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Discord setup for GMs

For groups who already play on Discord. Everything here is optional: a campaign runs fine without it, and you can add it any time.

What you get

  • Session reminders posted to a channel your table reads, with RSVP reactions.
  • Voice transcription from the Nexus bot, which feeds the live transcript and the session recap Nexus shares with your table when the session ends.
  • The Discord Activity, a Nexus companion that opens inside your voice channel. Players can read the Activity guide.

Invites don't need any of this. A table link works in Discord like anywhere else.

Where to start

Discord setup is one page per campaign, and you can reach it three ways:

  • The Play over Discord? card on campaign home, once the first-night strip is done or hidden and before your first session wraps (after that it's a one-line tip). Choose Connect Discord, or Not for us to hide it.
  • A one-line tip on campaign home after your first finished session.
  • The Discord card in the campaign's Settings, which is always there.

Only the campaign's GMs can set it up. Skip for now on the setup page drops you back at the campaign with nothing broken.

Walk through setup

  1. Connect your Discord account. One trip to Discord to approve, and you land back on the setup page. This is how the bot knows which player is you.
  2. Pick your server. You see the servers you can manage. Choose Select to bind one to the campaign. If the bot isn't in that server yet, choose Add the bot first. Server missing from the list? Refresh, which reconnects your Discord to fetch a new list, or use the /nexus link command the page shows you.
  3. Choose where reminders land. Pick the channel your table actually reads, leave Session reminders on, and choose Save and open the campaign. The bot needs permission to view and send messages in that channel.

How reminders work

The bot posts a reminder a day before each scheduled session, then a roll call an hour out that mentions anyone who hasn't answered yet. Players answer with the Yes, Maybe, or No reactions, which count as the same RSVP they'd give on the campaign's Schedule page.

Players still get their own email and notification reminders whether or not Discord is set up. Change the reminder channel later from the Schedule page.

Turn on voice transcription

  1. Link the voice channel and bring the bot in. Sit in the voice channel you play in and run /nexus link campaign-id: with your campaign's ID (it's in the campaign URL). Plain /nexus link only works once a session is already live. Linking brings the bot into voice, so there's no separate join step. You can also pick the campaign and choose Summon Nexus from inside the Discord Activity.
  2. Affirm recording consent. Nothing is transcribed until the GM confirms the table has agreed. Use the Affirm recording consent button the bot posts, run /nexus consent, or answer the banner on the DM screen. When someone new joins the table later, you're asked again for them by name.

Transcription picks up within about half a minute. /nexus status tells you whether it's running, and /nexus leave stops it.

Before your first recorded night, send your players what recording means for them. If a campaign has AI turned off, transcription is off too. Transcription time comes out of your plan's monthly allowance; the numbers are on pricing.

Bot commands

/nexus join
Brings the bot into the voice channel you are sitting in.
/nexus leave
Sends the bot out of the voice channel.
/nexus link
Links your current voice channel to a campaign. Leave off the campaign id and it picks from your live campaigns.
/nexus unlink
Unhooks the channel from its campaign.
/nexus status
Shows whether the bot is connected and transcribing.
/nexus speakers
Lists who is in voice and whose Discord is linked.
/nexus roll
Rolls dice for your character, for example 1d20+5, with an optional label.
/nexus consent
Affirms recording consent for the table. GM only.

Changing your mind

/nexus unlink unhooks a voice channel from the campaign. To disconnect your own Discord account from Nexus, use Connections in your account settings. Your campaign, notes, and characters stay exactly where they are.