Wiring the Narrator

Two folders, two jobs

The Narrator's brain is split into procedures and reference — and the two are never mixed.

GM Instructions/ — executable procedures

Every file is named When X happens and contains one procedure the Narrator runs when its trigger fires:

• When a player attempts something with a real chance of failure → the roll procedure (4dF + approach vs difficulty, invoke window, outcome).
• When an attack succeeds and shifts must be absorbed → stress/consequences bookkeeping.
• When a conflict begins → scene setup, zones, turn order.
• When a character's aspect could complicate the scene → compel offers.
• When a player invokes an aspect / concedes / a scene or session ends → fate-point economy, milestones.

Rules for writing one: one trigger, one procedure, no flavor prose. Name the inputs (what must be true), the steps (roll, compare, apply), and the edge cases the SRD calls out. If a step needs a rule lookup, link the rule file — don't paste it.

Rules/ — reference only

The rule files hold the SRD's wording for when a human (or the Narrator) needs to read the rule rather than run it. Chapter bodies in the Player's Handbook point here with reference links; the GM instructions link here too instead of duplicating text.

The two-edit rule

The arithmetic lives in the file-type schemas (refresh formula, stress boxes, approach ceiling) while the prose lives in the rule files. Changing how the game works is always two edits — the schema and the rule together. Do one without the other and the template lies to someone.

GM-side procedures and scenario content draw on the same SRD: scenario building (bad guy with a goal + a reason the PCs can't ignore), scene running, difficulty setting, NPCs, and milestones live in [Running the Game](@Missing file).