About this site

This website, PluralTwine, hosts Twine files that can be downloaded and used as the basis for private (or publically-posted) databases of information about your system, as well as for any other uses you see fit. This site also contains information about how to use Twine to make system databases in the first place, since this is not what Twine was designed for and may be an unintuitive use to some.

Twine is a coding software that requires no real technical knowledge to use and that is normally used to create interactive fiction and text-based games. It is based around typing words and creating links between pages. Twine is not an app and, as long as you have it installed on your computer, it is yours to use for free for any purpose.

Our system has already been using Twine to create private databases of information about our system, but when SimplyPlural announced its discontinuation in March 2026, we recreated our SimplyPlural database in Twine and realized that other systems might benefit from knowing how to do this as well.

In addition to explaining how you would use Twine as a replacement for SimplyPlural in the first place, this site also hosts templates for system databases. They are free to download and do anything you want with.

Some people may be asking, "Why Twine?" Most people would consider a notes app to be more convenient, or would prefer an app specially made for system tracking.

While a notes app is more convenient for people who value syncing and cell phones, my system doesn't need that feature as much. We were already using Twine and using it to keep personal databases prior to the closure of SimplyPlural, so we were already familiar with it.

If you are not familiar with Twine and already use something like Obsidian, you will probably not see a Twine database as more helpful than what you already use.

However, if you do not already have a notes app you are familiar with, if you want to use HTML/CSS and images to customize pages, and if you want something that isn't web-based or public but can still be shared, Twine might be the way to go.

A system database can also be a fun project for a system who are interested in using Twine but don't know what they would make in it.

Some plurals may also find it useful to use Twine to create separate databases, e.g. having different databases for system members versus system notes, or wanting different subsystems to have different CSS in their databases.