Hello and welcome to my exploration into designing a new way to create, manage, curate, and play tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons.

This site documents my evolving vision. The general idea has been percolating for years, but only recently has it become clear enough to write down and refine. Eventually, this content will form the basis of a full system specification.

• Research Tasks
• Other Tasks
• Configuration Tasks

• Rules — The core rules of the system I’m designing (akin to the Player’s Handbook).
• System — Reserved for documentation on how the digital curation system works.

Dungeons & Dragons has always encouraged homebrewing. The idea is simple: Dungeon Masters should shape the game to suit their worlds—modifying not just lore and stories, but even the rules.

The original D&D system was built on a class and level framework, giving players a narrow selection of archetypes. As time passed, players imagined new archetypes and races that weren’t officially supported—so they made their own. Some of these eventually made it into the core books, but even today, players continue to push boundaries.

A great example is the Ranger. It’s a beloved concept but has always felt awkward in practice. Despite multiple revisions, many players find the official class unsatisfying—so homebrew variants abound.

The same is true of races. Dozens now exist, but many are deeply tied to specific worlds and lore. That makes them incompatible with other campaign settings. DMs must often invent or adapt races to fit their needs.

When GURPS came along, I was excited by its modular approach—but the execution was clunky. In contrast, the D20 Check system is elegant and widely understood. Any new system needs to either adopt this standard or present something dramatically superior. For instance, Daggerheart’s dual-d12 system is clever and worth watching—but probably too unfamiliar to achieve widespread adoption.

After years of thinking, I’ve come to believe that classes are the wrong model. A skill tree system would allow players to define their own archetypes organically. Likewise, official race lists should be replaced by a framework for creating races collaboratively with the DM.

Without classes, class levels also lose their purpose. Should we remove proficiency bonuses too? Maybe. An alternative is to assign proficiency tiers like:

• Trained
• Proficient
• Expert
• Master

Each could grant +2 per tier, or maybe +1d4 per tier, depending on how granular we want it.

Another key design choice: Separate lore from rules. Things like languages should not be hard-coded into the core system—they belong to the campaign setting, not the engine.

This modularity sounds overwhelming—but with modern digital tools, it becomes manageable.

[More to be written — see: Principles]

The system I envision revolves around curation.

Game Masters should be empowered to choose only the rules and content they want. They should be able to:

• Add their own content easily
• Share it with others
• Override default rules with custom alternatives

Even simple mechanics—like how rests work—should be configurable. There will be a minimal, streamlined core ruleset, but everything else should be default-overrideable.

I imagine something like GitHub for RPGs—but much easier to use.

A Game Master would:

• Browse rule modules as a skill tree
• Prune or graft branches
• Add new modules
• Publish their curated ruleset

Once complete, they could publish this ruleset for players in multiple formats:

• Web view
• Printable PDF
• Other formats as needed

There should also be an online character builder, aligned with each GM’s curated rules. Eventually, a player interface akin to D&D Beyond would be ideal—but players who prefer paper sheets should feel equally welcome.

For paper-based players, I currently envision:

• Main character sheet: A5 size (210mm × 148mm, landscape)
• Features/spells: A6 size (148mm × 105mm, portrait) cards

The A5 sheet would contain only universal elements—everything character-specific would live on modular cards.