Conditions

A condition decides whether a rule may fire. Items, abilities, hooks, world events and quests all use the same one, so you only learn it once.

It's a list of entries plus a mode: all (every entry must hold) or any (one is enough).

Entry types

• world flag
• has item
• character alive / at a location
• the party is at a location: a journey, an arrival, a return home
• item lying at a location (on the ground or fixed in place, not carried)
• creatures killed (quest steps only), optionally only those killed at one place
• stat comparison
• field comparison
• time of day
• time since the game began
• ability
• expression: write the gate yourself
• narrative (quests only): plain English, judged by the model

Use the structured entries when they fit; they read better in the editor. Use expression for arithmetic or anything the entries can't say:

$.field('fever') > $.stat('resolve') * 2

Narrative is quests only

A narrative entry ("the player spoke to the mayor about the tides") is judged by the model. Everything except quests has to decide instantly, so narrative entries are rejected anywhere else. A hook can't stall a turn waiting on a model call.

Example

A door that opens only at night, only with the key, and only after the harbor has closed:

• mode: all
• time of day: 20:00 to 04:00
• has item: Lighthouse Key
• world flag: harbor is closed

The first two as one expression entry, with the world flag check left structured:

$.timeBetween(1200, 240) && $.hasItem('Lighthouse Key')

$.timeBetween takes minutes into the day, so 20:00 is 1200.

Time since the game began

The world clock opens on day one at the game's start hour, not at zero, so comparing $.timeMinutes against a small number is true from the first turn. The time since the game began entry counts from the first turn instead, and $.minutesPassed is the same number in an expression:

$.minutesPassed >= 360   // six hours in

For "six hours after the alarm was raised", start a timer from the step that raises it ($.startTimer, see Steps) and give the event the timer trigger.

Watch for null

A field comparison against a field the subject doesn't have fails. If "doesn't have it yet" should pass, say so:

!$.hasField('infection') || $.field('infection') < 5

See Missing values.