With the plethora of content now available in Shard it can become overwhelming to use it all at once. As a result it can be helpful to limit what content you want to use together or for a particular campaign. Campaigns and extensions allow for filtering packages and disallowing content, but these require some expertise to setup and can be difficult to reuse over many campaigns. Rulesets make it easy to build, reuse and publish combinations to improve this experience and make these abilities more accessible for users.

Using Rulesets

Rulesets show in the Campaigns section of the start page. To view a ruleset just click the name.

Viewing a ruleset looks much like viewing the start page with some differences.

At the top of the page is a ruleset block. This lets you know what ruleset you are using as well as enabling some actions on the ruleset.

The left arrow button leaves the ruleset and goes back to the main view showing everything.
The gear icon to the right shows the ruleset configuration and allows modification of the ruleset.

The Campaigns & Rulesets block will only show rulesets and campaigns that have matching ruleset template extensions. By default new campaigns or rulesets will copy extensions and will match allowing you to see all of the campaigns that share the same ruleset template.

The My Characters block will only show characters that are using the ruleset.

The Library and Reference sections will only show entries that match the ruleset definition including content only from matched packages and removing any disallowed content from extensions.

Creating Rulesets

Rulesets can be created manually or automatically. Manual Ruleset creation is only available for users with a Gamemaster or Gamemaster Pro subscription. Use the “NEW RULESET” button on the home screen in the Campaigns section to create a ruleset manually.

Rulesets are created automatically from Extensions that are marked as a “Ruleset Template”. All extensions that have the “Ruleset Template” setting will automatically create a ruleset that has the same name as the extension and include the extension in the extension list for the ruleset.

Extension Ruleset Template

New options to select what packages should be used in the ruleset are available for extensions when they are marked as a Ruleset Template.

The SELECTED PACKAGES button allows selection of specific packages to be included in the ruleset.

The Category, Theme, Setting, and Storyline fields provide filter criteria for selecting packages that match the settings. If the package matches any of the selections then the package is considered a match.

See Package Resolution for details on how packages are selected.

Note: all of the additional extension settings are applied as well, and the extension can also be included in any campaign or ruleset.

Examples

Esper Genesis

Esper Genesis has it’s own base classes, races, backgrounds, spells and items and while it is compatible with other content doesn’t usually use those options. Esper Genesis also has its own skills and languages. The Esper Genesis Ruleset Template includes all of these settings:

Add and remove skills
Add languages
Only include Esper Genesis setting packages

Users that get Esper Genesis will see the Esper Genesis ruleset. To create characters only using the Esper Genesis material players just need to click the ruleset and create a new character. Likewise to create an Esper Genesis campaign a new Campaign can be created that will inherit the same settings and show up in the ruleset as well.

If one campaign wants to include base information as well, then GMs can just add those packages into the campaign using the campaign settings.