Held actions

A held action lines up a big moment before the session, such as a thunderclap, a pause and a fireball, for you to fire one step at a time or all at once when the story gets there.

For: Game Masters · Plan: Free · 14 minutes

A big moment at the table often needs several tools at once: the Scenes panel for the night-time map, the Sound Library for the thunder, Spell FX for the lightning bolt and the Music Library for the fight music. A held action is a named list of those steps, built ahead of time. When the moment comes you hold it on the board: a bar appears at the bottom of your screen, and you fire each step with a click or a key, or the whole list in order with Fire all. Only the Game Master (GM), the person running the game, can build, see and fire held actions. Players see and hear what each step does, as if you'd done it by hand.

Build a held action

1. Hover over the Mode menu, the tab at the top of the board, and choose Held Actions. It has a row of its own under Spell FX, marked fire on cue. Its panel opens under the menu.

2. Click + New held action.

3. Type a Name, such as The storm breaks.

4. Under Add a step, choose what kind of step it is, such as Play sound, then choose what it plays, and click Add step. The step joins the Steps list above. Every kind of step is described below, in Steps, one by one.

5. Add the other steps the same way, in the order they should happen. ↑ and ↓ move a step up or down the list; ✕ removes it.

6. Click Save & hold to save it and put it on the board now, or Save to keep it for later.

Held actions are saved with the game, so they're ready next session. Players can't see the list.

The board works as usual while the panel is open, so you can still select and move tokens.

Fire it

A held action sits on a bar at the bottom centre of your screen, above the Shortcut Bar: its name, a numbered button for each step, then Fire all and an ×. Only you see the bar.

• Click a step to fire that step alone, straight away. Its number fills in once it has happened. Click it again to repeat it: you can fire steps in any order.
• Click Fire all to fire every step that hasn't fired yet, in order. While it runs, the step it's on has a ring round it and the button reads Stop. When every step has fired, the button reads Replay: click it to play the whole action again from the top.
• Press the full stop key (.) to fire the next step that hasn't fired. The step it will fire has a dashed outline. It skips Wait steps.

Fire all waits for some steps before it moves on, and not for others:

• It waits for a Switch scene step's scene to load, for a Wait step's seconds to pass, and for a Spell FX step that needs aiming to be cast or cancelled on the board.
• A sound, a music track, a phase change or a dramatic effect starts, and Fire all moves straight on to the next step. Put a Wait after one to let it play first.

Stop lets the step that's running finish, then stops. The steps it didn't reach stay unfired, so Fire all carries on from there next time.

A step that couldn't happen stays unfired, such as a dramatic effect with no token selected, or a sound that's been deleted. A message says why, Fire all moves on to the next step, and you can click the missed one when you're ready. A Switch scene step that doesn't happen stops Fire all, because the steps after it were meant for that scene.

A Spell FX step that waits for your clicks counts as fired as soon as you start aiming, even if you then cancel with × or Esc: click its button to cast it again.

The full stop key

The full stop key fires the next step of the action you held most recently. When that one has no steps left, or Fire all is running it, the key moves on to the action held before it.

It works whether the board or the rest of the screen has your attention, but not while you're typing in chat or a box, and not with Ctrl, Cmd or Alt held. Holding the key down fires one step, not several.

Take it off the board

Click the × at the end of its row (hover: Take off the board (stays saved)). The action stays saved in Held Actions, ready to hold again.

You can hold several actions at once: each gets its own row on the bar. They stay there while you change scenes, modes and panels, until you take them off or reload the page.

Edit or delete one

Open Held Actions from the Mode menu. Each saved action shows its name, its steps, and three buttons:

• Hold puts it on the board. While it's held the button reads Re-hold, which starts it over with every step unfired.
• Edit opens it. Make your changes and click Save. If it's held, the bar changes with it, and steps that had already fired stay marked.
• Delete asks Delete "The storm breaks"? (your action's name). Click Confirm to delete it. It leaves the board too, and there's no undo.

Hold one from the Shortcut Bar

Keep a held action one key away, to put it on the board without opening the Mode menu.

1. Open the Shortcut Bar at the bottom of the board and click an empty slot.
2. Under Held Actions, click the action. Each row shows its name and its steps, such as Rolling Thunder → Wait 2s → Fireball.

Clicking the slot, or pressing its key (Ctrl or Cmd with the slot's number), holds the action as it's saved now, so it includes any edits you've made since. It doesn't fire anything: fire the steps from the bar. If the action is already held, it starts over. See Shortcut Bar.

Only you see the Held Actions list in the Shortcut Bar, and only you can use the slot.

Steps, one by one

Step	What you choose	What it does when it fires
Switch scene	One of the game's scenes.	Switches everyone to that scene, straight away: it doesn't ask Switch Scene? the way the Scenes panel does. Once combat has begun you're asked End battle to switch scenes? instead, and Fire all stops there: if you end the battle the scene changes, and you fire the rest of the steps yourself. See Scenes.
Change phase	A scene (Choose a scene…), then one of its phases.	Swaps that scene's map to the phase, for everyone. It only works while that scene is on, or straight after a Switch scene step to it in the same Fire all. A phase swapped while a vista is showing waits behind the vista. See Phases.
Play sound	A sound from your game's Sound Library, under This game, or a ready-made one, under Built-in.	Plays it once for everyone, as the Sound Library does. See Sound effects.
Play music	A track from your game's Music Library, under This game, or a ready-made one, under Built-in.	Plays it for everyone in place of what's playing, and loops it, the same as Play on its card in the Music Library. See Music.
Stop music	Nothing.	Stops the music for everyone.
Spell FX	One of your recent casts with the Spell FX tool, named with its aim, such as Fireball · Place.	Casts it again, aimed the way you saved it. Selected plays on the tokens selected when the step fires. Place, A → B and Chain wait for your clicks on the board, with the aim bar at the bottom of the screen saying what to click. Needs Pro. See Spell FX.
Dramatic effect	One of your recent dramatic effects, such as Frost · Thunder.	Plays on the tokens selected when the step fires, and takes them off the board if it was saved that way. See Dramatic effects.
Wait	A number of seconds.	Nothing on its own: it only spaces out Fire all. Its button on the bar has a dashed edge and can't be clicked.

• A Built-in sound or track joins your game's library as soon as you click Add step, and stays there even if you then click Cancel.
• A Spell FX or Dramatic effect step keeps a copy of the cast from when you added it, like a Shortcut Bar slot. To change one, cast or apply the new version, then add it as a step in place of the old one.
• A step keeps the name it had when you added it: renaming the scene or the sound later doesn't rename the button.

The Held Actions panel, part by part

The list

Part	What it does
The note at the top	Says what held actions are for, and that the full stop key fires the next step.
No held actions yet.	Shows until you've saved one.
A card for each action	Its name, and its steps joined by arrows, such as Rolling Thunder → Wait 2s → Fireball.
Hold / Re-hold	Puts the action on the board and folds the Mode menu away, so the board is clear. Re-hold shows while it's held, and starts it over.
Edit	Opens the action in the editor.
Delete	Deletes the action, after Delete "name"?
+ New held action	Opens the editor with an empty action.

While the list loads you see Loading…. If it can't load, Could not load held actions. has a Retry link.

The editor

Control	What it does	Default and limits
Name	The action's name, on its card and on the bar.	Up to 80 characters. Left empty, it's saved as Held action.
Steps	The steps in order, numbered. Each shows its kind above its name, such as Play sound over Rolling Thunder. Add the first step below. shows while there are none.	Up to 30 steps
↑ / ↓	Moves the step one place up or down.	Greyed out at the top and the bottom of the list.
✕	Takes the step out, with no question asked.
Step type	Switch scene, Change phase, Play sound, Play music, Stop music, Spell FX, Dramatic effect or Wait.	Switch scene
Scene	Change phase only: the scene whose phases you want. Starts on Choose a scene….
What it plays	Starts on Choose…. Sounds and music are in two groups, This game and Built-in.
Seconds	Wait only, with seconds (paces Fire all) beside it.	2. From 0.5 to 60, in half seconds.
Add step	Adds the step to the end of the list. Greyed out until you've chosen what it plays.
Cancel	Goes back to the list without saving, with no question asked.
Save	Saves the action and goes back to the list. Greyed out until there's a step.
Save & hold	Saves the action, puts it on the board and folds the Mode menu away. Greyed out until there's a step.

Under a Spell FX step the box reminds you: Casts with its saved aim: Selected uses the tokens selected when it fires; the others ask you to click the board. Under a Dramatic effect step: Fires at the tokens selected on the board when it fires.

When there's nothing to choose, the box says why:

Step type	Message
Switch scene	This game has no scenes yet.
Change phase	This scene has only one phase. Add phases in Scenes.
Play sound	No sounds in the library yet.
Play music	No music in the library yet.
Spell FX	Cast an effect once in Spell FX and it shows up here.
Dramatic effect	Apply a Dramatic Effect once (token menu) and it shows up here.

The held actions bar, part by part

Part	What it does
Icon and name	The action's name. Hover over a long one to see all of it.
Step buttons	One for each step, with its number and name. Hover to see Fire: Rolling Thunder (your step's name), or Fire: Rolling Thunder (next: press .) on the step the full stop key fires next. A Wait step says Paces Fire all and can't be clicked.
Filled number	That step has fired. The button fades a little too.
Dashed outline	The step the full stop key fires next. Only one action on the bar has it.
Ring	The step Fire all is on now.
Fire all	Fires the steps that haven't fired yet, in order. Reads Replay when every step has fired, and Stop while it runs.
× (hover: Take off the board (stays saved))	Takes the action off the bar. It stays saved.

The bar grows a row for each action you hold, and scrolls once it fills two fifths of the screen. While you're aiming a spell effect it moves up, out of the way of the aim bar. On a phone it starts to the right of the round buttons at the bottom left, and the steps go on a line of their own under the name.

What the messages mean

Message	Why
"The Lab: Powered" is a phase of another scene. Switch to that scene first.	A Change phase step fired while a different scene is on. Switch to that scene, then fire the step again.
"Rolling Thunder" is no longer in the sound library.	The step's sound has been deleted. Edit the action and add the sound you want instead.
"Hall of the Pale Moon" is no longer in the music library.	The step's track has been deleted.
Select one or more tokens on the board first.	A Spell FX step aimed Selected fired with no token selected.
Select a token on the board first, then use this shortcut.	A Dramatic effect step fired with no token selected.
Could not save held actions. Try again.	Saving didn't reach RollQuest. Your changes are still in the editor.
Could not add that step.	A Built-in sound or track couldn't be added to your game.
Could not load your held actions. Try again.	A Shortcut Bar slot couldn't fetch your saved actions.
"The storm breaks" was deleted. Re-assign the slot.	The slot's action has been deleted. The slot empties.

A Spell FX step shows the same messages as a Spell FX slot on the Shortcut Bar, such as a sound that's still uploading: see Spell FX.

Good to know

• Players never see your held actions or the bar. They see and hear each step when it fires.
• The bar is on your screen only: reloading the page clears it. Your actions stay saved, so hold them again, and every step starts unfired.
• A game holds up to 50 held actions.

Related

Spell FX · Dramatic effects · Shortcut Bar · Phases · Scenes