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Opening Script

Word for word opening for the Incident Master: under three minutes, no background lecture, chair sheets after, round 1 played as a taught round.
ImportantIM only

Only the Incident Master reads this page before the session.

Setup is 10 minutes in total. The spoken script below takes under 3 minutes at an ordinary pace. DEFAULT Time yourself once before the session. There is no background lecture on purpose: players learn the threat by playing the case. Do not name any country or group.

Before you speak

The script

Read the plain text aloud. Square brackets are choices or fill-ins for you. Pick one branch.

Welcome

Welcome. I’m [name], your Incident Master. I run the dice, the clock and the other side of the table. I’m not your opponent, and nobody at this table is secretly working against you. Learning matters more than winning here.

Safety

One rule before we start. If anything in this game is uncomfortable, tap the X card or say “X”. We skip it, no questions asked. Anyone can do that at any time, me included.

The brief

Here is the case. [Read the brief from the case file: the company, the open role, the Monday start.] Three people start on Monday. One of them is an operator’s persona. [Company-only play: I have sealed which one.] [Comrades’ chair: your cell has picked.] An odd detail is not proof. Checking is.

Chairs and roles

There are two chairs. The Comrades’ chair is the operator cell: Persona, Ground Crew, Tooling and Money. The Company’s chair is HR, Engineering, SecOps, and Finance and Legal.

[Company-only play: you are the Company’s chair. I play the cell.] [Comrades’ chair: you are the cell. I play the Company.] [Both chairs: two tables, one IM, one debrief. I visit each table every round.]

Tell me the role you want. Pick the one closest to your real job or the one furthest from it, both work. Your chair sheets come after this, with your verbs on them.

The d20

I call every roll. Before any roll I say the target out loud, and you need that number or higher on a d20. Easy is 8, Standard is 12, Hard is 16. If a move is clearly plausible, no doubt, no roll.

The two tracks

Two tracks, 0 to 9, both visible to everyone. Payoff is how far the cell has got toward its mission: wages, data or IP, or keys the hire can reach. Exposure is the harm the Company causes itself or lets slip.

Stop-the-line

Any player, on either side, can stop the line, 1 call per stage per table. On three, everyone points at one hire, or folds their arms to abstain. It costs both tracks, paid at the call. To cut anyone, the Company names a control that would have stopped them, or shows the human cost, and it needs two different kinds of clue on that hire, process and money. How someone looks proves nothing. Judge the process, not the person.

Hand over

Chair sheets now. Read your verbs, ask me anything, then we play round one together, and I’ll name every step as we go.

After the script

  1. Hand out the chair sheets and the bench card. Let players read.
  2. Comrades’ chair or both chairs: the cell picks its hire card and two tells from the list, in secret from any Company table, in 5 minutes. DEFAULT
  3. Fewer players than roles: any player may borrow another role’s verb for one action. From 6 players, give the extra player the Scribe role: tracks and the lookup budget.
  4. Play round 1 as a taught round.

Round 1, the taught round

Round 1 is a normal round at slower speed. Say the step name each time. Use one free action and one rolled action so players see the difference. DEFAULT

Step Say
1. Reveal “Step one, the reveal. The tier starts at noisy and carries across stages. The tier is [noisy, partial or clean]. That sets the Company’s target: noisy is Hard, partial is Standard, clean is Easy. The event is [read it].”
2. Discuss “Step two, discuss. Talk out loud. Who is best placed to act?”
3. Act “Step three, the best fitting role acts. Each of you has 2 actions. [Name]’s verb is [verb].”
3a. Free action “Ask, Look and Hold are free. They never roll. Every other verb costs an action. Pull-log and Question a hire also cost a lookup. Pull-log never rolls. Probe-interview rolls and costs no lookup.”
3b. Rolled action “That one is uncertain with something at stake, so it rolls. A success would [score, close or inform]. The target is [number], because [easy, standard or hard]. [Player], you throw the d20 and read it aloud.”
4. Resolve “Step four, resolve. [Result.] Payoff is [n]. Exposure is [n]. A failed roll moves no track. Your own-side moves, when I play the other chair, do not count toward the 3 rolls.”
Close “That is a round. From round two I name less and you drive.”
TipIf the room is quiet

Ask the best fitting role by name: “[Role], what would you do first?” Do not ask for the answer you want. See question banks for open questions.

What next