News
June 03, 2026
I have been working on getting all the holes in our iOS app patched up in preparation for a new push to the Apple store. I have most done across Vault, Play, and Imagine. I will use the app for a few gaming sessions (apparently this is called dogfooding!) then push out an update.
In the meantime, I’m also prepping a character creation wizard for 5.5e. I have a good chunk of it done but still need to add a lot of stock rules to make it really useful. I’ll be spending a few days going through them to get as much included as I can.
May 25, 2026
I added all 258 5.5e SRD magic items to our stock rules today. Enjoy!
May 25, 2026
Today we deployed a major update across Embers Vault, Embers Play, and Embers Imagine: a unified text editor with considerable improvements over the prior editor. Your new toolbox includes headings, bold/italic/underline, text sizes, spoiler text, skill checks, custom colors and highlights, alignment, lists, links, images you can resize and align by dragging, and two- or three-column layouts. Your experience should be the same in all three apps.
May 20, 2026
Pushed an update with three improvements: a fix for adding new Abilities, Spells, and Feats to your character; a fix for trackables losing their Current value on save; and some navbar cleanup at mid-size browser widths.
May 11, 2026
This weekend we did a lot of work on adventures including adding the ability to create stock adventures and opening them so you can see public adventures without being logged in to Embers Imagine. We’ll continue to refine this in the coming weeks and post at least a few stock adventures.
May 10, 2026
Over at our blog, I posted an update that summarizes all the things we’ve been working on for the last few weeks. You can read the full update here.
May 09, 2026
I pushed a small update for Embers Vault this morning that fixed a bug that could reset a character’s AC on save. Also, over the last week I’ve added Adventure authoring to Embers Imagine. Still early, but give it a look if you’re interested. You can write adventures, run encounters, integrate with Vault for stats, and even import from your Google Docs.
Apr 29, 2026
Embers Vault 5.5e weapons and tagged abilities/feats now offer an “Add to Actions” button in their character-sheet modal. One click derives a fully-formed action with the right attack/damage attributes, range, and proficiency. This works currently with all 5.5e stock weapons, and any custom weapons you have added and completed the Item Details section. Stock rules will be updated in the coming weeks to support this feature as well.
Apr 22, 2026
Embers Vault 5.5e sheets now track equipped gear in a new Equipped Items section. The sheet will prompt before displacing anything already equipped, and any weapon with the Two-Handed property will occupy both the main and off hand slots. Finally, when sheet automation is on, equipping armor or a shield also fills in the matching row on the Defenses section automatically.
Apr 20, 2026
UPDATED. Building on the structured mechanics work from the last update, 5.5e rules with passive effects defined can now apply to your character automatically. That includes flat bonuses like +2 to Attack Rolls or +5 AC. New 5.5e characters have this turned on by default. For existing characters, look for the new toggle at the top of the sheet next to the 5.5e label. Flip it on and any House Rule you’ve written or Stock Rule you’re using with structured mechanics will start contributing to the sheet.
Apr 18, 2026
We have added structured mechanics to 5.5e abilities and feats. You can now configure mechanical impacts of rules instead of only describing them in prose. You’ll find the new optional features on the Edit Rule screen and can configure such things as Effects, Saves, Damage, Resistances, and much more. At present, this update brings no visible changes to the system, but is the foundation for future enhancements such as a Character Creation Wizard and automatic rest tracking.
Apr 15, 2026
Today we deployed a major update to Embers RPG Vault that adds three new custom rule types: Classes, Backgrounds, and Species.
Classes can hold level-gated abilities, custom progression tables, core traits like hit dice and saving throws, and starting equipment options. Subclasses are supported through parent-child relationships, and each class gets a full features table on its display page. Backgrounds support ability scores, feat associations, skill and tool proficiencies, and starting equipment. Species support creature type, size, speed, age, and special traits, with variant support for subraces like Drow or Wood Elf.
All of these fields are optional and only appear when relevant. The 5e24 ruleset gets the deepest support, but Classes and Species are available across all class-based rulesets. We also added image support for all rules, a new categories editor, and several UI improvements including better dark mode support for multiselect inputs and properly styled outline buttons.
Apr 10, 2026
Today we deployed an update to Embers RPG Vault with expanded item support for the 2024 D&D ruleset. Weapons and armor items now support structured stat blocks, all the fields you’d expect to find on an item card. Items also now support images. All of these fields are optional and only appear when relevant to the item type. The item form also has a new collapsible Item Detail panel that keeps the editing experience clean while giving you access to the full set of fields when you need them.
Apr 9, 2026
Over at our blog, I posted an update that summarizes all the things we’ve been working on for the last few weeks. You can read the full update here.
Apr 02, 2026
Today we deployed a reliability and performance update for Embers Imagine worlds. Pages now load more efficiently, with fewer background requests during server-side rendering, which should reduce intermittent slowdowns and improve stability under heavier traffic. This update also improves how page metadata is loaded behind the scenes while reducing unnecessary authentication checks for anonymous visitors. Overall, world pages should feel more consistent and resilient without changing how they work for readers.
Mar 22, 2026
Today we’ve deployed an authentication infrastructure update focused on hardening the security of our web login flow across Embers tools. Additionally, we also improved the real-time friend sync in Embers Play.
Mar 21, 2026
We have deployed a small infrastructure update in preparation for enabling Apple sign-in, alongside Google and Facebook, which is a necessary step toward the upcoming iOS app for Embers tools.
Mar 19, 2026
This small release fixes a bug in Embers Vault that prevented GMs from viewing other players’ character sheets. It also fixes an issue where House Rules in Vault could appear stale in the Rulebook, Spellbook, and Armory, and improves House Rule eligibility resolution to better reflect campaign-based access.
Mar 17, 2026
We deployed a major update to House Rules tonight.
Game Masters can now create custom rules in Embers Vault, including Feats, Spells, Items, and more, then add those rules to Worlds in Embers Imagine and/or Campaigns in Embers Play. Once added, those House Rules automatically become visible to players in the appropriate campaigns.
House Rules also stay synchronized between a World and any Campaigns linked to that World, making it much easier to manage shared custom content across your game.
We’ve also added new controls in Embers Imagine for displaying House Rules associated with a World, and we’ll be sharing more about those in a separate video.
Mar 14, 2026
Embers Vault Rulebook, Spellbook, and Armory pages are now easier to browse. Rule and spell sections can be collapsed, name search filters results live as you type, stock content can be toggled on or off without reloading.
Mar 13, 2026
Embers Vault now has a more flexible access system and cleaner account-aware behavior across the app. This is an important step toward normalizing access across the platform as we prepare an iOS version of the Embers RPG tools. This release also fixes several bugs affecting character and monster slot counts, character editing protections, and unnecessary background profile refreshes.
Mar 11, 2026
Check out our latest blog article, a new How To video showing how battlemaps work in Embers Play. The brief demo covers adding a map to a session and controlling player visibility, drawing on the map, placing tokens, and tracking initiative and conditions. If you’ve been curious about how encounter management works, this is a good place to start.
Mar 11, 2026
GMs can now bench tokens from the Initiative Tracker, removing them from the count without removing the toke from the map. Benched tokens collapse into a recoverable section at the bottom of the tracker, score intact. Also fixed two bugs where simultaneous score entries could overwrite each other or shift turn order unexpectedly.
Embers Imagine page load times on world sites are faster, especially for worlds with custom domains. We’ve also addressed a server memory issue that could cause slowdowns over time.
Mar 8, 2026
Character sheets now update in real time across our apps. This improves multi-tab and multi-session consistency and reduces the need to refresh during active play. This is also a step in our broader real-time sync improvements, with additional reliability and conflict-handling enhancements planned in future updates.
Mar 7, 2026
Quick update for today. We cleaned up the FAQs across all three apps and added a new How To section for (the few) tutorial videos we have right now. Hopefully more to come.
Mar 6, 2026
