Improved Sidebar

We moved the tools found at the top toolbar over to a more transparent sidebar where information is more readily accessible. The new sidebar is where a Game Master can reference and import maps, characters, start and manage combat, link and open compendiums, manage handouts, players, macros, and settings for a campaign!

Search Everything

Find a character, handout, macro, map … anything. Tabs on the top sidebar feature a search bar that filter anything you might be looking for.

Filter characters by name or current area name

Manage Public & Private Compendiums

There is a plethora of information available in the included D&D 5th Edition compendium but GMs often want to write custom compendiums to make it even easier to reference homebrew material in game.

Game Masters can import custom compendiums into games and choose to share them with players (or not.) This is extremely useful for cases when you have an adventure planned but do not want to expose all your planned traps and encounters to your players.

Custom compendiums can be shared with players or kept private

Best of all, we have made custom compendiums free for all users to create custom content.

Improved Macro Language

Macros are little functions that run when you perform certain character actions that allow Astral to automate actions such as attacks, spells, subtracting health, and much more.

We have been consistently improving the macro language and documentation to make it easier for Game Masters to write advanced custom functionality into sessions.

Macro Undo/Redo

In addition to improvements in the macro language, it is now also possible to undo automated actions!

Actions can be undone by the GM making it easy to override automated events or player changes

Players can undo their own character’s events as well which makes character building via drag & drop super easy to experiment with! Try out a Gnome Rogue for size and if that doesn’t fit your fancy, simply undo those changes while keeping the detailed background you wrote for yourself.

New Lobby Art

Each new campaign now comes with a default “Lobby” map. When players join your campaign for the first time, they are placed on the first map available, or “The Lobby”.

Default lobby background with custom text

Game Masters typically use this lobby to write quick notes about the adventure or to place characters while they continue to setup an encounter or finish creating a map.

Of course you are welcome to remove the lobby background and customize to your liking — this is your campaign after all!

Drag & Drop Character Building

The character builder received an update that allows you to build your 5th Edition characters via drag and drop compendiums. Simply open any compendium and start building your character by dropping on a background, class, race, items, spells, and more.

Drag and drop from the compendium to build a 5th Edition character sheet

Coming Soon

The above is only the first preview of the many social features we have planned this year. Still on the roadmap:

Recommended Players/Games: Never be stuck without someone to adventure with. We are building a smart system to help pair Game Masters with ideal players and we want to hear from you: What is important to you when finding a game?

Jukebox: Play and stream audio or sound effects to your players. We have a large collection of sounds in the works that will come included with every Pro subscription. What songs and sounds would be epic to use in your campaign?

User & Character Profiles: Show off your creativity with personal pages to showcase campaigns, characters, maps, badges, and more. Connect with characters and follow others to build your Astral network of friends!

Conclusion

The past few months have been thrilling for us and we hope you are as excited to try out all the new amazing features to use in your games.

Even if you never heard of tabletop role-playing games before or never ran a game of your own, try starting a game with your friends this weekend! Astral is free for almost all features and offers two monthly or yearly subscriptions that unlock perks such as thousands of included assets to build encounters with, advanced weather effects, and in-app audio/video communication.

We think this is our best release yet and we hope you enjoy all the adventures to come. 🐲

Check out Astral today!