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 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 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.