a name (or leave blank for a default like "Session 2"), then click Create.

Renaming a Session

Click the pencil icon next to any session, edit the name inline, and press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.

Deleting a Session

Click the trash icon next to a session. A "Sure?" confirmation appears — click again to confirm. You cannot delete your last remaining session.

The Chronicle page keeps a permanent record of every completed encounter.

How Records Are Created

• End Combat — automatically saves the full encounter to history
• Save button — creates a manual snapshot during active combat without ending it

Reading a Combat Record

Each card shows encounter number (Roman numerals), enemy roster, date/time/duration, and summary stats (rounds, players, casualties, events logged).

The participants grid shows every combatant with a dual-layer HP bar (ghost starting HP + current HP) and a ☠ Slain label if they died.

Experience Points

When the chronicle is generated, the XP total for the encounter is automatically calculated from each slain enemy's Challenge Rating using the standard D&D 5e XP-by-CR table. Expand a record to see the full breakdown — each slain enemy listed with its CR and XP value, a total, and an even split per player if your party is listed.

Event Log

Click Show Chronicle to expand the detailed event log, grouped by round:

Exporting to PDF

Click the download icon button on any record card header to generate and download a PDF of that encounter. The button shows a spinner while it prepares; the file downloads automatically once ready.

The PDF contains:

• Header — encounter number (Roman numerals), date, time, and duration
• Stats row — rounds, players, casualties, and total XP
• Participants table — starting HP, final HP, damage dealt, healing done, and outcome (Survived / Slain)
• XP breakdown — each slain enemy with its CR and XP value, a total, and a per-player split (shown when any slain enemies had a CR set)
• Full round-by-round event log, paginating automatically for long encounters

Files are named encounter-XVIII-2025-01-15.pdf (Roman-numeral encounter number + ISO date).

Deleting Records

• Delete one — click the trash icon on a record card and confirm within 3 seconds
• Delete all — click Clear All at the top of the page and confirm

Click the Dice button (cube icon) in the dashboard header to open the Dice Roller modal. It is available at any time — in or out of combat.

Controls

An expression preview (e.g. 2d6 + 3) updates live above the Roll button so you can confirm your selection before rolling.

Rolling

Click Roll to execute. The result panel shows:

• Individual die tiles — one tile per die rolled. On a d20, a natural 20 glows amber and a natural 1 glows red.
• Dice sum + modifier — shown when a modifier is set, breaking down the raw sum and the adjustment separately.
• Total — the final result in large amber text.
• Roll Again — re-rolls the same die type, quantity, and modifier immediately.

Roll History

The last 5 rolls are listed below the result in a compact log showing the expression (e.g. 2d6+3), the individual die values, and the total. The most recent roll is fully opaque; older entries are dimmed.

Virtual Dice

By default, every roll triggers a full-screen 3D physics animation — dice tumble across the screen with metal sound effects, and the face values that come to rest are the authoritative result. The result panel only appears once the dice have settled.

Virtual dice fire on every roll surface in the app:

• The Dice Roller modal
• Clickable dice expressions in monster stat blocks (damage rolls, attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks)
• Clickable dice in spell descriptions and legendary action text
• Liar's Dice rolls
• Voice command dice rolls (e.g. "Tracker roll d20")

A Disable virtual dice checkbox at the bottom of the Dice Roller modal switches to instant results with no animation. The preference is saved between sessions and applies to every roll surface across the entire app.

Click the Encounters button (clipboard icon) in the dashboard header to open the Encounter Builder. Use it to plan and save reusable combat encounters — add enemies, preview XP and difficulty, then load the whole encounter into the initiative tracker with one click.

Party Context

Two small inputs at the top of the modal set the Party size (number of players) and Level (average party level). These affect the difficulty display for every encounter card and the builder preview. They are not persisted — adjust them each session as needed.

Saved Encounters

Each saved encounter card shows:

• Name — the encounter's title
• Difficulty badge — Trivial / Easy / Medium / Hard / Deadly, calculated from adjusted XP vs. the D&D 5e DMG thresholds for the current party size and level
• XP total — adjusted XP (raw XP × the standard enemy-count multiplier)
• Enemy summary — e.g. 2× Goblin, 1× Hobgoblin

Two action buttons appear on each card:

Building a New Encounter

Click New Encounter to expand the builder form.

1. Give the encounter a name (e.g. Goblin Ambush)
2. Type in the enemy search box to filter the full library (SRD monsters + your custom monsters); click a result to select it
3. Set a quantity in the number input beside the search box
4. Click Add — the group appears in the staging list; adding the same monster again merges the quantities
5. Remove any staged entry with the ✕ button on its row
6. The live preview below the list shows the adjusted XP total and difficulty badge as you build
7. Click Save Encounter — it appears immediately in the saved list above

Difficulty Calculation

Difficulty follows the D&D 5e DMG rules:

• Raw XP — each enemy's CR XP value × its quantity, summed
• Adjusted XP — raw XP × a multiplier based on total enemy count (×1 for 1, ×1.5 for 2, ×2 for 3–6, ×2.5 for 7–10, etc.)
• Thresholds — adjusted XP is compared to the party's Easy / Medium / Hard / Deadly values (per-level DMG values × number of players)

Note: Encounters are stored at the account level and are available in every game session — build your library once, reuse it across campaigns.

Click the Spells button in the dashboard header to open the Spell Reference modal. It is available at any time — in or out of combat.

Searching and Filtering

The left panel contains a search bar and three filter dropdowns:

• Search bar — filters the list by name in real time
• Level — All Levels, Cantrip, or 1st through 9th
• School — Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, or Transmutation
• Class — Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard

Each spell in the list shows its name and a level badge — C for cantrips, 1–9 for leveled spells. Click any spell to open its card in the right panel.

Spell Card

The right panel shows the full spell details:

• Name, level, school, and source badge
• Ritual badge — shown when the spell can be cast as a ritual
• Info grid — Casting Time, Range, Components, Duration
• Full description
• At Higher Levels — shown when applicable
• Available to — the classes that can learn the spell

Clickable Dice

Dice expressions inside spell descriptions (e.g. 8d6) appear in amber with a dotted underline. Click one to roll it — the same result popup used in stat blocks appears, showing individual die values and the total.

Opening a Spell from a Stat Block

When viewing a monster's stat block, any spell name in a spell list (e.g. in a Spellcasting or Innate Spellcasting trait) is a clickable button. Click it to close the stat block and open the Spell Reference directly to that spell.

Players on the viewer screen can send a private message directly to the DM — useful for asking questions, flagging something, or just communicating without leaving the display. Messages are visible only to the DM and are not persisted between server restarts.

Sending a Message (Player)

1. Click the ✉ Message DM button in the viewer header
2. Choose which party member you are sending as from the dropdown — the list shows all players currently in the session
3. Type your message in the text field
4. Click Send — the modal closes and your message is delivered instantly

Receiving Messages (DM)

The Messages button in the dashboard header shows an amber badge with the unread count whenever new messages arrive. On mobile, the same badge appears on the hamburger menu button so you always know there is something waiting even with the menu collapsed.

Reading the Inbox

Click Messages to open the inbox modal. Messages are listed newest-first, each showing the sender's name, the time received, and the full message text. Opening the inbox marks all current messages as read and resets the unread badge.

Clearing Messages

Click Clear all in the inbox header to delete all messages for the current session. This action cannot be undone.

The Quick Reference panel is a full-screen rules-lookup panel opened from the DM header — pure D&D 5e reference material, no randomization or content generation. (For randomized content, see section 18, Generators.) The panel is aware of your session's ruleset (2014 or 2024) and adjusts tables accordingly where the rules differ.

Categories

15 tabs, alphabetized:

Click the Generators button (gear/flower icon) in the dashboard header to open a full-screen hub of 16 D&D 5e content generators — names, settlements, factions, dungeons, and more. Everything here is randomized and can be regenerated, tweaked, and (for most tools) saved for later.

A left sidebar lists all 16 generators by icon and name; click one to load it into the right-hand content panel. Most tools regenerate their output live as you change any control — there's often no separate "Generate" button beyond a Randomize action that rerolls the random seed. Tools that support saving keep a small "Saved [Things]" list in their left panel, backed by your browser's local storage (not your DM account, so saved items are per-browser).

Weather & Travel

Pick a Season and Biome (4 seasons × 8 biomes), then click Generate Week to produce a 7-day weather table across five time slots (Dawn, Morning, Midday, Evening, Night). A Travel Pace table dynamically adjusts movement rates by the combined biome × season multiplier, with a badge showing the active modifier, plus a Navigation DC table. A Generate Weather Event button produces a standalone dramatic weather event card (intensity: minor/moderate/severe/extreme) with a name, duration, onset, description, mechanics, and an aftermath note — driven by your current Season/Biome selection.

Random Encounter

Select a biome/terrain (12 options), Party Size (1–8), Party Level (1–20), and Difficulty (Easy/Medium/Hard/Deadly), then click Generate for a fully XP-budgeted combat encounter: title, scene flavor text, archetype description, a monster list with individual XP values, an XP breakdown strip (raw → multiplier → adjusted → per-player), an actual difficulty badge, a tactics note, and a terrain feature. Roll Again re-generates with the same settings; Add to Initiative clears current enemies and loads the generated monsters directly into the initiative tracker.

Wilderness Encounter

A narrative-first counterpart to Random Encounter: pick a Terrain (10 options), Time of Day (Dawn/Morning/Afternoon/Dusk/Night), and Party Level, then click Roll Encounter. The result is one of six encounter types — Combat, Hazard, Discovery, Flora & Fauna, Travelers, or Mystery (weighted toward the non-combat types) — with a headline, a time-of-day-flavored scene line, a terrain-specific detail paragraph, a Complication/Opportunity pair, and 2–3 relevant skills. There's no difficulty control or monster stat block here — use Random Encounter above when you need an XP-budgeted fight, and Wilderness Encounter when you want an evocative road/travel moment instead.

Name Generator

Select a race/type — 11 options: Human (Male), Human (Female), Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Orc/Half-Orc, Tiefling, Dragonborn, Tavern Name, Town/Village — then click First Names and/or Surnames to generate 10 of each. Click any name to select it (amber highlight); a preview strip shows "Party met Firstname Lastname, a Dwarf," and Save to Notes appends the entry to the current session's DM notes.

Town Generator

Set a Town Name (auto-filled, freely editable), Settlement Size (Thorp → Metropolis), Wealth (Poor → Wealthy), and whether it Has Keep, then click Randomize for a new town (or just edit the fields — the town regenerates live). The output includes a prose "About [Town]" description, an optional Keep section, and grouped building sections (Civic & Religious, Inns & Taverns, Trades & Services, Farms & Outbuildings, Residences) — each building has a name, description, and NPC roster.

Buildings with an inventory (shops, smithies, stables, inns, taverns, temples) have a View Inventory/Menu/Services button showing 7–10 priced items with a Restock option. Every building also has a Floor Plan button that opens an embedded third-party floor-plan generator (seeded to that building) with its own New Layout reroll and an Open ↗ link to view it full-page. Click Save Town to keep it in a "Saved Towns" list.

Shop Generator

Choose a shop type (11 options: General Store, Weaponsmith, Armorer, Alchemist, Magic Shop, Jeweler, Tavern & Inn, Bookshop, Herbalist, Fletcher & Bowyer, Stable) and town affluence (6 tiers: Impoverished → Opulent), then click Stock Shop to generate a random named shop with items priced at three tiers (😊 Friendly −15%, 😐 Neutral, 😠 Hostile +25%); magic items appropriate to affluence are included. Click any item for a detail modal.

Click Save to Notes to open a small prompt for which city/town the shop is in (optional), then save — the note records the shop, its city, affluence, and type, plus a full itemized inventory list. A "Previously Visited Shops" section with Load from Notes lets you pull any shop you've saved back out of your DM notes to view or reload later.

Inn Generator

Pick an Inn Quality (Poor → Legendary), Party Size, and Party Level, then click Randomize. You get a named inn with an italic tagline, an owner (with race and backstory), a staff roster, a Food/Drink menu with prices, room types/rates, a set of 3–6 level-scaled Guests and Quests (each with a Hook/Complication/Goal/Reward and a difficulty badge), and a Rumor Mill of 3–4 overheard rumors (each secretly flagged True or False for the DM's reference). Click Save Inn to keep it in a "Saved Inns" list.

Dungeon Generator

A from-scratch port of the classic Donjon dungeon algorithm, wrapped in this app's encounter/treasure/hazard/puzzle systems. Configure Rows/Cols (grid size), Corridors (Labyrinth/Bent/Straight), Floors (1–9), a Theme (⚰️ Crypt, Sewer, Cave, 🏰 Fortress, 🔮 Arcane, 🍄 Fungal), an optional Boss Room, and Party Size/Level/Difficulty (recorded for reference), then click Generate.

The map renders on a zoomable canvas with a room/corridor/door/trap/loot/stairs legend. The Encounters panel lists every room with its monster encounter (dice-based counts, clickable monster names), treasure line, hazard line, and — on about a fifth of empty rooms — a collapsible puzzle (Riddle/Logic/Environmental) with a Show/Hide Solution toggle. Each room with an encounter has an + Add to Initiative button. About a quarter of doors (plus some corridor cells) are locked or trapped — click one for a detail popup (name, trigger, detect/pick DC, effect/save).

Multi-floor dungeons link automatically via ▼/▲ stairs between levels, switchable via floor tabs. Toggle 🗺️ Map Live to push the current floor to players and manually reveal corridors/doors/rooms as you explore (a fog-of-war system, not an instant full reveal). Save/Load persist dungeons to your browser; PDF exports a print-ready, per-floor GM handout with the map and a full room table.

Wizard's Tower

Set Party Size, Party Level (shown as a Tier, which affects apprentice frequency/tier), and Number of Floors (2–8), then click Randomize. You get a named tower with a school-of-magic badge, an exterior description, and a Wizard Status (Present, Absent, Deceased, or Transformed, with a specific reason). Each floor has a themed room (Laboratory, Library, Summoning Chamber, etc.), and may include a Magical Anomaly (a weird localized physics quirk), an Apprentice (with a disposition and interaction note), and/or a dangerous Experiment (with a danger-level badge). Click Save Tower to keep it in a "Saved Towers" list.

Cult / Secret Society

Set Party Size and Party Level (higher levels skew the organization toward more advanced/dangerous stages), then click Randomize. You get a cult name, type badge, symbol, public cover, doctrine, a goal with an operational Stage (cell/established/ascendant/critical), three named rituals, a leadership structure, and two covert recognition signs. Click Save Cult to keep it in a "Saved Cults" list.

Thieves' Guild

Click Generate New Den for a criminal organization: guild name and internal alias, a Heat badge (Cold/Warm/Hot/Burning), district, cover business, secret entrance, a 5-room den layout, a 4-member leadership hierarchy, a 5-item fence inventory, and a Current Job Board of 3–4 expandable jobs (type, risk, payout, and — when expanded — target, details, and a twist). Also includes a house rule and a current rumor. Click Save Den to keep it in a "Saved Dens" list.

Trade Caravan

Click Generate New Caravan for a merchant caravan on the road: a route (origin → destination), size badge, caravan master, a stat strip (wagons, days out/remaining, guard quality), a cargo manifest (with a 35% chance of a hidden/illegal "Not on Manifest" entry), a guard roster, a complication, and an overheard rumor. Click Save Caravan to keep it in a "Saved Caravans" list.

Black Market

Click Generate New Market for an illicit marketplace: market name, location, Heat badge, cover business, access method, a broker NPC, a "Today's Condition" situational event, and 5–7 inventory items each with a legal-status badge, risk badge, and a legal-vs-street price comparison. Also includes a house rule and a "Word on the Street" rumor. Click Save Market to keep it in a "Saved Markets" list.

Noble House

Click Generate New House for a noble family: a heraldically-accurate shield/motto/rank banner (field and charge tinctures follow the real rule of contrast), holdings (seat, territory, resource, military strength, income tier), political alliances, a rival house with a feud cause, current scandals (type + severity + description), a succession note, and a public-reputation summary. Click Save House to keep it in a "Saved Houses" list.

Graveyard / Crypt

Set Party Size and Party Level (which sets a Tier that skews site type and scales content), then click Generate New Site. You get a burial site (Graveyard/Crypt/Catacomb/Barrow/Ossuary) with a condition badge, an optional keeper NPC, a layout of 4–5 sections, several notable graves with epitaphs and plot hooks, expandable Haunts (trigger + manifestation + resolution), expandable Buried Treasure Hooks (location + contents + complication), a recent event, and a local rumor. Click Save Site to keep it in a "Saved Sites" list.

NPC Generator

Choose a Role (10 options: Commoner, Merchant, Guard, Innkeeper, Noble, Criminal, Retired Adventurer, Sage, Clergy, Soldier), Gender, and cosmetic Disposition badge, then let it regenerate (or set a specific Seed). You get a full NPC — appearance, personality trait/flaw/voice, motivation and secret, a plot hook, and a complete D&D 5e stat block (AC, HP, speed, ability scores, saves, skills, CR/XP, traits, and actions). Click Save NPC to keep it in a "Saved NPCs" list, or Export PDF to download the NPC as a handout.

Liar's Dice is a built-in bluffing dice minigame you can run with your players as a side activity, separate from combat — useful for a tavern scene, a break between encounters, or just a fun diversion. It runs over the same live session connection as combat, so it updates instantly on the DM dashboard and every player's viewer screen.

Starting a Game (DM)

Click Liar's Dice in the dashboard header. Choose a role: Observe (see everyone's dice and run the game without playing) or Play (join the table yourself with a normal hand). Click Open Lobby to create the game; players then join from their viewer screens and appear in the lobby list as they do.

Once at least 2 players have joined, click Start Game (N players). Every player starts with 5 dice — there are no other configurable house rules. Cancel aborts the lobby.

Playing (Players)

A Liar's Dice entry appears in the viewer's header/hamburger menu once a game is active, opening a floating panel. After joining from the lobby, each round the 3D dice roller animates and automatically rolls and submits your dice (if you don't submit within 5 seconds, the server rolls for you). You'll see everyone's remaining dice counts, your own dice face-up, the current bid, and whose turn it is.

Ones are wild (count toward any face) by default. If any active player is down to their last die, that round automatically becomes a ⚠️ Palifico round: wilds are disabled, and the face of the first bid that round locks all further bids to that same face.

Resolving a Round

• Dudo (Liar!): dice are revealed and counted — if the actual count meets or beats the bid, the challenger loses a die; otherwise the bidder does.
• Calza (exact call): if the actual count exactly matches the bid, the caller gains a die (up to a cap of 5); otherwise they lose one.
• A player who reaches 0 dice is eliminated and drops out of future rounds.
• The reveal screen shows everyone's dice and highlights matches, then auto-advances after 8 seconds (or click Next Round → to advance immediately).
• The game ends when one player remains — they're declared the winner. An End Game button (with a confirmation) is available to the DM at any time.

DM Controls

An Observing DM sees every player's dice face-up at all times, the current bid, bid history, and a live event log, but cannot intervene in bids or force a turn to end. A Playing DM has the same Bid/Liar/exact-call controls as any player.

/overlay/[sessionId] is a separate, transparent view designed to be added as an OBS (or similar) browser source for streaming your combat sessions — it is not part of the normal DM/player workflow and has no Liar's Dice content.

It subscribes to the same live combat-state feed as the player display and shows:

• A "Now Acting" panel — portrait, HP bar, condition badges, and the current round number
• A scrolling combat event ticker — damage, healing, and condition changes as they happen
• An "Up Next" bar across the bottom showing upcoming turns, with a wrap marker at the end of the round

The background is fully transparent and the overlay ignores mouse/click input, so it composites cleanly over your other stream sources without blocking anything underneath.

Click the 🎤 Voice button in the dashboard header to control the tracker hands-free. The button only appears when your browser supports speech recognition.

Activating

Click Voice to start listening — the button turns amber with a pulsing dot. Your browser will ask for microphone permission the first time. Click the button again to stop.

Commands

Every command begins with "Tracker" so the app ignores normal table conversation. A confirmation toast appears at the bottom of the screen when a command is recognized.

Dice rolls via voice trigger the same 3D virtual dice animation as clicking dice anywhere in the app. The result appears in a toast once the dice have settled. Number words (one through twenty, hundred) and modifiers (plus / minus followed by a number) are recognized.

Tips

• Commands only fire when valid — Next and Previous do nothing if combat hasn't started
• If "Tracker End Combat" isn't recognized, try saying it slightly more slowly — speech engines sometimes hear "end" as "and"
• The mic listens continuously and auto-restarts after silence; no need to re-click between commands
• Virtual dice can be disabled via the Disable virtual dice checkbox in the Dice Roller modal — voice rolls will then return instant results

Click the 🎚 Mixer button in the dashboard header to open a full-screen ambient audio board. Layer music, atmosphere, and sound effects across as many channels as you need — audio keeps playing in the background when the mixer is closed.

Channel Controls

Master Channel

The leftmost strip is the master channel. Its fader scales every channel simultaneously. The Stop All button stops playback on every channel at once.

Adding Channels

Click + Add a Channel at the right end of the mixer to append a new blank channel. The mixer starts with 5 channels; there is no maximum.

What Is Remembered

File Persistence (Chrome & Edge)

On Chrome and Edge, the mixer uses the browser's File System Access API to remember your chosen files — it stores a lightweight reference to the file on disk rather than copying audio data into browser storage, so there are no storage quota issues.

Same browser session

Files reload silently — permission is already held and nothing extra is required.

After a browser restart

The browser clears file permissions on exit. Channels that need re-authorization show a 🔒 [filename] button in amber. Click it once — the browser shows a one-time permission prompt — and the file reloads automatically.

Tips

• The mixer keeps playing after you close it — run combat while music plays in the background
• Use Solo to quickly audition a single channel without changing other faders
• Use Mute for a clean cut; setting the fader to 0 still leaves the channel technically active
• On Firefox, audio files must be re-selected after every page reload; consider keeping the mixer tab open for long sessions
• Stop All stops playback but does not reset faders or unload files

Have a question, found a bug, or want to suggest a feature? Email us at dm@inittracker.com — or click the ✉ Contact link found on the login page, the join page, and in both the DM and viewer headers.