Playing Openly

StoryRig works best when the table treats prepared content as a situation, not a script.

A location can have dangers, opportunities, NPC motives, and hidden truths. A Threat can have an agenda and a clock. None of those things require a particular scene order or solution. The GM presents what is true and lets player action determine which parts become important.

You can ask direct questions about what your character can perceive or reasonably know. The GM should answer obvious information without demanding a roll. When uncertainty itself matters, Read the Situation may become relevant.

You can refuse hooks, leave a problem unfinished, choose a quieter objective, or solve the visible problem without discovering every secret. The world may continue moving because of those choices, but the GM should not manufacture punishment solely to force you back onto prepared material.

Social rolls follow the same principle. Influence Under Pressure is useful when someone has a reason to resist; it does not turn NPCs into vending machines or let the GM decide the player's consent. Relationships become interesting because characters have motives and boundaries that survive the roll.

When a rule, Move, item, Condition, or Threat has a specific canonical definition, that definition outranks whatever its name merely sounds like it should do. If the table is unsure about the boundary, look up the owning record instead of expanding it by guesswork.