Builder's Manual · Chapter 1

What Is in the Project

Simulation Earth is the real world in 2030, built on 5e RM, the D&D 5e 2024 rule set with nothing supernatural, rewritten for modern life. The project holds about 3,650 files. Each one is a record the GM and the character sheet can read.

Folders and counts

Folder	File type	Files	Notes
Lore/The World in 2030	lore	9	Daily life, money, law, health, technology, history
Lore/How to Play	lore	2	Player guides
Lore/Regions	lore	7	One page per part of the world
Lore/Storylines	lore	26	GM story guides. Ten go with the game starts, and sixteen are older stories
Rules (top level)	rule	2	Core Rules Primer, Encounter Balancing
Rules/Core Rules	rule	9	The d20 system
Rules/Modern Life	rule	15	Jobs, bills, police, courts, injuries, travel, time, chases
Rules/Equipment	rule	9	Money, gear, vehicles, lifestyle
Rules/Gameplay Toolbox	rule	9
Rules/Glossary	rule	126
Rules/Monsters	rule	4	How stat blocks work
Player Options/Classes	class	36	In 9 groups. 7 are combat classes
Player Options/Subclasses	subclass	144	4 per class
Player Options/Extra Paths	extra-path	144	One per subclass, same name. 32 combat paths
Player Options/Feats	feat	102	21 Origin, 12 Fighting Style, 58 General, 11 Epic Boon
Player Options/Backgrounds	background	71	Where the character grew up, in 10 regions
Player Options/Species	species	1	Human
Equipment/Adventuring Gear	adventuring-gear	339	Clothing, gadgets, medicine, vehicles, packs
Expenses	expense	246	Monthly bills in 19 category folders, 2030 US prices
Equipment/Armor	armor	51	Every top, from T-shirts to plate carriers
Equipment/Shields	shield	2	Riot Shield, Ballistic Shield
Equipment/Weapons	weapon	34
Equipment/Tools	tool	20
Professions	profession	267	Jobs, in 20 field folders
Characters	character	282	Story people and ready-made characters
Monsters	monster	91	42 people, 46 animals, 3 swarms
Conditions	condition	15
Game Starts	game-start	11	Ten set stories and Start Your Own Life
Game Master Instructions	game-master-instructions	45
Map & Token Instructions	game-master-instructions	4
Memory	memory system	8	Scene and chapter memory, and the game clock on the Campaign State
Locations/Areas	location	748	Earth, continents, oceans, countries, states and cities, all real
Locations/Points of Interest	location	729	Real places and the fictional story places
Factions	faction	32	Fictional groups in the stories

The layers

Rules is the reference. @Missing file comes first. Nothing in Rules runs by itself.
Lore is the setting. The World in 2030 and Regions folders are public. The Storylines folder holds the GM guide for each story, with its secrets. Ten stories go with the game starts. The other sixteen are no longer starts, but the GM can still use their places, people and problems.
Player Options, Professions and the character type do the math. Classes, subclasses, Extra Paths, the species, backgrounds, feats and professions are inputs. The character sheet reads them and computes the rest.
Game Master Instructions are what the GM actually does in play.
Content is the people, animals, items and places.

The rule of pairs

A real rule change usually touches two places. One is the text players read. The other is the field, formula or GM instruction that makes it true in play. If you change how fast police arrive, edit @Missing file and also @Missing file. If you change only one, the game says one thing and does another.

The 5e RM line

The house rules are strict. There is nothing supernatural anywhere. Money is Credits ($). Science and Technology are Intelligence skills, and there are 18 skills in all. There are 8 damage types, 15 conditions, 20 tools and 3 creature types (Humanoid, Beast and Swarm). @Missing file keeps the GM on the house wording. New content must stay on the same line.

Manual updated Oct 4, 2026.

5e RM (5e Real Modern)

The real Earth in 2030, played as a simulation. Every country, city and landmark is real, and so are the prices, laws, phones, cars and guns. You play an ordinary person with a job, bills, family and plans of your own. Work, travel, make friends and enemies, chase money or a mystery, and live with what happens. No magic, no monsters, no superpowers.

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CreatedOct 3, 2026

UpdatedOct 5, 2026

The Premise

An untitled world, still taking shape.

Add a premise in the overview editor to share what makes this world unique.

Author's note

Simulation Earth is the real world in 2030, run on 5e RM, the D&D 5e 2024 rules with no magic, rewritten for modern life. There is one species (Human) and thirty-six modern classes, from the Soldier and the Medic to the Cook, the Lawyer and the Influencer. Extra Paths add a taste of other classes (suggested max 3). Seventy-one backgrounds say where you grew up, from Midwest Farm Country to Lagos and Tokyo, and you can hold several of 267 real jobs with real pay (suggested max 3). Money is Credits ($), tracked as Cash, Bank and Debt. Real places are described as they are. Businesses and people in the stories are fictional, and no real living leader or celebrity is ever named. Most problems are solved by talking, working, paying or walking away. Fights are rare, fast and dangerous, and the police come when someone calls 911. Ten game starts drop you into a real place on a real date in 2030, from a samba school in Rio de Janeiro and a Tuscan vineyard to an Arctic airport, a safari camp in Kenya and a surf hostel in the Philippines. Three of them are level 12 combat starts. One more start lets you begin your own life anywhere on Earth.

World Map