Files

Phillip Tarrant 2b54dad1fa feat(content): give the specimen a never-gated core secret

The purge left `gate: never` — the rung no disposition unlocks — demonstrated
nowhere. Duncarrow's Crell chain had taught it; specimen.md only taught `warm`.

Adds secret.specimen-drowned-clerk (secrecy 4, gate: never), so the specimen
now shows an ascending 2 -> 4 chain and a reason `never` exists: the NPC holds
it, but saying it aloud would hang him. Mirrored in the skill's worked example,
which now states the rule — if any rung *should* buy the secret, gate it at
`trusted` instead.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-07-12 16:05:04 -05:00

fallback

first commit

2026-07-09 11:17:54 -05:00

lore

feat(content): give the specimen a never-gated core secret

2026-07-12 16:05:04 -05:00

origins

feat(content): POC deserter origin + world fixtures with id-resolution check

2026-07-09 12:37:29 -05:00

world

feat(content): reparent disposition-ladder to mechanics.md; purge Duncarrow

2026-07-12 15:30:59 -05:00

README.md

docs: canon log schema + origin seed design

2026-07-09 12:03:37 -05:00

README.md

/content — authored game data

Cross-cutting authored writing, split by role in the data model (see the canon log spec in /docs):

/world     Static, ID-referenced game content. Identical every playthrough.
  /locations   The map — towns, dungeons, points of interest (by id)
  /npcs        Per-NPC persona + knowledge lists (charter §6)
  /quests      Story skeletons and quest definitions (charter §17)
  /items       Item definitions — gear, consumables, cursed items (§7)
/origins   Thin starting-state seeds. One per starting point. POC authors one.
/fallback  Authored degraded-DM text for every AI surface (charter §13)

The three layers

world/ is static content the origin and the canon log reference by stable string id. Authored once; the same for every play.
origins/ are thin seeds — where the player starts, the situation, and disposition/quest/item/build seeds. Values, not maps. Increase replayability without multiplying authoring work.
fallback/ is not world content — it is degraded-DM prose (§13), consumed when the API is down. It sits outside world/ on purpose: nothing resolves an id against it.

At new-game, code constructs the runtime canon log from a chosen origin + world content + character creation. See /docs/canon-log.md (spec) — authored via the design under /docs/superpowers/specs.

Authoring notes

NPC knowledge lists are the whole design (§6). The only thing stopping the blacksmith from revealing the twist. Real authoring work — budget for it.
Fallback text is content, not error handling (§13). Every AI-dependent surface needs one before it ships.
Story skeletons are authored for now. AI-generated skeletons are v2 (§17).