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 The Contract.

The Core Rules are the always-on rules engine for resolving opposed situations using cards + real tokens (no dice).

It guarantees:
* Core stays small: you can learn it quickly and play right away.

• 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 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 + floor( (R_max − 1)/5))

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

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

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.

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.

GM:

• Confirm participants, and who is opposing who (for future Dominance outcomes)
• Confirm Stakes (ES) for this Conflict.

Each involved Actor:

• Pays the required ante of one Attribute Token of their choosing into the Ante Pot. Any Actor who cannot (or will not) ante is removed from the Conflict (defeated or surrendered).
• Chooses and plays one Face Down Trine Aspect Card (Mind / Body / Spirit),

Everyone :

• Reveals what Trine Aspect Card they played.
• Trine Dominance) (TD) is resolved pairwise against all opponents.
• 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.
• Tokens awarded add to an Actor's AVs for the remainder of the Conflict, or until they are eliminated by Damage (see below). Actor's “rise to the challenge.”

Each involved Actor:

• Chooses and plays one Face Down Action Card (that lists the Attribute that must be Bid). The Action Card must list an Attribute from the Aspect card that was played in Step 2,
• Chooses how many Attribute tokens to commit (your bid), up to their AV limit, and places those on top of their cards. These are normally played face down to bluff, but may be played face up to “chip bully”
• (Optional) Plays a Wildcard Token that adds +1 to their bid (PCs only by default; does not count against AV cap).

Everyone:

• Reveals what Action Card they played and what Attribute Tokens were bid.
• Attribute Dominance (AD) is resolved pairwise against all opponents.
• Checks for Sweep (winning both TD and AD against the same opponent.

GM:

• Awards +ES Tokens to each Actor's Bid who won an AD

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

Use the final final advantage results from the previous step to determine what happens:
For each opponent pair:

• Apply the Sweep (Critical) bonus if there is one:
  • If an Actor wins both TD and AD versus an opponent, add +ES to your Showdown Total.
• Compute each side’s Showdown Total:
  • Showdown = (real bid AV tokens committed) + ES Tokens (if any) + Sweep ES Tokens (if any) + (Wildcard if used)
• Higher Showdown wins.
• Margin = Winner Showdown − Loser Showdown

• Calculate Damage (pairwise):
  • If Margin ≤ 0 → 0 damage
  • If Margin > 0 → Damage D = ES + floor(Margin/5)
• Determine Damage type:
  • Damage is typed by the winner’s TA Card (Mind/Body/Spirit).
  • Damage reduces the defender’s AV(s) in that TA for the rest of the Conflict (persistent).
• Assign Persistent AV Damage:
  • The damaged Actor chooses how to distribute damage among Attributes in the damaged TA. They may apply it all to one AV, or spread it across two or all three.
  • AVs cannot go below 0.
  • Damage may not be applied to AVs listed as a dash (-) representing the Actor does not possess that Attribute. Divide damage to that TA by 3 and multiply the result by the number of numeric AVs the damaged Actor has.

• Reduce Attribute Values from damage by removing those tokens from their Stack.
• Check for Attributes reduced to 0. Such Actors are seriously wounded and may not play any Action Card in future Hands that would require a bid of that AV.
• (Extensions only): reduce Attribute Tokens from Committed Actions as a result of Damage.
• Refresh AV Tokens: return any tokens to an Actor's stack that were not Anted or lost as Damage (unless an Extension effect keeps them committed).
• Check for 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).
• Remove eliminated Actors from the Conflict. Eliminated Actors are considered to have surrendered, are unconscious, disabled, etc.
• Continue to next Hand or end the Conflict if all but one Actor has been Eliminated, or the GM 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
• Attribute Tokens (chips), one per AV
• Wildcard tokens (PCs only by default)
• TD reference card (Mind>Body>Spirit)
• AD reference card (intra-loops + cross-aspect 27 matchup table)