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Both-chairs mode

Running Comrades & Chollimas with two tables and one Incident Master: alternating visits, effects at end of round, sealed bench cards, cell votes and deflection, and idle-table handling.
ImportantIM only

Only the Incident Master reads this page before the session.

RULED In both-chairs mode the Comrades’ table and the Company’s table play at once, with one IM and one debrief. You are the only link between them. This chapter covers how to run that without losing either table’s time or either table’s secrets.

You are not playing a side in this mode. Both sides have players, so you referee, hold the secrets and keep the tracks.

Quick reference

Both chairs DEFAULT

  1. Two tables, out of earshot. One IM walks between them.
  2. Each round, visit each table. The table visited first alternates each round.
  3. Each table makes at most 3 rolls per round. You choose them and call each one; the acting player throws.
  4. Effects resolve at the end of the round, for both tables together.
  5. Each table has its own sealed bench card, handed over at the first stage transition.
  6. The tier is shown to every table.
  7. When the Company calls, the cell’s fingers join the same tally and the cell may deflect at an innocent hire. When the Comrades table calls, the Company table’s fingers join one combined tally and you do not point.
  8. Run 2 rounds per stage. At minute 40, if the stage in progress is not finished, drop its round 2 if it has not been played.

Setup

Follow Preparing the session, with these additions.

  • Two tables, far enough apart that neither can hear the other. Put the Company table where it can see the tracks and the tier. Put the cell where it can see the tracks.
  • The persona pick. DEFAULT The cell picks which hire card is theirs and chooses two tells from the list, in secret from the Company table, in 5 minutes. The cell hands you the slip. The Company table does not see it. You seal it and keep it until the debrief.
  • Two sets of cards. Each table has its own copy of the 3 hire cards. Only the cell’s copy has any marks, and those marks are theirs.
  • Two sealed bench cards. RULED Each table has its own sealed card. Label each envelope on the outside so you cannot swap them.
  • Tracks. Payoff and Exposure are visible to both sides. They are shared: both tables move the same two tracks. Keep one tracks sheet that you carry, or one board both tables can see. The tier is shown to every table. You keep the shared tracks on a board both tables can see.
  • The Scribe. With 6 or more players at a table, that table’s extra player is its Scribe and keeps only the lookup ticks and the finger counts for that table. You write the hop log and the tier log, and you keep the shared tracks on the board.

The round in both-chairs mode

DEFAULT Both tables act at once. You visit each table every round, in alternating order, and effects resolve at the end of the round.

The round, step by step

  1. Brief both tables together (a few seconds): announce the round number.
  2. Visit table A. State the tier and any event. The table discusses and its roles act. Choose its highest-stakes rolls (at most 3), state each target aloud, and let the acting player throw and read the die aloud. Do not apply the tracks yet. Write down each result.
  3. Visit table B. Do the same.
  4. End of round. Apply all the effects of both tables together to the shared tracks. Move the tier if the rules say so. Announce the new tier to both tables. Never name the cause of a rise that came from a Comrades move.
  5. Alternate. Next round, visit the other table first.

Why alternate: the table you visit last waits longest. Switching the order shares that wait.

Why effects wait until the end

Applying effects as you go lets the first table’s result change the second table’s rolls. Holding them to the end keeps the two tables acting on the same information and keeps the round fair. The Company’s targets use the tier as it stood at the start of the round.

The rolls

Each table makes at most 3 d20 rolls per round, so up to twice that many are thrown per round overall. Stop-the-line is not a roll and does not count. The number is a playtest parameter: if a visit runs past three minutes, drop to fewer rolls and note it. See Session management.

The Company’s target comes from the tier: noisy Hard (16), partial Standard (12), clean Easy (8). The cell’s target is the band you set and say aloud: Easy is routine, Standard is normal, Hard is two live controls that could stop it. The cell picks a seated role that has not held cover, and that cover holder throws the cover roll and announces it before the scoring move’s d20. Below 12 the move has no cover. Here the cell is a table, so the cover roll counts as one of the cell’s 3 rolls. At a table the acting player throws. Pull-log never rolls.

Visit length

DEFAULT Visits are alternating and short. If a table waits more than 4 minutes for you, switch to strict alternation with prepared cards: the same order every round, and each table has a prepared card that lists its roles’ verbs and the free actions so it can plan while you are away.

When one table is idle

DEFAULT The idle table keeps playing free actions (Ask, Look, Hold) and writes its next action on a slip. It makes no rolls and moves no track while you are away.

  • Plan on paper. The table agrees each player’s 2 actions and writes them on a slip, in role and verb order. When you arrive you read the slip, choose the highest-stakes rolls and move.
  • Free actions during the wait. Ask, Look and Hold never roll, so a table may take them while it waits. Anything that costs a lookup or a roll waits for you.
  • No rolls, no tracks, no tier changes while you are away. Only you move the tracks.

Sealed bench cards

RULED In both-chairs mode each table has its own sealed card. DEFAULT The card is a printed analysis card, no timer. It grades the file, not the flag: what a file does, never who sent it.

DEFAULT The cell’s card is a tradecraft analysis card. Hand over both cards at the first stage transition, and let each table read its own once. Do not let a table see the other’s.

Stop-the-line in both-chairs mode

RULED Any player on either side may call it, once per stage per table. Both tables may call it, so up to two calls can fall in one stage. The cost is paid at each call, and a call is spent even when no accusation follows.

The vote

DEFAULT On three, everyone points at one hire, or folds arms to abstain. In this mode the cell also votes and may deflect at an innocent hire.

When the Company calls, the cell’s fingers join the same tally as the Company’s. When the Comrades table calls, the Company table’s fingers join one combined tally with the Comrades’ and you do not point. Either way, count every finger once, in one tally, and read it aloud. The cell is allowed to point at a decoy, and that is deflection: it pulls the line toward an innocent hire. Say it plainly: “The cell may point at an innocent hire.”

Run the vote in the Company’s room, with the cell’s players brought over and pointing too. Bring the cell over before the count and take them back after.

The meeting

You question the cell in persona with 3 yes or no questions. The cell answers, argues and deflects. The Company table listens. Questions come from the suspect hire’s process and money facts. See chapter 04.

The cut

The Company names one control or shows the human cost, the cut gate is met (2 revealed clues of different record types, money clues from stage 2), and Finance & Legal uses Approve-cut. RULED Video alone gives only the meeting. The effects are the same as in one-chair play.

Two calls in one round

DEFAULT When both tables call in the same round, the table you visited first resolves first. A first call ends the stage only through a wrongful offboarding or by cutting the operator. A second call in that round is void and unpaid if the first call ended the stage. If the first call did not end the stage, the second is valid, paid and resolved after the first.

Debrief

Bring both tables together for one debrief. DEFAULT The reveal takes 4 minutes: unseal the persona, read the hop log, say what moved each clue tier. The cell speaks to its own tells and hops. The Company speaks to what it saw. See the debrief protocol.

Common mistakes

Mistake Fix
Tables can hear each other Move them apart or lower voices.
Applying effects as you go Hold them to the end of the round.
Always visiting the same table first Alternate each round.
Hiding the tier from the cell The tier is shown to every table.
Swapping bench envelopes Label each on the outside before the session.

What next

Read Session management.