Builder's Manual · Chapter 1

What This System Is For

Craft Lite is a base layer: a complete, playable 2d6 engine with the setting deliberately stripped out. The intended workflow is clone, replace the examples, play. The rules, GM instructions, feat catalog, equipment catalog, and creature libraries all ship finished; your job as a builder is world content — characters, creatures, locations, lore, factions, species, and a game start — plus whatever mechanical extensions your setting needs.

Design commitments

Three decisions shape everything, and extensions should respect them:

One resolution mechanic. 2d6 + stat vs a target, everywhere. New content should never introduce a second dice mechanic; it should introduce new inputs to the existing one (feats, gear bonuses, conditions).
Everything is a feat. There are no classes, levels, or spell lists — progression is a shopping trip priced in XP. This is what keeps the system genre-neutral: a fireball, a grenade, and a leg sweep are the same data shape with different pools and flavor.
Stats are precious. A whole archetype grants +1 or +2 to a stat. Every budget in the system flows from that scale, at roughly 1 stat point ≈ 10 resource points. The fastest way to break Craft Lite is to hand out stat bonuses casually.

The three pools are genre dials

Mana, Energy, and Stamina are mechanically parallel on purpose — Stamina content is priced slightly differently, but the shapes match. A pure-fantasy setting can simply not stock Energy feats; a hard sci-fi one can drop Mana. Nothing else needs to change, which is why the equipment catalog spans fantasy, modern, cyberpunk, and sci-fi eras side by side.

The chapters that follow cover the workspace anatomy, then the three things you'll build most: feats, creatures, and gear, and finally balancing and reskinning.

Manual updated Jul 29, 2026.

Craft Lite

The Hidden World

A dark, atmospheric urban-fantasy RPG set in the modern world, where ordinary humanity exists alongside a vast hidden supernatural society shaped by ritual magic, ancient powers, factional politics, and mysteries that continue without the player.

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CreatedAug 15, 2026

UpdatedAug 15, 2026

The Hidden World

The supernatural has always been here.

The Hidden World is a dark, atmospheric urban-fantasy RPG about living inside an occult world that existed long before you arrived. Modern cities conceal ancient covens, secret societies, magical families, independent witches, supernatural criminals, hidden institutions, and beings that do not think like humans.

Magic comes from the Veil, an unseen reality alongside the physical world. Only witches can deliberately work it, and even then magic demands ritual, preparation, knowledge, symbols, ingredients, sacrifice, and personal cost. Veilborn are rare people born with an unnatural connection to the Veil; they can do what ordinary witches cannot, but their gifts bring danger and consequences.

The world is not waiting for a chosen one. Factions pursue their own agendas, NPCs remember, scheme, disagree, and change, and political conflicts unfold whether or not the player is present. Follow rumors, investigate contradictions, build relationships, join or oppose factions, make mistakes, and decide how visible you want to become. Some secrets will remain hidden. Some events will happen without you ever knowing.

Inside the World