Session Companion

When to use the Session Companion

During prep:

• Brainstorm plot directions
• Develop NPC personalities and motivations
• Work through story problems
• Generate dialogue and speeches
• Explore “what if” scenarios

During sessions:

• Voice an NPC on the spot
• Figure out how an NPC would react
• Generate descriptions for unexpected situations
• Get ideas when players do something surprising

After sessions:

• Process what happened
• Explore consequences of player actions
• Develop threads for next session

Opening the Session Companion

While you’re inside a campaign, open the Session Companion either way:

• Click the floating lightning (Zap) button in the bottom-right corner
• Press Ctrl+Shift+C (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+C (Mac)

A panel slides in from the right. It has two tabs:

• Quick Generators - fast, one-shot content (NPCs, encounters, loot)
• AI Chat - the back-and-forth conversation described on this page

The Session Companion lives inside a campaign - the button only appears once you’ve opened one. It isn’t in the global sidebar (that’s just Campaigns, Library, and Settings).

Basic conversation

Open the AI Chat tab, type your message in the input field, and press Ctrl+Enter (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Enter (Mac) to send. Plain Enter adds a new line, so you can write multi-line prompts without sending early. You can also click the Send button.

Example prompts

Character development:

• “What would Captain Vance say if accused of taking bribes?”
• “How would the crime boss react if the party offered to work for her instead of against her?”
• “Give me three possible backstory secrets for this NPC”

Plot and story:

• “The party just killed the main villain in session 3. What are some interesting consequences?”
• “I need three Campaign Markers that could connect to the Thieves Guild”
• “Help me think through how this mystery could unfold”

In-session help:

• “The party is interrogating a guard. What does he know and how does he respond to threats?”
• “Describe a tense standoff between the party and a cornered assassin”
• “What’s in this abandoned wizard’s laboratory?”

World-building:

• “What’s the political situation between these two factions?”
• “Help me develop the culture of this city”
• “What would this location look like after 100 years of abandonment?”

Adding context

The Session Companion gets dramatically more useful when it has the right creations in context. You don’t hunt for an “attach” button - context is mostly automatic.

Automatic context detection

As you type, the Session Companion watches for creations you mention. After a short pause, it pops up a suggestion modal listing the creations it thinks are relevant (matched by name and meaning), each with a relevance score. Pick the ones you want and they’re added to the conversation. The chosen creations appear as context chips above the input.

Adding context manually

Use the Add context chip (it reads Add more once you’ve added some) to open the picker and choose creations or sessions yourself - handy when you want context the engine didn’t suggest.

Why context matters

Without context:

“What would she say?”

The engine has no idea who “she” is.

With Mira Thornwood (NPC) in context:

“What would she say if accused of poisoning the merchant?”

The engine knows Mira’s personality, goals, relationships, and secrets. The response reflects her actual character.

What to add

Saving content from chat

When the engine generates something useful, save it directly to your campaign:

1. Find a response you want to keep
2. Open the Save as… menu on that response
3. Choose where it goes:
   • Save as New Creation - makes a new creation (New NPC, New Location, or New Item)
   • Save as Annotation - appends the text to an existing creation you pick
   • Save as Session Notes - saves to an existing session, or a new one you create on the spot
4. Confirm

If a single response describes several creations, a Save All Creations button appears so you can create them all in one batch.

Save immediately when something clicks. Good ideas get lost in long conversations.

Managing conversations

Starting fresh

Click New Chat to start a new conversation. Use this when:

• Switching to a completely different topic
• The conversation has gotten long and unfocused
• You want a clean slate

Conversation history

Previous conversations are saved and accessible:

• Click the history icon to see past conversations
• Resume old conversations if needed
• Delete conversations you no longer need

Keeping conversations focused

Long conversations can drift. The engine considers the full conversation history, so tangents affect later responses. When you notice drift:

• Start a new conversation
• Or clearly redirect: “Let’s set that aside. Back to the crime boss…”

Session Companion vs. AI generation

Both tools use AI, but for different purposes:

Use Session Companion when you want to think through something or have a dialogue.

Use AI Generation when you need content for a specific field.

Subscription and quota

The engine Chat is an AI feature, so it needs an active AI subscription. (Campaign Familiar’s organization features work without one - the subscription only unlocks AI.) Both subscription levels include the full Session Companion:

Each message you send counts as 1 generation from your monthly allowance - the engine’s replies are free. A typical brainstorming session uses 5-15 messages, so keep an eye on your allowance if you lean on the chat heavily.

Your messages go straight from your computer to the engine provider (Anthropic). There’s no Campaign Familiar server in the middle and no API key for you to manage.

Tips for effective conversations

Be specific

Vague: “What happens next?” Specific: “The party just learned the mayor is part of the cult. What does the cult do when they realize they’ve been exposed?”

Provide context

Even beyond the creations in context, give the engine context in your messages:

• What just happened
• What the party knows
• What you’re trying to accomplish
• Any constraints (“I don’t want to kill off this NPC”)

Ask follow-ups

The Session Companion excels at iteration:

1. Get an initial response
2. Ask for variations: “Give me two more options”
3. Dig deeper: “Tell me more about the second one”
4. Refine: “Make it darker” or “That’s too obvious, what’s a subtler version?”

Save what works

Don’t let good content disappear into conversation history. When something clicks:

• Save it to your campaign immediately
• Or copy the text to paste later
• Or take a note of the key idea

Keep sessions manageable

Long conversations lose focus. When you have what you need:

• Save the useful content
• Start fresh for the next topic

Example: developing an NPC mid-session

Situation: Players unexpectedly befriend a guard you improvised. Now they want to know more about him.

You (with the “Guard” NPC in context):

The party just convinced this guard to help them. They’re asking about his family. What’s his story?

Session Companion:

Marcus joined the city guard after his family’s farm failed three years ago. His wife Elara works in a textile shop near the market, and they have a young daughter, Pip, who’s fascinated by the party’s weapons. He took the night shift because it pays slightly better, and he’s saving to buy back a small piece of his family’s land. He’s not corrupt, but he’s not naive - he knows the guard captain takes bribes and looks the other way because he can’t afford to lose this job.

You:

They’re going to ask him to do something dangerous. What would convince him to risk his position?

Session Companion:

Marcus would need to believe his family would be safe - or in more danger if he doesn’t act. He responds to:

• Threats to his daughter (protective instinct)
• Evidence that the corrupt captain is actually dangerous to ordinary people
• A promise of enough money to get his family out of the city
• An appeal to the person he used to be before desperation made him compliant

You:

Save the first response to Marcus’s backstory field.

Now you have a developed NPC with relationships and motivations, created in 30 seconds during play.

Related

• AI generation - Field-by-field drafting
• Quick Prep overview - Rapid creation generation
• Quick generators - In-session content creation
• Campaign Intelligence - Dashboard insights you can discuss in chat
• Subscription tiers - Feature availability