🚀 Your first session

You've been approved and signed in for the first time: great. This is the quick guide to immediately do the two most useful things, namely ask the Master AI something and create your first character. Follow the steps in order and in a few minutes you'll have got the hang of the app.

Step 1 — Sign in and check you're active

1. Open GameMasterBuddy and sign in with Google.
2. If you see the dashboard with the tool cards, you're an active (free) account. If instead you see the "pending" message, you need to wait for the administrator's approval.
3. Take a look at your credit balance in the account area: as a free user you start with 150 weekly credits.

Step 2 — Choose your language

1. If you prefer English or Italian, use the language switch in the interface.
2. The choice is remembered for next time. You can change it whenever you want without losing your place.

Step 3 — Ask the Master AI your first question

The chat searches the manuals and answers by quoting sources. It costs a few credits, so it's your first taste of the AI features.

1. From the dashboard open Master AI.
2. If available, choose the setting or the engine/speed (the names are generic: Fast / Balanced / Deep).
3. Type a concrete question, for example a rule or a setting detail, and send it.
4. On the first question the engine may take a few seconds to "start up": this is normal, wait for the answer.
5. Read the answer and check the sources cited: they're the manual excerpts the AI drew its answer from.

Tip: use the exact names (of rules, places, creatures) as they appear in the manuals; it helps the search find the right passage.

Step 4 — Create your first character

The creator is free and saves everything to your account.

1. From the dashboard open the Character creator.
2. Choose the game: Vulcania (guided, AI-free procedure) or D&D 5e/Eberron (full step-by-step wizard).
3. Fill in the required choices (name, race/origin, ability scores, and so on) following the flow.
4. If you want a face, open Portraits and generate a head-and-shoulders image by choosing race, archetype, colors and style; then you can select it on the character sheet (this part uses credits).
5. Save the character: you'll find it in the Library, and you can export it to PDF when needed.

Step 5 — What now?

You've done the basic tour. From here you can:

• Open a Campaign and link characters and adventures to it.
• Try the tabletop tools (dice, initiative tracker, generators) and combine them in the Bench.
• Prepare a map in the Cartographer and then show it on the Online table.

Remember the credit rule: tools and maps are free, the AI features (chat, DM helper, portraits, one-shot) spend credits.