Skip to content

Getting Started

This page takes you from a fresh account to a map with a token on it.

1. Sign in

Purple Cat has no separate signup step — you sign in, and an account is created the first time. Sign-in is handled by Clerk, so you can use an email address or whichever social providers are enabled.

2. Create a campaign

A campaign is the container for everything else: your maps, your characters, your chat, your players. Nothing exists outside a campaign.

From Campaigns in the left rail, choose New Campaign. Give it a name. You can pick a game system now or later — see Game Systems and Modules. If you are not sure, leave it on the built-in no-rules system; you can change it later, though changing it after characters exist is disruptive.

3. Create a map

With a campaign open, choose Create Map on its page (or Maps under the campaign in the rail). A map starts as a blank grid with a texture. From there you can:

  • upload a battle map image,
  • pick a texture and draw walls yourself,
  • or generate one.

Grid size, offset, and scale are all adjustable — see Maps.

4. Put something on it

Open the add-to-map chooser from the map and pick what to add: a token from the Library, a character you have made, or a monster.

Tokens are the pieces you move. Everything about them — art, size, bars, conditions, actions — is covered in Tokens.

5. Move around

  • W / A / S / D pans the camera; Q / E zooms; 0 resets it.
  • Click a token to impersonate it — that means "I am now acting as this token", which is how you roll its dice and use its actions. It does not mean "selected". To select tokens for moving or deleting, shift-click.
  • Arrow keys nudge selected tokens; Shift + arrow sets facing.

The full list is in Keyboard Shortcuts.

6. Roll something

Press R for the dice palette, or type a roll into chat. Rolls appear in chat for everyone. See Dice.

7. Invite your group

Open the campaign's sharing options and create an invite. You get a link; anyone with the link can join, up to the expiry and use limits you set.

Treat invite links like passwords — anyone holding one can use it. Details in Sharing and Permissions.

8. Before your first real session

Where to go next