Playing the other side
Only the Incident Master reads this page before the session.
RULED In one-chair play you are the other side. DEFAULT The case card carries three numbered moves per stage for that side, and names the control each move needs. Round 1 plays move 1 and round 2 plays move 2. A blocked move is replaced once by move 3. There are no judgment calls. This chapter shows how.
The design reason: you are also the referee. If you could improvise the other side, the table would not trust the referee. A script removes the conflict.
Quick reference
Playing the other side DEFAULT
- Each stage, take the three numbered moves from the case card for your side.
- Round 1 plays move 1. Round 2 plays move 2.
- Before each move, check: is the control it needs already closed? If yes, the move is blocked: replace it once with move 3. If move 3 is blocked too, it lapses and you take no rolled action that round.
- The Company acts first each round, then you play the other side’s move. Set the d20 target (the band is on the case card), say it, throw for the side you play, apply the tracks. Your own-side rolls do not count toward the table’s three.
- Do not add moves. Unused moves lapse.
- When you play the Company: call stop-the-line once per stage when the tier reaches clean, and accuse the hire carrying the most clues. Tied clue leaders: no call that round. After 2 silent rounds in a stage with a tie, shuffle and draw. The cut gate still applies.
- When you play the cell: one scripted move per stage is covered (cover roll 12), and the holder per stage is on the case card.
Two cases
| You play | The table is | Your script holds |
|---|---|---|
| The operator cell | The Company’s chair | The cell’s moves for Interview, Onboarding and First Month |
| The Company | The Comrades’ chair | The Company’s moves for the same stages |
In both cases you read the same way. The 3 stages are Interview, Onboarding and First Month. Each stage has 2 rounds, and the script has three numbered moves for the stage.
Reading a stage
At the start of a stage, read its three numbered moves silently. Each move names a verb, the hire or the asset it acts on, and the fact it needs (a ship-to address, a payee, a remote tool). The moves are written in the order the other side would try them.
Pace. DEFAULT Round 1 plays move 1 and round 2 plays move 2. Move 3 is the reserve: it replaces a blocked move, once. Unused moves lapse; they do not roll over to the next stage.
Skipping a blocked move
DEFAULT A move is blocked when the control it needs is already closed. The case card names that control for every move, so you check the card and nothing else.
- Read the control the move names. (For example “Swap-payee needs the payee open to change.”)
- Ask: is that control already closed? A held payment, an isolated device, a verified ID check, a confirmed payee.
- If yes, the move is blocked: do not play it, say nothing, and play move 3 in its place. A blocked move is replaced once.
- If the control is not closed, play the move and let the roll decide.
- A blocked move 3 lapses. If move 3 is blocked as well, play nothing: you take no rolled action that round.
What you say
Do not announce a skipped move. The table cannot see the script, so it never knows. If the table asks “is that all they have?”, answer: “That is what they tried this round.” That keeps the secret and costs nothing.
Playing the operator cell (the Company is at the table)
You hold the sealed persona. The cell’s three moves per stage act on the hires.
- Stay in the script. Do not steer the table toward the sealed hire and do not defend it. A cell player would; you must not.
- Throw and report. State the target, throw the d20 for the cell, and say what the Company sees. Do not say who it came from.
- The covered move. DEFAULT The case card marks one scripted Comrades move per stage as covered (1 per stage). Its cover roll is 12, thrown by you for the holder the card names for that stage; it counts toward nothing. At 12 or higher that move cannot raise the tier. Below it the move has no cover and its own d20 follows the normal rule. A covered scripted move never raises the tier. The tier rises on the other scripted moves as usual.
- Keep the hop log and the tier log. DEFAULT A Ground Crew Hop moves a device or an address, never an identity. You write each hop on the run sheet as it happens (device, address, round), and you write each tier change with its cause. You read both in the debrief reveal. The Scribe does not keep them.
- Questioned hires. Answer in persona as described in chapter 02. One question per round per hire, from the card.
- Clue tier. The tier rises when a scoring Comrades move succeeds without cover or a Comrades d20 fails. You still note the cause in private and announce only the new tier.
Target numbers for the cell’s rolls
You set the band for a Comrades roll. Take it from the case card, which gives the band for each scripted move. If a move has none, set it yourself with the rule: Easy is routine, Standard is normal, Hard is two live controls that could stop it. Say it aloud and move on. Do not pick a band to make the Company win or lose.
Playing the Company (the Comrades are at the table)
The cell chooses its hire and its two tells in secret and gives you a slip. You then know the persona. That is the risk of this mode, and the script is the control.
- Play only the script. The Company’s moves come from the card. The order does not depend on what you know.
- The clue tier sets your target. DEFAULT Noisy is Hard (16), partial is Standard (12) and clean is Easy (8). Say the band and the number.
- A Company success (a closed control, a held payment) lowers Payoff by 1, never below 0.
- Spend lookups from the same budget. 3 per stage, shared. A costed lookup raises the tier one step, capped at clean. The Company script says when it spends them.
The Company’s stop-the-line
DEFAULT When you play the Company against a Comrades table, you call the Company’s stop-the-line once per stage, when the tier reaches clean, and you accuse the hire carrying the most clues.
Step by step:
- At the start of a round (or at the moment the tier reaches clean), check the tier. If it is not clean, you do not call.
- If it is clean and you have not yet called this stage, count the clues each hire carries. A clue is a fact on a hire’s card that has been revealed by a lookup, a closed check, a tier step or a Probe-interview inconsistency.
- If one hire carries the most clues, say: “Stop the line,” and accuse that hire. The cost applies to both tracks at the call: Payoff -1 and Exposure +1. The call is spent even if no accusation follows. Calling is not a roll and does not count toward the table’s rolls.
- If two or more hires tie for most clues, you do not call that round. Check again in the next round.
- Run the meeting and the cut as written in chapter 04. The cut gate applies.
The silent-round draw
DEFAULT If two or more hires tie for most clues and you have made no call for 2 rounds in the stage, shuffle the tied hire cards face down and draw one. Accuse that hire, and say “Stop the line” as in step 3. The draw replaces the clue count for that one call only. The cut gate still applies, so a drawn hire without two clues of two record types is not cut. A call that ends with no accusation still uses the stage’s call.
Because the Company is you, the accusation does not come from a table vote. The cell cannot vote it down. It argues and deflects in the meeting. See chapter 04.
When a Comrades player calls
A Comrades player may also call stop-the-line, once per stage, and it costs both tracks like any call. Then the Comrades table alone votes, and you do not point. When the vote picks a hire, the IM-Company cuts only if the picked hire is the clue leader. If the picked hire is not the clue leader, the call is spent and no cut happens. A tie for clue leader counts as no clue leader: the call picks a hire and no cut follows. In both-chairs mode the Company table’s fingers join one combined tally with the Comrades’ fingers and you do not point.
“Stop the line. The Company is accusing hire [number]. That costs both tracks. The cell will answer 3 yes or no questions.”
Naming the control when you play the Company
RULED A cut needs a named control or a shown human cost. DEFAULT The case card names, for each clue, the control that would have stopped the matching Comrades move. When you play the Company, take the control from the clues the accused hire carries and cite it aloud when you cut.
If the accused hire is a decoy and its 2 oddities are both revealed (one process, one money), the cut gate is met, the card still lists the control, and the cut proceeds as a wrongful offboarding. That is the learning for the Comrades table: they see how a plausible process goes wrong. Do not soften it. If the gate is not met, the IM-Company does not cut and the call is spent.
What you do not do
- You do not add a move because the table is quiet.
- You do not skip a move because the table is struggling.
- You do not answer “who is it?” with a hint.
- You do not apologise for the script. It is the rule.
When the script and the room disagree
If a move makes no sense in the room (the table did something the script did not expect), skip it as blocked and move on. If the whole stage no longer matches the script, say: “I will keep to the card,” and keep to the card. Note it. A script that fails in play is a playtest finding, not a reason to improvise.