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Master's Guide

To use YaVTT at 100%, you should have well in mind the difference between the tokens you see on the map and the sheets you see in the side panel, called library rows.

Library rows

Library rows are entities you own or that are shared with you that you are allowed to see and edit. Double-clicking on a row allows you to edit that entity.

Usually, tokenisable archetypes can also carry things such as items, abilities, classes, traits. Opening a row will show you what it owns, what it carries, and what it is. A good system author should be able to create a sheet that is clean and comprehensible for each archetype.

Inside a sheet you can find many things such as text boxes, spinners and dropdowns; they are system-dependant. Usually, Abilities or Skills also have buttons beside them that serve to use their automations, if present.

You can duplicate a row and obtain a carbon-copy of the duplicated one. They are not synced: editing one does NOT edit the parent. "Carried" rows, too, are NOT synced with their parent.

Info

Here is an example from the YaRS system. I have a character called Peeno, and I own, in my Items panel, a Longsword. I assign that Longsword to Peeno. The original weapon remains in the Items panel. If I want to modify the damage of the Longsword that Peeno carries, I must open Peeno character sheet, go to his Items, and change its damage from there.

Depending on the system you are playing, some archetypes can be "tokenisable". Tokenisable library rows can be dragged to the map, where they create a token.

Tokens

Tokens have a parent (the library rows that generated them) but normally they are in no way synced with them. System authors have ways to actually make the tokens sync some states back to the parent. However, changes to the library rows will NEVER change anything on the tokens it generated.

A token is simply a snapshot of the library row at creation time. You can edit tokens by double-clicking on them. Just remember, all the changes are valid only for that token or for its duplicates.

Info

Here is an example from the YaRS system. I am a Master and I have a Boss and three Weaklings to support her. Even if I have a single Weakling in the library, I can drag and drop it three times to create three snapshots of it. Even if they later die or take damage, the original Weakling will not show any damage.

This forma mentis can help: a token is temporary and represents something on a specific scene and time. A library row is permanent and represents something in its most current state at rest.

Tip

There actually are some tricks to make token states sync back to the original sheet they were tokenised from, but they are advanced and system-defined. An example from YaRS: projectiles are automatically used up on the main sheet too.