What You Actually Need to Configure
The engine contains many systems because different worlds need different kinds of continuity. Your job is not to activate everything. Your job is to decide what your world cares about.
The required foundation
Most projects should configure these seven pieces.
World Ruleset
The World Ruleset defines the shared mechanical language: attributes, conditions, resources, advancement, recovery, power bands, threat bands, and time defaults. The installed example @Missing file is a foundation, not a demand that every world use levels, combat stats, or fantasy terminology.
A political drama can use social attributes and influence resources. A cozy setting can use energy, confidence, community trust, or no numeric attributes at all. A superhero setting can use threat and power bands without using traditional levels.
Calendar Definition
The Calendar defines the structure of time: days, months, weekdays, eras, holidays, time bands, and formatting. The standard calendar @Missing file can remain in ordinary modern worlds or be replaced by a custom calendar.
World Clock
The World Clock holds the current date, time, season, weather, elapsed scenes, deadlines, and scheduled events. The active example @Missing file connects the abstract calendar to the campaign’s current moment.
World State
World State @Missing file is the broad truth of the setting: current era, public mood, major tensions, global changes, active pressures, open questions, alliances, and offscreen movement.
It should not contain every scene detail. Think of it as the page titled What is true about the world right now?
World Pulse
World Pulse is the immediate campaign cockpit: active scene, location, present cast, current objective, due consequences, due NPC actions, continuity warnings, and resolution review.
World State is the weather system. World Pulse is the storm directly over the party.
Lexicon
The World Lexicon @Missing file stores the language that makes the setting sound like itself: local terms, everyday vocabulary, registers, contested meanings, terms people avoid, and generic defaults the GM should replace.
A Lexicon can begin small. Five useful everyday terms are better than fifty invented nouns nobody can remember.
Setup Profile
The Setup Profile records installation state, active systems, creator decisions, version, migration progress, validation, and unresolved issues. Preserve it after Setup. Future updates need it.
Game Start
A Game Start defines the opening handoff into play: starting Location, Characters, Faction, Mission, Pressure, World Clock, opening situation, player prompt, and continuity requirements. It does not replace World State or World Pulse. It tells the GM how to begin, then the runtime records take over. The included New Game entry @Missing file is meant to be personalized for the world’s actual opening.
Optional systems are truly optional
Choose systems because they solve a problem your world has.
| Your world cares about… | Enable or emphasize… |
|---|---|
| Organizations acting offscreen | Factions and faction turns |
| Threats that worsen when ignored | Pressures |
| Clear objectives and branching outcomes | Missions |
| Public trust, fear, scandal, or propaganda | Public Reputation |
| Emotional continuity | Relationships and NPC Memories |
| Damage beyond the main target | Collateral Incidents |
| Long historical echoes | Legacy and Era records |
| Heirs, reincarnation, mantles, or generational play | Successor systems |
| Magic, superpowers, cultivation, cybernetics, or special disciplines | Power Systems, Abilities, and Techniques |
| Scarcity, markets, supply, and control | Resources |
| Travel logistics | Routes, Vehicles, World Clock, and weather |
A romance-focused academy world may care deeply about relationships, memories, schedules, factions, and reputation while barely using equipment durability or successor records. That is completely valid.
Complexity modes
A useful way to control scope is to choose a complexity mode.
Lean
Use foundation records, Characters, Locations, a few Factions, one active Pressure, and only the story systems currently on screen.
Standard
Use most core systems, but create records only when they gain future relevance. This is the best default for most campaigns.
Deep Simulation
Track faction turns, routes, deadlines, resources, independent NPC actions, reputation audiences, and delayed consequences more aggressively. This is powerful, but it also creates more upkeep.
What to fill first on any sheet
Use this order:
- Identity: name, summary, role, status, and visible description.
- Current truth: where it is, what it wants, and what condition it is in.
- Important links: only the Characters, Locations, Factions, systems, or events that actually matter.
- Active change: pressure, mission, relationship, memory, deadline, or consequence.
- Hidden depth: secrets, future hooks, knowledge layers, and GM-only information.
- Advanced tracking: numbers, progression, durability, market state, inheritance, or detailed audit fields.
You can stop at step two and still have a useful record.
Example files are scaffolding
The included Example Character @Missing file, Example World Map @Missing file, Example Faction @Missing file, Example Pressure @Missing file, and Example Mission @Missing file exist to demonstrate structure and preserve working references during Setup.
Whenever possible, personalize an example into a real record instead of deleting everything first. That keeps the foundation connected while your world takes its place.