Six steps to your first session.
Create your account
Guildheim is free and open to everyone. Create your account here — enter your name, email, and a password, then choose your role: Game Master or Player. Your role shapes the rest of onboarding, so pick the one that matches how you'll mostly play. Roles can't be changed later from the interface; contact support if you need to switch.
Secure your account
Your account is ready the moment you register — no confirmation step required. You'll land straight in onboarding for your chosen role.
Two-factor authentication is available immediately. We recommend turning it on, especially for Game Master accounts.
Complete onboarding
After registering you land on a short, role-specific onboarding form. Game Masters set a display name, bio, game-system specialties, and experience level. Players set a display name, experience level, and preferred systems. Every field is optional and can be finished later from your dashboard — but a filled-out GM profile is what players see in the GM Directory, so it's worth doing.
Game Masters also connect three services on the Credentials page — Daily.co (video), Pusher (real-time sync), and OpenAI (the AI Toolkit). Each has a free tier that covers normal play, and Guildheim validates every key as you save it. Sessions stay locked until all three are connected. Players skip this step entirely.
Set up your first table
From your GM dashboard, create a campaign. Give it a name, a short pitch, and the system you're running (D&D 5e is the default). Then upload your first map, build an encounter or two, and — if you'd like — link the encounter to the map so monster tokens are pre-placed when the session begins. The whole flow takes about ten minutes, and the AI Toolkit can generate NPCs, loot, and encounters to speed up prep.
Invite your players
Create a session and share its join code with your players. They enter the code on their Player Dashboard, optionally add character details, and they're in. A session seats up to eight players.
Start your session
When the table is ready, move the session into play. Video tiles light up, the map drops in, the dice tray opens, and you're playing. Initiative tracker, HP and conditions, fog of war, drawing tools, chat with whispers, and AI prompts — everything you need is one tab away. When you're done, move the session to Complete and it's preserved as a read-only record.
