About the site

Ink & Initiative is a character sheet maker and a tracker for your game sessions. Build your character, then keep track of hit points, spell slots, conditions, cover and rests while you play.

Use it online with your party through a shared Google Drive folder, or keep your character as a file on your own device. Once the page has loaded, the sheet keeps working without internet.

Join your party

Your game master can share the campaign in one of two ways:

1. A party link. It looks like ink-initiative.pages.dev/#folder=… and opens this site with your campaign’s folder already filled in. Open it yourself, on your own device, and your party loads.
2. A Google Drive folder link. Open Edit Character, paste it into the box next to Party, and press Open party.

Either way, your browser remembers the party, so next time the site opens straight to it. It’s remembered per device, so open the link once on each phone or computer you use.

Switching campaigns? Each campaign has its own party link. Open the link for the campaign you want, and the site switches to that party. Game masters: after opening a different folder, press Copy link again, since the link changes with the campaign.

Look at a character

Open Edit Character and pick a name from Party.

Make your character

1. Open Edit Character and choose File > New blank character.
2. Fill in the tabs. The sheet changes as you type.
3. Add a picture with Upload image.

Save your character

1. Choose File > Save character.
2. The first time, sign in with Google. If Google shows a warning, press Continue.
3. If Google shows your campaign folder, click it and press Select.

You only do this once. After that, saving is one click. Your group sees your changes within a minute.

Save often. Changes you haven’t saved are lost when you close the page.

Rather not use Google Drive?

Keep your character as a file on your own device instead. Nothing is sent to Google.

1. When you’re done editing, choose File > Export .md file and keep the file somewhere safe.
2. To open it again, open Edit Character and choose File > Import .md file.

The file includes your hit points, spell slots and other counters. To show your group, send them the file and they can import it too. Export again after each session, since changes are only in the file once you export.

Share one character

To show one character to someone without giving them the whole party, open it and choose File > Share this character. The site copies a link that opens only that sheet.

• It shows the version saved in Drive, and updates when you save again.
• Whoever opens it can look around and tap counters. Their changes stay on their own device, and they can’t save over yours.
• To turn it off, choose File > Stop sharing.

Why Stop sharing doesn’t always work

Your campaign folder is shared with a link so your group can see the party. Everything inside a shared folder is shared the same way, automatically. So:

• A character in the folder can already be opened with its own link. Share this character just gives you that link.
• Stop sharing can’t turn it off, because the sharing comes from the folder. The only way is to change the folder’s sharing in Google Drive, and then your group can’t open the party link either. The site tells you when this happens.
• The link shows only that one sheet, not the folder or anyone else. It isn’t a lock, though: someone who knows Google Drive well could work out which folder it’s in.

Delete a character

Choose File > Delete character. The file goes to the Google Drive bin, and you can bring it back within 30 days.

During a game

Hit points, spell slots and other counters are saved with your character when you press Save character. Until then, they stay on this device.

No internet? You’ll see the party from your last visit.

Modifiers on features and items

A feature or item can change numbers on the sheet. Write them in its Modifier box, separated by commas: AC +1, WIS save +PB. Changed numbers show in gold. Hover one to see where the bonus comes from.

What you can change

How to change it

Values

Dice (Bless), advantage and “only when…” bonuses can’t be written as a modifier. They stay in the description.

Situational features and Active Buffs

Some bonuses come and go during play. They live in Active Buffs on the Home tab.

When you add a spell to Active Buffs, a box opens for its modifier. Leave it empty for a spell with no number. Click a pill to change its modifier later. Rests leave Active Buffs and situational switches as they are, since some spells last for hours or days.

Examples

Start a campaign

1. In Google Drive, make a new folder.
2. Share the folder: set Anyone with the link to Viewer.
3. In the same window, add each player’s email as an Editor, so they can save.
4. Paste the folder link in Edit Character and press Open party.
5. Press Copy link and send it to your group.

Anyone with the folder link can see every character in it.

Shortcut: you can set the link to Editor instead of adding emails. But then anyone with the link can change the characters, so only give the link to your group.

Who can change which characters

Every Editor of the campaign folder can save over any character in it, not only their own. The site asks before replacing someone else’s character, but it doesn’t stop them.

Only the player who first saved a character, or the folder’s owner, can delete it.

Saved over by mistake? In Google Drive, right-click the character’s file and choose File information > Manage versions. Download the earlier version, then open it with File > Import .md file and save. Drive keeps old versions for 30 days.

Let players change only their own character

1. Add each player as an Editor of the folder.
2. Each player saves their character once. That makes them its owner.
3. In the folder’s Share settings, change each player to Viewer.

Players can still save their own character, but only view the others.

To add a new character, a player needs to be an Editor again for a moment. This works only in a folder in My Drive, not in a shared drive.