Running the session
Only the Incident Master reads this page before the session.
This chapter is the round loop: what you do, in order, every round. The other chapters cover the other side’s script, the vote and the cut, both-chairs mode and the clock.
Quick reference
The round loop DEFAULT
- Reveal the clue tier and any event.
- The table discusses.
- The best-fitting role acts. Each player has 2 actions. The Company acts first; then you play the other side’s move.
- You pick at most 3 rolls, the highest-stakes. Free actions never roll, and neither does Pull-log.
- For each roll: you call it and state the target aloud, then the acting player throws and reads the die aloud. You throw for the side you play.
- Apply the tracks. Move the tier if the rules say so.
- Announce the new tier. Never name a Comrades move as the cause.
Each stage is 2 rounds. There are 3 stages: Interview, Onboarding, First Month.
The round loop
1. Reveal the tier and any event
At the top of the round, say the current clue tier aloud: noisy, partial or clean. The tier is shown to the Company, with no hidden number. Then read the event, if the case file has one for this round. Keep it to one or two sentences.
2. The table discusses
Give the table a minute or two. Your role is to listen and to keep the room on the cards. Useful prompts are in the question banks.
- “Which fact on the hire cards bothers you most, and is it process, money or looks?”
- “Which role is best placed to act on that?”
3. The best-fitting role acts
Each player has 2 actions. A player acts through their role’s verbs. DEFAULT A role has three verbs. Ask, Look and Hold are free actions for anyone, and free actions never roll and cost no action. Ask is a question to you about the rules or about what the cards already show, or to a teammate. Look is reading what is already on the cards or the file. Hold is keeping an action unspent. Every role verb costs one action and rolls at the tier’s target when you call a roll, unless the move is free or “no doubt, no roll”. Pull-log never rolls: it always spends the action and one lookup, raises the tier one step (capped at clean) and reveals one fact. Question a hire also costs one lookup and never rolls. Probe-interview costs an action and no lookup (see “Probe-interview and Question a hire” below). Calling stop-the-line is not an action and not a roll, and it does not count toward the 3 rolls.
If a player’s action is not on their role card, ask which of the three verbs it is closest to. If it fits none, ask which role would own it and let that role do it. If there are fewer players than roles, any player may borrow another role’s verb for one action.
What a success does: verb classes
DEFAULT Before each roll, say whether a success would score, close or inform.
- Scoring verbs: Use-key, Relay, Forge-doc, Route-wage, Swap-payee, Cash-out.
- Closing verbs: Isolate, Hold-payment, Scope and Review. Scope and Review close only a control the case card lists; otherwise they inform.
- Every other verb informs or sets up. It never scores and never closes.
A closing success at the floor of 0 changes nothing, and costs no Exposure.
An inform success reveals one unrevealed fact of the record type the verb checks, which you choose from the case card. A failed inform action reveals nothing and moves no track. A money check before stage 2 returns “Not on file until stage 2.” The action is still spent.
After any scoring success, ask the table: “Which control would have stopped that?” Take the answer for the debrief only. The Payoff change is not withdrawn. DEFAULT The named-control rule gates the Company’s accusation and cut (see chapter 04), not the Comrades’ success.
4. Pick the rolls
DEFAULT A table makes at most 3 d20 rolls per round, and you choose the highest-stakes. A move that is not among the top picks resolves by the “no doubt, no roll” test below, or it waits for the next round. A cover roll thrown by a table playing the Comrades counts as one of the three. When you play the cell in Company-only play, you throw the cover roll and it counts toward nothing. Your own-side moves when you play the other side do not count toward the three either. Pull-log never rolls and so never counts. Calling stop-the-line does not count. At 6 players the table nominates up to 3 rolled actions together before you call, with one swap if your event changes the situation.
5. State the target, then roll
Say it aloud before every roll: “Standard, 12 or higher.” The acting player throws the d20 and reads it aloud. You throw for the side you play. In a round the Company acts first, then you play the other side’s move. A roll at or above the target succeeds.
6. Apply the tracks
RULED Two shared tracks, both visible to both sides, both starting at 0 and running to 9. DEFAULT The sizes are playtest parameters. Payoff is capped at 8 until the round ends. Payoff 9 ends the case only if the operator is not cut by the end of that round.
Payoff is one running total, shown as at most 8 until the round ends. A closing success lowers the total, and a Payoff total of 9 ends the case only if the operator is not cut by the end of that round. A cut freezes Payoff at its value at the moment of the cut.
| Event | Payoff | Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Comrades scoring success | +1 | no change |
| Company success (a closed control, a held payment) | -1, never below 0 | no change |
| Second and later closing success in a stage that lowers Payoff | -1 | +1 |
| Stop-the-line (paid at the call, even with no accusation) | -1 | +1 |
| Wrongful offboarding | no change | +2 |
| End of a stage: a Comrades scoring move stood in it and the Company closed no control in it (not applied at a stage that ended with a cut) | no change | +1 |
| A failed roll | no change | no change |
Exposure sources
DEFAULT Exposure has four sources: stop-the-line, wrongful offboarding, stage passivity and extra closing. At the end of each stage check passivity: did a Comrades scoring move stand in this stage, and did the Company close no control in it? If both, Exposure +1. A stage that ended with a cut skips this check. During the stage, the first closing success costs no Exposure. Each later closing success in the same stage costs Exposure +1 only if it actually lowers Payoff; a closing success at Payoff 0 costs none. Say each one aloud when it applies.
Update the tracks where all can see. At 6 or more players, give the tracks, the lookup ticks and the finger counts to the Scribe (both-chairs: you keep the shared tracks, see chapter 05). You keep the hop log and the tier log yourself. With no Scribe seated, you count the fingers too.
7. Announce the tier, not a Comrades cause
If the tier moved, say the new tier. Nothing else. See “Clue tiers” below.
The d20
The three bands
DEFAULT You always state the target first.
| Band | Target | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 8 |
The move is routine |
| Standard | 12 |
The move is normal |
| Hard | 16 |
Two live controls could stop it |
DEFAULT For a Comrades roll you set the band from that column, and the case card gives the band for the moves you play. The clue tier sets the Company’s target: noisy is Hard, partial is Standard, clean is Easy. If you cannot decide in a few seconds, take Standard, say it, and move on.
The cover roll
RULED There is one cover roll per stage, held by a different role each stage, chosen by the cell. DEFAULT It is a fixed 12, and the number does not change with the clue tier.
The cover holder throws the cover roll, and the Comrades table announces it before the scoring move’s own d20. On 12 or higher, that move cannot raise the tier, whether the move succeeds or fails. Below 12 the move has no cover and its own d20 follows the normal tier rule. A failed cover roll adds no rise of its own. A cover roll thrown by a table playing the Comrades counts as one of that table’s 3 rolls that round. In Company-only play you throw it and it counts toward nothing.
Who holds it. The cell picks any seated role that has not held cover yet. With fewer than 3 roles seated, a role may hold it again only when no other is available. At each stage transition, ask the cell which role holds the cover roll next. When you play the cell, take the holder from the case card. In Company-only play the case card marks one scripted Comrades move per stage as covered, and its cover roll is 12; a covered scripted move never raises the tier, and the tier rises on the other scripted moves as usual.
No doubt, no roll
DEFAULT A move that is clearly plausible needs no roll. When a player describes an action that is specific, in role and in line with how the control works, say “No doubt, no roll” and apply the effect. Examples:
- A SecOps player who names the exact log source and the time window they want to pull. (The lookup still costs one.)
- A Finance & Legal player who says they will put a hold on a payee that changed last week.
Do not use “no doubt” when it would be the deciding moment of a stage. If the outcome would swing a track or move the tier, roll. Free actions never roll.
Quick decision tree
- Is it a free action (Ask, Look, Hold)? Resolve it. No roll.
- Is it clearly plausible and not decisive? “No doubt, no roll.”
- Is it one of the highest-stakes moves this round, within the cap? State the target, roll.
- Otherwise: tell the table it waits for the next round.
When the table is stuck on the target: set it yourself, say it aloud, move on.
Clue tiers
RULED The tier is shared: noisy, partial, clean. It is shown to the Company, with no hidden number. DEFAULT The numbers are playtest parameters.
- Starts at noisy at the start of stage 1, and carries across stages.
- Rises one step when a scoring Comrades move succeeds without cover, or when a Comrades d20 fails.
- Rises one step when the Company spends a costed lookup. It is capped at clean.
- Resets to noisy only on a wrongful offboarding (see chapter 04).
Round 1 starts at noisy, which makes the taught round the easiest information level for the Comrades.
Announce only the new tier
RULED You announce the new tier. You never name the cause of a rise that came from a Comrades move; those causes are read out in the debrief. A rise caused by a lookup is the Company’s own act and is not hidden.
“The tier is now partial.”
Not: “The tier rose because that move succeeded without cover.” If a player asks why a Comrades move moved it, answer: “That comes out in the debrief.” If the rise came from a lookup, you may say so. Write each tier change and its cause in the tier log, with the round number. You write it, not the Scribe. That log is the content of the four minute reveal.
Lookups
DEFAULT There are 3 lookups per stage, shared across the Company. One lookup costs one action. Pull-log and Question a hire each cost one lookup. A phone search is not free: it also costs a lookup.
Tick a lookup box each time. Say the remaining count aloud after each lookup. At the start of the next stage the budget refills.
Every costed lookup raises the clue tier one step, capped at clean, and a lookup that reveals a fact on a hire’s card makes that fact a clue. A clue is a fact on a hire’s card that has been revealed by a lookup, a closed check or a tier step. Pull-log never rolls: it always spends the lookup, so a Pull-log at clean still spends one and reveals one more fact.
A lookup at clean. The tier stays at clean, and the lookup reveals one more unrevealed fact. The lookup is still spent.
Probe-interview and Question a hire
DEFAULT These two look alike and are not. Say which one the player is using before anything else.
| Probe-interview (HR) | Question a hire | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | One action, no lookup | One action and one lookup |
| Rolls | Yes, the target comes from the tier | Never |
| You give | One inconsistency from the card, or “none” | An in-persona answer from the card |
| Limit | Counts toward the 3 rolls per round | One question per round per hire |
| Raises the tier | Only by the normal rules | Yes, as any costed lookup |
For Probe-interview, state the target by tier, let the player throw, and on a success state one inconsistency on the hire’s card, or say there is none. Do not improvise one. A stated inconsistency is a revealed fact of its record type: it counts for the cut gate and for the clue-leader count.
“The file does not say”
If a Question a hire asks for something the card does not cover, answer: “The file does not say.” It still costs the lookup and the action. The same line answers a meeting question that has no card line, and that question still counts toward the 3. Never invent a fact to fill the gap.
Questioning a hire in persona
RULED The Company may question a hire. DEFAULT It is one question per round per hire, and you answer in persona. The question costs one lookup.
How to answer:
- Answer from the hire card in a plain voice. No accent, no stereotype, no invented personal detail.
- A decoy answers openly and gives the harmless reason from your notes, for example “I changed banks last week because my old one closed my account.” Each decoy has two weak oddities, one process and one money; give the reason for the one asked about.
- The persona answers as the persona would: calmly, with the cover story for each anomaly written on the case card in advance, so you never invent a new anomaly. If a question has no prepared answer, say “The file does not say.” It still costs the lookup.
- If a question is about looks, appearance, accent or nationality, do not answer it. Say: “Tells are process and money. Ask about something on the card.” Ask the table to try again, and do not charge the lookup.
Pause for one second before you answer. A short pause makes the answer feel earned and gives the other roles time to notice. Skipping it never breaks a session.
Participation and fairness
- Ask the quiet role: “Which of your verbs would you use?”
- Cap the dominant voice: “One action each before anyone takes a second.”
- Keep the rolls even across the tables and the roles. If one player has had every roll, offer the next to a different role.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Rolling before stating the target | Stop. Say the target. Throw again. |
| Naming a Comrades move as the cause of a tier rise | Say only the new tier. |
| Letting the table choose the band for a Comrades roll | You choose. Say it aloud. |
| Making the d20 decisive for every move | Use “no doubt, no roll” for the plausible, non-decisive ones. |
| Answering a Question a hire with an invented fact | Say “The file does not say.” The lookup is still spent. |
| Counting a stop-the-line call as a roll | It is not a roll and not toward the three. |
| Answering a question about looks | Redirect to process or money. |
What next
Read Playing the other side before your first one-chair session, or Stop-the-line and the cut if you will not play a side.