Getting started
Set up TurnWarden in under five minutes: account creation, your first room, and the player view URL.
TurnWarden puts your combat tracker on one screen and a live read-only view on another, so your table sees the round, the HP, and the conditions without you sharing your notes. The whole thing is browser-based: no app install for you, no app install for your players.
Every TurnWarden account gets one player-view room when you sign up: a permanent share URL you hand to your table. You sign in, copy that URL once, and from there you run encounters from the tracker. Here is the path from cold start to first round.
- 1.Create your account
Open TurnWarden in your browser.
The sign-in page has two tabs: Login for an existing account, Sign up for a new one. Sign-up asks for your email, a display name, and a password. After you submit, TurnWarden emails you a confirmation link. Follow it once and your account is active. From then on, sign in directly with your email and password.
Once you confirm and sign in, you land on the DM tracker. It is empty the first time. That is normal.
- 2.Copy your player-view URL
TurnWarden auto-creates a player-view room for your account at sign-up. Its URL is permanent: it does not change between sessions and you only need to share it once.
Open Settings from the user menu in the top-right of the tracker. The first pane is Share with your party with your share URL and a copy button. Select the copy button to put the URL on your clipboard.
Settings → Share with your party. The URL is permanent for your account; copy it once and reuse forever. Send the URL to your players in a group message, your virtual-tabletop chat, or a printed QR code on the table. Each player opens it in any browser on any device. The view updates the moment you advance a turn.
- 3.Open the player view on a second screen
Back on the tracker, look for the Open player view in new tab icon in the top-right header (an external-link icon). Selecting it opens your player view in a fresh tab so you can see exactly what your table sees while you run the encounter.
The external-link icon in the tracker header opens your player view in a new tab. If you run on a single monitor, drag the new tab into a side-by-side window. If you have a second screen, leave the player view open there for the session.
- 4.Bind your first combatant and go
The Library rail on the left holds every actor you can summon to the tracker. Tap Summon on any PC, Companion, or Monster row and they land on the board. To add a one-off creature that isn't in your Library, use the Summon icon in the tracker footer — the dialog has two tabs: From Library to pick an existing actor, or Custom to enter Name, Max HP, AC, and Initiative directly.
Repeat for each participant at the table. When everyone is added, select Roll initiative in the tracker footer to enter initiative-collection mode. Fill in any missing initiative values, then select Begin encounter to lock in the order and start the encounter. From here you advance turns with Next turn, edit HP from the combatant row, apply condition pills, and finish with End encounter. Your players see it all in real time on the player view.
The player view URL is unique to your account and does not change between sessions. Open it on a dedicated screen or browser tab and bookmark it. You will not need to copy it again, and the same URL covers every encounter you run from your account.
What's next
With your account, share URL, and player view in place, the next session starts immediately. When you are ready to run a full encounter (initiative collection, round tracking, HP editing, and conditions), the running your first encounter article walks through the complete tracker workflow. If you want to bring your existing monster library across from D&D Beyond, the importing actors article covers both the Extension and the JSON paste flow.