Content Patterns and Consistency

The compendium is organized by purpose. Use the narrowest existing type that fits, and create a new type only when the content has a stable shape and will be reused.

Current content families

• Investigators: playable characters, their characteristics, skills, status, background, inventory, and equipped gear.
• Creatures: opponents and supernatural beings with statistics, attacks, abilities, and Sanity costs.
• Weapons, Armor, and Items: reusable equipment with a name, descriptive role, cost, and mechanical effect.
• Markdown rules: procedures and reference material for core mechanics, combat, investigation, sanity, magic, equipment, and advancement.
• Scripts: repeatable procedures for common checks such as skills, attacks, and Sanity.
• Locations and lore: setting facts, places, and context that give investigations somewhere meaningful to happen.

A data entry should be useful without becoming a second rules page. Put reusable numbers on the entry; put adjudication procedures in rules text. Link by reference when a relationship matters, rather than copying a weapon's damage into every investigator.

Naming and fields

Use names that a player or Keeper would naturally search for. Keep one concept in one field. Prefer a list of attacks, skills, or inventory rows over numbered fields. Use explicit descriptions for fiction and structured values for mechanics. A field should answer one question: what it is, how it works, or where it belongs.

Computed values should remain computed from their sources. References should point to the canonical entry by slug. If a field can refer to multiple kinds of content, document the allowed targets and keep the stored value unambiguous.

Quality checklist

Before publishing an addition, verify:

• It uses the existing d100 engine or clearly explains why it cannot.
• Its numbers fit the surrounding scale and its fiction explains its specialty.
• It has meaningful success, failure, and fumble outcomes.
• It does not duplicate a derived value or copied equipment statistic.
• It creates choices rather than only adding power.
• It gives investigators more than one route to important information.
• Its wording distinguishes player-facing rules from Keeper-only secrets.
• It can be found by a consistent name and belongs in the narrowest appropriate content family.

When a rule and an entry disagree, resolve the duplication at the source. Keep the handbook focused on design intent and conventions; use the individual rules pages for full procedures and tables.