Original Variant Concept: The Inpatient Corridors

System: Veiled Dominion Engine — four-player variant Design philosophy: The Architecture of Restraint vs. the Anatomy of an Outburst

This file preserves the earlier design concept for review and provenance. It is not the public-release ruleset and does not imply approval by Chris Webby, Ren, or Inpatient.

Core thesis

If base Veiled Dominion is an abstract, spiritual mastery of the void, The Inpatient Corridors is the psychological pressure cooker of a mind trying to survive within strict boundaries. It models the cognitive load created by enforced restraint and the structural consequences of an outburst.

1. Core mechanics

A. The Tension Pool — the White Room metric

• Whenever a player passes or executes a non-capturing defensive move to preserve equilibrium, add 1 Tension Point (TP) to that player's pool.
• As TP rises, the Radius of Ruin gains psychological weight. Pieces adjacent to the Void test against current TP to avoid entering Mania.
• A player may deliberately shatter a full Tension Pool to execute a volatile, rule-bending Outburst. The pool resets to zero, but the move changes the local board geometry.

B. Fractured Perspectives — original split-flow archetypes

The original concept divided pieces between two operational states:

1. Analytical Restraint / “Ren State” — precise control, threat deflection, TP generation, and no captures.
2. Volatile Variable / “Webby State” — rapid movement and offensive reach after entering a contested sector, paired with reduced defense.

These names are preserved here because they were part of the prior concept. They are removed from the playable rules because they risk turning real people into diagnostic or behavioral types without their participation.

2. Dynamic board states and track integration

Phase I: The Closed Grid — “Madhouse”

• Trigger: Turns 1–12.
• Perimeter walls constrain movement.
• Pieces begin in tight institutional formations.
• Aggressive early movement beyond a player's quadrant carries a structural penalty.

Phase II: The Creeping Web — “Tarantula”

• Trigger: Any Tension Pool reaches 8 TP or the first piece enters the central Void.
• The Radius of Ruin becomes predatory.
• A piece entering the center becomes Ensnared: it may sink deeper or sacrifice structural integrity to escape.

Phase III: The Shattered Boundary — “Smoking Gun”

• Trigger: A player detonates a maximum Tension Pool or a Prime piece is directly threatened.
• For three rounds, standard movement restrictions collapse.
• The game enters a rapid, unstable state in which accumulated positional harm becomes visible.

3. Original piece modifiers

• Augur / Consul — Institutionalist: enforces the Closed Grid and gains defense beside pieces carrying high tension.
• Helot / Fractured Pawn — Patient: when eliminated, leaves a persistent Psychological Trauma tile that obstructs later movement.

4. Original development purpose

• Stress-test dynamic phases and changing environmental rules in the Veiled Dominion engine.
• Introduce high-velocity rupture without abandoning the base game's emphasis on calculated restraint.

Required revision

The original ending still rewarded restraint as the superior path. The revised prototype asks a harder question: if the rules themselves generate the pressure, is continued restraint actually victory? The playable version therefore adds Break the Grid, a cooperative system-redesign ending.