diff --git a/Content/Widgets/WB_Console.uasset b/Content/Widgets/WB_Console.uasset
index 9e08ec34..fb6b0e8a 100644
--- a/Content/Widgets/WB_Console.uasset
+++ b/Content/Widgets/WB_Console.uasset
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:13b0fa7e4c14f8a0f2a9d891be892637a7da5ba255196c0a39339f196da1ca57
-size 169046
+oid sha256:01689b32f2395130506cfac6d4399a7cdccd9253918dc6ba168df39af72cc45e
+size 176686
diff --git a/Source/Integration/LuaCall.cpp b/Source/Integration/LuaCall.cpp
index 157f2822..7b1091bb 100644
--- a/Source/Integration/LuaCall.cpp
+++ b/Source/Integration/LuaCall.cpp
@@ -202,37 +202,44 @@ FString UlxLuaCallLibrary::AllFunctionsWithPrefix(const TCHAR *Prefix)
 //
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-void UlxLuaCallLibrary::ValidateLua(
-    ElxLuaSyntaxCheck &Result, FString &ErrorMessage, UObject *context, const FString &Code)
+void UlxLuaCallLibrary::ValidateLuaExpr(
+    ElxLuaSyntaxCheck &Status, FString &ErrorMessage, UObject *context, const FString &Code)
 {
     if (Code.StartsWith(TEXT("/")))
     {
         ErrorMessage = "SlashCommand";
-        Result = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::SlashCommand;
+        Status = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::SlashCommand;
         return;
     }
     if (Code.TrimStart().IsEmpty())
     {
         ErrorMessage = "";
-        Result = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::Whitespace;
+        Status = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::Whitespace;
         return;
     }
     ALuprexGameModeBase *mode = ALuprexGameModeBase::FromContext(context);
-    ErrorMessage = mode->LuaValidate(Code);
+    ErrorMessage = mode->ValidateLuaExpr(Code);
     if (ErrorMessage.IsEmpty())
     {
-        Result = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::ValidLua;
+        Status = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::ValidLua;
     }
     else if (ErrorMessage.Contains(TEXT("<eof>")))
     {
-        Result = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::TruncatedLua;
+        Status = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::TruncatedLua;
     }
     else
     {
-        Result = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::InvalidLua;
+        Status = ElxLuaSyntaxCheck::InvalidLua;
     }
 }
 
+void UlxLuaCallLibrary::InvokeLuaExpr(UObject *context, const FString &Code)
+{
+    ALuprexGameModeBase *mode = ALuprexGameModeBase::FromContext(context);
+    mode->InvokeLuaExpr(Code);
+}
+
+
 void UlxLuaCallLibrary::LuaCallBegin(UObject *context, const FString &cname, const FString &fname)
 {
     ALuprexGameModeBase *mode = ALuprexGameModeBase::FromContext(context);
diff --git a/Source/Integration/LuaCall.h b/Source/Integration/LuaCall.h
index 276d5756..804f773c 100644
--- a/Source/Integration/LuaCall.h
+++ b/Source/Integration/LuaCall.h
@@ -139,8 +139,11 @@ public:
 	// returns an error message.  If the code is error-free, the
 	// error message is the empty string.
 	//
-	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, meta = (WorldContext = "context", ExpandEnumAsExecs="Result"), Category = "Luprex|Call Lua Function")
-	static void ValidateLua(ElxLuaSyntaxCheck &Result, FString &ErrorMessage, UObject *context, const FString &Code);
+	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, meta = (WorldContext = "context"), Category = "Luprex|Call Lua Function")
+	static void ValidateLuaExpr(ElxLuaSyntaxCheck &Status, FString &ErrorMessage, UObject *context, const FString &Code);
+
+	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, meta = (WorldContext = "context"), Category = "Luprex|Call Lua Function")
+	static void InvokeLuaExpr(UObject *context, const FString &Code);
 
 	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, meta = (WorldContext = "context", BlueprintInternalUseOnly = "true"), Category = "Luprex|Call Lua Function")
 	static void LuaCallBegin(UObject *context, const FString &ClassName, const FString &FunctionName);
diff --git a/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.cpp b/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.cpp
index fde43b89..a3be1077 100644
--- a/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.cpp
+++ b/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.cpp
@@ -223,17 +223,26 @@ UlxLuaValues *ALuprexGameModeBase::LuaCallEnd(AccessKind kind, AActor *place) {
 	}
 }
 
-FString ALuprexGameModeBase::LuaValidate(const FString &Code)
+FString ALuprexGameModeBase::ValidateLuaExpr(const FString &Code)
 {
 	FTCHARToUTF8 UCode(*Code);
 	FlxLockedWrapper w(LockableWrapper);
 	uint32_t retpklen;
 	const char *retpk;
-	w->play_access(w.Get(), AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA, 0, UCode.Length(), UCode.Get(), &retpklen, &retpk);
+	w->play_access(w.Get(), AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA_EXPR, 0, UCode.Length(), UCode.Get(), &retpklen, &retpk);
 	FString Result(retpklen, (const UTF8CHAR*)retpk);
 	return Result;
 }
 
+void ALuprexGameModeBase::InvokeLuaExpr(const FString &Code)
+{
+	FTCHARToUTF8 UCode(*Code);
+	FlxLockedWrapper w(LockableWrapper);
+	uint32_t retpklen;
+	const char *retpk;
+	w->play_access(w.Get(), AccessKind::INVOKE_LUA_EXPR, 0, UCode.Length(), UCode.Get(), &retpklen, &retpk);
+}
+
 void ALuprexGameModeBase::OnWorldPreActorTick(UWorld* InWorld, ELevelTick InLevelTick, float deltaseconds)
 {
 	if(Playing && TickEnabled && (GetWorld() == InWorld) && (InLevelTick == LEVELTICK_All))
diff --git a/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.h b/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.h
index 8379549c..bc84a07b 100644
--- a/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.h
+++ b/Source/Integration/LuprexGameModeBase.h
@@ -116,7 +116,11 @@ public:
 	// an otherwise empty lua interpreter, so this is purely
 	// a syntax check.
 	//
-	FString LuaValidate(const FString &Code);
+	FString ValidateLuaExpr(const FString &Code);
+
+	// Invoke some lua code.
+	//
+	void InvokeLuaExpr(const FString &Code);
 
 	// Get the Asset Lookup table.
 	const UlxAssetLookup *GetAssetLookup() const { return AssetLookup; }
diff --git a/luprex/cpp/core/enginewrapper.hpp b/luprex/cpp/core/enginewrapper.hpp
index 97ef68ff..dcbce268 100644
--- a/luprex/cpp/core/enginewrapper.hpp
+++ b/luprex/cpp/core/enginewrapper.hpp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ enum class AccessKind {
     INVOKE_LUA_SOURCE,
     PROBE_LUA_CALL,
     CONNECT_TO_SERVER,
-    VALIDATE_LUA,
+    VALIDATE_LUA_EXPR,
 };
 
 class DrivenEngine;
diff --git a/luprex/cpp/core/lpxclient.cpp b/luprex/cpp/core/lpxclient.cpp
index b2c79265..eb538e40 100644
--- a/luprex/cpp/core/lpxclient.cpp
+++ b/luprex/cpp/core/lpxclient.cpp
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public:
                 set_initial_state_connect(util::ss("nocert:", datapk, ":8085"));
                 break;
             }
-            case AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA: {
+            case AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA_EXPR: {
                 LuaVar closure;
                 LuaExtStack LS(lua_syntax_checker_, closure);
                 eng::string errmsg = LS.load(closure, datapk, "stdin");
diff --git a/luprex/cpp/core/lpxserver.cpp b/luprex/cpp/core/lpxserver.cpp
index 8103c5d9..b5f8f4f1 100644
--- a/luprex/cpp/core/lpxserver.cpp
+++ b/luprex/cpp/core/lpxserver.cpp
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ public:
                 master_->rollback();
                 break;
             }
-            case AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA: {
+            case AccessKind::VALIDATE_LUA_EXPR: {
                 LuaVar closure;
                 LuaExtStack LS(lua_syntax_checker_, closure);
                 eng::string errmsg = LS.load(closure, datapk, "stdin");
diff --git a/luprex/cpp/core/luastack.cpp b/luprex/cpp/core/luastack.cpp
index 75c4d9bf..fc8b7331 100644
--- a/luprex/cpp/core/luastack.cpp
+++ b/luprex/cpp/core/luastack.cpp
@@ -325,6 +325,14 @@ bool LuaCoreStack::next(LuaSlot tab, LuaSlot key, LuaSlot value) const {
 
 eng::string LuaCoreStack::load(LuaSlot result, std::string_view code, std::string_view context)
 {
+    // We interpret "=x" as syntactic sugar for "return x"
+    eng::string expanded;
+    if (sv::has_prefix(code, "="))
+    {
+        expanded = eng::string("return ") + eng::string(code.substr(1));
+        code = expanded;
+    }
+
     eng::string fullcontext = eng::string("=") + eng::string(context);
     luaL_loadbuffer(L_, code.data(), code.size(), fullcontext.c_str());
     int type = lua_type(L_, -1);
diff --git a/luprex/cpp/core/world-core.cpp b/luprex/cpp/core/world-core.cpp
index ac6e106e..eb2c0d5b 100644
--- a/luprex/cpp/core/world-core.cpp
+++ b/luprex/cpp/core/world-core.cpp
@@ -874,9 +874,8 @@ void World::invoke_lua_expr(int64_t actor_id, int64_t place_id, std::string_view
         LuaExtStack LS(L, func);
 
         // create the compiled closure.
-        int status = luaL_loadbuffer(L, datapack.data(), datapack.size(), "=invoke");
-        lua_replace(L, func.index());
-        if (status != LUA_OK) {
+        eng::string error = LS.load(func, datapack,  "=invoke");
+        if (!error.empty()) {
             // The closure is actually an error message. Do nothing.
             // This should normally not happen: LuaConsole should filter
             // out syntax errors.