Triggers

A Trigger is one of the four kinds of block you can put inside a chapter, alongside paragraphs, headers, and media. You insert it like any other block, and it shows up as a single line with the Trigger's name (or "Trigger" if it has no name) and a short summary of what it checks and does. Clicking that line opens its settings.

The settings modal is one form. A name field sits at the top (labelled Name (Optional)), the If section below it lists the conditions the Trigger checks, and under that come the results, headed Then the result is (or Then the results are when there's more than one; a direct Trigger drops the "Then" and just says Result is). Decision Templates and Dialogue Templates use the same form, so once you've built a Trigger you can build those too.

• Name: optional, up to 50 characters. Readers never see it. A name makes the Trigger easy to find on the Story Canvas and in the chapter's block list.
• Conditions: up to 10 checks the Trigger runs before it does anything. All of them must be true.
• Results: up to 10 things that happen when the conditions are met. If there are no conditions, they happen unconditionally.

The If section

A condition is a question the Trigger asks before it fires: Has your reader been here yet? Does this character know the protagonist's name? Did they pick up the lantern? Each condition names a target and what to check about it. You can ask:

• About a chapter: has the reader passed it, or a specific header inside it? Only chapters that come before the Trigger appear here (see the forward-only rule below).
• About a Glossary Item: has it been revealed, does one of its facts match a value, does it carry a tag? You can target a specific Glossary Item, or use the Reader placeholder to ask about whichever character your reader is playing as.

The dropdown of actions adapts to the target you picked: Is, Is revealed, Value equals, Value larger than, Has any of, Has none of, and so on. Options that don't fit the target are hidden.

The results section

Results are what the Trigger does when its conditions are met. Building one works like a condition: pick a target, pick an action. The difference is that the action changes something instead of reading it.

• Chapter: reveal a chapter or a specific header so your reader can reach it. Only chapters that come after the Trigger appear here (forward-only rule).
• Glossary Item: reveal it, hide it, set a fact, raise or lower a numeric fact by an amount or a percentage, add or remove tags, or reset anything back to its default.
• Multi Select: apply one action to every Glossary Item that matches a filter, all at once. Use it when every enemy in the room needs to react to the same moment.
• Dynamic Component: fire a Decision Template, a Dice Template, a Dialogue Template, a Combat Template, a Trade Screen, or Backgrounds. The Trigger opens it for your reader the moment it fires.

Results run in the order you list them, and you can mix the types. One Trigger can change two facts, reveal a character, reveal a later chapter, and open a Dialogue Template.

A Trigger is direct or conditional depending on whether it has any conditions:

• Direct: no conditions. It fires the moment your reader reaches it. Use one when something should always happen at that point in the chapter.
• Conditional: at least one condition. It checks them when your reader arrives, and the results run only if every condition is true.

Look back, act forward

A Trigger can only check what your reader has already read, and it can only open up what lies ahead of where it sits.

• Conditions can only ask about things before the Trigger: earlier chapters, or earlier headers in the same chapter.
• Results can only act on things after the Trigger: later chapters, or later headers in the same chapter.

The dropdowns enforce this. Anything on the wrong side of the Trigger doesn't appear in the list.

A Trigger placed between two headers belongs to the header above it. The editor shows this as a small indent. It matters in two places:

• On the Story Canvas, Triggers are grouped under their parent header in each chapter's card.
• A reveal that targets a header treats the Trigger as inside that header. Use this when a Trigger should fire only after your reader has entered a specific sub-section.

A Trigger can become invalid in three ways, and a fourth problem blocks publishing even though the Trigger itself looks fine. The editor and the publish check won't let any of these through until they're fixed.

• Something it points at no longer exists: a chapter, a header, a Glossary Item, a fact, a tag, or a Dynamic Component you deleted. Open the Trigger and the broken row shows a small warning. Pick a replacement, or remove the row.
• The forward-only rule got broken: usually because something moved, not because you set it up wrong. Promoting an H2 header to H1, reordering chapters, or dragging a header past the Trigger can all put a referenced spot on the wrong side and turn the Trigger red. Open the Trigger, find the row with the warning, and either pick a new target or move the Trigger itself.
• A Dynamic Component it fires reveals something at or before the Trigger: this one can surprise you. You edit a Dialogue Template or a Decision Template elsewhere in the book, and a Trigger you haven't touched in weeks turns red. Your Trigger fires that template, so the template's reveal actions count as part of your Trigger's results and must respect your Trigger's position too. The template stays valid for anyone else using it; only this Trigger's use of it is broken. To fix it, change what the template reveals, or fire it from a Trigger later in the story.
• The Dynamic Component itself is invalid for another reason: the Trigger pointing at it won't turn red on its own. The Trigger only checks that the template exists, not that the template is currently valid. You still can't publish: the publish check refuses any book with an invalid Dynamic Component, and the broken template appears on the publish page as its own row to fix. Treat it as part of the same problem.

Deleting a Trigger removes its block from the chapter and can leave orphaned references elsewhere. The editor warns you before it lets you delete.