Startup Examples
Package provenance — this chapter ships with the Ontology & Structure Engine. Provenance tag:
source-ontology-project. When loaded into a new world, grep the tag to find the engine's templates and instructions.
Every startup question follows one pattern: example picks, a write-your-own field, and backend direction per example. The wizard (the World Profile creation flow) is the live copy of these options; this chapter is the portable record — the same answers a clone can be rebuilt from when the flow is missing. The Game Systems chapter is the deep treatment of the game-system step; this chapter maps every other step.
The pattern
For each question, startup presents:
- Examples — a handful of option cards covering the common answers. Each carries an
ai_instruction: the backend direction the engine follows when that example is picked (what it sets, how it expands, what it scaffolds). - A write-your-own field — the follow-up free-text step. When the user types their own answer, their words win; when an example was picked, the field is an optional refine/confirm and the example's direction is expanded instead.
- The rule — custom answers override examples, never the reverse. Examples are starting shapes, not forced enums; the conversation still captures the user's own words wherever they offer them.
Vision pass — the scaffold questions
These answers land in the World Vision scaffold (scope, themes, narratives, flavor, genres).
| Step | Example picks | Backend direction (when picked) | Write-your-own field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope (how much world, how deep) | one-region · continent · whole-cosmos · ready-module | Expand the pick into a full scope statement on the scaffold; continent and cosmos expect wider geography scaffolding, ready-module expects adventure depth | scopeNotes |
| Themes (what the stories are about) | community-under-pressure · cost-of-power · identity-belonging · survival-wild · secrets-revelation | Add the picked theme(s) to the scaffold's themes list | themesNotes |
| Narratives (arcs, tensions, hooks) | central-conflict · mystery · journey · politics · rise-fall | Add the picked narrative(s) to the scaffold's narratives list | narrativesNotes |
| Flavor (texture and register) | gritty-natural · baroque-ornate · stark-minimal · mythic-epic · cozy-intimate | Expand the pick into the scaffold's full sensory description | flavorNotes |
| Genres (secondary, optional) | folk-horror · mystery · romance · political · adventure · comedy · slice-of-life · epic-fantasy | Add the picked label(s) to the scaffold's genres list | genresNotes |
Core questionnaire — the profile questions
These answers land on the World Profile.
| Step | Example picks | Backend direction (when picked) | Write-your-own field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genre | fantasy · science-fiction · urban-fantasy · horror · cyberpunk · historical · post-apocalyptic · other | Sets the scaffolding bias — which lore folders grow (magic/religion for fantasy, technology for sci-fi, etc.); 'other' defers to the custom field | genreNotes |
| Magic level | none · subtle · common · pervasive | Sets how present the supernatural is; non-none opens the magic-system step | — (closed scale) |
| Magic system | spell-slots · point-pool · ritual-cost · faith-granted · innate-talent | Expand the style into sources, costs, and who can cast; feeds /Lore/Magic/ | magicSystemNotes |
| World name | — (a name is inherently user-defined) | Sets the namespace everything is filed under | the field itself |
| Era | founding-reckoning · age-names · post-event · dynastic | Generate a full era string from the reckoning style; it anchors every lore file | eraNotes |
| Tone | grim · gritty · heroic · light · whimsical · epic · noir · hopeful · bleak · absurd | Sets the register canon is read through; each register has its own presentation direction | — (closed register set) |
| Intent | one-shot · short-campaign · long-campaign · sandbox · episodic-serial · module | Sets how much content and structure to scaffold now | — (closed set) |
| Game system | d20 · d100 · narrative · wow-derived · custom | Fill gameSystemSummary from the Game Systems chapter and generate mechanic rule files | gameSystemSummary |
| Concepts included | the Startup Checklist opt-in list | Scaffold only the picked domains; record the rest as declared-absent | — (closed opt-in list) |
| Setting | frontier-town · great-city · wild-frontier · fallen-empire · hidden-world | Expand the shape into the founding lore chunk (summary + keyFacts, canonLevel canon, era from the profile) | settingNotes |
Extending the examples
To add an example to any step: add an option to the matching node in the World Profile creation flow (/file-types/world-profile/creation-flow.json), give it an id, label, and an ai_instruction that says exactly what picking it sets and scaffolds — then mirror it in the table above so the record survives cloning. Keep the write-your-own field on every step: the pattern holds because a user-defined answer always has somewhere to land.