Builder's Manual · Chapter 1

Start Here: You Do Not Need to Fill Everything

Okay, first: do not panic when you open a Character sheet and see a small kingdom of fields staring back at you. The Living World Engine is built to support long campaigns, complicated settings, and wildly different genres. That does not mean every world needs every system, every file type, or every field.

The engine is meant to grow with your world. Most fields are optional because they are there for the moment they become useful—not because I expect you to complete them all before you can play.

What the engine actually does

The Living World Engine connects the parts of a setting that usually drift apart during long campaigns:

  • Time advances and deadlines can become due.
  • Factions act when the player is not looking.
  • Pressures worsen, change, or create consequences when ignored.
  • Missions remember objectives, complications, failure, and partial success.
  • Characters remember important events and carry relationships forward.
  • Locations can preserve scars, rumors, rebuilding, and historical meaning.
  • Reputation changes by audience instead of becoming one universal morality score.
  • Rules, resources, conditions, and advancement can adapt to the genre.
  • NPCs can have obligations, destinations, and plans beyond the player.
  • The world can preserve its own vocabulary and distinct voices.

In plain language: it helps Orbit remember what matters, put new information in the right place, and keep the world moving without turning your project into a pile of disconnected notes.

The three layers

It helps to think of LWE as three layers.

1. The foundation

These files tell the engine what kind of world it is operating:

  • World Ruleset
  • Calendar Definition
  • World Clock
  • World State
  • World Pulse
  • Lexicon
  • Setup Profile

You normally need one primary record for each of these. Setup creates, adopts, or personalizes them for you.

2. The world

These are the things that exist in the setting:

  • Characters and Creatures
  • Locations and Factions
  • Lore and Eras
  • Power Systems, Abilities, and Techniques
  • Equipment, Vehicles, and Resources

Create these as your world needs them. A city drama may never need Vehicles. A survival campaign may care deeply about Resources. A powerless mystery may not need a Power System at all.

3. The moving story

These files record change:

  • Missions
  • Pressures
  • Events
  • Reputation
  • Consequences and collateral damage
  • Memories and Relationships
  • Legacies and Successors

These should be created when something becomes important enough to affect future scenes. The engine is not asking you to document every conversation, every meal, or every person who walks through a market.

Your first rule: start lean

A perfectly playable beginning can be:

  • One World Ruleset
  • One Calendar and World Clock
  • One World State
  • One World Pulse
  • One root Location
  • One player Character
  • A few important NPCs
  • One or two Factions
  • One active Pressure
  • One Game Start

Everything else can appear naturally.

The included foundation records show the intended structure. The Setup Profile @Missing file is the engine’s installation and maintenance dashboard; it is not a sheet you are expected to roleplay through. World Pulse @Missing file is the current-scene cockpit; it should contain what matters now, not a duplicate of the entire project.

What the large sheets mean

Large sheets are designed around progressive use:

  • Fill the visible identity fields first.
  • Add links only when the connection exists.
  • Leave unknown information blank.
  • Let hidden information remain hidden.
  • Use advanced trackers only when the campaign actually needs them.
  • Do not invent filler just because a field exists.

A blank field is not a broken field. It often means “this has not become relevant yet.”

What you should not do

Please do not manually delete your original file types because the LWE versions look more complete. Do not create character-1, character-v2, or new-character as a casual workaround. Do not copy every field into every record. Do not ask Orbit to “link everything to everything.” That creates clutter, circular references, and more opportunities for drift.

Use Setup for installation or adoption, Update for a newer LWE release, Diagnose when something looks wrong, and Validate before publishing.

The rest of this manual explains exactly how those parts fit together. The important thing to remember is simple:

The engine is powerful because it has room to grow. You are not required to use all of that room on day one.

Manual updated Aug 7, 2026.