Publisher: Gate City Shadows Purchase: Publisher Foundry Versions 13+ (Verified 13.351) Last Updated 2 weeks ago

GCS Core GM Panel — User Guide

This guide gives you a clear overview of the Core GM Panel: how to use it, what each card does, known issues, recent changes, and where to get help.

What Is the Core GM Panel?

The Core GM Panel is a single, unified interface for Game Masters inside Foundry VTT. It puts session timing, combat tracking, banking, media broadcasting, music, mission notes, session logging, and more in one place—with a neon-glass look and support for many game systems (D&D 5e, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, and others).

GMs see the full panel with all GM cards.
Players see a simplified panel with only player-facing cards (broadcasts, World Hub, Character Pane, Player Shopkeep, Player Calendar, etc.).

Platinum Edition includes everything plus early access to beta features (e.g. NPC Generator, Loot Generator, Theme Switcher, World Map) and the “Platinum Patron” badge.

Getting Started

Opening the Panel

Chat: Type /gcs core or in Foundry’s chat and press Enter.
Floating button: Use the glowing, draggable button (GM only). Its position is saved between sessions.
Module settings: You can also open the panel from Foundry’s module configuration if set up there.

First Steps

Enable the module in your world’s Module Settings.
Open the panel with /gcs core or the floating button.
Arrange cards by dragging them within a zone or (in supported versions) across zones. Your layout is saved per user.
Hide or show cards using card visibility controls so the panel fits your workflow.
Switch layouts: Use the header to toggle between Full Mode (three zones) and Compact Mode (single column, ~33% width).

Layout Modes

Mode	Description
Full Mode	Left zone (Status), Middle zone (Media), Right zone (Jobs). Drag cards between zones and reorder within each.
Compact Mode	One vertical column of all cards, ~33% screen width. Good for small screens or a minimal view. Toggle via header.

Preferences (card order, visibility, window position) are separate for Full and Compact mode, so each layout remembers your choices.

Card & Feature List

Cards are grouped by default zone. You can reorder them; this list reflects the default arrangement.

Left Zone (Status & Session)

Card	Purpose
Core Status	Foundry version, game system, FPS, ping, socket status, scene name, combat round/turn, controlled tokens.
Roster	Online/offline users, character portraits and names, combat indicators, GM vs PC roles.
Session Timer	World-scoped timer: start, pause, resume, reset; optional labels; export duration to chat.
Combat Tracker	Initiative (system-agnostic), turn order, health bars (e.g. Physical/Stun for Shadowrun), Next Turn / Next Round / End Combat.
Quick Ref	Quick reference content (e.g. SRD snippets) from the panel.

Middle Zone (Media & Logging)

Card	Purpose
Broadcaster	Send images or video to all players or specific targets; scaling, dimming, auto-close timer; full-screen overlay.
DJ Booth	Dual-deck music, SFX, playlists, volume/fade; broadcasts to all connected players.
Storyteller	Automatic session log: combat, rewards, missions, media, etc. Export chronological or categorized logs to journals. Records when Session Timer is running.
Narrator	Narrative and notes support (beta).
Shopkeep	GM-side shop setup and management (beta).
Journal	Folder-based journal browser, search (title/folder/snippet), quick preview overlay; create entries and open in main Journal.

Right Zone (Jobs & Tools)

Card	Purpose
World Map	Campaign map: minimap + full-screen viewer, scene-linked locations, party path, optional local OCR for labels, PDF export for table handouts.
Mission Brief	Brief tab (job, location, tasks, rewards, notes) and Debrief tab (results, approach, completion); export styled cards to chat.
Banker	Multi-currency detection and conversion (e.g. D&D CP→PP), payouts, ledger, actor integration, audit trail.
Theme Switcher	Six themes: Classic, Retro, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, GCS. Scoped to the panel only.
NPC Generator (Beta)	System-aware NPCs: archetypes, names, biography (mad-libs), Quick Skills, image/folder; supports D&D 5e, PF1/2e, Shadowrun, CoC 7e.
Loot Generator (Beta)	System-aware items (1–3) and currency; rarity/rating; Random Split or Targeted Distribution; Storyteller logging.
System Health	Additional system/performance monitoring (beta).
Calendar	Real-world and in-world calendars; one-shot and recurring events; visibility (GM-only, players, specific audiences); custom in-world calendar (months, weekdays, year length).

Player-Facing Cards (Player View Only)

Card	Purpose
World Hub (Player)	Mission summaries, world updates, and announcements from the GM.
Character Pane (Player)	Read-only view of the player’s character.
Player Shopkeep	Buy/sell using in-game currency.
Player Calendar	View GM-scheduled events and, where allowed, limited player notes.
Player Quick Ref	Player-visible quick reference.
Player World	Player-facing world/map information derived from GM World Map (filtered).

Panel-Wide Features

Floating panel button (GM): Draggable, position saved.
Style isolation: Panel CSS is scoped so it doesn’t affect other Foundry windows or modules.
Automatic card sync: Cards receive updates from each other (e.g. Storyteller from other cards) without manual refresh.
Reset Layout / Show All Cards: Header buttons to restore default order and reveal hidden cards.
Beta features: Can be turned off in module settings if you prefer a stable-only experience.

Supported Game Systems (Summary)

The panel is system-agnostic and auto-detects where possible:

D&D 5e — Full currency (CP→PP), HP, initiative.
Pathfinder 1e & 2e — Currency (including PF2e coin items), HP, initiative.
Shadowrun 5e/6e — Nuyen, Physical/Stun/Overflow, initiative (e.g. dice + passes).
Star Wars FFG, Cyberpunk Red, Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, World of Darkness, GURPS, Traveller — Varying levels of currency and health/initiative support.

If your system isn’t listed, many cards still work with generic or auto-detected attributes.

Known Bugs & Limitations

Known Issues (Current Release)

Calendar — New event not showing right away
In some cases, a newly created Calendar event may not appear immediately in the calendar view. Data is saved correctly.
Workaround: Reload the Foundry VTT page to refresh the calendar view. This is under investigation.

Common Issues & Quick Fixes

Issue	What to try
Panel won’t open	Confirm you’re a GM; ensure the module is enabled; try `/core` or `/gcs core`; refresh the page.
Banker not reading currency	Confirm your game system is supported; check actor currency data; use Refresh in the Banker; check browser console for detection messages.
Combat Tracker — no health/initiative	Ensure combat is active and actors have the expected health/initiative fields; check system detection in console.
DJ Booth — music not playing	Ensure the browser has had a user interaction (e.g. click); check supported formats (e.g. mp3, ogg, wav, m4a) and file access.
Storyteller not recording	Recording runs when the Session Timer is running; ensure timer is started and card sync is working (check console for errors).
Broadcaster — media not showing	Verify file paths and target (all/specific players); check console for connection errors.
Card order/position not saving	Clear browser cache; confirm write access to Foundry data; temporarily disable other modules that might affect storage.

Beta Features

Beta features (e.g. NPC Generator, Loot Generator, Theme Switcher, World Map) are experimental and may have bugs or change. You can disable them in Module Settings → GCS: Core GM Panel → Enable Beta Features.

Compact Mode

Compact Mode uses a fixed 33% viewport width; resizing the window keeps that constraint.

Changelog — Last Three Releases

[3.1.5] — 2025 (Current)

Focus: Visual polish, World Map card, and efficiency for long-running campaigns.

New

World Map card (GM)
Right-column minimap plus full-screen viewer.
Scene-linked locations and path tracking.
Optional local text detection on the map image to suggest locations (no data sent off your machine).
Table-ready PDF export (locations and routes) for handouts.

Improvements

Visual: Smoother card focus and header/hero styling; larger, clearer map labels on the World Map.
Data flow: World Map state stored and broadcast as lightweight updates (no large image payloads); panel state flows tuned for multi-session responsiveness.

[3.0.1] — 2025-03-01

Focus: Version consistency only.

Version numbers and product labels updated for consistency across the product.
No feature or behavior changes; existing preferences and data are unchanged.

[1.9.9] — 2025-01

Focus: Compact Mode and layout flexibility.

New

Compact Mode
Single-column layout; all cards in one vertical list.
Uses ~33% of screen width (vs full three-zone layout).
Separate preferences from Full Mode (card order, visibility, window position).
All cards visible by default when entering Compact Mode.
Toggle via header button.

Improvements

Choice between three-zone and single-column layouts.
Full and Compact each keep their own preferences.
Switching between modes is instant and preserves settings.

Migration

No breaking changes; no user action required. Compact Mode is available immediately from the header.

Troubleshooting & Support

Core Status card: Use it to monitor FPS, ping, and connection in real time.
Browser console: Check for errors or warnings (F12 → Console).
Documentation: See README.md and USER_GUIDE.md in this folder for more detail.
Bugs / feature requests:
GitHub Issues: github.com/gatecityshadows/gcs-core-panel/issues
Email: support@gatecityshadows.freshdesk.com
Community: Discord — Gate City Shadows
Web: gatecityshadows.net

Copyright & Legal

This software is proprietary. Unauthorized copying, distribution, or modification is not permitted. For full terms, see EULA.md and PRIVACYPOLICY.md in this documentation folder.

Gate City Shadows — Enhance the immersion. Enhance the game.

Gate City Shadows - Core GM Panel (Platinum Edition)

An Add-on Module by Gate City Shadows