For players

Your game master runs the game; Canopy is where you find what they've given you. Nothing to learn by heart, nothing to prepare. Read what you like, when you like.

Joining

Your game master sends you an invite link. Open it, sign in (new to Canopy? It first asks What should we call you?: the name your game master and the others see, which doesn't have to be your real name), and pick Your name in this campaign and Your character's name. Then Join the campaign. A link to a campaign always works, also while Canopy is open by invitation: signing in from it makes your account if you don't have one yet. Next time, the campaign is on Canopy's start page under Campaigns you play in. If you also read an author's book, those are listed apart, under Groups you read in.

When are you free?

When your game master is finding a date for the next session, your page, your bell and Canopy's start page say When are you free?. Tap it, tap every day (or morning, afternoon or evening) you can make it, and Send. If your game master suggested a few dates, you only see those; otherwise the next four weeks come one week at a time. Above the dates it says how many players have answered, and each date shows how many are free, so you can see which ones are shaping up (it never says who). Once you've answered, your page says You said when you're free: tap it to Change my answer, until your game master picks the date. Back to your page, at the top of the dates, takes you back. Then your page says when it is. Once your game master sets the time too, it says Next session with the day and time, and Add to calendar puts it in your phone's calendar. If the date changes later, tap it again: your calendar moves the session rather than adding a second one.

Your game master may also send the link in your group chat. You can answer it without an account: just type your name.

Your page

Opening the campaign shows your page. First what's happening now:

When are you free?, when your game master is finding a date (see above).
New since you last looked: anything your game master shared or added since you were last here, marked New (or Updated when a page you have got more text). Open it and the mark goes. Mark all as seen clears the list.
Your pages: your character, and any page your game master asked you to write (see below).
Last time…: what happened in the last session, if your game master wrote it up for you.
Your notes: a tap away.

Then what to read:

The introduction: how the campaign starts for you.
Primer: what to read before the first session, sorted like an index: places under Location, groups under Faction and so on, each name with a line on what it is. Read as one page puts it all together, each with its facts on a tinted band, as on the article's page.
Handed out during play: what you got at the table, with the session it came from (Handed out in session 3). A greyed line that says More to come is something you've been given that has nothing to read yet. It isn't counted as new until there's something to read.
Things you know: secrets you learned, without the rest of the page they belong to.
Map: the maps your game master shared, with the places you know about marked on them.

On a laptop or a big screen, what to read is on the left, in columns, and what's happening now, the maps and Handbook sit beside it.

Handbook puts everything you have on one page, to read on the bus or print. On a big screen its contents stay beside the text as you read. Links only go to pages you have, so you never land somewhere you shouldn't.

Maps

Tap a map to open it. On a phone it fills the screen, and you can turn the phone on its side. Drag to move, pinch to zoom. Tap a green pin for the place's summary, and Read to open its page. A pin with just a name (or a place with nothing to read yet) is a place you know about without a page of its own, so it isn't something to tap.

The map grows as you play: when your game master hands out a place, it shows on the map and under New since you last looked (New on the map: The Sunken Chapel). When the map itself is redrawn, that shows there too (The map changed: The Thornmere Valley). On this map lists every place on it.

The timeline

Timeline lists the events you've been given, era by era, up to the present day of your campaign. When your game master shares a people's own history, chips at the top show it on its own: Everything, The world, The Dwarves. That people's or faction's page then has a History tab with its events, era by era.

Getting new things

During a session your game master hands things out: a page, a secret, a part of a page that was held back until now, a map or a place on it. Coming back to Canopy fetches them by itself: switch back to the tab or the app and anything new shows at the top of your page. Check for new things in the menu does the same at any time.

The bell at the top counts what's new since you last looked. Tap it for the same list as on your page; tap one to open it.

When a page you already had gets more text (a part your game master held back until now), the new parts are marked New with a soft green tint, so you don't have to read it all again. The marks go once you've read the page. What you've read is kept in your account, so your phone, tablet and laptop all show the same marks: read a page on your phone and the laptop knows. A tab left open on your laptop catches up as soon as you come back to it. The very first time you open a page anywhere, nothing on it is marked, because it's all new to you.

Sometimes a page has nothing to read yet. Your game master may still be writing it, or what's on it is for later. Your page and your notes are a tap away.

Something not working, like a map that won't load? In the menu, Report a problem (under Help for players) tells Canopy's makers, not your game master. Nothing from the campaign goes along unless you tick it (see Getting started).

Writing your character

You write your own character, and any page your game master asks you to write. They're under Your pages on your page: Write it for a page nobody has written yet, Edit for one that has text. On the page itself, Edit sits under the title.

You write in the same editor as your game master, with the word count always in view. Some things stay with your game master: pictures, the page's name, and passages held back for later or kept from players. The summary is one line about the page: it's what the others read first, once your game master shares your page.

Who has it: your game master sees your page as soon as you save, and can edit it too; you see their changes. The other players get it only when your game master shares it, and later changes reach them marked Updated. A line under the title says who has it.
Credits: Written by names everyone who wrote on the page, in the order they first did.
Your game master is getting this page ready: the page still holds things only your game master may see. You can write it once they've moved those to their notes.
Saved at the same time: if your game master changed the page while you were writing, Canopy shows both versions so you can keep yours, theirs, or both.

Download what I wrote, under Your pages, saves the pages you write as plain Markdown files in a zip, as you see them. Your game master's notes are never in it.

Your notes

Notes in the menu is yours alone: theories, a journal, names to remember. Every page you have also has Your note at the bottom. Your notes are saved in your account, so they follow you from phone to laptop.

Your game master can't read them. If you want them to, tick Let your game master read this note on that note.

Your name and leaving

On your page, Change sets a new name or character. Leave campaign takes you out. You can join again with the invite link, as long as your game master hasn't changed it.

Back to your campaigns in the menu takes you to the list of campaigns you play in.