The Core Kernel is the always-on rules engine for resolving opposed situations using cards + real tokens (no dice, no fake tokens).

It guarantees:

• A single repeatable procedure for conflict resolution (Conflict → Hands).
• Deterministic outcomes with integer-only math.
• Bluff space (hidden commitments) and meaningful bet sizing (poker pressure).
• Modular stability: Extensions must “plug in” at named hook points, not rewrite flow.

• Actor: Any entity that can take actions (PCs, NPCs, monsters, hazards, etc.).
• Trine (the): all three aspects that make up an Actor: Mind / Body / Spirit.
• TA (Trine Aspect): one of Mind / Body / Spirit.
• TS (Trine Score): A TA’s score derived from averaging its three AVs.
• TTS (Total Trine Score): TS(Mind)+TS(Body)+TS(Spirit).
• Attribute: 3 per Aspect, 9 total, that quantify Aspect power and versatility.
• AV (Attribute Value): The current rating of an Attribute (and the cap on how much you can bid from your stack on that Attribute).
• TD (Trine Dominance): The Mind/Body/Spirit dominance result (like Rock-Paper-Scissors)
• AD (Attribute Dominance): Attribute dominance result (including cross-aspect matchups, per the reference card).
• Hand: One complete cycle (ante → commit → reveal → resolve → outcome).
• Conflict: One or more Hands until victory/retreat/elimination/narrative end.
• Bid Tokens: Attribute tokens used like poker chips during a Conflict.
• Wildcards: Special heroic tokens (PC-only by default), refresh once per Conflict.
• ES (Edge Step / Stakes): Conflict-level Stakes value (1–5), announced by GM.

All kernel math is integer-only to be quick and easy for players to do in their head.

• Floor means “round down.”
  • Example: floor(3.9)=3 and floor(3.0)=3.
• No fractions: if a rule would create a fraction, use floor.
• Min-1 rule (nonnegative derived values only):
  • After flooring, if a derived nonnegative value would become 0 but at least one contributing AV is not 0, the final value is 1.

This term is used to describe how one Aspect or Attribute has advantage over one other, but is weaker than one other, just like Rock-Paper-Scissors. This is the core concept in the game that is used over-and-over.

• Mind > Body > Spirit > Mind

Mind over Body. Body is the Vessel of the Spirit. Spirit inspires the Mind.

• Mind: REA > KNO > QUI > REA
  • “Think → Know → Quick → Think.”
• Body: STR > FIT > AGI > STR
  • “Smash → Last → Dash → Smash.”
• Spirit: WIL > PRE > INT > WIL
  • “Grit → Aura → Gut → Grit.”

When the compared Attributes come from different TAs, use the Cross-Aspect Attribute Dominance reference (the 27-matchup card).
(Provided as a one-page game aid for speed at the table.)

TS always uses a 3-slot construct (even if some Attributes are absent).

For a TA with AV triplet (x/y/z):

• TS = floor( (x+y+z)/3)
• Apply Min-1 rule if TS would be 0 but at least one of x,y,z is nonzero.
• Absent Attributes (“-”) count as conceptual 0 for TS math.

Examples:
An Actor with Reason 4, Knowledge 5, and Quickness 7 has Mind TS = 5
An Actor with STR 10, FIT 9, AGI - has Body TS = 6 (and cannot move)

• TTS = TS(Mind) + TS(Body) + TS(Spirit)

• PCs have WR (Wildcard Rank) and gain that many Wildcard tokens per Conflict.
• Wildcards refresh once per Conflict, not per Hand.
• Anti-nuke rule: you may spend at most 1 Wildcard per Hand (unless an Extension changes this).
• NPCs have WR=0 by default (an Extension may grant WR to Featured/Boss NPCs).

Wildcards:

• Add to any Attribute bid.
• Do not count against the AV cap.
• Are not transferred to opponents (they are not “poker chips”).

At the start of a Conflict, the GM determines Stakes from the highest Rank Actor present:

• ES = min(5, 1 + floor¹⁾

GM announces the Stakes name + number (without revealing Rank):

• ES1 “Low Stakes”
• ES2 “Hot”
• ES3 “High Stakes”
• ES4 “Deadly”
• ES5 “Mythic”

Each Actor enters a Conflict with a stack of real Power tokens:

• Power Stack = 3 × TTS

These tokens act like poker chips:

• Tokens are moved between Actors via pots.
• If you cannot pay the mandatory ante, you are removed from the Conflict (see Ante).

(Extensions may alter starting stack size, but the kernel default is 3×TTS.)

Extensions must plug in to one of these named steps:

• Engagement → Who is in the Conflict, what’s at stake, what ES is.
• Commit → Hidden choices and token commitments.
• Reveal → Reveal cards/tokens.
• Resolve → Apply TD/AD rules and compute winners/margins.
• Outcome → Damage/DoS/loot/pot awards.
• Update State → Persistent AV changes, eliminations, refresh rules.

No Extension may introduce special-case flowcharts that bypass the Contract. It must modify variables at a named step.

Most unopposed actions resolve inside a Scene without starting a Conflict.
When opposition or sequencing matters, the GM declares a Conflict.

A Conflict is made of one or more Hands.

0) Engagement (GM)

• Confirm participants.
• Confirm Stakes (ES) for this Conflict.

1) Mandatory Ante (all participants)

• Each participant antes exactly 1 real Power token into the Ante Pot.
• Any Actor who cannot (or will not) ante is removed from the Conflict.

2) Commit TA (hidden)

• Each remaining participant commits a TA card (Mind/Body/Spirit), face down.

3) Reveal TA, Resolve TD, Pay the Ante Pot (multi-opponent rule locked)

• Reveal all TAs.
• Resolve TD pairwise against all opponents.
• Count TD Wins per Actor.
• Pay the Ante Pot token-by-token to the Actor(s) with the most TD Wins first:
  • If tied, pay round-robin in table order among the tied leaders until the pot is empty.
• Any unpaid tokens become a Jackpot and carry over into the next Hand’s Ante Pot.

4) Commit Attribute + Bid (hidden)

• Each participant chooses an Attribute card (subject to the Core restriction: your Attribute must belong to your chosen TA).
• Each participant secretly commits real Power tokens from their stack as a bid, up to:
  • 0 to AV for that Attribute (AV is the cap).
• You may also add:
  • Any number of Pot Bonus tokens you currently hold (they do not count against AV cap).
  • Up to 1 Wildcard (PCs only by default; does not count against AV cap).

5) Reveal Attribute + Bid

• Reveal Attributes and all committed tokens.

6) Resolve AD

• Determine AD results (including cross-aspect matchups via the reference card if needed).

7) Determine Winners (pairwise)
For each opponent pair:

• Compute each side’s Showdown Total:
  • Showdown = (real bid tokens committed) + (Pot Bonus tokens committed) + (Wildcard if used)
• Apply the Sweep Critical (locked):
  • If you win both TD and AD versus that opponent, add +ES to your Showdown Total versus that opponent.
• Higher Showdown wins.
• Margin = Winner Showdown − Loser Showdown

8) Damage (pairwise, kernel pacing locked)

• If Margin ≤ 0 → 0 damage
• If Margin > 0 → Damage D = ES + floor(Margin/5)

Damage type:

• Damage is typed by the winner’s TA (Mind/Body/Spirit).
• Damage reduces the defender’s AV(s) in that TA (persistent).

9) TA Completeness Scaling (locked)
If the damaged TA has P present Attributes (P = 0–3):

• If P=0: take 0 damage.
• If P=3: D' = D
• If P=2: D' = D − floor(D/3)
• If P=1: D' = floor(D/3), with minimum 1 if D>0

Then assign D' among present Attributes only.

10) Assign Persistent AV Damage

• The damaged Actor chooses how to distribute D' among Attributes in the damaged TA (unless an Extension changes who chooses).
• Reduce AVs accordingly (cannot go below 0).
• If an Attribute reaches 0, that Attribute card is unusable (cannot be played/bid).

11) Elimination
An Actor is eliminated from the Conflict if:

• They cannot ante (token elimination), OR
• All three Attributes in any one TA are at AV 0 (TA elimination).

(Actors with absent Attributes use the TA Completeness rules above; absent slots do not “count as zeros you must destroy.”)

12) Award the Hand Pot
All real Power tokens committed this Hand (including antes and bids) form the Hand Pot.

• The Hand Pot is awarded to the overall Hand winner.
• If there is no single clear Hand winner (e.g., multi-opponent split results), the GM resolves pot awards using the same round-robin method as the Ante Pot, or carries it as a Jackpot to the next Hand (table preference; kernel default is “carry as Jackpot to keep pressure high”).

13) Update State

• Apply AV changes (persistent).
• Remove eliminated Actors from the Conflict.
• Continue to next Hand or end the Conflict if the fiction says it ends.

• Roleplay-first, double-blind preserved: before reveals, no one (including GM) may interrogate “how” to narrow a player’s hidden choice.
• Spoken narration before reveals is non-binding “table talk.”
• After reveals, the acting player may add a brief justification to align narration with revealed TA/Action tag.
• If the tag reasonably fits, it stands (“Bluff Space Rule”).

• TA cards: Mind / Body / Spirit
• 9 Core Action/Attribute cards (one per Attribute) listing broad intent tags
• Real Power tokens (chips)
• Wildcard tokens (PCs only by default)
• TD reference (Mind>Body>Spirit)
• AD reference (intra-loops + cross-aspect 27 matchup table)

These belong to Extensions unless/until explicitly promoted:

• Initiative / timing phases / action speed
• Passive Actor difficulty systems for unopposed tasks
• Specialized action lists beyond the 9 core cards
• Status effects, conditions, equipment subsystems
• Alternative pot award policies (if you want something other than “Jackpot carry”)

The Core Rules are designed to be easy to learn and fast to run at the table.
To keep that promise, the Core follows a fixed sequence each Hand, and any optional rules (“Extensions”) are only allowed to plug into specific steps of that sequence.

This is called the Kernel Contract.

• Core stays small: you can learn it quickly and play right away.
• Extensions stay clean: each Extension must say exactly which step it modifies.
• No exception spaghetti: if a new rule can’t be described as “it changes Step X in this one way,” it probably costs too much complexity.

Each Hand follows these steps in order:

The GM identifies which Actors are actually involved with each other *this Hand*.
In big chaotic fights, the GM may split the conflict into smaller interaction groups (clusters) so the table doesn’t bog down.

Each involved Actor:

• pays the required ante (if used),
• chooses a Trine Aspect (Mind / Body / Spirit),
• chooses an Attribute action,
• chooses how many Power tokens to commit (your bid).

These choices are normally made face-down to preserve bluffing.

Everyone reveals what they committed: their Trine Aspect, Attribute, and bid.

Resolve the “who beats who” layers in the same order every time:

• Resolve TD (Trine Dominance)
• award the pot (if using antes / pot bonuses)
• Resolve AD (Attribute Dominance)
• check for Sweep (winning both TD and AD against the same opponent, if Sweep is enabled)

This step produces each side’s final advantage going into the outcome.

Use the final results to determine what happens:

• damage (if this is an attack),
• progress, control, or Degrees of Success (if this is not damage),
• any other immediate effects.

Apply lasting changes:

• reduce Attribute Values from damage,
• check elimination / defeat conditions,
• update any ongoing effects that remain active,
• return any tokens that refresh now (unless an effect keeps them committed).

Optional systems (Extensions) must attach to one or more named steps above, and only modify that step in a stated way.

Examples:

• Tempo / Phases plugs into Step 5 (it changes *when* outcomes resolve).
• Range / Movement plugs into Step 1 (it changes who can legally target whom).
• Equipment plugs into Step 5 (it modifies damage dealt/taken, and sometimes timing if Tempo is enabled).
• Buffs / Shields / Stances plug into Step 6 (they keep some tokens committed and reduce what you can bid later).

If an Extension needs lots of “except when…” clauses, it should be rewritten until it can fit cleanly into this contract.