🦴 Anatomy of the Game -

A game of Fault will go for a number of hours, the eventual running time being determined by the choices made, by the Player cohort on the day. A game will not normally go beyond eight hours and the Control Team will announce to the Players when they have entered the final turn, giving them the opportunity to enact any plans in progress before the end of the day. Following the final turn will be the Epilogue where the Showrunner will describe the outcome of the Player’s collective efforts. This could be positive, negative, or ambiguous depending on the Players’ collective choices throughout the day.

Once the game has commenced, Control will start a turn timer which will not stop again until the end of the game. This is excepting some circumstances where the game time is paused for administrative or emergency reasons. Normally in Fault, there will be a double length turn during the middle of the game where the same number of actions are fit into double the time, and where nothing progresses in the game narrative. This is to allow those who need, to disconnect from the game, to take medication, eat food, and hydrate, etc. This time is designed to give Players some lower intensity minutes and it will coincide with lunch, otherwise, there will be no official lunch break.

During a normal turn, Players are welcome to leave and return at any time but the game will not stop and any opportunities missed will be, just so. Players are encouraged to use the double length turn as it is intended, there will be no additional game actions beyond negotiations with other Players that they will be able to affect during that time. No additional councils will be held during the double length turn, and no additional communication with the DeepEye will be possible. Players will not miss anything special if they finish their actions for that turn and take time to rest until the game recommences.

In Fault – Arclight City, an intrepid team of adventurers is sent plunging into the depths of the city foundations, on an experimental digging platform called the DeepEye. Their mission is to first, mitigate the damage being done by the fault-line event and, secondly; to figure out what, or whom may have caused the calamity. The Digger Crew team is comprised of five Players, each with a faction loyalty to one of the five districts in the city. At the start of the game the Captain role, will be selected from The High Garden (Purple Team) as, narratively, the mission was enacted due to their private money and patronage in helping to fund the expedition. Each other Player will have a role assigned randomly from the other command stations required in order to pilot the digger mission. The other four roles are; Navigation Officer, Communications Officer, Engineer, and Science Officer. The Digger Crew team will each have their own personal and faction roles but must find a way to collaborate, if the mission is to be a success.

Anatomy of a Turn -

In Fault, the Digger Crew follow a repeating turn structure throughout the day. Each of these turns is broken into Phases which will have certain responsibilities that must be completed at certain times, as well as more free-form options available for each Player during their down time.

The Digger Team turn proceeds as follows;

The All Hands Phase -

During the All Hands Phase, Players congregate in the centre area of the DeepEye for the Captain’s update and to discuss their plans for the following turn. The actual content of this meeting will be up to the circumstances of the game, and the Captain Role may run the meeting as they like. If a complicated or unpopular decision needs to be made, the Captain may call a vote and each crew member may vote on the resolution, using their current voting power. Each Crew member starts with a voting power of one (1) while the Captain starts with a voting power of (2) by default. Successful votes carry but do not affect how much voting power each crew member has. The only way to gain more voting power is to vote in a successful confidence vote. In the event that any other Player wishes to, it is during this time that they may call a confidence vote to either vote in favour of their Captain, increasing their voting power, or vote for no confidence, in which case they can attempt to elect a new Captain.

Captain Confidence -

At the start of each turn, during the All Hands Phase, any of the Digger Crew Players can call a vote for confidence in their Captain. This is a public vote that either the calling Player or the Captain can lead. Players must first vote for confidence, or for no confidence, in the current Captain. If the Vote goes for the current Captain the vote ends and the turn proceeds. If the Captain has lost confidence by the majority in voting power, including if it is a tie, a second round of voting must be held to elect a new Captain. Players may nominate themselves, or another. In the event of an election tie, the Digger Crew may ask the Council on the surface for a tie-breaking vote. This vote does not respect the Council’s voting power but is considered the deciding vote either way.

This tie breaker is likely to be delayed due to communications. While waiting for a Council vote to break a tie, if a Player is tied with the current Captain for control, the Captain would maintain their position until the answer. If the tie is between two non-Captain Roles then a third party must assume the acting Captain Role until the vote is resolved. This may also be the current Captain. Each non-Captain Player role will start the game with one (1) voting power in these elections, and the Captain role Player will hold two (2) by default. Whenever a Player, including the Captain, votes for confidence/election in any Player remaining/becoming Captain, then the vote is considered a success and they will receive one additional voting power in subsequent votes. Nothing happens if they vote for a candidate that is not successful. Voting power will be represented in the game as a component that Control will distribute.

For instance; If the Engineer, the Comms Officer, and the Captain vote for confidence in the incumbent Captain, while the Navigation Officer and the Chief Scientist vote for the Chief Scientist, on the first turn. The result will be a victory for the incumbent Captain Player, at four to two in the incumbent’s favour. The Engineer, Comms Officer, and Captain would all receive one additional voting power. In the next vote, the Comms Officer and Engineer would have two voting power and the incumbent Captain would have three. The Navigation officer and the Chief Scientist would still only have one voting power each.

The 'To Stations!' Phase

Digger Stations -

The DeepEye has multiple stations within that must be crewed in order for the digger platform to function. If for any reason a station is uncrewed in a turn the digger may not move during the Manoeuvrer Phase. The Captain Role may take over a station in the event that it’s occupant is otherwise disposed. The crewed stations are named as follows;

• Navigation, crewed by the Navigation Officer. Also responsible for driving the digger.
• Communication, crewed by the Communications Officer Player (Note, this includes ‘sensors and telemetry,’ making it essential to the digger’s operation.)
• Engineering, crewed by the Team’s Engineer Player.
• And, the Thinking Bell; Crewed by the Science Officer.

The DeepEye’s Captain is responsible for all stations, but unless the crew operating that station is removed for any reason, the Captain has no station of their own. The Stations are primarily crewed during the ‘To Stations! Phase,’ as well as the Manoeuvrer Phase, but may be interacted with by any Crew Player, at any time in the turn. An ‘interaction’ in this case, even surreptitious, must be revealed to Control in order to count as valid. More information about the crew's specific responsibilities is detailed in each role's particular section, later in the handbook.

The Manoeuvring Phase

The Manoeuvring Phase is the time where the digger moves, after each command station has finished its duties in the ‘To Stations!’ Phase. All stations must signal to the Captain that they are read to move. Once that is done the Captain will call for a start up sequence from their manual, that corresponds to the current turn. If successful, the Digger will move, boring through the rock in front of them. Once completed, the crew must safely bring the drill and engine offline, to avoid overheating and/or damage.

Station Activation Order and Readiness-

The order in which the digger’s command stations are to be activated in the Manoeuvring Phase is known to the Captain and any deviation in the sequence could lead to damage being done to the DeepEye. The sequence configuration will change each turn, according to the Captain’s manual and each station of the four must draw a hand from their ‘Readiness Deck.’ The Readiness deck of each station will be composed of red, amber, and green cards. The Player in control at each command station must draw a number of cards from their readiness deck, of the number that they are in the sequence order, from the sequence given by the Captain.

For instance; if Engineering was fourth in the order for that turn, they must draw four cards from the Engineering Readiness deck. Navigation is first and will draw one, etc. In the next turn the order will have changed.

If the number of red cards drawn at a station is more than the number of green cards drawn in the same hand, then the station is ‘red’ and the digger cannot move that turn, unless something is modified.

If the number of green cards drawn from each Readiness Deck, is equal or more than the amount of red cards in each hand, then the stations are all ‘green’ and the digger can move without penalty.

The Engineer role, has the ability to swap out red cards, from their repair deck to get the digger moving, even if start up is failed.

Once drawn, a hand is placed at the bottom of the station’s readiness deck, and the deck is not shuffled. The hand order can be changed as the Player wishes before returning it to the base of their readiness deck.

Moving the digger rules are elaborated on in the section for the Navigation Officer Role.

Shutdown Sequence and Damage to the Digger -

At the end of the Manoeuvrer Phase, if the digger has successfully manoeuvred, the command stations must also be shut down in reverse sequence order, following the start up sequence in reverse. If any station draws a majority of red cards to their hand during their shutdown procedure, then that station becomes damaged. They must add red cards equal to the number of red cards drawn to their deck. Control will shuffle that station's deck. Shutdown procedure must be followed, even if the digger stalls. Read more on this in the Engineer Role rules.

Amber or ‘Check’ cards are neither green nor red and do not contribute to success or failure when determining a shut down or a start up draw.

There is a limited amount of readiness cards in the game and once they are in a deck, that is the limit of what Players will be available to draw. Beyond that point, any action that would otherwise add a red or amber card to a deck will see a green card removed instead.

Emergency Repairing the Digger -

If it seems unlikely that a station will draw a majority of green cards from their readiness deck in a turn then the crew can instead opt to repair, rather than manoeuvrer. In this instance each station may remove the number of red cards from their readiness deck equal to the order that they would have taken in the start up sequence based on the Captain’s manual. This is separate to the Repair and Maintenance Phase which follows from the Manoeuvring Phase. Each deck is then shuffled by Control.

The Repair and Maintenance Phase

During the Repair and Maintenance Phase Players may attempt to fix any of the unreliability in their systems. To do this many of the systems have to be taken offline temporarily. During this phase if a Player would like to repair their station they must first nominate so to a member of the Control team who will shuffle their readiness deck. The Players then roll their station's repair dice (2D6) and draw cards equal to the difference, face down. The number cannot be negative and may be zero (0).

The Player may choose any number of cards from this draw to discard, without looking at the colour. Control will remove these.

The remaining hand is picked up by the Player and may be observed. Once all stations participating in the repair have this hand, they may trade them freely amongst themselves, trying to make the most hands that have a majority or parity of green to red cards.

Stations that end up with a hand that contains the same or more green cards, stay online and may discard to Control any red cards that they are still holding. The remaining green cards can then be put on the top of their readiness deck.

For stations that end up with more red then green cards, none are discarded and the hand can be placed in any order at the top of their readiness deck.

While trading cards with the other stations, the Engineer player may instead swap cards into the “Repair Deck” with the help of Control who has possession of the deck. This deck starts with all green cards but is of a fixed size. The Engineer may roll their repair dice like normal but instead of their own readiness deck, draw a hand of that number from the repair deck. Red cards may be swapped into that hand like normal, but without affecting the engineering readiness deck. The hand is then returned to the repair deck which is subsequently shuffled. This means that the more that the repair deck is used, the less useful it will become. Green cards can also be swapped back into the repair deck if desired.

The R&R Phase

The R&R Phase is down time for the digger crew. There are multiple activities that the crew can do to help either with the digger itself or towards their own priorities, but nothing is compulsory. This is a great time to chat with your fellow crew about plans or coalitions for the following turn, but also to progress any personal agendas and prepare messages to send to the surface.

Letters Home -

Any Player on the digger may send a letter home by placing it in the broad-comm box at the Communication station. These messages are kept in the box until at least ‘Limited Two Way’ signal integrity is achieved, at which point, during the Check In Phase, they are delivered by Control to the individuals who they are addressed. These messages are private, but through a successful vote in the All Hands Phase, the box may be opened and the messages checked, if they are yet to be sent. The messages cannot be checked after they are dispatched. Players do not have to sign their messages, but they must be addressed if they are to be delivered.

EVA Missions -

There are a number of reasons that the digger crew may wish to perform an extra vehicular action (EVA) where they pull on a tethered, copper, diving suit and venture into the sulphurous depths of the catacombs below the city. These missions take the place of the EVA Player’s R&R Phase and must be communicated to, at least, the Engineer Player, who is responsible for pumping the air that will keep that Player alive, as well as reserving the energy needed to run the pump. Reasons for this type of action range from, investigating clues about the crisis, to picking up supplies drilled down from the surface. Only one Player may EVA at a time as the air pump on board the digger can only support one respirator. If a Player embarks on an EVA, Control will explain the outcome at that time, as it becomes relevant.

Gambling Duties -

The isn’t much to do on the digger once the engines turn off, so in down time Players may gamble with their duty stations and watch hours. Mechanically, this is a way to move cards between decks as the crew, narratively, swap off their maintenance and watch hours.

To play, two crew members may request their Readiness decks from Control. The game is played in rounds. Both Players can stake a number of green cards from their decks. Once both Players have agreed on the wager, they roll a set of repair dice and subtract as normal to get their draw number.

At this stage both players must call a bid, e.g. “Two Green,” “Three Red,” etc. The number called must be of a higher integer than the last bid, but may be of any colour. The bidding stops when one of the Players ‘calls out’ the other, or the maximum number of cards in the hand is bid.

Both Players then draw the number of cards rolled in to their hand and show them. The Player who last bid, must have at least the number of the colour that they bid in their hand to win, otherwise the other Player wins instead. The winner claims the stake in green cards from the loser.

The Players may then chose to end or wager again.

Important to note, is that at no time is the deck shuffled. The draws are taken from the top of the deck, and to collect staked winnings the losing play must draw cards one by one into their hand until the required amount of green cards are uncovered. The entire hand is then returned to the bottom of the readiness deck.

If at any point Players do not have enough cards in their deck to fulfil a wager or draw their full hand, Control will add up to the required amount in red and amber cards to the deck in question, and the stake is moot.

The Check In Phase

During the ‘Check In’ Phase, if communication has been established with the surface, Players may communicate directly with the surface communications team in the form dictated by their signal integrity level for the current turn. Communications remain open until the timer ticks over to the next turn, at which point communication is lost and must be re-established by the Communications Officer. Communications are possible outside of this time if established, but this is the only Phase where both the digger crew and the Surface Task Force will be in position to have two way communications.

Requesting a Transfer -

Members of the digger crew may formally request a transfer during the ‘Check In’ Phase. If a Player on the surface team agrees to swap roles with them then they may do so but, the digger crew must wait until the response comes through in a subsequent turn for an answer. If the digger is out of touch, then no transfer can take place. To transfer the Player must conduct an EVA once the transfer is confirmed. The crew member will exit, and the new Player will return, taking up their role.