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Arcs, Chapters and Scenes

Three levels for structuring your story, with increasing granularity.

Arc​

An arc is a large narrative arch. Available fields:

  • Name and synopsis — the arc's pitch
  • Structure — Linear (chapters in sequence) or Hub (quests freely accessible from a central point)
  • Themes — recurring motifs (e.g. "betrayal", "descent into hell")
  • Stakes — what is at stake for the PCs
  • Hidden truth (beta 1.4.0) — the truth players will piece together
  • Hooks (beta 1.4.0) — several reasons to get involved, one per line
  • GM notes — secrets, twists, info not to reveal to the players
  • Rewards — XP, items, contacts gained
  • Resolution — the expected ending (to be adjusted based on actual play)
  • Linked Lore pages — cross-context references to the Lore (factions, locations)
  • Illustrations — mood images

Hidden truth and hooks (beta 1.4.0)​

In the arc editor, expand Hidden truth and hooks. Hidden truth describes what really happened; hooks explain why characters get involved. Prepare at least two hooks of different kinds, one per line, then save the arc. Lightbulbs beside the fields offer examples.

For example, a councillor is secretly diverting the harvest. One hook involves a missing relative, another a reward for finding the convoys. A single line of hooks triggers an Editor review suggestion.

Both fields appear in the arc view and GM PDF, and are removed from the player PDF. Arc hooks are separate from those entered in the publishing sheet.

Chapter​

A subdivision of a linear arc. Same linking mechanics to the Lore. Specific fields:

  • GM notes — preparation, transitions
  • Player objectives — what the PCs must accomplish / discover
  • Narrative stakes — what may tip over in this chapter
Conditional unlocking lives on quests

Unlock conditions (an activated fact, a completed quest, a session count reached) are now defined on quests, not on chapters.

Scene​

The playable unit. This is what the AI draws on the most when you ask it to generate narrative content. Specific fields:

  • Purpose of the scene (beta 1.4.0) — what the story would lose if you cut it
  • Location and timing (day/night/season)
  • Atmosphere — sensory descriptions, tone
  • Narration to players — text to read out/improvise to set the scene
  • Secret GM notes — only displayed to you
  • Choices and consequences — possible alternatives
  • Combat difficulty and enemies — free note, and/or enemies linked from the bestiary
  • Enemy tactics and morale (beta 1.4.0) — how they act and when they flee, negotiate or surrender
  • Illustrations — gallery of mood images
  • Battlemaps — the scene's combat maps (see below)
  • Branches — narrative exits toward other scenes (see Narrative branches)
Explorable location (dungeon mode)

A scene can contain rooms: as soon as it has at least one, it switches to a dungeon rendering — each room has its own enemies, loot, traps, floor, and branches between rooms.

An AI Assistant (✨ button) is available on the scene to generate atmosphere, narration, or plot twists.

Give scenes a purpose and opponents behaviour​

Purpose of the scene, near the description, helps prioritise preparation: “discover who funds the cult” or “choose which ally to help”. It guides the GM; read-aloud text stays in its usual field.

In the combat section, Enemy tactics and morale describes behaviour to play: “protect the door, flee if their leader falls, negotiate for safe passage”. Written tactics prevent the “combat without purpose” suggestion even when choices and secret notes are empty.

After saving, these texts appear in the scene view and GM PDF booklet. They are excluded from the player edition.

Battlemaps​

A scene can carry several labeled battlemaps — the variants of a single place: the label is free text ("Day", "Night", "Floor 1"…). Each map has a source of your choice:

  • Dungeon Alchemist (image/video + JSON) — the map's media, plus the .json file from Dungeon Alchemist's "Foundry VTT" export (walls, doors, lights);
  • DungeonDraft (.dd2vtt) — a single Universal VTT file: the embedded image is extracted automatically on upload, walls and lights are kept.

Battlemaps are not displayed in the app: they are carried over to the Foundry export — one Foundry Scene per map — and rendered with their caption in the PDF booklet.

note

A .dd2vtt without an embedded image is accepted, but the exported map will have no background — a warning shows at upload time.

Best practices​

  • Prepare by arc, play by scene. Define the big picture once, then add scenes as your sessions progress.
  • Don't wait for everything to be "complete". A scene with just a location + atmosphere + a short piece of narration is playable — the "Next steps" panel tells you what's actually missing.
  • GM notes vs. player narration. Keep them clearly separated — the AI can generate the narration without revealing the secrets if you pass it the right fields.

More detail​

A short adventure can start in simple mode, with standalone scenes. See Narrative branches for node types and link editing, and Explorable locations for rooms, floors, doors and bestiary references.