Wiring the Chronicler

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

A dozen standing instructions define how the Chronicler operates every minute of play: @Missing file holds the edition line; @Missing file makes spent slots, hit dice, and consumables real; @Missing file applies the 2014 XP-threshold budget (with @Missing file as 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 checks; @Missing file and @Missing file run combat turns off the sheet's printed attack lines; @Missing file and @Missing file handle slot spending and the DC 10-or-half-damage save; @Missing file executes the two rest procedures; @Missing file applies condition files — with the explicit warning not to re-apply what the sheet already computes. 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 a new one means merging or retiring an old one (that is why three spell-casting triggers are already one file). And a trigger's body must stay under 500 characters — over it, the server rejects the save with an unhelpful error. Write tight, name instructions as their trigger condition, and reference exact camelCase schema fields such as resourceState, exhaustionLevel, and 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 madness mechanic is a counter on the character, a page in the Gameplay Toolbox, and a clause in the condition or rest triggers that moves it. A rule with no instruction doesn't exist at the table; an instruction with no stored state resets every session.

The voice

The Chronicler's personality — measured, warmly theatrical, omens with a knowing smile — 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.