What's the difference between RPG and LitRPG mode?

In the World Editor's Game System section you can turn a world into a stats-driven game. There are three settings:

• Off (the default): a normal story, with no stats, inventory, or game mechanics. Most worlds stay here.
• RPG: your world gets game mechanics, but the storytelling stays fully immersive.
• LitRPG: everything RPG has, plus the in-world "System" that pops up notification boxes the character can see.

RPG and LitRPG share the same underlying mechanics. The only real difference is whether the game System is visible to the character as on-screen notifications.

RPG mode

The character has stats, gear, and abilities, the AI tracks them, but it never breaks the fourth wall. Progression is woven into the prose ("you feel steadier on your feet now", not a "+2 Agility" pop-up).

You get:

• A stat sheet: HP/MP bars, attribute tiles, and resources. You define these in the Trackers section by setting a tracker's display type to a meter, gauge, or stat.
• Inventory, skills, and relationships, tracked automatically as the story plays out.
• NPC stat blocks: the AI can give a boss, rival, or key ally an inspectable sheet.

Pick RPG for a serious fantasy, sci-fi, survival, or dungeon-crawl world where you want the depth of a game but the feel of a novel, with no game-y pop-ups.

LitRPG mode

Everything in RPG, plus the System: the diegetic game layer that announces itself. Level-ups, new skills, quests, and loot appear mid-scene as styled notification cards, the way they do in a LitRPG novel, and the character perceives them as part of the world.

LitRPG mode adds two extra settings:

• System detail: how talkative the System is, from story-first (rare, earned notifications) to number-forward (dense, frequent updates).
• System voice and name: how the notifications read (flat and bureaucratic, or with a dry personality) and what the in-fiction System is called, if anything (for example "The Patch").

Pick LitRPG for a progression-fantasy or LitRPG world where the game System is part of the fiction and the character literally sees the boxes.

Letting players customize their starting sheet

Both RPG and LitRPG worlds can let players tweak their starting stats before a journey begins, so two people can play the same world as a glass-cannon mage or a tanky bruiser. You set this in the Game System section under Starting sheet customization:

• Off (the default): players start with exactly the stats you set.
• Stats (capped): players can adjust their starting numeric stats (HP, attributes, resources) before playing, but only within each stat's allowed range, so nobody can mint an overpowered character. Inventory and skills stay exactly as you set them. To give a stat real room to move, set a maximum on it in the Trackers editor; a stat with no maximum can only be lowered from your default, never raised. You can also set an optional point-buy pool: instead of per-stat ranges, every stat starts at the value you set and players get a shared pool of points to spend raising their stats (still bounded by any per-stat maximum). Great for a balanced "build your character" feel.
• Full sheet: players can freely edit the whole starting sheet with no caps, including stats, text fields (like a starting class or title), and the starting inventory, skills, and other lists. Best for sandbox or build-your-own-character worlds.

When this is on, a "Customize sheet" button appears on the character screen before play starts. The changes apply to that one playthrough only and are never saved to the player's character library (a starting sheet belongs to your world's specific stats, so it cannot be reused elsewhere).

Which should I pick?

Ask one question: would your character actually see "blue box" notifications?

• Yes, the game System is part of the world: choose LitRPG.
• No, you just want stats and inventory under the hood with immersive prose: choose RPG.
• Neither, it's a regular story: leave it Off.

You can switch modes anytime in the editor, and turning the game system off leaves a standard story completely untouched.