Generation Preferences

CritForge remembers your preferred generation settings so you don't have to configure them every time. Set your preferences once at the level that makes sense, and they'll automatically pre-fill generation forms throughout the app.

How Preferences Work

When you open a generation form (for NPCs, plots, encounters, etc.), CritForge fills in your preferred settings automatically. Each field shows a small icon indicating where the pre-filled value came from.

You can always override any pre-filled value directly on the form. Your manual selection takes priority over everything else.

Preference Levels

You can set preferences at three levels. More specific levels take priority:

Priority order: Your form selection > Session > Campaign > Your Preferences > System defaults.

For example, if your personal preference is "Epic" tone but your campaign is set to "Dark", generation forms within that campaign will pre-fill "Dark". You can still select a different tone on any individual form.

What You Can Set

Four settings are available at every level:

• Cultural Flavor - The cultural influence for generated content (e.g., Viking Age, Feudal Japanese, Byzantine)
• Party Level - Your adventuring party's level (affects difficulty and content scaling)
• Tone - The mood of generated content (e.g., Dark, Heroic, Comedic, Gritty)
• Threat Level - How dangerous the world feels (Peaceful, Low, Moderate, High, Deadly)

Setting Your Preferences

Personal Preferences

1. Go to Settings (gear icon in the navigation)
2. Find the Generation Preferences section
3. Set any combination of the four fields
4. Click Save Preferences

These apply as your baseline across the entire app.

Campaign Preferences

1. Open a campaign's detail page
2. Find the Generation Preferences section (usually below the campaign description)
3. Set preferences that make sense for this campaign's setting
4. Click Save Preferences

Campaign preferences override your personal preferences for all content generated within that campaign.

Tip: If your Viking campaign always uses "Gritty" tone and "Viking Age" cultural flavor, set those on the campaign. You won't have to pick them on every generation form.

Session Overrides

1. Open a session within a campaign
2. Find the preference override fields
3. Set temporary overrides for this session

Session overrides are useful for one-off changes. For example, if a normally "Dark" campaign has a lighthearted festival session, override the tone to "Comedic" for that session only.

Reading Source Indicators

When a generation form pre-fills a value, a small colored icon appears next to the field showing where the value came from:

• Form selection - You picked this value manually on this form
• Session - From the current session's overrides
• Campaign - From the campaign's preferences
• Your preferences - From your personal settings
• System default - The built-in fallback (no preferences set)

Hover over (or tap on mobile) the icon to see the full source, including the campaign or session name.

Clearing a Value

Each preference field has a clear button (X icon) that removes your setting at that level. The value will then fall through to the next level in the chain.

For example, if you clear "tone" on your campaign preferences, generation forms in that campaign will use your personal tone preference instead (or the system default if you haven't set one).

Standalone Content

When generating content outside of a campaign context (from the content library pages like NPCs, Plots, etc.), only your personal preferences and system defaults apply. Campaign and session preferences don't apply since there's no campaign context.

You can access your personal preferences directly from any content library page using the Your Preferences button.

Content Library Quick Access

On any content listing page (NPCs, Plots, Maps, etc.), look for the "Your Preferences" link in the Standalone section. This opens a dialog where you can quickly adjust your personal generation preferences without navigating to the full Settings page.

Tips

• Start with campaign preferences if you run campaigns with a consistent setting. This saves the most time.
• Use session overrides sparingly - they're best for one-off deviations from the campaign's norm.
• Don't overthink it - you can always change any field on the generation form itself. Preferences just save you from repetitive selections.
• System defaults are sensible - Party Level 5, Neutral tone, Moderate threat. If you're just getting started, you don't need to configure anything.