Builder's Manual · Chapter 2

The Shape of It: File Types & How They Connect

The framework is a small set of file types, each with one job, connected by references. Learn the jobs and the graph, and almost every building decision becomes obvious.

The types and their jobs

Type	Holds	One of these is…
Pokemon	The species encyclopedia	Every species, its temperament, ecology, moves, evolution
Companion	An individual creature	One specific Pokémon with a name, bond, condition, and trainer
Character	A human	Trainers, NPCs, rivals, everyone with a face
Equipment	A thing	Balls, medicine, berries, key items, held items, TM discs
Location	A place	Towns, routes, landmarks, regions, the world itself
Faction	An organization	Gyms, league bodies, criminal outfits, corporate power
Thread	A situation with a clock	The world's problems, ticking whether players act or not
Lore	A world truth	History, myth, phenomena, rumors that aren't a place or person
Game Start	The lobby card	The opening players see before play
GM Instructions	GM-only material	Rulings and adjudication players should not read

The reference graph

The connections are where the framework earns its keep:

Pokemon ↔ Companion. A companion's species points at a Pokemon file; the species holds temperament and moves, the companion holds the individual's nature, bond, condition, and arc. evolvesFrom / evolvesInto chain species into families.
Companion → Character. trainer points at the human; the character's party points back at their companions, and partner names the one that matters most.
Character → Equipment, Faction. inventory is a list of gear; factions is a list of organizations.
Location → Pokemon, Faction, Location. wildlife lists the species found there; faction names who claims it; parentLocation and connectsTo build the map.
Faction → Character, Location. leader and members are people; headquarters is a place.
Thread → Character, Location, Thread. involved names who's tied in, location where it's playing out, connectedTo other threads that pull on it.

Choosing the right type

When you're not sure where something belongs:

A new species → Pokemon.
That species as someone's actual creature → Companion.
A person → Character.
A thing they carry or spend → Equipment.
A place they can stand in → Location.
An organization → Faction.
A situation that gets worse if ignored → Thread.
A truth about the world → Lore.
A first scene and who starts it → Game Start.
A ruling only the GM should see → GM Instructions.

Two rules of the graph

References must resolve. Every species, trainer, party, wildlife, involved slug should point at a file that exists. A dangling reference breaks the fiction at the table.
Keep links two-way when the schema already does. If a companion's trainer is set, the character's party should include them. The framework gives you both sides; use both.

Manual updated Aug 22, 2026.