Overview

There are several ways to create actors and items in SoHL. The method you choose depends on whether you’re starting from scratch, copying something from a compendium, or building a complex item with nested components.

Creating Actors

From the Create Dialog (Recommended)

The Create Actor button now starts you from a populated template — an archetype — so a new Being arrives with body, attributes, and a movement profile already in place, not as a blank slate.

Click the Create Actor button at the top of the Actors sidebar tab.
The Create dialog offers these fields:
- Name — the actor’s name.
- Shortcode — a short code that must be unique among documents of the same type (it is how the system looks this document up). It auto-fills from the name (and stays in sync as you type) until you edit it by hand; leave it and the system derives and uniquifies one for you on create. If you type a code that is already taken by another document of the same type, the dialog flags it and Create stays disabled until you pick a unique one. (Documents of different types may safely share a code.) See Shortcodes for why the shortcode is the actor’s identity — two actors of the same type that share one are treated as the same thing.
- Type — the actor type (Being, Cohort, Structure, Vehicle).
- SubType — shown only for types that have subtypes.
- Archetype — the starting template. It defaults to the best-matching populated archetype for the chosen type (for a Being, “Basic Folk”), and lists every archetype available for that type plus (none).
Click “Create.” The new actor opens, seeded from the chosen archetype with your Name and Shortcode applied.

Choose (none) when you deliberately want a blank actor — for example a world designer authoring a wholly new kind of being (elf, dwarf, …) from scratch. Everything then has to be added by hand.

From a Compendium

You can still import directly from a compendium — this is also how you make a world override of a shipped archetype (see below):

Open the Compendium tab in the sidebar.
Open the appropriate compendium pack (e.g., “People & Creatures”).
Find the actor you want to use as a starting point.
Drag it into the Actors sidebar tab, or right-click and select “Import.”
The imported actor appears in your world — double-click to open and customize.

By Duplicating

Right-click any actor in the sidebar and select Duplicate to create an identical copy. This is useful when you need several similar NPCs.

Overriding an Archetype in Your World (GM)

The Archetype picker shows the shipped system archetypes and any you provide in your world. To make the picker offer your version of an archetype instead of the shipped one:

Import the archetype into your world (or Duplicate an existing world copy) — both keep the archetype marker, so the copy stays an archetype.
Keep its shortcode unchanged. The shortcode is the archetype’s identity: a world copy that keeps the shortcode shadows the shipped archetype of the same shortcode in the picker (your world copy wins). Rename the display name freely — only the shortcode matters for the override.
Edit your world copy however you like. New characters created from that archetype now start from your version.

To offer an entirely new archetype (a fresh starting template with its own shortcode), just Import/Duplicate a being into your world and it appears in the picker for its type alongside the others.

Creating Items

World Items

World items exist independently in the Items sidebar. They can be dragged onto actors to give characters equipment, skills, or other capabilities.

Click Create Item in the Items sidebar tab.
Choose the item type and enter a name. Like the Create Actor dialog, Create Item offers an Archetype picker: if any archetype exists for the chosen type (and subtype), the new item starts seeded from it; choose (none) for a blank item.
The item’s sheet opens for editing.

Adding Items to Actors

To give an actor an item:

Open the actor’s sheet.
Drag an item from a compendium, the Items sidebar, or another actor’s sheet onto the actor’s sheet.
The item is copied onto the actor. Changes to the copy don’t affect the original.

You can also drag items directly from compendiums without importing them to the world first.

Nested Items

Some items contain other items inside them:

Weapon Gear contains Strike Modes (slash, thrust, etc.)
Armor Gear contains Protection entries (one per body location)
Container Gear contains other gear items
Mystical Devices contain Mystical Abilities

When you drop a complex item (like a weapon from the compendium) onto an actor, all its nested items come along automatically.

To add a nested item to an existing item on an actor, open the parent item’s sheet and drag the child item onto its Nested Items tab.

Deleting Items

When deleting items, be aware that items with nested children cannot be deleted. You must first remove or delete all nested items before the parent can be deleted. This prevents accidentally orphaning items.

Creating Actors and Items