Craft

Game Starts

A Game Start is a saved opening for a project. It's everything a new game needs to begin: a starting location, the characters players can pick, and how the GM kicks off the first scene. When someone starts a game from your project, they pick a Game Start from the lobby and play begins from there.

A project can have as many Game Starts as you want. You might offer a tutorial start, a "drop into the action" start, and a slower "session zero" start, and let the player choose.

What a Game Start Sets Up

Every Game Start has these parts:

  • Name and image. What players see in the game lobby.
  • Description. A short pitch for what this opening is about.
  • Lobby order. Where this Game Start appears relative to others.
  • Starting location. The place the party begins. Required.
  • Playable characters. Which characters players can choose from at the start.
  • Opening. How the GM begins the first turn. See below.
  • Opening Instruction File. An optional checklist the GM follows at game start, then deletes.

Opening Modes

You can pick one of two ways for the GM to open the game. Scripted is the recommended mode: the story starts the instant a player picks a character, while a dynamic opening makes them wait for the GM to write the first turn.

Scripted

The game opens with your scripted lines, exactly as written. A scripted opening is a list of beats — each beat is either GM narration or a line of dialogue from a character. Character beats show that character's portrait and play like live GM dialogue, in chat and in the story view.

The quick chips under the beat list keep common speakers one click away: the GM, characters linked to your starting location (placed on its map or mentioning it), and anyone already speaking in the opening. Each beat also has a + button to add another beat from the same speaker.

Each beat can carry an expression — a delivery cue picked from the speaker's expression states (or the GM's default set for narration). When the character has a matching portrait variation, the story view swaps it in for that line; without one, the base portrait shows.

Dynamic

The GM follows your instruction to generate the first turn. You write what should happen, like "open with a tense scene, one sensory detail, and a question to the selected character." The GM improvises within that frame. Use this when you want freshness over exact wording.

Per-Character Openings

By default one scripted opening plays for everyone. When the game start has selectable characters, a tab for each appears under the Scripted choice. Pick a character's tab and choose to write them a custom opening — when a player picks that character in the lobby, their version plays instead. Everyone else gets the All characters opening, which is always required as the fallback. A character opening starts as a copy of the fallback so you can tweak it rather than rewrite it, and a dot on the tab marks characters that have one. Per-character openings apply to scripted openings only.

The Opening Instruction File

The Opening Instruction File is an optional checklist for the GM that only applies at the start of a game. When the game begins, Craft creates a pinned GM instruction file from your text. The GM reads it, follows your steps, and deletes the file when it's done.

This is what makes it different from your normal GM instructions:

  • Normal GM instructions apply to every turn for the whole game.
  • Opening Instructions apply once, at the start, then disappear.

That makes them a good fit for one-time setup work you don't want sticking around for the rest of the campaign.

Ideas

Opening Instructions are flexible. Some other ways people use them:

  • Calibrate to the player. Ask once about tone, content preferences, or pacing, and save the answers to a notes file the GM can reference later in the campaign.
  • Roll up the starting world state. Pick today's weather, which faction is in power, or which NPC is in town, and write those choices to files so the game stays consistent.
  • Plant story seeds. Have the GM secretly pick a rumor, a clue, and a stranger from your lore files, then weave all three into the opening scene.
  • Onboard new players. Walk a first-time player through how to talk to the GM before dropping into the fiction. Wait for them to confirm they understand.
  • Introduce each party member. If the party has multiple characters, give each one a distinct entrance to the scene.
  • Verify the character sheet. Check that the chosen character has the stats, gear, or relationships your game system expects. Fill in defaults or ask the player about anything missing.
  • Sample a system mechanic. Run a dice roll, a skill check, or a clock advancement in the first turn so the player sees how the system works in your game.
  • Set the in-game clock. Ask the player what time of day or season they want to start in, and write the answer to a world state file.

Writing Your Own

  • Write it as a checklist. Short bullets the GM can work through, not a wall of prose. The GM treats it like a to-do list.
  • Keep it focused on the opening. If a rule applies to every turn, it belongs in your normal GM instructions instead.
  • Tell the GM when to delete. End with "When done with this list, delete this file." Otherwise the GM might leave it pinned longer than you want.
  • Don't dump lore here. Reference a pinned or searchable file if you need background. The Opening Instruction File is for actions, not encyclopedia entries.

Picking the Right Tool

If you're not sure where a piece of setup belongs, use this rough guide.

If you want to... Use...
Set the first message word for word Scripted opening
Let the GM improvise the first scene from a brief Dynamic opening
Walk the GM through one-time setup at game start Opening Instruction File
Apply a rule to every turn of the game Pinned GM instructions
Provide background lore the GM can reference A regular file with partial or searchable visibility

See Also

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