Prepare and Run Sessions with Game Session and the Initiative Tracker

As a game master, you need to keep the scene, your notes, and the party's choices in view. This guide follows the workflow from session preparation to play: organize your notes and references, arrange your Game Session workspace, and consult combat information in the Initiative Tracker.

The screenshots use the English interface in Omniarole 1.13.11, captured on October 5, 2026. Click any screenshot to view it at a larger size.

Watch the video

See Game Session and the Initiative Tracker in the video, then follow the steps below with your own campaign.

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1. Select your campaign

From Home, open Campaigns and select the campaign you want to run. This is where you can see your party and the sessions you have prepared.

Our example uses the world of Corallia, the campaign The Ash and the Song, and a session called The Fading Pulse. The party includes Bram Flinch, Lyra Vane, and Thrain Ironcurrent. Follow the same steps with your own campaign and characters.

Campaign view with three party members and The Fading Pulse session — Your campaign brings together the party and the sessions you want to run.

2. Prepare Details, Writing, and Materials

Choose Add Game Session to open a new session's preparation form. To review an existing session, open it and use the pen icon. The form separates preparation into Details, Writing, and Materials.

In Details, give the session a title and set its dates. You can include a played date, an in-game date, and optional timeline placement.

Session Details form for The Fading Pulse — Details keeps the session title and dates together.

Write a recap and practical session notes

Writing provides separate Summary and Notes editors. Use Summary for a recap shown in the campaign list, and Notes for the material you want in front of you during play.

A useful starting outline is an opening scene, information the party can discover, possible developments, and an expected encounter. Keep the notes easy to scan while listening to your players. In this example, Notes contains the session preparation and Summary is still empty.

Writing tab with separate Summary and Notes editors — Keep the campaign recap and your session notes in separate spaces.

Gather your references

In Materials, choose Add paper. The selector offers Articles, Bestiary, Gallery, Maps, and Relationships. In Articles, search for an existing reference, select it, and choose Add selected to session. Use Save in the preparation form when you finish.

Think about the material you will need for the next scene: a location, an important character, a creature, or a map. You can bring in more references once the session is running.

Material selector with Articles, Bestiary, Gallery, Maps, and Relationships — Find the world references you need for the session.

3. Run Game Session with your notes in view

Open the prepared session from your campaign to review its details and notes. When you are ready to play, choose Start Game. Your notes appear as Session Notes in the Game Session workspace.

During play, Add paper lets you open additional material. For The Fading Pulse, we opened Oakhaven, the scene's location, and The Hadal Dark, a reference connected to the campaign's threat.

The Fading Pulse session with its prepared notes — Review your session notes before starting the game.

Game Session with Session Notes, Oakhaven, and The Hadal Dark side by side — Keep the scene and its references in front of you while you play.

Arrange the workspace around your scene

Drag panels by their title bars and resize them from their edges. In this layout, the notes sit on the left and the two references sit on the right, so each remains readable. The Papers sidebar lists the open material.

Bring the reference you need into view as the scene changes. Stop Session is available when you are ready to leave the workspace.

4. Open the Initiative Tracker

Open Initiative Tracker from Home when you need the combat workspace. Load opens the campaign selector, where you can find your campaign and its party. Add opens a combatant form with fields for name, HP, AC, initiative modifier, type, spell slots, and number of copies.

If you already have an encounter, Resume Last Battle reopens it. The screenshots here use an existing encounter at round 3, with the three party members, a Gelatinous Cube, and a Sea Hag.

Tracker campaign selector showing The Ash and the Song and three players — The campaign selector shows the party available to load.

5. Follow turns and consult conditions

Select a combatant's card to open their details. The tracker shows HP, AC, and initiative, with sections for Conditions and Spell Slots. Lyra Vane also has a Character Sheet section. Previous-turn and next-turn controls sit above the combatant list.

Conditions groups the available options under Combat Focus, Incapacitation, Movement & Position, Senses & Mind, and Body & Other. In this encounter, Lyra already has Concentration active. Keeping the selected combatant's details beside the turn order helps you consult the information you need as combat progresses.

English Initiative Tracker showing Lyra Vane's conditions and the encounter order — See the party, enemies, and selected combatant's conditions in one workspace.

6. Consult spell slots and hit points

Open Spell Slots to see the selected combatant's resources by level. Lyra's panel shows four first-level slots and two second-level slots, with controls to change the maximum and add levels.

Lyra Vane's Spell Slots panel with first-level and second-level resources — Keep magical resources in a dedicated panel.

Open damage and healing controls

Click the HP box to open the hit point panel. It shows current and maximum HP, Damage and Heal modes, an amount keypad, and Restore HP. In the screenshot, Lyra has 20 of 22 HP.

Hit point panel showing 20 of 22 HP with Damage, Heal, and Restore HP controls — Open damage and healing controls from the combatant's HP box.

Bring it to your next session

Start with one scene and one encounter from your campaign. Prepare the notes, open the references you need in Game Session, and use the tracker to keep turns and character resources in view.

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