by Kristian Akhurst

📰 Introduction -

Arclight City - under threat! Great tremors shock the city as sinkholes yawn beneath the tenements! Why is this happening? Is the city in danger of being swallowed entirely into the earth? Who can say?

As our Councillors meet to discuss the dire situation, Project DeepEye gets underway! A colossal, digging machine, designed by the leading minds of our day and crewed by a five strong crew of intrepid adventurers! Diving deep into the darkness beneath Arclight, can this new, and wondrous contraption give our city some hope? Good luck to the crew of that tin can steed and a safe return!

The heroics of a small few aside, we turn our attention to the Districts where many have been displaced from their homes, becoming refugees in other city quarters. In a dire attempt to keep the peace a new taskforce has been set up, filled with each District's best and brightest minds! With the refugee crisis worsening, the people begin to question who is really the culprit in all this?

The situation rests on a knife’s edge indeed. Will the crew of the DeepEye discover the cause of all this peril and return home safe? Will the Councillors determine a course out of all this before the city is overwhelmed, or the Guard is overrun by riots? The answers are currently unknown!

💡 About the Game -

Fault: Arclight City is a steampunk themed Megagame of negotiation, cooperation and catastrophe.

The game runs over the course of a single day, with an arbitrary end time that is defined by the choices which Players will make during that session. A game of Fault will see ~25 Players take on various roles in the leadership of Arclight City and the DeepEye task force, attempting to mitigate, and perhaps stopping the catastrophe that is unfolding beneath their feet.

Some of these roles will be in the leadership council of the city who are attempting to forge a path out of their dire situation, or range to other vocations, such as the city guard who are tasked with managing the growing unrest and refugee crisis. Others will crew the DeepEye itself, searching for answers about the origin of the disaster, deep below the city streets.

The Players should remain wary, however, as each individual has their own agenda, and some may not have a vested interest in the truth ever resurfacing.

👀 What Does a Game of Fault Look Like?

As a Megagame, Players in Fault will receive several briefing documents about their role and the world that the game is set in. These will concern their personal and factional objectives before the commencement of the game and Players are allowed to interpret their objectives as they choose, so long as they conform to both the spirit of the game as well as the game mechanics which are outlined in this handbook. Some Players will find that they are in accord with the global objectives as outlined in the narrative, while others may have secrets preventing them from being truly trusted, or trustworthy.

On the day the majority of Players will spend their time in a large hall space. They will have their home table area as well as a selection of other stations available to them. These can be visited at any time, though will only be interactive during certain phases of the game. The game will proceed in turns, each of which is broken up into several phases. A standard game will see a maximum of around eleven turns and go for about five to six hours. During each of the phases in a turn, Players will generally be pursuing their specialisation and objectives, working towards their factional or personal goals, while also interacting with both the story and game mechanics as they develop.

Fault is not specifically a role-playing game but does include some role-playing elements and Players are able to interact with the lore of the game as much, or as little as they would like to, within the bounds of the mechanics. A general recommendation is for the Player to play ‘Themself, as their role,’ rather than crafting a character for themselves if they are uncomfortable acting and roleplaying in the traditional sense. This is of course a recommendation only and Players may interpret their position and ‘character’ as they like. Both the story and the mechanics of the game will be outlined in this handbook, as well as in the individual briefings which Players will receive before the event day. Anything mentioned specifically in those briefings is 'true' and any white space left around them is for the Player to fill in.

Some Players will be given the role of crewing the DeepEye, a colossal digging machine which will have its own mission and mechanisms. These Players on the Digger Crew team will be out of contact from the majority of the Player cohort for most of the game, conducting their own mission and communicating only sporadically with the various heads of communication on each of the other teams. Depending on how ticketing is done for any one run, Players will normally have the ability to indicate their preference for whether they would or would not like to be considered for these kinds of roles, on the casting survey which will be sent out before the game day.

🚂 The Control Team -

Helping to facilitate the game will be the Control Team, a group of referees who will be on hand to help guide negotiations and make rulings on disputes concerning any arbitrary resolutions or conflicts. The day will be led by the Showrunner(s), who will introduce themselves before the commencement of the game and who will also introduce the rest of the Control Team. The Showrunner has the final word on how the game progresses and is, as the name suggests, able to run the show as they like. Other Control Team members will also be helping to define the narrative and mechanical progression throughout the game and Players may go to anyone on the Control Team with suggestions and for clarification throughout the day.

The Control Team are not Players in the game and should be considered impartial. Players who wish to accomplish anything outside of the normal rules of the game should bring those plans to a Control member, before putting them into action. In Fault nothing is considered ‘real’ or a fact, until a member of the Control Team is aware of it, and has given verbal ascent. Even then things may not go the way that a Player expects and they should be prepared for that. The Control Team will seek to, beyond all other resolutions, facilitate the outcome that helps the most people have the best time while playing the game.

This means that the Player should expect to succeed in some things at a cost, and fail interestingly, in ways that they had perhaps not expected. No one is the ‘main character’ in a game of Fault and any schemes or other actions that stand a chance to negatively affect another Player’s experience with no counterweighting or ability to respond, will be largely ignored by Control for the purposes of narrative resolution. In Fault, if Control says something has happened, then it has and no Player may impose a reality on another Player without Control’s consent.

This being said, Control are still human and will attempt to be consistent in all rulings. Players may, politely, seek clarification on any decision that they don’t understand or have a different understanding of, and Control reserves the right to recant a previous decision if it was made in error or without complete context. Fault is an exercise in collective storytelling and is a two way dialogue, to the limits imposed by the above statements.

🌆 Setting Primer -

Set in a steampunk fantasy world, Fault: Arclight City follows a crisis inside the eponymous Arclight City where great tectonic shifts have begun to rattle the ancient stones upon which the city is built. Sandwiched between a bleak wasteland and an untraversable sea, Arclight City, stands alone. A bastion of civilisation in a world that can see no further than the last skin of water to the east, or as far the furthest sailors dare challenge the boiling waves in the west.

If the venerable city is to survive, they will do it on their own.

For now, sinkholes swallow famous boulevards, while earthquakes sheer whole buildings in half and the people there are left homeless and afraid.

Arclight is an old city, one that has had a long history of social and demographic unrest. The current ruling council, artefact of the last populist uprising, has ushered in an age of unprecedented prosperity on the back of huge leaps in arcano-scientific advancement, largely due to the city’s discovery of a volatile energy source known as Vortonite.

The City itself is divided into the five major Districts, each of which has a long history of its own and a voting chair on the City Council. With ancient allusions to inseparable unity, the five Districts also hold significant rivalries amongst each other that go deeper than mere sibling quarrels. As the current emergency unfolds differently for each District, these scars are becoming tears in their long term alliance, leaving questions as to each District’s responsibility to the others. For now, the Council appears to understand that strength in the face of this disaster can only be had through unity, but soon there will come a time where hard choices must be made for the good of all. Or perhaps only some? This, is yet to be realised.

With buildings crumbling in the city daily, and the ancient walls that hold back the raiders and wasterals of the badlands showing signs of following, even the Guard has begun to take matters into their own hands. Practicality has started to come into conflict with politics, and rhetorical lines are being hastily drawn.

All the while, the great minds of the City’s scientific community have been hard at work constructing Project DeepEye, a colossal digging vehicle that can take five intrepid crew, deep within the earth beneath the city to discover, and perhaps halt the spread of, the origin to the current crisis.

Players will take on roles ranging from Councillors for their District through to Crew aboard the DeepEye Digging vehicle and the Surface Task Force. All with complex and sometimes diverging motivations. One thing remains true for all, however; If the city falls there would be nothing left for anyone who survives. As the crisis itself grows ever more dire, the city begins to whisper that terrible question, “Whose fault is all this mess, really?”

♟️ Game Map -

🦴 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.

🗺️ Example Venue Map -

This is an example venue layout only, and will be subject to change from run to run of the game.

🫵 Digger Crew: Captain -

As the chosen Captain of the DeepEye mission, the Player in this role will have a number of sole responsibilities. The mission, though supported by the city’s provisional council is a private enterprise, narratively funded by the captain themself. More information about the Captain’s position and priorities will be available in their personal briefing, but mechanically they have the final say on how, when and where the digger will move during a turn.

To represent this deference, the Captain Player begins the game with two voting power during the ‘All Hands’ Phase, giving their leadership the benefit of the doubt when it comes to confidence in their leadership on the mission. Their position is still vulnerable, however, so building strong ties among the crew will be essential to their ongoing success. If depose from the Captain position, the Captain Player will replace whichever command station is vacated by the incoming replacement Captain. In this event, they may also request a transfer, following the associated rule, detailed later in the handbook.

The Captain has few direct controls to manipulate in the operation of the DeepEye and so must rely on the collaboration of their crew in order to make things happen. The DeepEye is a complex machine and the Captain’s best input is in helping coordinate the various operations and timings within the vessel, using their manual and intimate knowledge of the digger’s inner workings.

Captain’s Journal -

The DeepEye digging platform is a complex, arcano-scientific behemoth of twisted magics and whirring axles. Only the Captain has the experience and knowledge to herd that shifting, amorphous conspiracy of motive forces into an operational vehicle. Luckily, they wrote it all down. The Captain will be in possession of their Captain’s Journal, which contains a manual that lists the various start up sequences and adjustments that must be made to the digger during its operation, to keep it on track and running smoothly. These patterns are important for the other command stations to know, in order to avoid damage to the core and drills. See the appropriate sections for start up and shut down procedures for more information on how this process works. The Manual may also contain, other, more personal details that are best kept to one’s self. It is potentially a bad idea for the manual to fall into unsympathetic hands.

The Captain’s Journal stays with the original Captain of the DeepEye. Should a new Captain be elected they will need to negotiate or otherwise acquire use of the manual within in order to control the vessel.

Captain’s Prerogative -

Once per-game the Captain may push through a readiness or emergency repair check by force of will alone. Any card check passes immediately, and a red card is added to the top of every readiness deck. In the case of emergency repair, the decks are treated as though each station drew all green and are added to the decks like normal, though the red cards are still added.

The Captain must declare Captain’s Prerogative before any cards are drawn in the check. If a new Captain is selected, this ability refreshes. This ability does not refresh if the Captain regains their position after having been previously removed, if they already used their prerogative. Captain’s prerogative has no affect on repair draws in the Repair and Maintenance Phase.

Give it a Little Elbow -

The Captain will also start the game with a few substitute resources called ‘Persuaders.’ These will take the form of a game component which control will distribute. The Captain Player may hand them into Control during any check to add the equivalent of one green card to a hand drawn in any command station aboard the digger.

🧭 Digger Crew: Navigation Officer -

📞 Digger Crew: Communications Officer -

🔧 Digger Crew: Engineer -

🔬 Digger Crew: Science Officer

👉 What Can be Affected in the Game?

The rules and scenario outlined in this handbook give the starting point from which the game can diverge. The various additional briefing documents given to each player will outline ‘the truth’ about their position, power, and goals within the game’s setting. Beyond that, effort, negotiation, and resources can all be used to change much of what is presented at the game’s commencement. Fault is designed to present a scenario to the Players and to create a framework within which they can use their creativity to pursue their goals.

A Player will not be able to wish away the crisis, but they will be able to put effort, time, and thought into creative ways to approach it. Usually, building coalitions and pooling resources can help Players achieve a joint goal sooner. By trusting, on the other hand, Players make themselves vulnerable and could be taken advantage of. Control will not step in to prevent a scheme, in fact, they will often be encouraged. If the Player in question has all that they need to succeed and is still blind sided by a double crossing collaborator, that is considered fair play as far as the rules are concerned. The only limitations will be when a Player is deemed to be unfairly targetted for reasons other than are apparent in the game itself. Players are warned that in Fault, the situation can change quickly and they will likely be outmanoeuvred if they only play by the rules as written. Shenanigans, are highly encouraged.

🚨 The Golden Rules

(aka; What cannot be affected) -

There are a few immutable rules for the sake of safety and accommodations, they are as follows;

• No Player owes another Player an interaction. If someone does not wish to talk to you, you may not force the issue with them. In the event that another Player's refusal to interact affects your ability to play the game, Control can mediate. Even if the matter is time sensitive, this rule should be respected. Remember always that it is just a game.
• Nothing beyond the game materials provided, count as having value in the game. You cannot deprive another player of access to facilities, or access to their own belongings for any reason. Anything non-diegetic to the game, will not exist for the purposes of bribery or coercion towards a particular outcome. (Offers of bribery in the form of snacks is a traditional exception to this rule, of course.)
• Megagames are a non-contact activity. There should be no reason or need for you to touch another Player, either consenting or otherwise.
• The game is an apolitical space. Politics may happen between the Districts, in game, but for the sake of civility, real world politics must be left at the door. This is not negotiable.
• Don’t be an asshole. Everyone is at the game to have fun, if it doesn’t pass the pub check, leave it at home.

If a Player breaches the Golden Rules for any reason, Control do not need any further justification to censure them in anyway, from a word of warning through to the offender being asked to leave the venue. The event is a private function and if asked to leave you must do so. In addition to these rules there are a few guidelines for accommodations which may come up at particular events. Generally, it is asked that Players be aware of the kind of snacks that they are bringing. The Control Team will likely ask on or before the day for anyone who has an allergic reaction to any common foods. Players are asked in general to minimise the amount of snacks they bring that contain common allergens like nuts, for instance. Players are, however, responsible for their own wellbeing in this regard and beyond disclosure must take their own precautions as the Control Team have no responsibility beyond that which is a reasonable accommodation. If a Player has any other personal requirements, it is their responsibility to disclose it before the day, as the game organisers will not be able to necessarily make appropriate accommodations without prior notice. If a Player realises on the day that an accommodation may have to be made in order for them to participate, the Control Team will, of course, attempt to make any adjustment possible, within reason, as determined by them at the time.

🏁 Ending the Game -

The game will continue until reaching a satisfying narrative conclusion is reached. This outcome wil be collected by the the Showrunner and Control Team from the various threads and narrative beats that the Players have interacted with throughout the game. Normally, the game will be wrapped up towards the end of the expected running time, that is; six or seven hours, but could be shorter or longer dependent on the actions of the Player cohort. Following the final turn the Control Team will confer and announce the outcome and epilogue to the Players, outlining their successes, failures, and other efforts towards the narrative. This could be positive, negative, or ambiguous depending on the Player’s collective choices. There will be no winner in a game of Fault, only stories to be told of the eventual, usually chaotic, outcome. Some will survive, others may fall. The digger crew may return or not, the city could perish. The outcome is for the Players to tell through playing the game. The game will continue until it ends and once it has ended, the game will be finished.

🏓 Swing and a Miss -

There are a few more things for Players to keep in mind whilst playing a game of Fault. Keep in mind always that every one Player has their own ambitions and agendas in the space. If one Player has a grand plan to solve everything, that Player will face opposition, either intentional or not, mechanical, or narrative. Players will fail some of the time. With this in mind, the Player should make sure to fail forward.

This is a narrative game and sometimes the most interesting stories are the ones born out when things don’t go exactly to plan. Players will usually find they have a much better experience if they give up on the idea of ‘winning’ the game and instead focus on doing the most interesting thing that they can with the time and resources that they have available to them.

Don’t hold back! The game is long, but it is only so long. Don’t wait until the final turn for everything to be perfect. Make a plan and take steps towards it every turn. If the Player feels like it all collapses down around them, they should find the next best, most fun, way forward. If it ever feels like they’ve flamed out, fired their shot and it all came to nothing and there is no way forward; that is patently not true. If a Player feels stuck, lost or confused, bring it to the Control Team. They can help you jump back into the action. Its important to remember that the Control Team can only help fix what they know about!

🫥 Hidden Information -

There are things that the Player does not know about, happening behind the scenes and that will affect the game. Even in the Player’s briefing there may be hidden, additional information that they should hold close to their chest. There are also going to be areas of the play space that will be off limits to the Player Teams. These are two separate things.

Hidden information is diegetic to the game and can be discovered if the Player has the means to do so. Off limits or concealed information is veiled for the purposes of making the game fun to play and run properly. The lines will be firmly drawn between the two on the day and it is asked that players do not enter Control’s off-limits areas without prior permission or read any documents that may contain game breaking material. This is to avoid spoilers and the like. With this in mind, if the Player is curious to find out more about secrets within the game and doesn’t know how; Ask Control. There is no limit to what is possible in that regard, with appropriate effort.

⏭️ What is next? -

This handbook is distributed to Players in advance to their run of the game. Following will be Faction Briefings for your team and a personal, Player Briefing closer to the date. Make sure that your entire team has given a personal contact address, in order to help avoid tomfoolery.

These additional documents will go into further detail for your role and each Player’s motivations. A lot of the more general information will be repeated on the day in a more venue specific fashion. Please make sure to have read all of the material before the event and, if you can, have access to your own briefing documents on the day of the game, as Control will likely not have any spare copies of those more bespoke materials. In the meantime, feel free to link up with your team, don’t give anything away, and good luck!