Nodes

Every card the Create menu offers, in the menu’s order and under its categories. Each entry gives, in this order: what the card is for, in the card’s own words; what is on the card; the ports it takes and the ports it answers on; and, where one exists, something to read. An agent receives the same list for the build it is talking to from node_types.

Ports. A port carries either flow or a value. Flow is the story, pushed from card to card; a value is read when a card takes its turn, and is whatever the card at the other end last published. A card’s way in is exec unless its table says otherwise. Every value port is typed: a number joins a number, and any joins anything. How the two kinds are run is in Board and navigation rules; the cards that declare, keep or read state across a playthrough are grouped in Node families, slots and state.

Cards that declare ports.

Card	Where the declaration is opened
Output, Input, Macro In, Macro Out	Double-click the card.
Script	The Inputs and Outputs buttons, which open the same dialog.
Narration	The Reads row at the bottom of the card, which shows how many names the passage is given.

Each row is a name and a type. A type answers two questions: what it is, and how many of it.

Question	Values
What it is	int, float, bool, string, markdown, asset, component, json
How many of it	one, a list, or a map of names to it

That is 24 types. Output, Input, Script, Macro In and Macro Out each offer the same 24, as do a component’s attributes and the console variables. number and entity are still read wherever they appear and are no longer suggested: int or float says which, and an entity is a name, which is a string.

Declared type and port type. What a row declares and what its port carries are not the same set. The file keeps the declared word.

Declared	Port carries
int, float	number
A single asset, component or markdown	string
A list of assets or of components	The tag a component’s own assetList and componentList attributes carry, so those join each other
A map	json

Input. An Input node’s types are narrowed on the way into a campaign. What it declares is drawn as a form for the reader to fill in, and a form has no file picker, so an asset field reaches the player as a text box asking for a path. The declaration is kept in the project.

Names. A name that becomes a Python variable must be one Python can read: a letter or an underscore, then letters, digits and underscores. A Python keyword such as class is refused, with the reason under the field. This applies to a passage’s inputs and to a Script node’s inputs and outputs. An Output node’s rows and an Input node’s fields are read by people, so Your roll is a valid name there. A board that carries a name Python cannot read reports it.

Coercion. A slot receives the type it declared.

• An int Script input given 3.7 reads 3.
• A list<int> input handed a list of text receives numbers.
• A value that cannot be read as the declared type becomes that type’s blank; the story is not stopped.
• This holds for a Script node’s inputs and an Output node’s rows. What a script writes is left as it is.

Defaults. Any slot can carry a default, the value the slot takes when nothing fills it. Slots that take one: a Macro In’s takes, a Script node’s inputs and outputs, an Output node’s slots, a Macro Out’s answers and an Input node’s form fields.

Situation	Value used
A wire answers the port	The wire. A card’s own literal is superseded by a wire, and the field disappears while the wire is attached.
No wire	The card’s own literal, where the card has one.
Neither	The declared default.
No default either	The type’s blank.

An Input form field’s default is filled in for the reader to accept or type over. A script output’s default applies only where the program never set that name. A default on a json or a map<…> slot cannot travel into a campaign, and the app reports it when you compile.

File slots. A slot that points at a file is filled by name. This covers a picture, a document or a component, in a component’s attributes, a macro take’s or script input’s default, and a console variable. Typing a name lists the project’s files, with the full path beside each. The pick is shown as a chip, hovering shows the path, and the path is what is stored. A chip whose file is outside the project or missing is marked. On a card (a macro take, a Set variable node) the slot is a searchable dropdown instead, like the Narration node’s passage picker.

Metadata. Every card can carry metadata. Right-click the card and choose Edit metadata…: a list of names, types and values. A small tag shows on the card’s header while there is any. Nothing on the board reads it. It travels with the node into a compiled campaign and to an agent, and a copied node keeps its metadata.

Offered	Not offered
int, float, bool, string, a list of each, and json for anything nested	asset and string are not told apart; a whole 3 and a fractional 3.0 are.

Flow

Start

Where the story begins.

A marker: it holds no text of its own, only the single wire that leaves it.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
out	flow	The single wire the story leaves by.

Macro

Runs a macro here — a board a board can call.

Drag a macro out of the file tree and drop it on the canvas, or pick one here. It grows an input per thing the macro takes and an output per thing it answers, and the flow carries on where the macro ends.

Wire a take, or type it on the card; the wire wins.

The macro is spliced in when the campaign is compiled, so calling one twice is two copies of it and a macro cannot call itself.

Plus one input per thing the macro takes, with a field beside it to type a literal, and one output per thing it answers.

On the card: Macro.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken where the macro reached its Macro Out.

Read more: Macros

Jump

Continues the story on another board.

Pick the board it goes to, and use the arrow to open that board here. It is how a chapter hands over to the next one, and how a session joins onto the one before it.

It has no output: what happens next happens on the board it names.

Leave Node on Start to begin that board at the beginning, or name a node to resume partway in — which is how a chapter can be re-entered without replaying it.

On the card: Board; Node — Leave it on Start to begin that board at its beginning, or name a node to resume partway in.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	The way in. There is no way out: what happens next happens on the board it names.

Read more: Reading a story back

While

Repeats a stretch of the story.

Wire the end of the loop back into continue and it goes round again through loop. Wire something into break and it leaves through exit.

It holds no condition of its own: what decides is whatever you wired to those two inputs.

A loop nothing breaks out of does not run for ever: one loop node may go round 512 times in a board before the campaign stops and offers the node that ran away. The ceiling is under Playing in Settings.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
continue	flow	Wire the end of the loop back here to go round again.
break	flow	Wire something here to leave.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
loop	flow	Taken on every pass.
exit	flow	Taken on break.
iteration	number	Which pass this is, counting from zero.

For

Repeats a stretch of the story, but not forever.

The same two ways in and two ways out as a While. What it adds is a ceiling: once it has gone round that many times it leaves through exit whatever the graph says.

It is the loop to reach for when the condition is somebody else’s and you would rather not find out the hard way that it never comes false. Its own ceiling applies before the one under Playing in Settings when it is lower.

On the card: Max iterations, default 100 — The ceiling.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
continue	flow	Wire the end of the loop back here to go round again.
break	flow	Wire something here to leave early.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
loop	flow	Taken on every pass.
exit	flow	Taken on break, or once the ceiling is reached.
iteration	number	Which pass this is, counting from zero.

Switch

Sends the flow down one branch of several, by name.

Type into the last row and another appears beneath it, each with its own way out. Clear the last one again and it goes away.

Wire the thing being decided into value. Cases are matched as text: a number is compared as the digits you would write it with, so 42 and “42” are the same case.

Nothing matching is not an error and not a fall-through — the story simply stops there. A branch nobody wrote is worse than a branch that is plainly missing.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	The way in.
value	any	The thing being decided. Matched as text, so 42 and “42” are one case.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
case.0	flow	One way out per row. Type into the last row and another appears; nothing matching stops the story there.

If

Sends the flow one of two ways, on a yes or no wired into it.

It asks nothing itself: condition takes a true-or-false from somewhere else, usually a Comparator. That is what makes it the piece a While or a For has been waiting for — wire true back into continue and false into break.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
condition	bool	True or false, usually from a Comparator.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
trueBranch	flow	Taken when the condition is true.
falseBranch	flow	Taken when it is false.

Do all

Runs everything wired to it, one branch after another, then carries on from completed.

Wire the last branch and another appears beneath it, so it grows as many as you need. They run top to bottom, each to the end of its wire before the next starts — a passage on a branch holds the branches below it until every passage reachable from it has been read. So put the jobs on the branches and the story on completed: it fires once every branch has run out.

For the bookkeeping a story needs before a passage: three things to set up, side by side, and then the passage.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken once every branch has run out. Boards written before it had one grow the port the moment they open.
branch_0	flow	One per branch, run top to bottom; wire the last and another appears.

State machine

Fires an event at a state machine and says what state it is in.

The machine is a .fsm.mmd file — a mermaid state diagram. event is what to fire, from the card or from a wire; leave it blank to read the state without moving. [*] puts the machine back at its start.

changed is taken when an arrow fired, unchanged when none did — which is not an error. state is where the machine is now; a Switch on it is how the story branches.

instance names which one: leave it blank and every node driving this machine drives the same one. It remembers for the whole playthrough, across boards and saves; starting over forgets.

On the card: Machine; Instance; Event — Blank reads the state without moving.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
event	string	What to fire; blank reads the state without moving; [*] resets. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
changed	flow	Taken when an arrow fired.
unchanged	flow	Taken when none did — not an error.
state	string	Where the machine is now.

Read more: Finite state machines · Mermaid state diagrams · State machines in Ripple Effect

Variable branch

Sends the flow one of two ways depending on a console variable.

Pick the variable, a comparison, and what to compare it against — on the card, or wired into value. The comparison is the Comparator’s: equality goes through text, so 42 and “42” are equal, and only two numbers or two strings order.

A Get variable node into a Comparator into an If does the same in three cards; this is the one card for the common case, a story that branches on a flag.

On the card: Variable; Comparison, default equal — The same set a Comparator offers; Value.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
value	any	What to compare the variable against. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
yes	flow	Taken when the comparison holds.
no	flow	Taken when it does not.

Read more: Console variables

Delay

Holds the story for a while, then carries on.

The wait is written the ISO 8601 way: PT2S is two seconds, PT1M30S a minute and a half, P1DT12H a day and a half. Years and months are not a length of time and are refused.

The last passage stays on screen while it waits. An agent playing the story, or a test, does not wait at all.

On the card: Duration, default PT1S.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the wait is over.

Read more: ISO 8601 durations

FlipFlop

Takes one way out, then the other, then the first again — every time the flow reaches it.

The first visit goes out of a. is A is true while a is the side running. It remembers for the whole playthrough: leaving the board and coming back, or saving and loading, does not reset it. Starting over does.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
a	flow	Taken on the first visit, and every second one after.
b	flow	Taken on the visits in between.
isA	bool	True while a is the side running.

Read more: What remembers, and for how long

Once

The first time the flow reaches it goes out of first; every time after goes out of again.

visits is how many times so far, counting this one, so a Switch on it can tell the third visit from the second. It remembers for the whole playthrough: leaving the board and coming back, or saving and loading, does not reset it. Starting over does.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
first	flow	Taken on the first visit only.
again	flow	Taken on every visit after.
visits	number	How many visits so far, counting this one.

Read more: What remembers, and for how long

End

Where a path stops.

Its input accepts any number of wires, so every branch of a story can finish at the same ending.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	Any number of wires; every branch can finish here.

Story

Narration

A passage of prose, in every language the project is written in.

The text lives in a localised passage beside the board rather than on the node, so one passage can be read by several nodes and a translator can work on it in any editor. The card shows the first few rendered lines of the story’s own language; double-click it to write.

It always carries one spare choice at the bottom. Wire that one up and another appears beneath it, so a passage grows as many branches as the reader needs. Click a choice’s row on the card to give it a name, which is what the card shows, and its words, which are what the reader is offered — in every language the story is written in.

A soundscape — a timeline of music and sounds, a file of its own — plays from the moment this passage is shown, and stays in force through every passage after it until one brings its own: a tavern goes on being a tavern. A passage with none changes nothing; a passage set to Silence stops whatever is playing. A soundscape marked tied belongs to its passage and stops when the story moves on.

The Reads row at the bottom of the card says how many names the passage is handed and opens the dialog that declares them; each grows a port, and the passage’s Python reads it by that name. The names belong to the card, not the passage, so one passage can be read by two cards that fill it differently.

A choice has a Times box beside its name: blank for as often as the reader likes, or a number, shown as ×3 at the end of its row. Every wired choice also grows a bool input: wired, the choice is offered only while it is true. A choice that has run out, or whose answer is false, stays on screen greyed out and unpressable.

On the card: Passage — Which passage file the card reads. New makes one beside the board; Soundscape — None, Silence, or one of the project’s soundscapes.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	The way in, at the title.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
choice_0	flow	One per choice, in order; always one spare at the bottom. The words the reader sees are set on the row, per language.

Read more: Passages and languages, Soundscapes and sounds

Output

Shows values the story worked out.

Double-click to say what it shows — a name and a type per row — and it grows a port per name. Wire a Script node’s outputs into them.

It is a slide with one way on, so it reads as a passage rather than as a debugger.

Plus one input per name in Shows, typed as the shape says.

On the card: Shows.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the reader moves on.

Read more: Python scripting

Input

Asks the reader for values.

Double-click to say what to ask for — a name and a type per row — and it grows a port per name, carrying what was typed. A bool is a switch, a number a number field, a list a line of comma-separated values.

It is a form with one way on. Say what you are asking, and why, in the passage before it.

Plus one output per name in Asks, typed as the shape says, carrying what the reader typed.

On the card: Asks.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the reader submits the form.

Read more: Playing a campaign

Play sound

Plays one sound, once, and carries straight on.

The file is any audio in the project — drop one into the folder and it is in the list. Volume runs from 0 to 1 and speed from a little above 0, 1 being the file’s own.

Nothing waits for it: completed fires the moment the sound is cued, so a door slams and the next passage is already showing. For music under a scene, set a soundscape on the passage instead.

On the card: Sound — Any audio file the project holds; Volume, default 1.0; Speed, default 1.0.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken the moment the sound is cued, not when it ends.

Read more: Soundscapes and sounds

Math

Operator

Adds, subtracts, multiplies or divides the two numbers wired into it.

Both sides only take numbers. Dividing by zero gives an infinity rather than stopping the board — a story that fell over because a wire happened to carry a zero would be worse than one that carries an odd number.

On the card: Operation, default add — Add, subtract, multiply or divide.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
a	number	The left-hand number.
b	number	The right-hand number.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	number	The answer; dividing by zero gives an infinity.

Logic

Comparator

Compares the two values wired into it and answers true or false.

Neither side declares a type, so anything may be plugged in. Equality reads both as text — 42 and “42” are equal here for the same reason they are one case on a Switch. Ordering is only answered for two numbers or two pieces of text; anything else compares as false.

Its result is what an If node is waiting for.

On the card: Compare, default equal — Equal, not equal, less, greater, and the two or-equals.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
a	any	The left-hand value.
b	any	The right-hand value.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	bool	True or false, for an If.

Lists

These four cards read a list or a piece of text, and read both the same way. A list is itself; any other value is its text, one character at a time. The same card works on ["bread", "rope"] and on "hi", and the result is the kind that went in: appending ! to hi gives hi!.

• An index counts from zero, and from the end when it is negative: -1 is the last item.
• An index past either end does not stop the story; it is an ordinary thing to reach inside a loop.
• A map has no order for an index to mean. Insert and Remove hand it back untouched, At answers nothing and Size counts none. The Maps cards read maps.

Insert

Puts something into a list, and answers the whole list.

Into a list, another list is added item by item and anything else goes in whole — appending 5 to [3] gives [3, 5], and appending [1, 2] gives [3, 1, 2]. Into a piece of text, whatever you give it is read as text and spliced in, one character at a time: appending ! to hi gives hi!. What comes out is the kind that went in.

The index counts from the end when it is negative, so -1 is the last, and past either end it simply goes on the end — except under Replace at, which leaves the list alone rather than quietly writing somewhere else.

On the card: Placement, default append — prepend, append, insert at or replace at. The index row is dimmed under prepend and append, which do not read it.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The list, or the text.
index	number	Where, under insert at and replace at.
item	any	What goes in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	The whole thing, as the kind that went in.

At

Answers one item of a list, or one character of a piece of text.

Counting starts at zero, and a negative index counts from the end — -1 is the last item. Past either end it answers nothing rather than stopping the story, because walking off the end of a list is an ordinary thing to do inside a loop.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The list, or the text.
index	number	Which one, from zero, or from the end when negative.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
item	any	The item, or nothing past either end.

Remove

Takes one item out of a list, and answers the whole list.

Point it at a piece of text instead and it takes one character out, the same way. What comes out is the kind that went in.

Counting is At’s: from zero, and from the end when the index is negative — -1 is the last item. Past either end it leaves the list alone rather than quietly taking the nearest one instead.

Its own card rather than a fifth placement on Insert, because putting something in and taking something out are two different things to want and one of them should not be hidden inside a dropdown on the other.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The list, or the text.
index	number	Which one, from zero, or from the end when negative.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	The whole thing, as the kind that went in.

Size

How many items a list has, and whether it has none.

A piece of text is counted in characters, and an emoji counts as one.

length is what a For node’s ceiling wants when you mean to walk a list item by item; empty is what an If node is waiting for.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The list, or the text.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
length	number	How many.
empty	bool	Whether there are none.

Maps

These seven cards read a map: a set of names, each holding a value. A map is itself; any other value is read as an empty map.

• A name is always text.
• No card holds a map as a literal. A Set with nothing wired to its subject returns a map of one pair, and a chain of Set cards builds a larger one.
• A name that is not present does not stop the story. Get answers nothing and reports it on found; Remove returns the map unchanged.

Get

Answers what a map holds under one name.

A name nothing is under answers nothing rather than stopping the story, because reaching for a name that may not be there is an ordinary thing to do.

found is how you tell a name that is not there from a name that is there holding nothing: the two read the same on value, and only one of them means the story never wrote it.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map.
key	string	The name to look under.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	any	What is under it, or nothing.
found	bool	Whether anything was under it at all.

Set

Writes one name into a map, and answers the whole map.

Point it at nothing and it answers a map of one pair, which is how a map is made: there is no other card that builds one from scratch.

A name already there is written over. Nothing is changed in place — what comes out is the map to carry on with, which is what makes a chain of these the way a map is built.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map, or nothing to start one.
key	string	The name to write.
value	any	What goes under it.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	The whole map.

Remove

Takes one name out of a map, and answers the whole map.

A name that is not there leaves the map alone rather than stopping the story.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map.
key	string	The name to take out.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	The whole map.

Keys

Every name a map holds something under, as a list.

In name order, which is the order a map reads as text in — so what an Output node shows and what this answers are never in two different orders.

This and a Size node are how a map is walked: the length is a For node’s ceiling, an At node picks a name out of the list, and a Get node reads what is under it.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
keys	stringList	The names, in name order.

Values

Everything a map holds, as a list.

In the same order a Keys node answers, so the two line up: the first of these is under the first of those.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
values	any	What is held, in the order the names come out in.

Merge

Two maps into one.

other wins: a name in both comes out holding what other had. Either side may be nothing, which leaves the other as it was.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The first map.
other	any	The second, which wins.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	The two together.

Size

How many names a map holds, and whether it holds none.

length is what a For node’s ceiling wants when you mean to walk a map name by name; empty is what an If node is waiting for.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
subject	any	The map.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
length	number	How many names.
empty	bool	Whether there are none.

Entities

Component

Reads a component into the board — a character, an item, a room.

Drag one out of the file tree and drop it on the canvas, or pick it here. Every attribute gets its own output, typed the way the component declares it, so a number joins a number and text joins text.

component carries the whole thing as one value, for passing along rather than picking apart.

It has two modes. In Component it is a window onto the file: outputs, and nothing else.

In Entity it stops being a window and makes the story a thing: one entity, kept for the length of the campaign under the name you give it. Every attribute grows an input, so what happens earlier in the story can set it. Two nodes with two names are two independent swords; a node on a later board with the same name is the same sword.

Either way it reads the file and never writes to it. The component itself is edited where it lives.

Plus one output per attribute, typed as the component declares it — and in Entity mode one input per attribute as well.

On the card: Component; Entity mode, default false — Component off, Entity on; Name — The entity’s name, in Entity mode.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run. In Entity mode this is when the entity exists.
component	component	The whole component as one value, for passing along rather than picking apart.

Read more: Components and entities

Spawn

Makes many entities of one component at once — six goblins, a hand of cards, a shelf of potions.

Pick the component, say how many, and choose how they are told apart: numbers or letters, and what goes between. Goblin with numbers and a dash makes Goblin-1, Goblin-2, and so on.

entities carries their names as a list of text. That is how anything else reaches them: a Script node can walk it and give each one its own hit points, and a Component node set to Entity with that name is that goblin.

The names it makes depend only on what is on the node, so coming back to it finds the goblins it already made rather than six more. A second wave wants a different name, which is what the name input is for.

It runs when the flow reaches it, so anything reading entities has to be wired after completed — a Script hanging off it with nothing flowing in reads nothing.

On the card: Component; Name; How many, default 1; Numbering, default numbers — Numbers or letters; Separator, default dash — What goes between the stem and the number.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
name	string	The stem the names are built on. A wire beats the card.
count	number	How many to make. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
entities	stringList	Their names, as a list of text.

Read more: Components and entities

Delete Entity

Forgets one entity: the goblin is dead, the potion is drunk, the sword was left behind.

Name it on the card, or wire a name in — a name from upstream wins, which is how a loop clears out everything a Spawn node made.

It removes the entity from the campaign and nothing from the project: the component file it was made from is untouched, and a Component node set to Entity naming it later simply makes a fresh one from that file.

A name that names nothing is not an error — it removes nothing and the story carries on. Ask an Entity Exists node first if that matters.

On the card: Name.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
name	string	Which entity to forget. A wire beats the card; a name nothing answers to removes nothing.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.

Read more: Components and entities

Entity Exists

Asks whether the campaign has an entity under a name, and answers true or false.

Name it on the card, or wire a name in — a name from upstream wins.

It asks about entities, not about components. False means the story has not made this one, or has deleted it; the component file may be sitting there all the same, and a Component node in Component mode would read it happily.

It runs when the flow reaches it, so anything reading exists has to be wired after completed — an If node hanging off it with nothing flowing in reads nothing.

On the card: Name.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
name	string	Which entity to ask about. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
exists	bool	Whether the campaign has one under that name.

Read more: Components and entities

Entity Names

Answers every entity the story has made, as a list of names in alphabetical order.

Pick a component to count only those — the goblins, not the swords — or leave it empty for all of them. A name wired into of beats the pick, so the story can decide on the way past.

This is the roster as it stands, not the wave a Spawn node made: anything deleted since is gone from it, and anything made on another board is in it.

Wire names into a For node with a List at to do something to each one — the same shape a Spawn node’s entities output takes.

It runs when the flow reaches it, so anything reading names has to be wired after completed.

On the card: Of.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
of	string	Which component to count, by name. A wire beats the card, and nothing at all counts every entity.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
names	stringList	Every name, in alphabetical order.

Read more: Components and entities

Value

Script

Runs a Python file, and publishes what it assigned.

Pick the script, then say what it reads and what it writes — the same rows of name and type every other card’s ports are written in, behind the Inputs and Outputs buttons — and the node grows a port per name. Inputs arrive in Python as globals of that name; assign the output names and they come back out. An input may declare a default, which stands in when nothing is wired to it, and an output a default used only where the program never set that name. An input gets the type it declared: an int input given 3.7 reads 3.

Double-click to write the script, and to try it in the console beside it. The file is a real .py in the project, so a snippet can be shared by as many nodes as want it.

It shows nothing on its own. Wire an Output node to its outputs to put them on screen.

Plus one input per name in Inputs and one output per name in Outputs, typed as the shape says.

On the card: Script; Inputs; Outputs; Test inputs — Values to run the script with from the editor, without a board.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the script has run.

Read more: Python scripting · The Python API

Get variable

Reads a console variable onto value.

Console variables are declared on the project’s variables page — a name, a type and a default — and are set anywhere and read anywhere, across boards and saves, with no wire between. This is the reading half; a Set variable node or a Script node’s cvar_set is the writing half.

It takes the flow rather than being pulled, so that it always answers what the variable holds now: put it in the story after whatever sets the variable, and wire value onwards from there.

On the card: Variable.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	any	What the variable holds now, typed as the variable is.

Read more: Console variables · The twenty-four types and the coercion rule

Set variable

Sets a console variable.

Wire a value into value, or type one on the card; the wire wins when both are there. The value has to be the variable’s type — a whole number for an int, true or false for a bool — and one that is not ends the run with a message naming this node, rather than being bent to fit.

result is what the variable holds after the write.

On the card: Variable; Value.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
value	any	What to write. A wire beats the card; a value of the wrong type ends the run naming this node.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
result	any	What the variable holds after the write.

Read more: Console variables · The twenty-four types and the coercion rule

Random number

A number nobody chose.

% X is how many numbers are in the range and + Y is where it starts, so a six-sided die is 6 and 1. Turn on decimals and it answers with a fraction from the same range.

It rolls again every time the flow reaches it.

On the card: % X, default 100; + Y, default 0; Decimals, default false — Answer with a fraction from the same range.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	any	A fresh number every time the flow arrives.

Random string

A string nobody chose.

The pattern is tried against every printable character on its own, and the ones it matches are what the string is drawn from — [A-Za-z0-9] for alphanumeric, [0-9a-f] for hex. An empty pattern means all of them.

A pattern that matches nothing gives an empty string, which is the quieter answer than a failure mid-story.

On the card: Pattern, default [A-Za-z0-9]; Length, default 8.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	any	A fresh string every time the flow arrives.

Read more: Regular expression character classes

number

Holds a number for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag number, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: number, default 0 — The number.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	number	The number typed on the card.

bool

Holds a bool for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag bool, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: bool, default false — The truth.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	bool	The truth typed on the card.

string

Holds a string for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag string, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: string — The text.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	string	The text typed on the card.

list<number>

Holds a list<number> for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag numberList, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: list<number> — The list, as list<number>.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	numberList	The list typed on the card.

list<bool>

Holds a list<bool> for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag boolList, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: list<bool> — The list, as list<bool>.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	boolList	The list typed on the card.

list<string>

Holds a list<string> for the rest of the board to read.

Wire value into whatever needs it. Its exec lets it sit in the story rather than only hang off it; left unwired it simply holds its value. Its data port carries the tag stringList, so the editor will only let it join something that expects the same thing — or something that expects anything at all.

On the card: list<string> — The list, as list<string>.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
value	stringList	The list typed on the card.

World

What the story reads of the reader’s world: where they are and what time it is, each only when the reader allows it. A story with one of these on a board asks before it begins. Each takes the flow and has an unavailable way out for a read that got nothing; left unwired, the story carries on by completed or no. Python reads the same things — see The world outside the story.

Get location

Reads where the reader is, if they allowed it.

A story that has one of these asks the reader before it begins, and the answer is kept under Settings → Permissions. What comes out is what location_get() hands a script: a real reading has a latitude, a longitude and how many metres it may be off, and no label — nothing is looked up to name the place. A stand-in the reader typed as a place name has the label and nothing else.

Without a reading the flow leaves by unavailable, or by completed with nothing on the outputs when that is not wired. Either way the play window and Messages say what happened.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in. It reads when the flow arrives.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken with a reading, a stand-in included.
unavailable	flow	Taken when there was no reading: the reader did not allow it and gave no stand-in, or allowed it and there was nothing to give. Unwired, the story carries on the way it would have otherwise.
label	string	The place’s name, from a stand-in typed as one.
latitude	number	Degrees north, or south when negative.
longitude	number	Degrees east, or west when negative.
accuracy	number	How many metres the reading may be off.

Read more: The world outside the story

Near

Sends the flow one way when the reader is near a place, and another when they are not.

Type the place as a latitude and a longitude — 41.9028, 12.4964 — which is what a map gives you when you copy a point, or wire them in; a wire beats the card. Within is how close counts, in metres. distance is how far the reader was, measured along the ground.

A reading with no coordinates is no reading here: a stand-in the reader typed as a town has nothing to measure from, and leaves by unavailable — or by no when that is not wired.

On the card: Place — A latitude and a longitude, as 41.9028, 12.4964; Within, default 1000.0 — How close counts, in metres.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in. It reads when the flow arrives.
latitude	number	The place’s latitude. A wire beats the card.
longitude	number	The place’s longitude. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
yes	flow	Taken when the reader is within the distance.
no	flow	Taken when they are further away.
unavailable	flow	Taken when there was no reading: the reader did not allow it and gave no stand-in, or allowed it and there was nothing to give. Unwired, the story carries on the way it would have otherwise.
distance	number	How far the reader was, in metres.

Read more: The world outside the story

Get date & time

Reads what time it is where the reader is, if they allowed it.

The editor allows the clock unless the reader said otherwise under Settings → Permissions. Every number is on the reader’s own wall clock, and weekday counts from Monday, which is 1. iso is the whole moment as one piece of text, with its offset from UTC — what datetime.now().isoformat() gives a script.

Without a reading the flow leaves by unavailable, or by completed with nothing on the outputs when that is not wired.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in. It reads when the flow arrives.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken with a reading, a stand-in included.
unavailable	flow	Taken when there was no reading: the reader did not allow it and gave no stand-in, or allowed it and there was nothing to give. Unwired, the story carries on the way it would have otherwise.
iso	string	The moment, as 2026-10-19T18:30:00+02:00.
year	number	The year.
month	number	The month, January 1.
day	number	The day of the month.
hour	number	The hour, 0 to 23.
minute	number	The minute.
weekday	number	The day of the week, Monday 1, Sunday 7.

Read more: The world outside the story

Time branch

Sends the flow one way at certain hours or on certain days, and another otherwise.

Type a window — From 18:00 until 22:00 — and pick the days it holds on. The start is in it and the end is not, so 18:00 until 22:00 is over at ten. A window whose start is later than its end runs past midnight; leave a side empty to run from midnight or to it, both for the whole day. No days picked is every day. All of it is the reader’s own wall clock.

Without a reading the flow leaves by unavailable, or by no when that is not wired.

On the card: From — When the window opens, as 18:00. Empty is midnight; Until — When it closes, as 22:00. Empty is midnight; Days — The days it holds on. None picked is every day.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in. It reads when the flow arrives.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
yes	flow	Taken inside the window, on one of its days.
no	flow	Taken otherwise.
unavailable	flow	Taken when there was no reading: the reader did not allow it and gave no stand-in, or allowed it and there was nothing to give. Unwired, the story carries on the way it would have otherwise.

Read more: The world outside the story

Chance

Dice roller

Rolls dice notation, the way a table would.

2d6+4 is two six-sided dice and four; 4d6kh3 keeps the highest three of four; 1d20+1d4+2 chains a d20, a d4 and a bonus. Keep or drop with kh, kl, dh, dl. Pick a preset, or type your own.

Rolls is how many times over. total is the sum of everything, results one total per roll, dice every face that counted. The two criticals are a natural twenty or a natural one on the first dice term.

A wire into notation or rolls beats what is typed on the card.

On the card: Notation, default 1d20 — Type it, or pick one of the presets; Rolls, default 1.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
notation	string	The dice notation. A wire beats the card.
count	number	How many times over. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
completed	flow	Taken when the node has run.
total	number	The sum of everything.
results	numberList	One total per roll.
dice	numberList	Every face that counted.
isCriticalHit	bool	A natural twenty on the first term.
isCriticalFailure	bool	A natural one on the first term.

Read more: Dice notation, explained

Percentile check

Rolls a d100 against a chance out of a hundred.

At or under the chance is success, over it is failure — so 0 never succeeds and 100 always does. What was rolled comes out of roll, for a passage that wants to say how close it was.

A wire into chance beats what is typed on the card.

On the card: Chance, default 50.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
exec	flow	The way in.
chance	number	Out of a hundred. A wire beats the card.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
success	flow	Taken at or under the chance.
failure	flow	Taken over it.
roll	number	What the d100 came up.

Read more: Percentile systems, in the dice notation guide

Weighted branch

Sends the flow down one branch of several, drawn by weight.

Each row is an outcome and how likely it is against the others — 60 / 30 / 10, or 6 / 3 / 1, which is the same branch. Type into the last row and another appears beneath it. A row with no name, or a weight of nothing, is never drawn.

picked is the name of the row that won. Wire a number from 0 to 100 into roll to decide with it instead of rolling.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	The way in.
roll	number	Optional: a number from 0 to 100 to decide with instead of rolling.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
picked	string	The name of the row that won.
outcome.0	flow	One way out per row, drawn by weight. Type into the last row and another appears.

Macro

These cards are offered on a macro’s own canvas only, where a board would have its Start and its End cards. All cards above are offered on both.

Macro In

Where this macro begins, and what it takes.

Double-click to say what it takes — a name and a type per row — and it grows a port per name, carrying what the board that called the macro wired in or typed on the card. A take declared as a map or as JSON cannot be typed on the calling card.

A macro has exactly one of these, and it stands where a Start would.

Plus one output per name in Takes, typed as the shape says.

On the card: Takes.

Answers

Port	Carries	Meaning
out	flow	The single wire the macro begins by.

Read more: Macros

Macro Out

Where this macro ends, and what it answers.

Double-click to say what it answers — a name and a type per row — and it grows a port per name. What is wired in here is what the Macro node on the calling board publishes, and the flow carries on from there.

A macro has exactly one of these, and it stands where an End would.

Plus one input per name in Answers, typed as the shape says.

On the card: Answers.

Takes

Port	Carries	Meaning
in	flow	Any number of wires; every branch inside the macro can finish here.

Read more: Macros

Related

• Boards, nodes and macros explains what a card is and how a macro differs from a board.
• How to build a board puts cards on a canvas and wires them.
• How a story runs says how flow and values are run.
• Diagnostics lists what a board reports about its cards.