Setting Rules

Purpose and ownership

Keep causal constraints coherent across fiction and applicable play.

What is possible, impossible and costly; technology or supernatural effects; travel, communication, ecology and resource limits; repeatable institutional patterns and exception policy.

Questions

What causes what? Who can trigger it? What does it cost? Why did earlier conflicts not use this solution?

Inputs and outputs

Inputs: World Foundation, Creative Direction, factual research and applicable system needs.

Outputs: Condition → effect → limit/cost rules with scope and exception criteria.

Prerequisites

World Foundation; reconcile relevant playable abilities with Game Design.

Stability and evolution

Keep stable: Limits and causes that consequences or audience expectations rely on.

Can evolve: New applications inside existing limits; exceptions require explicit review.

Reusable rules

State actionable conditions and costs instead of vague adjectives. Apply constraints consistently to actors unless a difference is justified. Review implications when a new power solves an existing problem.

Acceptance test

Can an author assess a proposed event’s possibility and cost without naming one character?