Connections

A connection links two nodes: a clue that points to a location, an NPC who works for a guild, a ship that calls at a port. Connections draw the lines on the map, and they are how filters and appearance rules can ask which nodes sit next to which.

Each connection has:

• Two nodes, of any type and in any module. A connection is always between two different nodes.
• A Type, a few words that say what the link is, such as Calls at or Captained by. It is optional.
• A Note for anything longer, such as when or why.
• A Direction: No direction, or an arrow from one node to the other. A Type reads as a sentence along its arrow: “The Gannet → calls at → Saltmarsh Cove”.
• Tags, to label connections the way you label nodes.

Two nodes can share several connections, such as a ship that both Calls at and Is wrecked at the same cove. They are called parallel connections, and they are fine.

Ways to make a connection

You can make a connection one at a time from a node’s sheet (C), or on the map by holding C and dragging from one node to another. This section covers the tools for making many:

• The New connection dialog, opened from any type’s table or from the map, lets you search for both nodes and keep going. See Creating connections.
• Draw mode on the map turns every drag from one node to another into a connection straight away. See Draw mode.
• CSV import brings in connections from a spreadsheet. See CSV import.

All three follow one rule about repeats. An exact repeat of a connection is refused unless you change the campaign’s setting. See Duplicate connections.

In this section

• Creating connections: the New connection dialog, Create another, Preserve settings and pins.
• Draw mode: draw connections on the map, with undo.
• Duplicate connections: what counts as a repeat and what the campaign does about one.
• CSV import: import connections from a file, and what happens to names that could mean more than one node.