Entity Templates

When you add a character, faction, location, or any other entry to a world, the form you fill in is driven by an entity template. A template names the fields the entry should carry (Role, Allegiance, Birth year, Notes, whatever the genre needs), and the World Bible groups entries by template into sections so the bible reads like a reference book.

Every entry has a template. We ship built-in templates for the common types (Character, Location, Faction, Event, Artifact, Concept, Note) and you can add your own when you want fields the built-in template doesn't have.

Picking a template when you add an entry

The "+ Add entry" button in the World Bible Builder, the Quick Create dialog in the editor panel, and the entry edit form all ask you to pick an entity template first. The template determines which fields the next screen shows you.

If you don't pick one, the entry uses the built-in template that matches the type you chose. That's fine for short campaigns; you can switch to a custom template later by editing the entry.

Add a field on the fly

The rich Create Entry modal has a "+ Add custom field" affordance. Each custom field you add is one of:

• Short text: a single-line answer (eye colour, hometown).
• Single choice: a dropdown with the options you set.
• Linked entry: points at another entry in the same world (a faction, a parent character, a home location).

By default a custom field is saved on the entry only. If you toggle "Also add to entity template" before saving, the field is appended to the template's field list, and every entry of that type will see it from then on. Use the toggle when you've discovered a field your whole bible needs; leave it off for one-off entry details.

Editing a template

From a world's World Bible Builder, click "Entity templates" to manage them. You can rename fields, reorder them, mark fields required, and add or remove fields without losing data on existing entries.

Built-in templates can be duplicated but not edited directly. Duplicating gives you a custom template you can tune for your world's particular genre. The same screen has a Relationship types tab, where you manage the relationship labels the Relationship Web offers.

Why templates instead of free-form notes

Templates make a bible searchable, sortable, and consistent. A character template with a Role field lets every other tool reason about "all characters whose Role is Captain". The Consistency Sentinel watches templated fields for attribute conflicts. The Relationship Web understands "Linked entry" fields as graph edges. The same data, named the same way, in every entry.

See also: World Bible, Relationship Web, Consistency Sentinel.