Editing a template

Hi, I'm a little unsure on whether what I want to do to a template is possible..

I'd like to create a template that includes a homepage for our lesson; this homepage will contain several icons that I will add triggers to, that take the learner to different scenes of my lesson.

I also want to use triggers and true/false variables with each icon, so that when the learner has completed the scene, that icon on the homepage changes state to 'completed' or something similar. The layout and the scene titles for each of these lessons will be the same (they will be about new holidays we are selling), but of course the specific content will be different. That means that in each lesson the triggers that adjust the variables will be on unique slides, i.e. something that can't appear on the template as it will be specific to that lesson.

But - as the icons have been created within the template, I can't seem to edit states, add triggers, etc, while in edit mode for the story - and nothing about the icons shows up on the timeline or on player triggers.

I don't really want to add the variables and triggers within the master view even if that is possible, as then I'll have to amend hem for each lesson, effectively making the template inaccurate.

Is there any way of doing what I want to do??!

Thanks and apologies for the essay!!

Ray