System Builder: first steps
What a system is, the three ways of working (wizard, expert and code), the shortest path to something playable, and a map of every tab.
A system in Roliando is your roleplaying game: what a character sheet has, how you roll, how combat works and how characters progress. What you define here is used by the sheet, the chat, the dice and the VTT (tokens, initiative, damage, conditions), so it does more than set how the sheet looks.
You can create your own system from scratch, adapt a tabletop game you already play, or bring over a sheet from Roll20.
Five ways to work (the same thing underneath)
When you open your system in Creations → Edit (the section is also called Creations in the classic skin), you choose how to build it at the top right. You can switch whenever you want: all five modes edit the same system and nothing is lost when switching.
| Mode | What for | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet | Designing the sheet as your players will see it, and editing it right there. | The sheet, full screen |
| Wizard | Getting started without knowing where to begin. It walks you through 4 phases. | System (general and dice) → Character (fields and perks) → The sheet (design and creation) → Extras (combat, levels, economy) |
| Expert | Going straight to what you want to touch. | An index with every section, the editor, and the sheet beside it |
| Code | Writing instead of dragging; coming from Roll20. | HTML, CSS and sheet-workers |
| Sheet overlay | Turning a PDF or an image of your sheet into a sheet. | Your sheet with boxes drawn on top |
The wizard and the sheet mode are layers over the same editors as expert mode, so nothing you do in one is lost in another.
Expert mode, inside
- The index (on the left) groups the eighteen sections by what they do: The sheet, The character, At the table and Content. Each shows how much it holds (30 fields, 45 creatures…); empty ones are dimmer, but always visible.
- “Where do I…?”: the search box at the top of the index (or Ctrl K) finds sections and tasks too: type “damage”, “initiative”, “pdf” or “coins” and it tells you which section does it and takes you there.
- Connections: above each section, one line says where it shows up in play, which other sections it reads from and which use it (“Combat reads 12 fields from Fields; the Bestiary uses it”). Every name is a link. In Fields, expanding a field shows where that field is used.
- The preview: the real sheet, with sample data, on the right. It recalculates on every change; widen it by dragging its edge or hide it with its button (or Preview in the header).
- Classic view: if you prefer the old row of tabs, Show as tabs is at the bottom of the index. The button at the corner of the tabs brings the index back.
If you come from Roll20, start with the Code mode (Roll20 style) guide: paste your sheet and you get an assembled system.
The shortest path to something playable
You don't need to fill in every tab. These five steps give you a playable system:
- General: name, description, icon.
- Fields: the attributes and values of the sheet (strength, health, money…).
- Design: where each thing goes on the sheet.
- Roll rules: which die is used and when there is a success or a critical.
- Preview: try it before publishing.
Everything else (combat, levels, perks, items, bestiary, economy) is optional. Add it when you need it.
Map of the tabs
| Tab | What you define |
|---|---|
| General | Name, description, icon and whether it is published |
| Map | The whole system connected: which field reads which, and which databases, perks and automations touch each thing. Picking a node lights up its wires, lets you edit its formulas right there (Text, Blocks or Nodes) and jumps to its section |
| Functions | Named formulas with parameters reused across the system (BONUS(strength)), also as a piece in Blocks and Nodes |
| Fields | The values of the sheet and their formulas. Everything else builds on them |
| Perks | Advantages, feats, powers: things that are bought or earned |
| Design | The sheet: which widget goes where, tabs, columns |
| Party sheets | Things that belong to the whole party: the ship, the boat, the hideout |
| Style | Colors, typography and custom CSS for your sheet |
| Creation | The wizard the player fills in when creating a character |
| Levels | Progression: what leveling up gives |
| Trees | Skill branches by level |
| Combat | Actions, damage, defense, conditions and statuses |
| Items | Equipment catalog and its effects |
| Bestiary | Creatures ready to drop on the map |
| Databases | The system database (species, classes, spells, weapons…): own typed columns, entries with effects that apply when picked in a field, CSV/JSON import |
| Rules | The system manual your players read |
| Optional | Rules each table can turn on or off |
| Economy | Currencies and prices |
Saving, preview and help
- It saves by itself. After the first save, any change is saved after ~1.6 seconds. The status shows at the bottom left: Unsaved changes in amber and Saved when it finishes. The first system is created with the Save button.
- Preview (top right) opens your sheet with sample data without changing anything. Use it to check whether the design has enough room.
- Help (the question mark) relaunches the guided tutorial of expert mode.
- If you leave with unsaved changes, the browser warns you.
Modules (supplements)
A module is a supplement for a system: it adds powers, clans, creatures, equipment or rules, and each GM decides whether it is at their table. This is how a game's supporting books are distributed: the core book goes on its own and each table plays with the ones it wants.
They have their own screen in Creations → System Module Builder, with yours grouped by game. You can also start one from Systems → (a system) → Module, which opens the same screen with the system already chosen.
A module can also bring compendiums (its builder's Compendiums tab): big lists, like the system's, that the sheet's Compendium widget offers only at tables where the GM has switched that module on.
It uses the same builder: the Fields, Perks, Combat, Items, Bestiary, Decks, Manual, Creation and Levels tabs are the same as the system's, with the same options and the same editors. While you work you see the whole system (so formulas find their fields, filters find their classes and databases find their data), but only what you add is saved.
It saves by itself a few seconds after each change, like the System Builder, and a chip at the bottom left shows amber ("unsaved changes") or green. The first save is manual: until you press Save for the first time, the module does not exist.
There are two rules:
- A module adds: it does not change or remove. If you touch something from the base system, it is left as it was and you are told. Otherwise enabling a supplement that rewrote a trait would change someone's sheet without warning.
- You must have the system to expand it: be its author or have it in your library. It being published is not enough.
A module can't contain the sheet's design, the style or the dice rules. Those belong to the system, since two books competing over the layout can't be resolved.
For new "clans" or "species", do not create a new field. Add the option to the select that already exists (in Fields, on the system's field) and put its effects and its help text there.
Items: two places, and the bridge between them
Items are made in a single place, and there are two ways to distribute them:
| Where | What for | |
|---|---|---|
| System arsenal | The system's Items tab | The equipment that comes with your game. It reaches whoever uses it |
| Publishable batch | The Items tab of a module | An item supplement that others acquire and each GM turns on (or not) at their table |
It is the same tab in both cases. The only difference is where it belongs: in the system, it always goes with it; in a module, each table decides.
There used to be a separate Item Builder, with personal catalogs and packs. It was merged into modules and its contents moved over automatically. D&D items are made in the D&D Module Builder, which has its own item category.
To avoid writing the same item twice, the Items tab has "Import from my items": you pick which ones and they are copied to the arsenal, with their bonuses and their actions. They are copied, not linked, so from then on they are separate and editing one does not touch the other.
The GM turns them on when creating their campaign or in its settings, next to the optional rules.
Publishing
While you work, your system is a draft that only you can see.
When you mark it as published it appears in the Workshop for everyone. Publishing is immediate (there is no approval queue) and free: systems are not sold.
Publishing requires a GM plan with publishing permission. Without it, the system is still saved as a draft and you can use it in your games.
You can keep editing after publishing; the changes reach whoever uses it.
Tips before you start
- Start small. Five fields and one die are already a system. Add combat and levels when you need them.
- Think about the key, not the name. Each field has a label (what is shown) and a key (what formulas use). You can change the label freely; changing the key breaks the formulas that used it.
- Test with the preview often, especially after touching the design.
- Do not duplicate work: if a value is calculated from others (a modifier, a total), make it a Derived field instead of asking for it to be typed by hand.
Next step
Continue with the Fields and formulas guide, where you decide what your sheet is made of.