Session Organization

Spec: session-organization

Organize your campaign prep by individual game sessions. Associate NPCs, encounters, plots, and other content with specific sessions, track your prep progress, and use templates to guide your preparation.

Quick Start

1. Open a campaign and click Enable Session Organization
2. Click New Session to create your first session
3. Choose a template (Investigation, Combat, Social, Exploration, or Mixed)
4. Add content using the Add button or generate new content with template suggestions
5. Track progress with the prep checklist and mark items complete
6. Click Start Session when you're ready to play

Enabling Sessions

Session organization is an opt-in feature per campaign. When you open a campaign that doesn't have sessions enabled, you'll see an "Enable Session Organization" card explaining the benefits:

• Associate NPCs, encounters, and plots with specific sessions
• See prep progress at a glance
• Use templates for common session types

Click the button to enable. This is a one-time action per campaign.

Creating Sessions

Click New Session in the session timeline to open the quick-create dialog:

• Session Number: Auto-populated with the next available number
• Title (optional): A short name for the session (e.g., "The Dark Cave", "Council of Elders")

Click Create & Select to add the session to your timeline.

Session Templates

When creating or viewing a session, you can choose a template that provides suggested content and a tailored prep checklist. A template suggestions banner appears with quick-generate buttons for the recommended content types.

Investigation

Mystery solving, clue gathering, and detective work.

Key checklist items: Create key NPCs, prepare clues (Three-Clue Rule), write red herrings, map investigation locations.

Combat

Battle-focused sessions with tactics and strategy.

Key checklist items: Prepare stat blocks, design battle map, calculate CR balance, prepare loot tables.

Social

Roleplay-heavy sessions with political intrigue and character interaction.

Key checklist items: Flesh out NPC motivations, prepare dialogue, map faction dynamics.

Exploration

Wilderness travel, dungeon delving, and environmental challenges.

Key checklist items: Create area map, prepare encounter table, write environmental descriptions.

Mixed

A balanced session covering multiple aspects (the default).

Key checklist items: Prepare plot hook, create/review NPCs, prepare one encounter.

Adding Content to Sessions

There are two ways to associate content with a session:

From the Session View

1. Open a session from the timeline
2. Click the Add button
3. The content picker shows all campaign content not already in the session
4. Search by title or filter by content type (NPC, Encounter, Plot, Map, etc.)
5. Select one or more items using the checkboxes
6. Click Add Selected to associate them

From Content Detail Pages

When viewing any content item (NPC, encounter, plot, etc.), the session list section in the sidebar shows which sessions it belongs to. Use the session selector dropdown to add or remove session associations.

Supported Content Types

Sessions can include any content type: NPCs, Monsters, Plots, Maps, Encounters, Magic Items, Quests, Traps, Treasures, Random Tables, Deities, Legendary Heroes, Establishments, Puzzles, and Mazes.

Content can appear in multiple sessions. When the same content is used across sessions, a "recurring" badge appears showing how many sessions reference it.

Organizing Session Order

Drag and Drop

Click and drag the grip handle on any session in the timeline to reorder it. The session numbers update automatically.

Keyboard Controls

Use the up/down chevron buttons next to each session to reorder without a mouse. Screen readers receive live announcements when sessions are moved.

Tracking Prep Progress

Each session has a prep checklist organized into categories:

• NPCs: Characters to create or review
• Encounters: Combat or social encounters to prepare
• Loot: Treasure and reward tables
• Plot: Story hooks and plot threads

Check off items as you complete them. The progress bar at the top shows your overall completion percentage.

Critical Items

Some checklist items are marked as Critical (shown with a red badge). These represent must-have prep items. If any critical items are incomplete when you try to start a session, you'll see a confirmation dialog asking if you want to proceed anyway.

Session Brief

Click Generate Brief to create an AI-generated summary of your session prep. The brief includes:

• A short summary of the session scope
• Key NPCs listed as badges
• Key encounters with difficulty levels

The brief updates when you regenerate it after adding more content.

Session Status Workflow

Sessions progress through these statuses:

Only one session per campaign can be Active at a time. When you start a new session, the previous active session is automatically cleared.

Starting a Session

Click Start Session in the prep checklist to mark a session as active. This:

• Sets the session status to "Active"
• Makes it the current session for the campaign
• Opens the Initiative Tracker for combat management

Completing a Session

After your game night, the session can be marked as completed. Completed sessions appear grayed out in the timeline but their content associations are preserved.

Session Overrides

Each session can override campaign-level defaults for AI content generation. Open the session preferences to customize:

• Cultural Flavor: Change the cultural setting for this session (e.g., switch to a Pirate theme for a coastal adventure)
• Party Level: Adjust the party level if it's different from the campaign average
• Tone: Set the narrative tone (Heroic, Dark, Comedic, Mysterious, etc.)
• Threat Level: Adjust danger level (Peaceful, Low, Moderate, High, Deadly)

These overrides only affect content generated for this specific session. Campaign defaults apply everywhere else. Use the clear button next to any field to revert to the campaign default.

Exporting Session Prep

Export your session prep as structured data for offline reference. From the session view, click the export button to generate a summary including:

• Session metadata (number, title, status)
• Content summary by type
• Prep checklist with completion status
• Session brief (if generated)

Exports are rate-limited to 5 per hour.

Session Timeline

The timeline view shows all sessions in your campaign at a glance:

• Session numbers and titles
• Status indicators (color-coded dots)
• Content count badges showing how many items are in each session
• The currently active session is highlighted
• Completed sessions appear with lower opacity

Click Timeline on the campaign page and enable Include Counts to see a breakdown of content by type (NPCs, encounters, maps, etc.) for each session.

Tips for Different GM Styles

The Planner

You like to prepare every detail in advance:

1. Create sessions for your next 3-5 game nights
2. Use templates matching each session's focus
3. Generate all suggested content types
4. Work through the prep checklist until 100% complete
5. Generate a session brief for quick reference at the table

The Improviser

You prefer flexibility with a light prep framework:

1. Create one session at a time
2. Pick the Mixed template for a balanced starting point
3. Generate 1-2 key NPCs and a plot hook
4. Skip the detailed checklist - focus on the essentials
5. Reuse NPCs across sessions as recurring characters

The Hybrid

You prep the structure but improvise the details:

1. Create 2-3 sessions ahead
2. Choose specific templates for combat or investigation sessions
3. Generate the critical items (NPCs for social, encounters for combat)
4. Leave non-critical checklist items for inspiration at the table
5. Use session overrides when the story takes an unexpected turn

Mobile Usage

Session organization works on mobile devices with touch-friendly controls:

• Tap and drag to reorder sessions
• Full-width layout with stacked fields
• Minimum 44px touch targets on all buttons
• Native select dropdowns for session selection
• Simplified timeline badges on smaller screens

Keyboard Shortcuts