diff --git a/images/papermc/Containerfile b/images/papermc/Containerfile
index 7958d1b..402973c 100644
--- a/images/papermc/Containerfile
+++ b/images/papermc/Containerfile
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ RUN curl -s "https://fill.papermc.io/v3/projects/paper/versions/$MINECRAFT_VERSI
 	| jq -r '.downloads."server:default".url' \
 	| xargs curl -o server.jar
 
+RUN wget -P /data/plugins \
+    https://git.lab0x13.site/api/packages/scrow/generic/core-bukkit/UNVERSIONED/CoreBukkit.jar \
+    https://download.luckperms.net/1652/bukkit/loader/LuckPerms-Bukkit-5.5.65.jar \
+    https://hangarcdn.papermc.io/plugins/ViaVersion/ViaVersion/versions/5.11.0/PAPER/ViaVersion-5.11.0.jar \
+    https://hangarcdn.papermc.io/plugins/ViaVersion/ViaBackwards/versions/5.11.0/PAPER/ViaBackwards-5.11.0.jar
+
 RUN printf eula=true > eula.txt
 RUN java -jar server.jar --initSettings
 
diff --git a/images/papermc/plugins/LuckPerms-Bukkit-5.5.65.jar b/images/papermc/plugins/LuckPerms-Bukkit-5.5.65.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index c13db8f..0000000
Binary files a/images/papermc/plugins/LuckPerms-Bukkit-5.5.65.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/images/papermc/plugins/ViaBackwards-5.11.0.jar b/images/papermc/plugins/ViaBackwards-5.11.0.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index 9b1858f..0000000
Binary files a/images/papermc/plugins/ViaBackwards-5.11.0.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/images/papermc/plugins/ViaVersion-5.11.0.jar b/images/papermc/plugins/ViaVersion-5.11.0.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index 1f3116d..0000000
Binary files a/images/papermc/plugins/ViaVersion-5.11.0.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/jobs/README.minecraft.md b/jobs/README.minecraft.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d53e92b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jobs/README.minecraft.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+we reuse the same minecraft job/service for all gamemodes and the lobby.
+the following variables are supported:
+- mode(<string>, required): name of the gamemode to run. this is used to advertise.
+- image(<string>, required): image to use, something based on papermc normally.
+- plugins(<list(string)>, optional): space-separated list of URLs to download to the plugins folder.
+
+We use images to make gamemode specific changes cause else we'd need a lot of
+variables and it'd just become a mess. we still need the plugins variable cause
+we don't want to rebuild our images every time we release a new update.
+our plugins also are usually unversioned, so we'd break reproducability if we'd
+fetch them in the images directly.
diff --git a/jobs/lobby.nomad.hcl b/jobs/minecraft.nomad.hcl
similarity index 50%
rename from jobs/lobby.nomad.hcl
rename to jobs/minecraft.nomad.hcl
index 4caf36c..951d803 100644
--- a/jobs/lobby.nomad.hcl
+++ b/jobs/minecraft.nomad.hcl
@@ -1,4 +1,20 @@
-job "lobby" {
+variable "mode" {
+  type = string
+  description = "gamemode to advertise as; e.g. lobby or bedwars"
+}
+
+variable "image" {
+  type = string
+  description = "docker image to use"
+}
+
+variable "plugins" {
+  type = list(string)
+  description = "list of URLs to download to the plugins directory"
+  default = []
+}
+
+job "minecraft" {
   type = "service"
 
   group "lobby" {
@@ -15,10 +31,10 @@ job "lobby" {
     }
 
     service {
-      name = "lobby"
+      name = var.mode
       port = "minecraft"
       address_mode = "alloc"
-      tags = ["minecraft"]
+      tags = ["minecraft", var.mode]
       check {
         type = "tcp"
         interval = "5s"
@@ -26,41 +42,22 @@ job "lobby" {
       }
     }
 
-    ephemeral_disk {
-      size = 5000 # 5 gb
-    }
-
-    task "download-plugins" {
-      driver = "docker"
-
-      lifecycle {
-        hook = "prestart"
-        sidecar = false
-      }
-      
-      config {
-        image = "busybox"
-        command = "sh"
-        volumes = ["../alloc/data:/mnt"]
-        args = [
-          "-xec",
-          <<-EOF
-            mkdir -p /mnt/plugins
-            wget -P /mnt/plugins \
-              https://git.lab0x13.site/api/packages/scrow/generic/core-bukkit/UNVERSIONED/CoreBukkit.jar
-          EOF
-        ]
-      }
-    }
-
     task "run" {
       driver = "docker"
 
+      dynamic "artifact" {
+        for_each = var.plugins
+        content {
+          source      = artifact.value
+          destination = "local/plugins"
+        }
+      }
+
       config {
-        image = "git.lab0x13.site/scrow/papermc:0.2"
+        image = var.image
         force_pull = false
         ports = ["minecraft"]
-        volumes = ["../alloc/data:/mnt"]
+        volumes = ["local:/mnt"]
       }
 
       env {
diff --git a/minigame/lobby.varfile.hcl b/minigame/lobby.varfile.hcl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00aaded
--- /dev/null
+++ b/minigame/lobby.varfile.hcl
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+mode = "lobby"
+image = "git.lab0x13.site/scrow/papermc:0.2"
+plugins = [
+  "https://git.lab0x13.site/api/packages/scrow/generic/core-bukkit/UNVERSIONED/CoreBukkit.jar",
+]
diff --git a/minigame/run b/minigame/run
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c9a0d85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/minigame/run
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+varfile="${1:-}"
+test -n "$varfile" || {
+  printf 'usage: %s VARFILE\n' "$0"
+  exit 1
+}
+
+nomad job run -var-file "$varfile" ../jobs/minecraft.nomad.hcl