Modules, Layouts, Images, and Presentation
A world can be mechanically deep without showing the player a cockpit dashboard.
Presentation should reveal what helps play and hide what only helps the engine.
Engine Modules
An Engine Module is a coherent optional part of LWE.
Modules let Setup install or compile only the systems a world actually needs. A cozy relationship drama and an empire-scale political sandbox should not carry identical runtime baggage just because both use LWE.
Module profiles are:
- Lite: the smallest living core
- Standard: common missions, pressures, factions, relationships, and selected mechanics
- Full: broadly useful systems enabled, while specialized Domain Modules remain lazy
- Custom: an explicit system list
Disabled should mean structurally absent from the runtime surface, not an empty panel pretending to be disabled.
Most worldbuilders choose a profile and let Setup handle engine-module wiring.
Domain Modules
A Domain Module is different.
It is a setting- or subject-specific specialist guide loaded only when relevant.
Good Domain Modules cover things like:
- naval warfare
- courtroom procedure
- nation building
- ritual magic
- survival
- investigation
- advanced crafting
- political administration
- setting-specific transformation rules
A Domain Module should add causal expertise, not create a second engine.
It tells the GM what evidence matters, what can fail, what the active Ruleset means in that domain, and which canonical records to use.
If a mechanic can already be represented cleanly with existing fields and Mechanic Packages, do not invent a Domain Module merely to sound sophisticated.
Layouts are for players and builders, not the database
A file type may contain many fields. Its layout should not show all of them at once.
A strong layout usually gives:
- identity
- a few at-a-glance values
- one signature panel
- current actionable state
- deeper Play / Mechanics / History / GM information afterward
Backend revisions, transaction keys, compiler metadata, and validation state should stay late, collapsed, or on dedicated engine records.
The Character page especially needs restraint. If the player has to scroll through engine internals to find their abilities, the schema has won and the game has lost.
Compile optional UI out cleanly
When a system is disabled, remove the dependent section from the layout tree.
Do not leave:
- empty tabs
- blank cards
- labels with no data
- dead navigation
- a hidden backend field pretending to be a player feature
LWE is modular. The UI should feel modular too.
Image direction belongs at the right layer
Use the project image style for the world's shared visual identity.
Use file-type image style only when that category genuinely needs different treatment: portraits, maps, equipment icons, creatures, or similar cases.
Write prompts around the subject. Do not restate the entire art bible inside every file if the project and type styles already own it.
Image generation policy is a creator decision.
Setup should not decide to bulk-generate an entire project because the world would “look better” with pictures.
Vocabulary matters
The Lexicon lets the same engine fit different settings without renaming canonical file types.
A fantasy setting may call Missions “Quests.”
A superhero setting may call Abilities “Powers.”
A school drama may call Factions “Clubs” where appropriate.
Use visible vocabulary to make LWE disappear beneath the setting.
Setup already has Vocabulary Overrides, and Lexicon entries can use Generic Substitute to say which engine term a world term replaces. Prefer those existing surfaces. Runtime prose, handbook copy, and visible layout labels can say Quest, Skill, Threat Rank, Club, or whatever the world actually calls the concept while canonical slugs, schema keys, references, owner keys, and migration identities remain stable.
Do not rename engine ownership concepts so aggressively that Update or migration can no longer recognize them. Presentation should speak the world's language; engine identity should stay boring and dependable.
Good presentation hides the engine
The player should see:
The clinic is overloaded and the waiting room is spilling into the hall.
They should not see:
Service capacityBand = Strained; queueBand = High.
The player should notice that midnight feels different.
They should not need a giant TIME BAND: NIGHT card to understand it.
Presentation is where simulation becomes experience.
The engine can be complicated underneath.
The world should feel natural on top.