This project is Glitter & Gold: Empire of Dirt — a crime-empire drama in the Grand Theft Auto tradition, rebuilt as working data. Five mainland cities, three offshore endgame theatres, dozens of factions, hundreds of characters, gear, vehicles, holdings, and encounters — all as records the game can read, stitched together by a character sheet that computes itself and a guided creation flow that builds new criminals.
The layers
Each layer answers a different question:
- Rules/ answers what do the rules say? The Core Rules Primer first, then the canon rules — Wounds & Gunfights, Milestone Picks, Vouch Ladder, Crew Resources, Proficiency, Cash-Flow Timing — plus the Glossary. Reference only — nothing operational hides here.
- The file types answer what is stored, and what is derived? The character type stores decisions (stats, level, skills, archetype, background, gear, reputation) and computes the rest (modifiers, proficiencyBonus, Defense, wound handling). Factions, locations, crews, equipment, holdings, vehicles, and encounters are the nouns those computations read.
- Game Master Instructions/ answer what does the GM actually do? Standing rules plus event triggers — the runtime, as opposed to the reference (chapter 4).
- Content records are the nouns: five cities (Freeport, Palm City, Los Beatos, San Cristobal, Las Doradas) each with a City Primer, Faction Index, GM Dossier, map plantings, and background prompts — plus Hawaii, Cartagena, and the Caribbean as smaller endgame theatres. Every faction wires door → lieutenant → boss for the Vouch Ladder; every game start opens ambient and sandbox with a location, two pregens, and one opening beat.
A real rule change usually touches a pair: the rule text players read and the schema or instruction that makes it true in play. Change how proficiency scales and you edit both the Proficiency rule and the expression behind proficiencyBonus — one without the other gives you a game that says one thing and does another.
The advancement law, precisely
There is no XP and no challenge rating anywhere. Milestones are the level system: one milestone = +1 level and exactly 1 feat pick, stamped at the close of the earning scene (Milestone Picks rule). level counts milestones earned, starting at 1; proficiencyBonus is computed from it (+2 at creation, +3 at level 2, +4 at level 4, cap). statMods derive from stats. Never hand-write a computed field — change the inputs or the expression in the schema. The standing law lives in three agreeing places: the Genre Overlay's advancementRules, the Milestone Picks rule, and the Proficiency rule.
The license, precisely
The d20 chassis comes from the SRD 5.2, © 2025 Wizards of the Coast, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 — share and adapt, including commercially, with the attribution statement this project carries in its settings. Not covered: the Dungeons & Dragons and D&D trademarks, artwork from published books, and anything outside the SRD's licensed text, such as named settings. Build and publish freely; don't trade on the marks or import unlicensed content. Retired SRD chapters in the Rules folder carry redirect headers and are reference only.
