Quick Prep overview

When to use Quick Prep

Quick Prep shines in these situations:

Session tonight, not ready You have two hours until game time and nothing prepared. Quick Prep can generate a complete scene - encounter, NPCs, location - in under 5 minutes.

Players went off-script They ignored your Campaign Marker and headed to that tavern you mentioned once. Generate a location, bartender, and interesting patron before they finish describing their drink order.

Need inspiration Staring at a blank page during prep. Use Quick Prep to generate raw material you can shape and refine.

Fill gaps in your world Need a random event to liven things up, or treasure for that hoard you forgot to stock. Quick Prep handles it.

How Quick Prep works

Accessing Quick Prep

Open the full Quick Prep page from your campaign dashboard:

1. Click the Quick Prep card (or sidebar entry) on the campaign dashboard to open the Quick Prep page
2. Choose a generator from the panel
3. Configure options and generate

You can also reach the generators mid-session through the floating Session Companion panel (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + C), under its Quick Generators tab.

The full generator controls - More options, Use Campaign Context, and generator-specific fields like Difficulty - live on the Quick Prep page. The floating Session Companion is an intentionally minimal compact surface (a Tone dropdown and Generate); when you need the full controls, open the Quick Prep page.

Ephemeral content

Content generated by Quick Prep is “ephemeral” by default:

• Shown as recent creations in the generator panel, not your permanent campaign library
• Designed for immediate use during sessions
• Doesn’t clutter your world with one-off NPCs and throwaway encounters
• Can be promoted to permanent Creations when you want to keep something

This is intentional. You can generate freely, use what works, and let the rest fade away. When something becomes important - that random NPC the party loved, that tavern that became their home base - promote it to your permanent library.

Recent creations

Each generator shows your recent creations alongside it. Here you’ll find:

• The content you just generated, ready to use during the session
• A Promote to Campaign action for content you want to keep

The 8 generators

Quick Prep provides eight generators, each designed for a specific type of content:

Five generators promote a single Creation each (NPC NOW!, Quick Encounter, Location Generator, Campaign Marker, Treasure/Loot). Session Outline uses batch promotion - it creates several Creations (NPCs, encounters, locations, Campaign Markers) at once. Random Event and Dialogue Starter are utility generators for immediate use only.

For detailed information on each generator, see Quick Prep generators.

Generation options

The generator controls are deliberately minimal. Every generator offers a Tone dropdown; Quick Encounter and Session Outline also show a Difficulty dropdown. A Use Campaign Context toggle lives under More options. That’s the whole interface - there’s no separate guidance/prompt field in Quick Prep.

Tone presets

Choose the style of drafted material:

Match tone to your campaign’s feel, or vary it for specific content (villains might use Dark Fantasy even in a Heroic campaign).

Campaign context

Open More options and toggle Use Campaign Context (on by default):

• Drafted material references your existing NPCs, locations, and factions
• Output fits your world instead of being generic fantasy
• The engine considers relationships and story threads you’ve established

This is one of the most valuable parts of campaign-aware generation. A location generated with campaign context might mention your established factions or reference events from your world.

Difficulty

Only Quick Encounter and Session Outline show a difficulty dropdown:

• Trivial
• Easy
• Medium
• Hard
• Deadly

Promoting content

When ephemeral content becomes important, promote it to your permanent library:

1. Find the content you want to keep among the generator’s recent creations
2. Click Promote to Campaign
3. In the compact promotion dialog, set the Creation Name (the generated text is shown as context)
4. Click Confirm

The content moves from ephemeral storage to your campaign library, where it gains all the benefits of permanent Creations: relationships, tags, AI suggestions, and more.

A Session Outline promotes differently: instead of one Creation, it batch-promotes everything in the outline - generating the NPCs, encounters, locations, and Campaign Markers as separate Creations in one step.

When to promote

Promote immediately if:

• The party just bonded with this NPC
• This location is becoming a recurring setting
• This Campaign Marker is driving the story forward

Wait and see if:

• You’re not sure if it’ll matter
• It was a one-time encounter
• Players haven’t shown interest

You can always promote later. Ephemeral content stays in the recent creations until you dismiss it.

Suggested starts

When campaign context is available, the top of the Quick Prep page shows Suggested Starts - ranked, context-aware prompts that point you at the generator and idea most worth running right now. Each suggestion names a generator and explains, in a sentence, why it fits your campaign’s current state. Click one to jump straight into that generator with the suggestion in mind, instead of choosing from a blank panel.

Suggested Starts draw on your existing Creations and player-psychology signals, so they get sharper the more your campaign fills in.

Subscription requirement

Quick Prep generation runs on AI, so it needs an active AI subscription:

Without an active AI subscription, the Quick Prep generators are replaced by an upgrade prompt that compares the Companion and Power tiers - you won’t be able to generate until you subscribe. Beta testers have Power-level AI access, so they see the generators normally. Each generation uses one of your monthly generations.

Tips for effective use

Chain generators for complete scenes Location + NPC + Encounter = a complete scene ready to run. Generate them in sequence for coherent content.

Use campaign context when available On Companion/Power tiers, always enable it. The difference between generic fantasy and content that fits your world is substantial.

Generate more than you need It’s easier to pick the best from three NPCs than to hope one is perfect. Generation is fast.

Promote memorable content immediately When something clicks during the session, promote it before you forget. The recent creations list gets crowded.

Don’t over-polish ephemeral content If it’s staying ephemeral, use it as-is. Save your editing energy for promoted content.

Example flow: quick session prep

Situation: 90 minutes until session. You know the party is heading to confront a crime boss, but you have nothing prepared.

Minute 1-2: Location Generate the crime boss’s hideout using Location Generator. Dark Fantasy tone. You get a dilapidated warehouse on the docks with atmospheric details.

Minute 3-4: The Crime Boss Generate using NPC NOW! (combat-ready). Guidance: “ruthless but pragmatic, values loyalty.” You get a complete villain with stats.

Minute 5-6: Lieutenants Generate 2-3 supporting NPCs. One combat-ready enforcer, one social lieutenant who might be turned.

Minute 7-8: The Encounter Generate using Quick Encounter. Combat type, Hard difficulty. You get a tactical setup using the warehouse environment.

Minute 9-10: Escape Plan Generate a Campaign Marker for what happens if the boss escapes. Now you have consequences ready.

Result: A complete confrontation scene with setting, villain, supporting cast, tactical encounter, and contingency - generated in 10 minutes.

Related

• Quick Prep generators - Detailed guide to all 8 generators
• AI generation - On-demand content for Creation fields
• Sessions - Structured session preparation
• Quick Start: Quick Prep - 5-minute tutorial