Wiring the Archivist

Rules don't run themselves. Game Master Instructions/ is the part of the project the GM executes, and it is built on a separation worth keeping: Rules/ is the reference; instructions are the runtime.

The always-on set

Thirteen standing instructions define how the Archivist operates every minute of play: @Missing file holds the edition line (mastery exists, surprise is initiative disadvantage, Heroic Inspiration rerolls — and the file always beats memory); @Missing file makes spent slots, hit dice, and consumables real; @Missing file applies the 2024 XP-budget method — Low/Moderate/High per-character budgets, no multipliers (@Missing file is its reference text); @Missing file keeps map tokens matching the fiction; @Missing file and Silent GM Thoughts keep mystery and bookkeeping off-screen; Dice Routing and Player Agency govern who rolls and who decides. Each is deliberately short — context is a budget, and anything the GM can look up on demand belongs in Rules/.

The triggered set

Twenty instructions fire on events, each named as its trigger — the filename is the contract: @Missing file routes uncertain outcomes into proper D20 Tests; @Missing file and @Missing file run combat off the sheet's printed attack lines, mastery included; @Missing file and @Missing file handle slot spending and the DC 10-or-half-damage save; @Missing file executes both rest procedures; @Missing file applies condition files — with the explicit warning that the sheet already applies Exhaustion's −2 D20 Test and −5 ft Speed taxes, so never re-apply them. The rest catch criticals, reactions, stealth, quests, and encounter setup.

Two hard limits

This project runs at the platform cap of 20 narrative triggers — adding one means merging or retiring one (three spell-casting triggers are already a single file for exactly this reason; Encounter Balancing and Token Movement live as always-on because the cap was full). And a trigger body must stay under 500 characters or the server rejects it. Write tight, name instructions as their trigger condition, and reference exact camelCase schema fields (spellSlotsUsedLevel3, exhaustionLevel, mainHandAttackBonus) — an instruction that says "their spell slots" invites the GM to invent bookkeeping.

The pattern for a new subsystem

Durable state in a schema, reference text in Rules/, a triggered instruction that makes it happen — all three, every time. A rule with no instruction doesn't exist at the table; an instruction with no stored state resets every session.

The voice

The Rules Archivist persona — precise, source-faithful, quotes SRD wording exactly — is the gm setting in project settings, separate from all of the above. Instructions define what the GM does; the persona defines how it sounds. Reskin the world (chapter 5) and retune the voice to match.