Skip to main content

Mode Conversion Contract

What changes when play moves between table mode and duel mode. Anything not listed here is identical in both modes — that is the default, and the design goal is to keep this page short.

Identical across modes (do not re-specify)​

  • Activation: alternating atomic blocks between sides (round-robin for n>2).
  • Reaction triggers, the one-per-trigger-point cap, and resolution-gap timing.
  • Two-tier cost: card discarded on resolution + mana depleted, block-level refill.
  • Innate return-to-slot: discarded on use, returns to its slot end of turn.
  • Reshuffle on empty library. No deck-out loss in either mode.
  • Zones and Adjacency.
  • Win conditions and side configuration live in the scenario/game-mode layer, not in combat rules, in both modes (design/09-scenarios.md).
  • Feat mechanics: once-per-game, situational, discrete third cost tier, same in both modes.

Differs by mode​

Gear durability wear — DECIDED​

Table mode: gear wears once per combat initiative. Duel mode: gear wears once per reshuffle; all gear starts full and resets every game.

These are not the same clock, and that is intentional. A long table fight with generous draw/hand stats may see little wear; a duel with heavy reshuffling may see gear break mid-game. Table combat and duel combat have different natural paces and wear is tuned to each. A contributor will default to assuming parity — this overrides that.

Gear repair — PARTIALLY DECIDED​

Both modes: banked repair via class-granted innate action. Table mode additionally has out-of-combat repair rules — undefined. Duel mode has none (reset each game covers it).

Feat acquisition — DECIDED​

Table mode: feats are earned — a GM grants one for a noteworthy, heroic, or epic act, tied to that character's story. No formula; a GM tool. Duel mode: feats are deckbuilt — a small fixed allotment (one, maybe two) chosen at construction. Same card, same once-per-game rule, different route onto the sheet. Table-mode reset default: once per the most restorative rest tier (rest tiers themselves undesigned).

Sheet surface — DECIDED IN PRINCIPLE​

Duel mode ignores the map-dependent and GM-dependent portions of the sheet. Undefined: exactly which portions. Needs enumerating once the sheet has a defined shape.

Still open​

  • Ordering within a block: may the table choose freely where a duel cannot? If so, say why here, deliberately.
  • Loss condition — may or may not differ by mode. Currently undefined in both.