Before the candle is lit, both players speak to these six questions. Honestly. The answers are visible to each other. No scene opens without the Threshold.
1 = can barely hold a candle. 5 = enough for a gentle scene. 10 = bring the storm.
Separate from the permanent Banished Names. These are today's specific "not tonight" items.
At every moment of play, the ember is lit. Either player may signal. The signal is never questioned in the moment.
The Ember must be persistently visible in both admin/index.html and player/player.html. Recommended implementation:
vg_signals key) that both views poll.pause.html#hearth.The scene has closed. The book is shut. But the fire still warms the stones. Walk the seven stations before the night ends.
Four rounds. In as the ring grows, out as it shrinks. The ring keeps time.
Same prompts as the Threshold. Notice what moved.
Dazed. Warm. Rattled. Wanting. Quiet. Seen. Raw. Held.
What was bound here is bound well.
What was barred here is barred wholly.
The ember is snuffed. The book is closed.
We leave the scene on the page where it lives.
The Grimoire is a game. It is not a therapist. When a session surfaces material that the game cannot hold, these are the books you want instead.
The short reading. The full text lives in SAFETY.md. Read this before play. Read it again when something drifts.
Before the candle is lit, before the page is turned, before the first roll clatters upon the table — speak the compact. What is binding between us here, and what is barred.
At every moment of play, the ember is lit. Either player may snuff it. Three tiers: Dim (softer), Hold (pause), Snuff (close the book). The signal is never questioned in the moment.
No scene begins without it. Body, bandwidth, green, yellow, red, aftercare. Both players speak to all six. Answers are visible to each other. The DM updates the scene queue accordingly.
Hard limits. Never on the page — not off-screen, not implied, not metaphorical. Stored on the protagonist. Any scene tag matching a Banished Name is refused by the engine.
Hallowed: exists in the lore, never narrated on screen. Veiled: narrated impressionistically, camera turned away. Open: full narration permitted.
The engine currently offers Fight / Flight / Freeze. Add Fawn — appeasement, the self that survives by pleasing the threat. A trauma-aware mechanic without Fawn leaves a real response unrepresented.
Seven stations: breath, body check, water, name the room, two words, offer, seal. Minimum five minutes. Unconditional after a Snuff. The session is not over until the seal.
First session of a new campaign: no explicit or visceral scenes. One visceral scene per session at most. Don't end on a visceral scene. When life is bad outside the Grimoire, play smaller.