About Commlink
Commlink is a tool for playing role playing games online, and managing all of the complexity of modern RPGs and the campaigns that bring them to life.
Chat bot
With integrations for Slack, IRC, and Discord,
Commlink allows you to roll dice in
system-specific ways. For example, if you register
a channel for Shadowrun 5th Edition, typing /roll
5 will roll five six-sided dice and calculate how
many successes you got. It will automatically show glitches
and critical glitches as well.
In addition, if more than one channel are both registered to the same campaign, rolls made in one channel will appear in the other channels. The above roll was made in a Slack channel and automatically shows up in the linked Discord channel.
The dice roller can be used on its own without the rest of Commlink to flip a coin or roll some basic dice using standard dice notation.
If a channel is registered for a particular system, the dice roller will change to better target that system. For example, registering a channel for Shadowrun 5th Edition allows just using a number to mean “roll this many six-sided dice”:
Creating a character in Commlink and linking it to a channel unlocks character-specific short rolls. For example, linking a Shadowrun 5E character to a channel unlocks some short commands that use the character's attributes.
Slack installation
Slack has made it relatively painless to install Commlink to your team's workspace. Clicking this fancy button will take you to a page that will allow you to install the app in any workspace you have permission to do so:
If you're logged in to multiple workspaces, you may have to choose where you want to install it in the dropdown in the upper right of the page.
If you get a message stating that “You are not authorized to install Commlink on <workspace-url>” you may need to ask whoever is in charge of your workspace to install it for you. You could send them this URL to point them in the right direction:
Discord installation
Discord installation is a bit more involved:
- Install the app
- For each channel you want Commlink to listen to, add the Commlink role in the channel settings.
Characters
Character sheets
Keep all of your characters in one place, with one common interface, along with the previously mentioned integrations with the dice roller bot.
Capers
Cyberpunk Red
Shadowrun 5th Edition
The Expanse
Star Trek Adventures
Subversion
Alien
Character generation
The rules for character generation differ wildly between systems. Some are so complicated it's almost impossible to do correctly with just a pencil, some paper, and the rulebook. The character generator in Commlink provides a step-by-step wizard to creating a character and helps to validate that you haven't broken any rules.
Character import
Have you built a character in another tool? Commlink supports a few external systems that you can import from:
- Chummer 5 (Shadowrun 5th Edition)
- Hero Lab (Shadowrun 5th Edition)
- World Anvil (Cyberpunk Red and The Expanse)
Campaigns
Campaign overview
Keeping tracking of players, characters, and NPCs can be overwhelming. Commlink allows game masters to track characters in their campaign, see character sheets, and provide rewards.
Scheduling games can be a challenge. Commlink includes an event scheduler, allowing GMs to schedule sessions for their table. Players can RSVP in the web app or by reacting to chat bot messages in linked channels.
GMs can also manage players allowed at the table, inviting players to join or removing characters from the campaign.
GM screen
GM screens built for each system allow tracking initiative for combat and status monitors for character's health.
