The Display Dock runs along the bottom of the window. It’s where you decide what the players see on the TV, and when. It works like a small TV studio: you can line something up out of sight, then cut to it.
Preview and Program
The dock has two small screens:
- Program, on the right, framed in red, is exactly what the players see on the TV right now.
- Preview, on the left, is what will go to the TV when you press TAKE.
Click either one to see it big. Above them, Main display is the display you’re controlling (see Set up the TV for adding more), and Open TV opens the TV window.
Show something on the TV
Almost everything in Fablekeep has a Show on TV button: an atlas map, a region, a place, a battle map, an NPC, a handout, the party, an encounter’s initiative. You can also:
- click Show an image… to pick any image in the world (portraits, maps, handouts) and give it a caption;
- click Battle map… to choose a battle map and the pane it goes to;
- search for it with Ctrl+K — commands like “Show the party on the TV” are there too.
What happens next depends on Instant.
Instant mode or TAKE
Instant is on to begin with: whatever you show goes straight to the TV. It’s the easiest way to play.
Turn Instant off (the button at the right of the dock) when you’d rather prepare things first:
- Show something as usual. It lands in Preview and a notice says Staged in Preview. The layout row reads “editing Preview”.
- Check it in Preview, adjust the framing or add more.
- Press TAKE (or Space). Preview goes live on the TV.
While Preview and the TV differ, TAKE shows how many changes are waiting and Preview says Changes ready — press TAKE.
Transitions
The small button under TAKE chooses how the TV changes picture: Cut, Crossfade, Dissolve, Ink wipe or Page turn.
Layouts and panes
The TV can show one thing or several side by side. Under Layout, pick:
- Single
- Split — side by side
- Split — stacked
- Three — one large, two small
- Quad
Each pane is listed below with what it shows (an atlas map, a region, a battle map, an image, the party or the initiative order); the small buttons on its row frame it on the TV or clear it. When you pick an image or a battle map, you choose which pane it goes to.
Layouts saves the current arrangement as a preset — for example “Tower — ground floor + cellar” — so you can bring it back in one click.
Quick switch
During a fight you often jump between the battle map and the travel map. Switch map (or Q) swaps a pane between its last battle map and its last travel map, each with its own framing. It acts on the focused pane — click a pane’s number to pick another — and Shift+Q does it on every pane.
Overlays
Handouts, NPC cards, title cards, read-aloud text, the recap, the initiative ribbon, dice rolls, the X-card and other cards appear on top of the panes as overlays. The Overlays list shows what’s on the TV right now:
- Remove one with its button, or everything with Clear all.
- Press Esc to clear the TV’s cards and handouts. A notice lets you undo it.
- For a long card, read-aloud or handout, PgDn / PgUp turn its pages on the TV, and → / ← step a handout one paragraph or page at a time.
Blackout
Blackout (or B) fades the TV to its candle-lit idle screen. Use it when you need a moment to look something up, or before revealing a big moment. Press it again to bring the picture back.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere adds mood on top of whatever the TV shows:
- a time-of-day tint: Dawn, Day, Dusk, Night, or No time-of-day tint;
- Dust motes floating in the light;
- Vignette — how dark the edges of the picture are.
Weather from the campaign clock (rain, snow, fog…) shows up on maps by itself. See Calendar, time and weather.
TV View: frame the map
When a map is on the TV, TV View at the top right of the dock lets you pan, zoom and rotate what the TV shows without touching your own view. On your map, a gold frame marks what the TV sees: drag it to move the TV’s view, drag its corner to zoom.
The TV camera has three modes:
- Follow me — the TV follows what you look at on your map.
- Directed — you set the view; players can’t move it.
- Players — players can pan and zoom on the TV themselves, by touch or mouse.
Save view keeps a framing (say, “Bridge”) to show again in one click.
Zero spoilers
The TV never receives your secrets. Hidden places, unrevealed hexes, DM-only notes and secret text are removed before anything is sent to it — not just hidden on screen. What you see in Program is all the players can get.