This article presents a high-level walk-through of how most game sessions unfold with Campaign Theater. We recommend you create a test session prior to your first real session with the players and experiment, using this walk-through as a starting point. Doing so should greatly increase your comfort level when you dive in for the real thing.

More details on the various aspects of Campaign Theater discussed below can be found in other articles.

Start the Experimental Session

All the PCs are ready, and so are the scripts for the scenes you expect to run. It's time to start a test game session to familiarize yourself with how everything works. With the campaign loaded, click on the "Stage" tab in the navigation pane on the left. Then click on the "Start Session" button in the upper right of the stage.

Starting the session immediately loads all of the PCs onto the stage. In addition, the campaign enters "Story Mode". This mode applies when events are allowed to unfold organically and there is no need to impose a strict sequence on how everything plays out (such as combat).

Note: When any PC or cast member is on the stage, editing that actor outside the stage is disabled. This is because the changes being made on the stage are actually being accrued to a proxy. Only when you actually resolve a scene, and only for designated actors, will those accrued changes be saved back into the underlying actor. Due to this behavior, the players will be locked out of their characters while you are running this test session and should be told not to try accessing them at this time.

Stage is Command Central

During a game session, the stage will be your Command Central. All the particulars for every PC will be either directly visible or just a click or two away. And the same applies for every supporting cast member.

Let's look one of the PCs that was just loaded. At the left is the health bar and portrait, followed by the name and basic information. Moving to the right, assorted fundamentals of the PC are presented for quick reference. Clicking on the portrait pops up a form where you can quickly assign damage and other basic properties.

Clicking anywhere else within a PC loads it into the side-panel on the right. If you have the available screen space, we strongly encourage you to pin the side-panel in place so that it's always visible. If you don't have enough room for both the navigation pane and side-panel at the same time, you'll likely find that the side-panel is significantly more valuable on an ongoing basis. So we recommend you pin the side-panel and use the navigation pane as an overlay in this situation.

Within the side-panel, you can quickly switch between each aspect of the character via the icons shown right below the summary at the top. This makes it fast and easy to jump around and access whatever view you need at any time. The side-panel allows you to efficiently make a die roll for most actions, perform attacks, equip weapons, use spells, consume resources, assign status conditions, etc.

Everything you'll need for normal events during play is available through the side-panel. In those rares cases when it's not, you can load the full character and access it that way. Loading the full character is achieved via the vertical ellipsis menu shown on the stage for each actor.

The background color is modified to highlight the actor that's currently shown in the side-panel (if any). This makes it easier to visually confirm whether you are looking at the designed actor in each of the two regions.

Enacting a Script

Let's examine how everything works when you enact a script to begin a scene. In the upper right corner above the stage, click the "Enact Script" button. Navigate to the script you want to experiment with and select it.

Note: For the purposes of this walk-through, please choose a script with multiple cast members (or multiple of the same cast member). Please also choose one wherein the cast members are enemies and combat is expected.

When a script is selected, you'll be shown the cast members that will be added to the stage and prompted to confirm. Do so.

After a few moments, each of the cast members in the script appears on the stage, with the PCs grouped at the top. These cast members are also proxies, just like with the PCs. Changes will be accrued to these proxies, and then they will be saved back only for persistent cast members.

The newly added cast members look very similar to the PCs on the stage, as the same basic information is shown for each of them. Clicking on a cast member loads it into the side-panel, exactly the same way with PCs. By clicking on an actor on the stage, then clicking on the icon for the desired view of that actor, you can very quickly access nearly everything for any character in just a couple clicks.

One additional detail for the new cast members is their name. Any actor that is non-unique is automatically assigned a jersey number. The purpose of the jersey number is to ensure that multiple actors with the same name are distinguishable from each another. For example, if three goblins are added by a script, each of them might be shown as "Goblin #1", "Goblin #2", and "Goblin #3".

Who Can See What on the Stage

Let's stop for a moment to consider what the players will see. They can also view the stage, but what they see on it is quite different from you, as the GM.

The PCs are assumed to be working together, and so are the players. Therefore, the players can see the same information as you on the stage for each PC. Players can also view other PCs within the side-panel, although the information they see there is more limited than the full details you can view.

The big difference occurs with the supporting cast. The players are shown each actor on the stage, but the information provided is the absolute basics, such as the portrait, a name, a descriptive phrase, status conditions, and a health bar. Even those last two are more restrictive for players. The status conditions shown are only negative ones, which are assumed to have originated from the PCs. Positive conditions, such as buffing effects, are hidden from the players. And the health bar simply shows abstracted levels of damage (e.g. lightly injured, badly injured, etc.).

Another tool that can be used is placement on the stage. There are three separate placement locations: on-camera, off-camera, and out of action. On-camera is where all the action takes place between the actors on the stage. Out of action identifies an actor that has been killed or otherwise incapacitated. The players can see both of those placements. The off-camera placement is only visible to you. It's where you can stash reinforcements waiting to arrive, traps that have yet to spring, hidden enemies lying in wait, or anything else that you want to have ready to go but invisible to the players. To make something visible, simply move it to on-camera.

The overall goal is to give the players the same level of information that is traditionally disclosed to them and nothing more.

Entering Tactical Mode

You enacted a scene that was intended for combat, so let's take a look at how that works now.

When it comes time for combat, Hero Lab needs to switch into "Tactical Mode". While primarily used for combat, tactical mode applies whenever everyone's actions must be sequenced in a formal manner based on initiative.

Simply entering Tactical Mode is potentially a multi-step process. Depending on the game system, initiative values need to be assigned, surprise needs to be determined, and any final adjustments must be made to the sequence in which all the actors will take their turns. Only after all of that is setup can tactical combat actually begin.

This process is kicked off by clicking the "Start Tactical Mode" button in the upper left corner of the stage. Go ahead and click it.

Setup Initiatives and Surprise

When entering Tactical Mode, Hero Lab automatically generates initiative and surprise rolls for every actor, as needed. Not all games have initiative and/or surprise mechanics, so those will only appear for the appropriate game systems. The auto-generated values incorporate all the modifiers for each actor, but some games allow re-rolls and/or adjustments to be made by the players. In addition, some groups may choose to roll the dice the old-fashioned way, and you may want to make your own tweaks to the initiative order after all the rolls are in place. Hero Lab accommodates all of these options.

If you're comfortable simply accepting all of the auto-generated values and diving into combat, there's nothing more to do here. Otherwise, you can setup the initiative order and surprise for the scene.

In the upper left corner of each actor portrait on the stage, the initiative value for the actor is shown. Beneath the actor name will be a d20 icon to trigger a re-roll, along with the ability to enter/revise each initiative manually. At the present time, players are not able to enter initiative values themselves, so you'll have to handle that if the players are making their own rolls with dice at the table. Changes to initiative values that would jump an actor to a new position in the initiative order are deferred until you click the "Sort Now" button in the upper right.

For Pathfinder 2nd Edition, the skill used to determine an actor's initiative can vary, depending on the what it was doing. Hero Lab generates separate values for an assortment of skills, and you can pick the appropriate one from the droplist provided. If the skill you need is not pre-generated, you'll need to generate a suitable roll yourself.

For Starfinder, surprise can optionally be determined along with initiatives. Enabling surprise is accomplished via the checkbox at the top. When enabled, the stage shows the initiative and surprise states separately, allowing you to toggle between the two. Similarly to the initiative, surprise auto-generates values that can be manually overridden. And actual surprise is determined based on the threshold you specify at the top.

Beginning Combat

Once everything is set the way you want, both for the initiative order and any surprise round, click the "Confirm and Start" button in the upper right. The values become locked, the sequence is finalized, and combat is officially underway.

The current combat turn/round is shown at the top of the stage. If a surprise round is needed (i.e. there is a mixture of surprised and non-surprised actors), that's indicated next to the turn/round. In addition, surprised actors indicate that status beneath the character's name.

All of the actors are now shown in the "Not Yet Acted" grouping, and they are listed in the order dictated by their initiative value.

The "Not Yet Acted" state is an important distinction from the "Waiting" state in some game systems. The "Not Yet Acted" state only applies on the first round of combat, and it may impose defensive penalties upon the actor. If that's the case, Hero Lab will apply the appropriate status(es) to the actor and the corresponding penalties.

The actor that's "next up" in initiative order is highlighted on the stage. The "next up" actor has a contrasting box drawn around it on the stage and the background color of the entire actor is changed. In addition, the lightning icon for the actor is prominently changed to signal the "next up" actor.

The background color change for the "next up" actor works in conjunction with the highlighting of the actor that's currently selected in the side-panel (if any). If an actor is both "next up" and shown in the side-panel, the background color change to indicate it's shown in the side-panel is slightly smaller than the change signaling the "next up" actor, making it possible to readily distinguish the two from each other.

Acting During Combat

Once combat officially starts, actors take their turn in the initiative order indicated by the actor sequence. The stage presents the queue of actors. When an actor takes its turn, click the glowing lightning button and specify how to handle that actor via the menu that appears. If the actor is surprised and this is a surprise round, the fact that the actor is surprised is flagged within the menu as a reminder that it should skip its turn.

Depending on the selection made, the stage will update to reflect the new state for that actor:

• Act - When the Act option is chosen, it means that the actor consumed its turn by doing something in according with the game rules. The actor is moved to the bottom of the queue, being placed in a grouping entitled "Acted".
• Skip - When the Skip option is chosen, it means that the actor did not take any action, but its turn is now over. The actor is moved to the bottom of the queue and placed in a grouping entitled "Skipped".
• Ready Action - When an actor elects to ready an action, the actor has not actually used its turn and is instead waiting for another actor before doing so. The actor is thus moved into a separate "Readied" grouping, but this time the grouping appears at the top of the stage. This position helps ensure that the readied actor is prominently visible and not accidentally forgotten as play continues to unfold.
• Defer Action - Similar to readying an action, the actor is moved into a "Deferred" grouping above all of the actors that have "Not Yet Acted". This grouping is beneath the "Readied" grouping, since the assumption is that actors in a readied state are given precedence over those in the "deferred" state.

Regardless of which of the above choices is made, the next actor in initiative order becomes highlighted to signal it is now the "next up" actor and should take its turn.

If an error is made in this step for an actor, simply click the lightning button again to choose the correct behavior. If the actor was designated as either readying or deferring its action, you must first restore it to the "Waiting" state (and it's previous place in the initiative order), after which you can choose a different behavior.

When an actor that is in the Readied state ultimately chooses to complete its action, click on the lightning button for the readied actor and select the "Use Readied Action" option. The actor is moved back into the initiative order in the correct place and is now "Waiting". Once the actor completes its action, click on the lightning button and select the "Act" option this time.

An actor in the Deferred state works similarly, with the key difference being in the way the actor is inserted back into the initiative order. Once the actor completes its action after being restored, the "Act" option is used to take its turn.

Typical Events During Combat

A variety of events will often occur during combat, and the stage makes them easy to manage in one convenient location. Click on the actor's portrait on the stage (or the health bar) and a panel pops up where you can modify the following details:

• Actors will regularly take and heal damage. Within the Vitals section of the popup panel, click on the health display, then fill in the proper adjustment and apply it.
• Actors may expend resources like spell points. These will be accessed similarly to health.
• There may be times when actors need to be moved within the initiative order, such as when they act after readying or deferring an action. This is accomplished by adjusting the initiative within the panel. [Note: If the game rules stipulate a new initiative position when returning from a readied or deferred state, that positioning will be handled automatically, but there are situations where the rules don't specify what to do, in which case the handling must be adjudicated by the GM.]
• If an actor is killed or otherwise incapacitated, it can be moved to the Out of Action placement by clicking on the "x" button adjacent to the camera options.
• If an actor flees the scene or was waiting in the wings and finally joins the fray (e.g. reinforcements arrive), its placement can be changed between On-Camera and Off-Camera, as appropriate.
• If an actor changes its allegiance during the scene (e.g. is charmed by the opponent), that can be modified here.

A frequent action during combat will be making attack rolls. Attacks can take a wide range of forms (weapons, spells, abilities, etc.), so those are accessed via the appropriate view within the side-panel. For example, if a weapon attack is needed, load the actor into the side-panel and select the combat view. The appropriate attack and damage rolls for that weapon can then be performed.

Depending on the actors involved in the scene and how it unfolds, status effects may need to be applied. Within the side-panel, a separate view is dedicated to managing buffs and debuffs. Click the "+" button for the desired type of adjustment and then choose it from the list. Once added, a checkbox allows its effects to be toggled on and off. If the adjustment is variable in some manner, clicking on it after adding allows it to be customized properly.

Advancing to the Next Round

Once all of the actors on the stage have performed whatever actions are appropriate, the combat round has completed. Click the "Next Round" button in the upper right to perform this operation and trigger an appropriate update of the stage.

Advancing the round causes all actors other than those in the Readied or Deferred state to be reset to the Waiting state. Actors that are in the Readied or Deferred state remain that way as the new round begins.

Take this opportunity to work through a few more rounds of the combat, experimenting with various actions to get comfortable with how it all works. Playing around with the "Ready Action" and "Defer Action" options is encouraged, as the way those two options re-insert the actor into the initiative order in different ways, depending on the game system's rule.

After Combat Ends

At some point, the combat will end. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the entire scene is complete. The enemy may surrender, resulting in important dialog after the combat. Or the PCs may stop to loot the bodies of the fallen. Or something else entirely may happen. When this occurs, you can click the button in the upper left to "End Tactical Mode". The scene continues and everyone simply goes off initiative. If needed, you can return to initiative, although entirely new initiative rolls are generated, as the old ones are lost once tactical mode ends.

When the entire scene has been played out, it's time to resolve the scene. This is accomplished via the "Resolve Scene" button at the top. Resolving a scene performs four important operations:

• All accrued to changes to the proxies on the stage are officially saved back into the underlying cast members. This only applies to cast members that are designated as Persistent, and only the PCs start out with this designation. Changes to non-persistent cast members are simply discarded during scene resolution.
• Proxies are removed from the stage for all cast members that are not designated as Sticky. By default, all actors added to the stage via a script are considered non-sticky, and everyone else is sticky. This makes cleanup after most scenes automatic, since the vast majority of scenes will consist solely of actors added via scripts.
• An historical record of the scene is created for the campaign.¹
• If Tactical mode is underway when the scene is resolved, it is ended, returning the campaign to Story mode. Scenes cannot be resolved in the midst of combat.

Before a scene is resolved, you're warned which actors will be discarded from the stage (i.e. non-sticky), just to be safe.

Note: For the purposes of this experimental session, there is no need to actually go through with resolving the scene and making a permanent record of it. You can just as easily abandon the scene instead, which will discard all the changes you've made to all actors on the stage. To abandon the scene, click the droplist indicator immediately to the right of the "Resolve Scene" button at the top. A list of alternate actions is presented, with one being "Abandon Scene".

Ending the Session

You should now have a basic feel for how scenes play out within Campaign Theater. If you're inclined, play through the scene again. Or experiment with a different scene to get even more proficient with everything.

When you're done exploring here, it's time to end the session. This step is valuable, as it unloads the PCs from the stage so the players can again access them. Next to the Resolve Scene button at the top, there is a droplist indicator. Click on that to view the alternate options. At the bottom should be an option to "End Session". A warning will be presented about which actors will be unloaded from the stage. Confirm ending the session, and you're back to where you started.

If the "End Session" option does not appear, it means that you've made changes on the stage. You can't end a session until those changes are either resolved into a scene or abandoned. Only when there are no accrued changes in progress is it safe to end the session and unload everything.

Note: If you abandoned all the scenes you started during this walk-through, the session will be created with no completed scenes.

Tips Before the Game

Before your first game session, there are a number of suggestions we highly recommend you heed to make sure your game is smooth experience for everyone.

Review all the PCs

As the GM, you have read-only access to all of the PCs within the campaign, whether or not they are owned by the players. Take a few moments to review each character, loading it into the Play tab. This is the view most likely to be used by the players, so knowing what they will see can make it easier to assist them during the game. And if you need to view the PCs during the game, you'll know exactly where to look to quickly get the information you need. This applies even if you load the PC into the side-panel, since the side-panel is merely a segmented view of the same details shown in the Play tab.

Review the Scene Scripts You Expect to Need

The goal here is to make sure all the details are setup that you'll be relying upon during play. Check that each cast member has been properly designated as unique or not. Verify that the quantity is correct for non-unique cast members. Verify that everyone's allegiance is accurate. And verify that the initial placement on the stage is where it should be. When you enact a script, you'll want everything to appear exactly the way you expect, and this step will ensure it.

Familiarize Yourself With the More Complex Cast Members

In the same spirit as the above, this is all about making sure everything is where you expect it to be when you need it during play. Certain cast members will have special abilities, powers, and/or resources that you'll want to utilize. Load these characters and view their Play tab to know where everything will be found. During the game, the side-panel will present the same information in a segmented manner, so you can quickly find what you want and not lose track of something important to a scene.

Setup Buffs for Quick Toggling

Hero Lab will automatically apply the effects of buffs when they are assigned to an actor on the stage. If one or more cast members in the scene can apply buffs, and you expect that they will use that ability, you can speed things up for yourself by preparing for this. Each cast member that will likely receive a buff can have that buff added in advance and simply left disabled. Then, during play, all you need to do is toggle the buff to enabled, instead of having to add it to each actor during play.

Keep Your First Scene Simple

Everyone at the table will likely be new to using Hero Lab during your first session with it. So everything will be unfamiliar. To ease the transition, choose a relatively simple scene as the first one you play with Hero Lab. This will give all the players an opportunity to get themselves oriented and become familiar with the basics of the stage. Once everyone is comfortable, then you can take the training wheels off for the them.

Pre-Flight Any Complex Scenes

If you have complex scenes, it may be prudent to enact those script(s) and step through how you expect the scene to play out. That will uncover any wrinkles that may be lurking and allow them to be smoothed over before the live session. There is no need to play out the entire scene to accomplish this objective, and the scene can be abandoned without saving anything. In some cases, you don't even need the PCs on the stage and can instead experiment with only the supporting cast members on the stage.

Prepare a Few Extra Scene Scripts

This is a "just in case" suggestion. Depending on how long your game sessions usually run and how quickly your group adapts to using Hero Lab, it's quite possible that the session will run much faster than in the past. We've had many GMs report that the players are much better prepared to act and combats run more efficiently with Hero Lab, even during the first session using it. If that's the case, the players may be able to cover more ground that you're accustomed to, so having a little more material ready may be a worthwhile investment.

Caveats

1. Tracking of historical accounts for scenes is not yet in place at the time of this writing.