Lore and knowledge graph

What is Lore?

Most tools for tracking campaign details give you a pile of wiki pages. You end up with a folder of documents that mention each other in prose and nothing else connects them. ScryRPG’s Lore system is different: it is a knowledge graph for your campaign.

Every person, place, organization, and quest is a first-class entity. Entities are typed, so an NPC is not just a page titled “The Ashen Chancellor.” It is an NPC entity with a race, class, status, and disposition. And entities are connected. You can draw a typed, directional relationship from “The Ashen Chancellor” to “Blackreach” (“rules”) and from “Blackreach” to “The Deepdown” (“located in”). When you open the Chancellor’s page, his connection to Blackreach and the wider Deepdown is right there in the sidebar, not buried in a paragraph somewhere.

That small difference changes how your campaign notes work. Instead of re-reading a wiki to rebuild context, you navigate a map.

Entity Categories

ScryRPG supports eight entity categories out of the box. Each category has its own icon and a set of optional structured fields (metadata) that match how GMs think about that kind of thing.

Every entity, regardless of category, also gets: a name, a markdown body, tags, an optional section (for grouping), an optional image, a visibility setting, and a pinned flag.

NPC Reference Cards

An NPC entity can produce two independent printable cards. The handout carries the portrait, campaign identity, and revealed lore you can give to players. When usable creature statistics are available, the mechanical reference carries the focused stat information you want beside your dice. They are separate deck entries, never the front and back of one card. From the NPC detail page, open the card view to choose either one, add both, or send them to Print Studio.

ScryRPG resolves the mechanics safely:

1. A valid linked creature is used only when you are allowed to read it.
2. A valid inline stat block is used when there is no existing usable linked record.
3. If neither source is safe and valid, ScryRPG offers the handout without manufacturing a rules reference.

An inaccessible or malformed existing linked creature fails directly to handout-only; it does not revive a possibly stale inline copy. The handout never carries the rejected stat source or hidden mechanics. GM notes, hidden relationships, and activity history are never baked into either card, even for the GM. Both variants link to the same living NPC, and party or GM card links still require normal membership and role checks when scanned.

See Printable Cards for the one-face Table Reference, lossless Full Rules continuations, Credits & Licenses companions, audience rules, QR behavior, saved decks, and physical output.

Creating Your First Entity

In the party view, open the Lore tab and choose New page. On a new party’s empty Lore home, the Write the first page link opens the same form. Players can create Party-visible pages; only the GM, a manager, or an admin can create GM Only pages. The form is deliberately short.

1. Name. Required. Short and memorable: “The Ashen Chancellor,” “Blackreach Undercity,” “The Obsidian Hand.”
2. Category. Pick from the list above. The form adapts. Choosing NPC reveals the race/class/status fields; choosing Location reveals the location type and population.
3. Section. Optional free-text grouping like “Chapter 1,” “Barovia,” or “The Deepdown.” You can filter the lore list by section later.
4. Content. A markdown body with a live Write / Preview toggle. Aim for one to three focused paragraphs. This is a reference, not a novel chapter.
5. Visibility. Shared with the party or GM Only. See the Visibility section below.
6. Pinned. If on, the entity appears in the Pinned Lore panel on your party home dashboard.
7. Artwork. Optional. Add an image for the entity. NPC artwork uses a square portrait frame; other lore categories use a wide header-art frame.
8. Tags. Comma-separated. Use tags for cross-cutting themes: undead, underdark, act-one, redemption-arc.

Save the page. Its visibility determines which party members can see it.

Character Lore Pages and Faction Connections

Each party character has a lore page paired with the character sheet. Open the character sheet’s Lore tab to edit the character’s story and private sections. The player who owns the character and the GM can read private sections. On a character in a party, use + Add a connection in the Lore tab to link that character to a faction or another visible lore page. Players can make these connections for their own characters. The party’s Lore home can also show a Start here section with pages and recaps to help you catch up.

Pinning Entities to Your Party Home

Lore pages can be pinned. Pinned entities appear on the party home dashboard in the Pinned Lore section. Pin pages your table needs to find easily.

Good candidates to pin:

• The current BBEG and their lieutenants
• The city the party is currently in
• The faction they are working for right now
• Any active main-arc quests
• The artifact they are hunting

When the party moves on to a new act, unpin the old set and pin the new one. The home page becomes a living spotlight instead of a static dashboard.

Visibility: GM-Only vs Party-Visible

Every entity has a visibility flag. It is how you separate “things the players know” from “things the GM is still holding back.”

GM-only entities are completely filtered out of the lore list and search results for players. They do not appear in relationship sidebars either. A player opening an entity will only see connections to things they are allowed to see.

The GM, a manager, or an admin can change a page’s visibility at any time. A common pattern: draft the villain’s backstory as GM Only, then change it to Party after the party discovers the truth. The page stays in the party’s lore, and party members can read it after the change.

Relationships

Relationships are where the graph part of “knowledge graph” shows up. Open a page, choose Add a connection in its Connections section, pick a target entity by name, and choose a type.

Relationship Types

There are sixteen built-in relationship types:

Each relationship is directional (source to target) and can optionally be marked bidirectional for symmetric connections like allied/enemy pairs. You can also add a short free-text description to explain the connection, such as “hired the party in session 3” or “paid off by the Obsidian Hand.”

Once you have a few relationships wired up, each page’s Connections section groups the links by relationship label. The labels read from that page’s point of view, making it easier to answer questions like “who works for the Chancellor” or “what quests does this NPC have open.”

Templates vs Instances

If you have used ScryRPG’s items or shops, the next part will feel familiar. Lore uses the same template/instance pattern as the rest of the system.

The Pattern

A Lore Template is a reusable collection of entities that lives in your personal library. It is not attached to any party. You build it once (a homebrew pantheon, a published adventure’s NPC roster, or a shared setting you run at multiple tables) and it stays in your account until you delete it.

A Lore Instance is what a specific party has. When you create a party, it gets an empty lore instance automatically. Every entity you create in that party’s Lore tab is an entity instance that lives only inside that party.

The magic happens when you deploy a template to a party: ScryRPG copies entities and relationships out of the template and into the party’s lore instance. The party can edit its copies subject to its usual lore permissions.

Why This Matters

Build once, run many times. If you run the same adventure for multiple groups (a published module, a homebrew campaign you want to try again with different players, a one-shot convention module) build it as a template. Every time you start a new group, one deploy action sets up the entire lore graph.

Edits stay local. When the Tuesday party kills Strahd, that change lives in their instance. The original template is untouched. Your Friday group, running the same template, still has Strahd alive and plotting.

Promote instance content back to a template. Built something great in one campaign that deserves to be reusable? You can save a polished party instance back into your template library to deploy in future campaigns.

Deploying a Template

From a template’s detail page, click Deploy Template, pick a target party from the dropdown, and confirm. ScryRPG copies every entity and every relationship into that party’s lore instance and attributes the deploy to you. The dialog then gives you a direct link to jump into the party’s Lore tab.

The GM or a manager can deploy a template in replace mode. A contributing player can deploy in merge mode. You must own or have access to the template and have permission to the target party. Templates marked public in the marketplace can be used by any signed-in user; private templates stay personal.

History

Open a lore page’s History panel to see changes and who made them. The panel offers Undo when a change can be undone by you.

The history includes page and relationship changes. Available actions depend on the change and your permissions.

Your Familiar + Lore

Your familiar can answer questions about party lore and make changes allowed by your role. Free rein is on by default. It asks first before deleting or revealing information, changing permissions or membership, touching another player’s character or inventory, using another player’s monthly usage, or making a large change. You can turn free rein off in settings. It follows the same visibility and party permission rules as the app.

What Players Can Ask

Anything about party-visible lore. For example:

• “Who is the Ashen Chancellor and what do we know about him?”
• “What factions are we currently allied with?”
• “Which NPCs gave us active quests?”
• “What do we know about Blackreach?”

Your familiar searches your lore by category and query, pulls the matching entities, walks the relationship graph for related context, and answers in plain language. GM-only entities are invisible to player queries. Your familiar respects the same visibility rules the rest of the app does.

What GMs and Managers Can Ask

GMs and managers can ask your familiar to search and update lore. Players can ask questions about lore they can see. Before a change that needs approval, your familiar asks first.

• “Create an NPC called Kira Vex, half-elf rogue, friendly, member of the Obsidian Hand.”
• “Mark the Chancellor as dead and flip his backstory to party-visible.”
• “What active quests are tied to the Obsidian Hand?”
• “Add a quest called ‘Retrieve the Sunstone’, give it to the party from Madame Vex, make it a main quest.”

Your familiar can use categories, metadata, and relationships when making an approved change. If a change fails, it rolls back entirely.

For the full assistant reference (including how your familiar discovers your active party and which tools it has access to) see the AI Assistant Guide.

Common Questions

Do players see GM-only entities in search or familiar answers? No. GM-only entities are filtered out of the lore list, relationship sidebars, and your familiar’s search results when a player is asking. A player querying your familiar about a GM-only villain gets the same “no results” answer as if the entity did not exist.

Can I upload image files directly? Yes. Use the image field in the entity form. NPC uploads and generated artwork use a square portrait crop; other lore categories use a wide header. Existing wide NPC art remains visible in the app and printable cards without a destructive migration.

What happens to a party’s lore if I delete the template I deployed from? Nothing. Deployed entities are full copies. They have no live dependency on the source template. Deleting a template does not touch any parties it was deployed to.

Can I import lore from an existing document or adventure module? Yes. The Import tool can extract lore entities alongside items from campaign documents and reviewed session transcripts. Review the import before confirming it. For a party import, the GM can open, undo, or keep a member’s import. See the Import Guide for the steps and limits.

Can players edit party lore? Players can create Party-visible pages and edit them. Editing pages written by the GM depends on party and page settings, which the GM, managers, and admins control. Players can add relationships to visible pages. Character story edits are limited to the character owner and GM.

Do relationships show up both ways? The Connections section shows links to and from each page using labels that make sense from that page’s point of view. For example, an NPC can show who they report to and who reports to them. Mark a relationship as bidirectional for symmetric cases such as allied or enemy links.

Can I filter the lore list by tag or section? Yes. Filter pages by category or tag, or group them by section. Search can find tags and page text.

Do manual lore edits count toward AI usage? No. Manual lore edits and inventory actions have no monthly action quota. AI-assisted changes count toward your monthly AI usage. See the Subscription Guide for current plan details.

What’s Next?

• Templates & Instances: The mental model Lore shares with items, shops, and loot
• Printable Cards: Print an NPC handout and, when available, a separate authorized mechanical reference
• AI Assistant Guide: The assistant that reads and writes your lore
• Party Management Guide: How pinned lore plugs into the party home dashboard
• Import Guide: Pull lore entities out of adventure PDFs, campaign docs, and reviewed session transcripts