Actions in Detail

CRADLE — Nurture and Build

Cradle actions invest in the settlement's future: growing food, repairing infrastructure, teaching skills, preserving culture, building relationships. These are proactive, generative actions that create capacity and sustainability.

Duskara-Specific Cradle Examples:

Agricultural & Resource:

Infrastructure & Technology:

Cultural & Social:

Ecological & Adaptation:

Cradle Success Outcomes:

WARD — Defend and Protect

Ward actions respond to immediate threats: storms, equipment failures, conflicts, external dangers. These are reactive, protective actions ensuring the settlement survives to continue building.

Duskara-Specific Ward Examples:

Environmental Hazards:

Infrastructure Crises:

Social Threats:

External Dangers:

Ward Success Outcomes:

PROJECT — Major Initiatives

Projects are substantial undertakings requiring multiple cycles and coordination. They represent the settlement's ambitious plans for growth, exploration, or transformation.

Starting a Project:

When the table agrees to begin a Project, define:

  1. Goal: What are you trying to achieve?
  2. Scope: How many progress segments needed (typically 3-5)
  3. Requirements: What resources or conditions necessary
  4. Stakes: What happens if it fails or succeeds

Mark a Project Track with segments. Each successful Cradle action toward the Project fills one segment. When all segments are filled, the Project completes.

During each cycle with an active Project:

Duskara-Specific Project Examples:

Infrastructure Projects (3-4 segments):

Exploration Projects (4-5 segments):

Cultural Projects (3-4 segments):

Technological Projects (4-5 segments):

Project Completion: When all segments are filled, describe the Project's success and its impacts. Completed Projects often:

Project Failure: Projects can be abandoned if circumstances change or the settlement decides to prioritize differently. This isn't necessarily bad—it reflects shifting needs. But invested resources are lost, and abandoned Projects may leave complications.

DELIBERATE — Discuss and Decide

Deliberate actions focus on collective decision-making, resolving internal tensions, and defining community values. These are purely social and philosophical—you're not building or defending, you're deciding who you are as a people.

When to Deliberate:

Deliberate Mechanics:

Unlike other actions, Deliberate doesn't use dice. Instead, the table engages in actual discussion and roleplays the community's decision-making process.

The Process:

  1. Frame the question: What exactly are we deciding?
  2. Voice perspectives: Players speak for different viewpoints (not necessarily their own)
  3. Seek common ground: What can everyone accept?
  4. Make a decision: Consensus, vote, elder ruling, or other method appropriate to your culture
  5. Record the outcome: Document the decision and its implications

Important: The settlement's decision doesn't need to be unanimous among players—that's often unrealistic. But the choice to use Deliberate should be unanimous among players. If the table agrees this issue demands community attention, then you Deliberate. The in-setting outcome can reflect disagreement, compromise, or even bitter splits.

Duskara-Specific Deliberate Examples:

Cultural Identity Questions:

Resource Ethics:

Governance Questions:

Adaptation Dilemmas:

Deliberate Outcomes:

Consensus Reached:

Compromise Achieved:

Fracture Occurs:

Example Deliberate:

Open Question: "Are psychic talented honored community assets or dangerous anomalies?"

The table discusses:

Outcome: The settlement establishes a Psychic Academy offering training and community, but also regulation and ethics guidelines. Mostly consensus, with lingering discomfort from both extremes. Tension stays stable, but a new resource (trained, integrated psychics) is gained.