Your first campaign¶

A complete walk-through from an empty server to a table ready to play. Assumes Campfire is installed and running.

1. Light the fire (create the admin)¶

Open Campfire in a browser. The first visit shows Light the fire — a one-time setup screen. Enter a username and password. This account is the server admin; it will also be your first DM, but those two roles are independent (see Roles). You're now signed in, looking at the campaign hub.

2. Install a rule system (optional but recommended)¶

For a searchable rules compendium — monsters to drop into fights, spells and conditions to look up — install a rule pack first:

1. Admin (top bar) → Rule systems.
2. Under Install from Open5e, tick the sections you want (Conditions and Monsters are the most useful at the table) and click Install.
3. Conditions import in a couple of seconds; the full monster list takes about a minute — you can keep building while it runs.

3. Create the campaign¶

On the hub, click New campaign. The wizard has two steps — Details (name + optional description) and Rule system (pick your pack, or None / homebrew). Finish and you land on the campaign dashboard as its DM. Creating a campaign always makes you its DM — no admin powers required.

4. Get your players in¶

Players need an account, then a seat at your campaign.

• Accounts — either a server admin creates them under Admin → Users (username + a starting password to share), or the DM sends an invite link from Members → Invite and players create their own account when they open it.
• Seats — on the campaign open Members → Add member, search a username, pick a role (player / viewer), and optionally link them to a character.

Players sign in and see your campaign on their hub.

5. Session zero — the charter & characters¶

Before the dice come out, set the table's expectations. Open Session zero and fill in the charter: lines (hard limits — content that never appears), veils (soft limits — kept off-screen), the safety tools you'll use (X-Card, Open Door…), any house rules, and the tone you're playing in. The DM edits it; the whole table can read it.

Then each player opens Party → New character: name, species, class, level, stats, HP, an optional portrait and bio — or import a public D&D Beyond sheet by pasting its id or URL. As DM you can create or edit any character; players edit only their own, and a player can keep more than one (a backup PC, a familiar).

6. Prep the world¶

From the dashboard (as DM) you build:

• Quests — objectives, subquests, a giver NPC, a reward, and a DM-only secret players never see.
• NPCs — role, disposition, home location, their own DM secret.
• Locations — drop pins on the map; upload a real map image and place pins on it; set discovery (unexplored → explored → current).

Everything is markdown, and DM secrets are stripped server-side — players genuinely can't see them.

7. Ready to play¶

That's a table ready for session one. Next: Running a game walks the actual session.