The Inpatient Corridors — Playable Prototype Rules

Veiled Dominion scenario Players: 2–4 Length: 30–50 minutes Prototype status: paper-playtest rules; balance values are provisional

Objective

Players begin as rival Keepers inside a Closed Grid. They may pursue a conventional personal victory, but the shared Tension Track makes domination increasingly destructive. A second victory becomes available: cooperate to Break the Grid and build a viable Continuum of Care before the board collapses.

Components

• A Veiled Dominion four-quadrant board with a central 2×2 Void
• One Prime, two Wardens, two Guides, and four Travelers per player
• One personal Tension marker per player
• One shared System Pressure marker
• 12 Trauma tokens
• 12 Support tokens
• Six Care cards: Housing, Peer Support, Mobile Crisis Response, Clinical Care, Transportation, and Creative Space
• One six-sided die

Use neutral prototype components. No artist music, artwork, logos, likenesses, lyrics, or track titles are required to play.

Setup

1. Each player selects a quadrant and places their Prime in its rear center.
2. Place Wardens beside the Prime, Guides one row forward, and Travelers along the front edge.
3. Put all personal Tension markers at 0 and System Pressure at 0.
4. Place the Care cards face up beside the board.
5. Give each player one Support token.

Turn structure

On a turn, take one action:

• Move: move one piece using its base Veiled Dominion movement.
• Contain: prevent one adjacent opposing piece from moving until its controller's next turn; gain 1 personal Tension.
• Mask: decline movement and gain one Support token; also gain 1 personal Tension.
• Connect: give one Support token to another player or remove 1 Tension from an adjacent piece's controller.
• Escalate: spend Tension to perform an Outburst.
• Change the Environment: contribute toward unlocking a Care card.

After every full round, resolve the current phase and increase System Pressure if required.

Tension

Players gain 1 Tension when they:

• Contain another piece;
• Mask;
• make a non-capturing defensive move while adjacent to the Void;
• lose a Traveler; or
• cannot make a legal move because of a wall or Trauma token.

Maximum personal Tension is 8.

Pressure test

When a player reaches 6–7 Tension, roll a die at the start of their turn:

• 1–2: Withdraw — move one controlled piece one square away from the nearest occupied square if possible.
• 3–4: Freeze — the player may only Connect, Mask, or Change the Environment this turn.
• 5–6: Choose freely.

At 8 Tension, the player must either receive Support before their next action or trigger an Outburst.

Outburst

An Outburst is a system effect, not a diagnosis or moral failure.

Reset personal Tension from 8 to 2, then choose one:

• Move one piece twice, ignoring one occupied square.
• Remove one wall restriction until the end of the round.
• Displace every adjacent piece one square.

Then place one Trauma token on the origin or destination square and raise System Pressure by 1. A Trauma square cannot be entered until a player spends two Support tokens to clear it.

Phases

Phase I — Closed Grid

Rounds 1–3

• Pieces cannot cross directly from one outer quadrant into another.
• Contain actions are free but still create Tension.
• Each capture raises System Pressure by 1.

Phase II — Creeping Web

Begins after Round 3, when any player reaches 6 Tension, or when a piece enters the Void.

• A piece entering the Void becomes Ensnared.
• An Ensnared piece may exit only if its controller spends one Support token, another player uses Connect on it, or it moves farther into the Void.
• At the end of each round, add a Trauma token beside the Void if nobody used Connect.

Phase III — Shattered Boundary

Begins when System Pressure reaches 6, a Prime is threatened, or an Outburst removes a wall.

• Quadrant walls no longer restrict movement.
• All pieces may move one extra square when moving toward the center.
• Capturing a Prime no longer ends the game.
• Players have three rounds to choose Domination or attempt Break the Grid.

Change the Environment

To unlock a Care card, players collectively place the required number of Support tokens on it:

Clinical Care cannot be imposed on another player. Consent is mechanically required.

Endings

Conventional victory — Control

After three Shattered Boundary rounds, the player with the most surviving influence wins individually. Subtract:

• 2 points for each Outburst triggered;
• 1 point for each capture; and
• 1 point for each unresolved Trauma token in that player's quadrant.

Record this as a Control ending, not the best possible outcome.

Cooperative victory — Break the Grid

All players win if, before the third Shattered Boundary round ends, they:

1. Unlock four different Care cards;
2. include Housing and either Peer Support or Mobile Crisis Response;
3. reduce System Pressure to 3 or below by spending one Support token per point; and
4. ensure every surviving player has a legal path from their quadrant to a safe square.

This is the Continuum ending: escape is incomplete unless a support structure exists outside the corridor.

System collapse

Everyone loses if System Pressure reaches 10 or no surviving player has a legal move. The debrief should focus on which rules produced collapse—not which player should be blamed.

Chris-driven facilitation layer

This optional layer translates the discography research into original, artist-neutral mechanics. Its use does not imply Chris Webby's participation or permission.

Own Your Move

Before an Outburst or another action that will raise System Pressure, the acting player states the outcome they are trying to produce. Record only the stated goal, action, and result. Do not interpret motive, personality, or diagnosis.

Call It Plainly

Once per round, a player may name one active rule they believe generated Tension or System Pressure.

• If another player corroborates the observation, create 1 Support.
• If another player disagrees, record both views for the debrief.
• Corroboration concerns the board event, not the speaker's identity or health.

Crew Check

When a player requests help, each other player may choose one response:

• Support: contribute a token or legal Connect action.
• Challenge: identify a likely board consequence before the move resolves.
• Decline: do not participate, without penalty.

No response is assumed.

Receipts

Whenever System Pressure rises, record the action or rule that caused it. A receipt contains no player diagnosis, private disclosure, or speculation.

Revision Cycle

At the end of each phase:

1. Review one receipt.
2. Identify the rule and observed consequence.
3. Let every player propose a change or pass.
4. Adopt one temporary revision only with unanimous consent.
5. Mark it as a playtest rule, not permanent canon.

Independent Exit

A player may leave the scenario at the end of their turn without being labeled defeated. Remove their pieces without increasing System Pressure. The remaining table continues, while the debrief records whether a safe route or support structure existed for that exit.

Optional compact card module

After players understand the base rules, add the neutral 16-card Break the Grid deck. Deal one card to each player, draw at the start of each turn, and allow one card to be played instead of a normal action.

Each card offers an Immediate Response and a Collective Change. This module is designed to test player agency and system redesign without restoring the archived 52-card War Hand, suit hierarchy, or dice-combat system.

Use the printable card sheet for paper playtesting.

Debrief prompts

1. Which actions created pressure while appearing orderly or helpful?
2. Who carried the cost of other players' safety?
3. When did individual control conflict with collective care?
4. Which Care card changed the system most? Which absence was most damaging?
5. Did consent change the value of Clinical Care?
6. What would you rewrite before playing again?

Prototype cautions

These rules require balance testing. The Care options are simplified representations, not a complete health system. Facilitators should use the safeguards in RIGHTS-AND-SAFETY.md and should not interpret player choices as psychological assessment.