Write a scene
Compose a Scene at a Location, give it a Tension (what an NPC wants there), and pick the Clues it activates when the party plays through it.
Ultimo aggiornamento 12/09/26
Wyrdli · Aiuto e documentazioneCompose a Scene at a Location, give it a Tension (what an NPC wants there), and pick the Clues it activates when the party plays through it.
The party is going to walk into the cannery at some point this Session. You can already see it: the loading-bay door, the two cultists arguing inside, the smell of fish and lye, the burned-out furnace. You need a Scene you can open at the table without scrolling, with the Tension baked in and the Clues it activates ready to surface.
A Scene is a unit of play that happens at a Location. You prep the situation; the play emerges at the table.
You want a specific moment to happen at a specific place. The cannery at night with the cultists. The harbour master's office the morning after the fire. The lighthouse, the party's third visit, when the keeper finally talks.
Open the Campaign and click "Scenes" in the sidebar.
Click the "+" button on the Scenes page. The Scene editor opens.
Title the Scene with something concrete you'll recognise in a list. The cannery at night, week one. Harbour master's office, morning after the fire. Avoid generic titles like "investigation scene".
Pick the Location the Scene happens at. This is required; a Scene without a Location anchor has nowhere to play.
Write the description: who's present, what's at stake, what the party should notice on arrival, anything you want to read aloud or riff on. Mentions of NPCs, Locations, and other entities are supported.
Add the Tension. The Tension list is where you name the NPC (or NPCs) present in the Scene and write what they want. One sentence each is enough.
Pick the Clues this Scene activates. Activating a Clue means that once this Scene has been played, the Clue enters the party's reach in the Play view for you to surface.
Optionally pick the Threats that can manifest in this Scene. Those Threats will appear in the Play view's left column while the Scene is active, ready for you to drop in when the tempo calls for it.
Save.
From the header's quick-create menu. The "+" icon in the top header opens the quick-create panel; "Scene" appears in the Campaign-scoped column.
From a Location's detail page. Each Location has a Scenes section; the "+" there opens the Scene editor with the Location pre-set as the anchor. Good when you're working on a place and you already know what should happen there.
From the canvas, by clicking "Add scene here" on a Location node. On the Canvas, every Location node has an "Add scene here" affordance. Clicking it creates a placeholder Scene anchored at that Location and opens it for editing. This is the fastest way to populate an arc you've laid out spatially.
A Scene without Tension is description. The party walks in, the GM reads the paragraph, the party walks out. Adding Tension turns description into Scene: someone in the room wants something they can't have unless they do something about it, and the moment the party arrives, that want becomes the engine.
Both Scenes anchor at the same Location, both have one named NPC, both have a single sentence of want. That's enough to play.
When you tick a Clue in the Scene's "activates clues" list, you're saying: this Scene is the gate that opens that Clue. Until this Scene has been played, the Clue is dormant; once it's played, the Clue is in the party's reach for you to surface in the Play view.
Every Clue should be activated by at least one Scene. A Clue with no activating Scene is a fact the party can never find. If you see one on the Canvas, either give it a Scene or delete it.
A Scene with no Tension is description. A Scene with no activated Clue is a dead end. If both are true, you don't need the Scene, you need a paragraph in another Scene's notes.