Guided First Build

You do not need to understand every file type before you begin. AWARE is designed to meet you at three valid starting points: you already have a detailed setting; you have scattered ideas but no structure; or you only know the feeling you want. All three begin in the same place and none commits you to permanent decisions.

Step 1: ask the assistant to begin

Open the project assistant and say: “Read START HERE — Build Your World and begin setup.” This is an assistant-led conversation, not a separate graphical wizard. The assistant uses the Build Your World creation flow as its question guide and asks about five things: what kind of world you imagine, what players should be free to do, which peoples or setting ingredients already matter, what should be handled with care, and where a first scene might begin. Write as much or as little as you know. “Help me discover this” and “recommend something that fits” are complete answers.

The assistant carries your answers forward and should not ask for the same information twice. It asks a follow-up only when a real contradiction or necessary gap blocks the build. After the questions, it gives one concise setup summary for you to correct or approve, then creates one System Configuration—or updates the existing draft instead of making a duplicate.

The result is your build dashboard. It records the world's practical identity, enabled modules, table defaults, boundaries, accessibility choices, and setup checklist. It does not secretly create canon you never approved. Requested content appears in Builder Notes as work to review and create.

Step 2: ask in ordinary language

You do not need file-type vocabulary when speaking to the project assistant. Describe the result you want. Useful requests include:

• “Make five languages for this world. Give them cultural context, scripts or non-written traditions, dialects, naming guidance and translation difficulties.”
• “Build a pantheon of seven Divine Powers divided between two traditions. Give each one values, taboos, practices, festivals, communication habits, limits and relationships with the others.”
• “Give players six Species across three broad groups, with meaningful subspecies where the setting supports them.”
• “Create four Class families with specific Classes and Subclasses that fit the activities in my System Configuration.”
• “Make food and drink for three regions and use it to reveal climate, trade, faith, class and hospitality.”
• “Design the smallest connected starting town with five recurring NPCs, one Faction, one offered Mission and one Pressure that can progress causally even if the Mission is declined.”

The assistant should use the real AWARE file types and complete their meaningful fields rather than making shallow one-line entries. Quantities are requests, not excuses to repeat the same idea with different names.

Step 3: request a proposal before a large build

For a first world, paste this request after completing System Configuration:

Use my completed System Configuration as authority. Propose the smallest connected slice that can support character creation and a first session. Include only the Species, Classes, Subclasses, Backgrounds, Features, equipment, Spells, Languages, Divine Powers, Food & Drink, Locations, Characters, Monsters, Factions, Missions and Pressures that this particular world needs. Also include the live Calendar, World Clock, Party, Scene State, Campaign State and Game Start. Explain what you recommend, what remains optional and what you deliberately omitted. Do not create files yet. Wait for my approval.

This preview protects your authorship and prevents an enthusiastic assistant from producing a mountain of material before the foundation feels right. You may approve it, change quantities, remove modules, replace an idea, or ask for two alternatives.

Step 4: build in visible waves

After approving the proposal, ask the assistant to create one connected wave at a time:

1. Identity: the project pitch, art direction, System Configuration, core terms and calendar.
2. Player choices: Species, Classes, Subclasses, Backgrounds, Features, items, Spells and Conditions.
3. Culture: Languages, Divine Powers, Food & Drink, Factions and essential Lore.
4. Starting slice: Locations, recurring Characters, Monsters, one offered Mission and any causal Pressure.
5. Runtime: live World Clock, Party, Scene State, Campaign State and Game Start.
6. Player entry: customize Character creation with the world's real options.
7. Presentation and testing: art, maps, tokens and a complete smoke test.

At the end of each wave, ask for a short receipt: what was created, how it connects, what remains undecided, and what the next smallest useful step is. You can stop after any wave and continue later.

Definitions and personal relationships stay separate

A request for five Languages creates five Language definitions. Species and Class records may then provide inherited defaults: Species Languages are Nuanced and Class Languages are Fluent. Character rows store only learned Languages and personal overrides using Words Only, Basic, Conversational, Fluent or Nuanced.

A request for a pantheon creates Divine Power definitions and their traditions or relationships. It does not make every Character religious. Each Character may have no faith, one faith or several, with a separate personal tier and standing for each. The same separation protects relationships, attraction, faction membership, knowledge and equipment ownership.

You are ready when the first slice works

A world does not need an encyclopedia before play. It needs enough real choices to create a complete Character; one inhabited starting Location; a believable present cast; an opening that invites rather than commands; and runtime files that agree about location, time and current state. Complete the setup checklist, then test character creation, one conversation, one movement between locations, one rest or conflict, one declined opportunity and one meaningful passage of time. Expand because play asks for more—not because an unused file type looks lonely.