diff --git a/ansible/roles/podman/tasks/containers/home/zomboid.yml b/ansible/roles/podman/tasks/containers/home/zomboid.yml
index 7a9b10f..9d50a72 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/podman/tasks/containers/home/zomboid.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/podman/tasks/containers/home/zomboid.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,15 @@
 # than the container's subuid. Getting this wrong silently broke world resets:
 # the script's first log line failed with EACCES and set -e killed it before it
 # stopped the server, so `@bot` resets did nothing at all.
+- name: create zomboid canonical config directory
+  become: true
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: "{{ zomboid_path }}/config-template"
+    state: directory
+    owner: "{{ podman_user }}"
+    group: "{{ podman_user }}"
+    mode: 0755
+
 - name: create zomboid host-side log directory
   become: true
   ansible.builtin.file:
@@ -219,6 +228,33 @@
     state: started
     daemon_reload: true
 
+# The intended world settings, kept somewhere the server cannot reach.
+#
+# PZ reads Server/<name>_SandboxVars.lua only when it creates a world, and then
+# writes the *running world's* settings back over that same file. So the file in
+# Server/ is an output, not an input: once any world is created with defaults,
+# the server stamps those defaults into it and every later wipe regenerates from
+# them. That is how a Sophie world quietly became an Apocalypse one -- 139 values
+# reverted, loot rates from 0.35 back to 0.9, CharacterFreePoints from 0 to 60.
+#
+# This copy is what a wipe restores from, so settings survive it. Seeded once and
+# then left alone, so it is the file to hand-edit when changing the world:
+# edit here, then wipe, and the new world comes up with the edits.
+- name: seed canonical zomboid world settings
+  become: true
+  ansible.builtin.copy:
+    src: "zomboid/sophie/{{ item }}.lua"
+    dest: "{{ zomboid_path }}/config-template/{{ item }}.lua"
+    force: "{{ zomboid_config_force | bool }}"
+    owner: "{{ podman_user }}"
+    group: "{{ podman_user }}"
+    mode: 0644
+  loop:
+    - SandboxVars
+    - spawnregions
+    - spawnpoints
+  tags: zomboid-conf
+
 # The server's own logs, not the container's. PZ holds these fds open for the
 # life of the process, so copytruncate is mandatory -- a rename would leave it
 # writing into an unlinked inode and the file would appear to stop growing.
diff --git a/ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/world-reset.sh.j2 b/ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/world-reset.sh.j2
index 12fc8d2..f0a6d1a 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/world-reset.sh.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/world-reset.sh.j2
@@ -55,6 +55,24 @@ else
     log "No database found at $DB_PATH"
 fi
 
+# Restore the intended world settings before the server regenerates.
+#
+# Without this the wipe silently changes the game. PZ writes the running world's
+# settings back over Server/<name>_SandboxVars.lua, so by the time we delete the
+# save that file already describes the world we are throwing away -- and if that
+# world had defaults, the replacement inherits them. Restoring from the canonical
+# copy is what makes a wipe reset the world and keep the settings.
+CONFIG_TEMPLATE="{{ podman_home }}/.local/share/volumes/zomboid/config-template"
+SERVER_DIR="{{ podman_home }}/.local/share/volumes/zomboid/data/Server"
+for f in SandboxVars spawnregions spawnpoints; do
+    if [[ -f "${CONFIG_TEMPLATE}/${f}.lua" ]]; then
+        podman unshare cp "${CONFIG_TEMPLATE}/${f}.lua" "${SERVER_DIR}/${SERVER_NAME}_${f}.lua"
+        log "Restored ${SERVER_NAME}_${f}.lua from canonical config"
+    else
+        log "WARNING: no canonical ${f}.lua; the new world will inherit whatever the server last wrote"
+    fi
+done
+
 # Start server
 log "Starting zomboid service..."
 systemctl --user start zomboid.service