📈 Tension Arc

👤 For: Game Masters · 💳 Plan: All plans · 🔄 Updated 2026-10-16

The Tension Arc shows the shape of your campaign. Rate each scene or session from 1 (calm) to 10 (climax), and Wovenkeep draws the curve and points out flat stretches, a missing climax or a missing resolution — no AI needed. If you like, Tantu can also draw a curve from your recaps (optional AI help).

What it does

• You set the tension of every scene or session from 1 to 10 — right in the list on this page.
• Wovenkeep draws the curve from your values and gives hints based on simple rules: flat stretches, no climax, a climax too early, no resolution after the climax, a calm opening.
• Optional: Tantu's AI Tension Arc reads your recaps and plotlines and draws its own curve, with a version history.

Your values and the AI curve are independent: Tantu doesn't read your values, and it doesn't change them.

When to use it

Use the Tension Arc when you want to zoom out and see the campaign's shape rather than plan individual scenes. It answers the question: "Are we building toward something, or just wandering?" Rate the scenes while you prepare them — and the sessions after you've played them.

Step by step

1. Open your campaign and click 📈 Tension Arc in the sidebar (in the Story & Tantu group).
2. In the card 📈 Tension arc, choose Scenes or Sessions. Wovenkeep remembers your choice in this browser.
3. Pick a value from – (not set) to 10 for each entry in the list. Each choice is saved right away.
4. Read the curve and the 💡 hints below it.

💡 Tip: Rate a scene by how it should feel at the table, not by how much happens. A quiet conversation that reveals the traitor can be an 8.

The list and the curve

Scenes lists your scenes in the order of your acts and chapters (scenes without a chapter come last); #1, #2 … are their positions in this list. Sessions lists your sessions by number; planned sessions are marked Planned.

The curve shows only the entries with a value:

• Left to right: the entries in list order, labelled #n and the title.
• Height: tension from 1 to 10 — the number above each point is your value.
• Amber points: your scenes and played sessions. Purple points with a ring: planned sessions.

An entry without a value leaves a gap. Without any values, the canvas says Set a value in the list below.

The hints

Below the curve, Wovenkeep checks your values in list order:

Several hints can appear at once. Below them, the card reminds you what a good arc looks like: build up at 3–5, peak at 8–10, then resolve. Avoid long flat stretches.

Optional: AI Tension Arc (Tantu)

The second card, 📈 AI Tension Arc, is optional AI help: Tantu reads your session recaps and plotlines and draws a tension curve from them, as a starting point for thinking about your pacing.

Tantu reads your campaign's setting, tone and themes, your recent session recaps, and your plotlines, then assigns each session a tension score from 1 to 10. Played sessions appear as a gold line; sessions Tantu expects still ahead appear as purple planned dots. A legend panel explains the five dramatic phases (Setup, Rising, Crisis, Climax, Resolution) and what the colour coding means.

Previous generations are saved automatically and available from a version history dropdown — so you can compare how the curve looked before and after a story pivot.

1. Click 📈 Generate AI Tension Arc — the button shows a 4 🧵 badge (0 🧵 with your own AI key).
2. A confirm dialog shows the cost, your current balance, and your balance after the run. Confirm it.
3. Wait a few seconds — Tantu reads your campaign context and draws the curve.
4. The legend panel appears automatically below the canvas. Read the colour key and phase labels.
5. To revisit an earlier generation, pick it from the version history dropdown above the canvas.

💡 Tip: Tantu responds in your interface language. If you write recaps in German or French, the analysis text also comes back in that language.

Reading the AI curve

The AI curve shows one point per session:

• Left to right: your sessions in order, labelled #1, #2, #3 … under the curve (legend: Sessions →)
• Height: tension from 1 to 10 (legend: Tension 1–10) — the number above each point is Tantu's score
• Gold points: sessions you have played (Played)
• Purple points with a ring: planned sessions Tantu projects ahead (Planned)

A healthy campaign curve usually has:

• Rising onset — first 1–3 sessions ramp up gently as players get oriented
• Mid-game oscillation — alternating high-low-medium-high-low sessions
• Pre-climax build — 2–3 sessions of increasing intensity before the finale
• Climactic peak — the highest point near the end
• Resolution dip — denouement after the climax

Common pacing problems the curve reveals:

How intensity is calculated

When you click 📈 Generate AI Tension Arc, Tantu reads:

• Campaign setting, tone & themes — the genre baseline
• Recent session recaps — what happened and its emotional weight (write good recaps — they are the main input)
• Plotlines — title, status, and priority, so it knows when threads activate or resolve

It assigns each session a score 1–10 and projects a few planned sessions ahead:

Scores are approximate — Tantu errs toward middle values (4–7). What matters is the shape, not the exact numbers.

The legend panel

After generation, a Legend panel appears below the canvas. It shows:

• Colour key — gold = played, purple = planned
• Phase labels — Setup / Rising / Crisis / Climax / Resolution (what each dramatic phase means)
• Guidance — a good arc rises and falls; build up at 3–5, peak at 8–10, then resolve. Avoid long flat stretches.

Version history

Every generation is saved. The version history dropdown above the canvas lists all previous runs, newest first. Click any entry to redraw the curve from that generation — useful for comparing the arc before and after a major story pivot.

The most recent version is restored automatically each time you open the Tension Arc tab.

When to check the curve

• After every 3 sessions — sanity check your pacing
• Before planning the next session — pair with Story Coach → Next Session for the planning context
• At the campaign midpoint — assess whether the curve is heading toward a satisfying finale
• When something feels off — if players seem disengaged, the curve often reveals why

Tension Arc and other tools

Your values are stored with the scenes and sessions — they are copied when you duplicate a campaign. The AI curve doesn't modify your campaign data. To act on what the curves show, use:

• Story Coach to plan adjustments
• Plotlines to introduce or resolve threads
• Sessions to update strong starts and notes

Plan limits

The Tension Arc works on every plan, including the free Adventurer plan. Setting values, the curve and the hints are free. Only the optional AI Tension Arc costs 4 Threads per run (long text action) — the confirm dialog shows the cost and your balance before anything is spent. With your own AI key, text actions cost 0 🧵.

→ Threads & costs · Pricing

Caveat

Tantu's intensity scores reflect what you've written (recaps above all), not the values you set yourself. If your recaps undersell what happened — "we had a chase scene" when it was actually a 90-minute climactic chase — Tantu will undersell it too.

Write recaps that capture the feel of the session, not just the events.

Troubleshooting

Related articles

• 📖 Story Coach — partner tool for pacing decisions
• 📜 Plotlines — plotline state drives the curve
• 📅 Sessions — recaps are the curve's main input
• 📊 Session Log & Analytics — objective event timeline (the curve is the subjective interpretation)
• 💳 Pricing — how plans and Threads work