A steadier table, and the road ahead
The candles are lit. The players have arrived. The last thing a GM needs is to wonder whether the table has saved.
The latest Sacrament RPG Table updates focus on the practical things that help a session keep moving: protecting characters, keeping everyone in step and giving the scene more room. Here is what is live now, followed by the work we want to tackle next.
Update, 24 October: backup-file restore and the character generator are now available on My heroes. The VTT also has GM dice, scene renaming, healing with rest-limit tracking, and an optional automatic scene-danger bonus in Play. Monster natural 1s always miss and natural 20s always hit. The roadmap below records the earlier plan; the live controls and How to play describe the current behaviour.
Live now: a safer session
We have tightened how the table handles delayed replies, interrupted connections and repeated actions. A reply from a previous session should no longer interfere with the table you are playing at now, and uncertain saves pause for recovery rather than letting more actions pile up behind them.
Equipment changes also identify the individual item being used or moved. That matters when a GM and player both work on an inventory. Changing gear that grants extra Hearts now preserves existing wounds, rather than accidentally handing out healing.
There is clearer recovery guidance for tables, including a downloadable private GM link. Keep that link somewhere safe: it is your way back into the GM seat, and it should stay private.
On My heroes, a failed save is now made visible, with a retry and a way to download a backup. Larger existing collections are preserved rather than silently cut short. Downloading a backup is available; a straightforward file-import and restore screen is still future work.
A chamber beneath the cathedral. A circle on the floor. Plenty of room for a decision you may regret.
Download the ritual-chamber battle map — original PNG
Live now: more room to play
The map fits the available space without stretching the artwork or changing token positions.
Drawings and pointers now belong to their own scenes. Preparing a scene as GM should not put its markings onto the players' current scene, and changing scenes no longer carries the old scene's drawings along with it.
Useful actions sit nearer the top of the live character sheet. Combat also offers an explicit way to roll without an item, and sheet controls have clearer outlines. These are small changes, but they help when the next decision matters more than finding a button.
GMs can remove a player with confirmation. That releases their hero and withdraws their previous access. It is a seat-management tool, not a permanent ban: someone with the invitation code can join again.
The home page has also lost its extra “Try it now” button and explanation, keeping the introduction simpler.
Next on the list
These are plans and proposals, not features you can use yet, and there are no release dates attached.
- A clearer character shortcut. Rename the player's footer “Sheet” button to My character, show it when a hero is assigned, and make sure the GM's equivalent opens the character they expect.
- Healing with less bookkeeping. Explore applying healing from items and prayers, tracking their use limits and resetting the appropriate limits after resting. We will check the written rules before building this.
- Scene danger in monster attacks. Explore including the scene-danger bonus automatically, so the GM does not have to add it by hand. This also needs a rules check before implementation.
- Easier recovery from backups. Make restoring a downloaded character backup a clear, guided process.
Further down the road
The wider improvement list includes a gentler first session for new GMs and players, better keyboard and screen-reader navigation, and more checks on real phones and Safari. We also want to keep testing longer sessions and busy tables, tidy up the code behind the scenes, and make automatic release checks more dependable.
Those are areas for further work, rather than a promise to deliver everything at once. Protecting saved characters, existing tables and private GM information comes first.
Something for the road beyond the last wayshrine: a graveyard scene for your table.
Download the graveyard scene — original WebP
The road to Hollowmere
A new scene background for your table: the gate is still lit, and the cart waits by the road.
Download the Hollowmere road scene — original PNG, 1586 × 992 · Download the smaller, lossless WebP
A little something for your next session
The three images in this post are a gift for your own games. Download them using the links above: the ritual chamber is an overhead battle map, while the graveyard and Hollowmere road are scene backgrounds. The downloads keep the original image dimensions and quality.
We would like to include more usable artwork in future posts, so there is something to take back to your table as well as something to read.
Still an alpha, still listening
The latest fixes have passed local release checks. We have also checked the published VTT and character-sheet files and passed 24 live service checks covering joining, resuming sessions, simultaneous actions, repeated requests and private GM information. That is useful evidence, but it does not replace longer sessions or testing on real devices.
If something gets in your way, tell us what you were trying to do, which browser or device you were using, and what happened. Those small moments are often the best guide to what needs attention next.