How it works

Atlas doesn't try to impose a template for every article type. Many worldbuilding tools force you to fill in dozens of specialized fields for each city, each NPC, each artifact. That's not what we're after.

A universe article here is a document, not a form. A title, a broad type, a summary, and an editor that leaves room to write what you have to say. Structured details come when they're useful (to search, link, publish better), not before.

The module is built for a GM who wants to find their way back after several months of play, whether they work solo or with co-GMs and invited players. The priority is to keep the content readable, linked, and to give each collaborator exactly the rights you want, no more.

A world is the substance of your universe. It holds places, characters, factions, cultures, events, items, rules, documents. Everything that forms the backdrop of your sessions.

A campaign is a story told in one of your worlds. It has its narrative arcs, its sessions, its plot hooks, its player characters. It builds on the world's articles without duplicating them: a city written once serves every campaign that passes through it.

One world can host several campaigns. A campaign belongs to only one world.

Each article carries a type: place, character, faction, culture, species, item, event, document, rule, note. The type is for filtering and organizing, not for imposing a template.

Articles can be grouped into categories that you define for your world. An article can also stay free, without a category.

On an article's page, the Links tab shows every place it's mentioned: other articles, sessions, plot hooks, arcs. It's the automatic backlink index.

The same editor is used for everything: world articles, campaigns, arcs, sessions, plot hooks, PC sheets. Classic formatting: headings, paragraphs, lists, quotes, tables, links, images.

In any field, type @ followed by an article's name. The editor suggests matches and inserts a typed link. The link stays live: if the article is renamed, the link follows. If it's deleted, the link becomes plain text without breaking the layout.

Autosave: your changes are saved in the background and restored if the tab is closed by mistake. The save status appears next to the title.

Worlds and campaigns each have a single state that says who sees them and whether you can still edit them:

• Private: only you have access. It's the default state of a new creation.
• Published: publicly visible on the site and listed in the directory.
• Archived: removed from the public (even for you from the public URL) and set to read-only. The content stays intact: just switch back to Private or Published to reactivate it.

For articles (places, characters, factions…), it's simpler: each article has a Private or Public visibility. A private article stays yours even when the world is published, handy for notes still being written or GM-only material.

For maps, the same logic in two states: a private map stays yours, a public map appears on the published world.

The items inside a campaign (arcs, sessions, plot hooks, NPCs, PCs, journals) also have their own Private/Public visibility: you decide what to reveal and when. A session whose date is in the future stays hidden automatically, even when the campaign is published, so you don't spoil your players.

Publishing isn't just a visibility switch: it's what makes your work findable. Atlas is built so worlds and campaigns circulate, get read, inspire others, get followed.

Once a world or campaign is published:

• It joins the public directory Explore worlds, where each world also shows its ongoing campaigns.
• Each published article has its own page: your universe reads like a wiki, link by link.
• Your public profile gathers your worlds, campaigns and shared characters in one place.
• Public pages are readable by search engines: people can stumble on your world without even knowing JDR Ninja.

Nothing goes public until you decide it. Sharing is a choice, not a default setting: your drafts, your secret blocks and your upcoming sessions stay yours, even once the rest is published.

Each campaign has its Members page. You invite people by username and choose what each one can do. Guests touch nothing until you've given them something: default access is read-only.

Permissions are granular. You can grant:

• Per-entity rights: edit a specific arc, create plot hooks, modify an NPC.
• Campaign-level rights: manage other members, change visibility, publish, edit the linked world articles.

The GM who owns the campaign has all rights implicitly and keeps control over who can do what. It's the same mechanic whether you work solo, with two GMs or a full table: it's up to you to open up gradually.

When a campaign is published, its players can read its past sessions, arcs, resolved or ongoing plot hooks, and their character's sheet. A My character dashboard gathers their PCs and quick access to their session reports.

An invited player also sees the private items you've given them access to via the campaign's permissions. They can, for example, write their character's session report without touching anything else, or be promoted to co-GM with editing rights on certain arcs.