140 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
140 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
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# INTENT
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> **ground-game** is the product repository for **GROUND — A Game of Bonds and
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> Rivalry**: the rules, edition datasets, print-oriented content, scenarios, and
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> design memory for a semi-cooperative conflict card game. The first edition is
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> the **DARVO Edition**, which teaches players to hold the frame while
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> confronting problems, managing stress, and protecting relationships.
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This file is stable and aspirational. [`SCOPE.md`](SCOPE.md) describes what is
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actually in design or delivery *now*. A gap between INTENT and SCOPE is expected
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while the product matures.
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---
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## Purpose
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This repository exists to design, refine, and publish the **GROUND** game family
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as a playable, printable, and later digitally executable product.
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GROUND is a scenario-driven, semi-cooperative card game (2–6 players, with solo
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learning modes) about confronting problems while protecting reality, agency,
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dignity, and relationships. Players may pursue accountability and repair—or gain
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short-term advantage by redirecting blame, attacking credibility, and capturing
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the narrative. Every interaction changes not only the immediate outcome, but the
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conditions under which the next conflict will occur.
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The first edition centers **DARVO** (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender)
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as a binding sequential antagonist mechanism, answered by **GROUND** as the sole
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constructive self-regulation and frame-restoration practice in the core set:
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| Letter | Practice | Role |
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|--------|----------|------|
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| **G** | Ground yourself | Reduce overload before choosing |
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| **R** | Restate the issue | Keep the original concern visible |
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| **O** | Observe and separate | Distinguish facts, claims, and attacks |
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| **U** | Uphold a boundary | Set conditions for continued engagement |
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| **N** | Name the next step | Convert conflict into concrete repair |
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| **D** | Decide engagement level | Continue, pause, escalate, or leave |
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The game must do more than teach players to label three tactics. It should train
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them to **maintain orientation while the interaction tries to move them away
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from the original problem**.
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## Primary utility
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This repository is the authoritative home for:
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- edition datasets (cards, tokens, player mats, scenarios, rules text, BOM, print
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manifests) suitable for layout, print merges, localization, and digital import;
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- rules, glossary, modes, and design tokens for production and playtest;
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- design history and rationale that keep future editions coherent;
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- product-facing identity for GROUND editions (titles, versioning, status).
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Sister repository **clay-borg** owns the assimilating simulation/games *engine*
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that can run GROUND headlessly and later project it onto 2D/3D tabletops. This
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repository owns the *game product content and rules truth*, not the runtime
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substrate.
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## Four-layer conflict model
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The durable design identity separates four layers of play:
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| Layer | Central question |
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|-------|------------------|
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| **Problem** | What is actually happening? (hidden cards, evidence, solutions) |
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| **Interaction** | What are people doing now? (actions, DARVO, GROUND, repair) |
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| **Relationship** | What do we now expect from one another? (bonds, rivalries, memory) |
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| **Individual** | What can this person currently perceive, tolerate, and choose? (stress, agency, reflexes) |
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History across a session is the persistence mechanism: unresolved problems,
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precedents, breaches, wounds, and alliances carry into later conflicts.
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## Design principles
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1. **Hold the frame, do not merely name the tactic.** Success is preserving
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facts, agency, boundaries, and meaningful choice—not winning a vocabulary quiz.
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2. **DARVO must sometimes work locally.** Short-term advantage with delayed
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relational cost; the game must not only moralise.
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3. **Three (then four) layers stay mechanically separate.** Rhetorical moves must
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not automatically rewrite what happened.
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4. **Recognising a pattern is not proof of the underlying facts.** Labelling
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DARVO is evidence about accountability handling, not fact-finding.
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5. **Self-security is adaptive.** GROUND cards work independently; no full
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acronym combo is required.
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6. **Saving every relationship is not the win condition.** Boundary, process,
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distance, and exit can be successful outcomes.
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7. **Safety and consent are product requirements.** Safeguards, skip rights, and
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expert review before publication are part of the product, not optional polish.
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8. **Edition data is machine-reusable.** Stable IDs support layout templates,
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print pipelines, JSON export, and later digital runtimes (including clay-borg).
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9. **Target Revenue phases** may attach to versioned product milestones once
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monetization is declared; this repo follows org TRSL policy without inventing
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a separate licensing model.
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## Intended users
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- Game designers and playtesters refining rules and balance
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- Print and layout operators consuming CSV/edition bundles
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- Educators and facilitators exploring conflict capability (not clinical therapy)
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- clay-borg and other digital runtimes importing edition packages
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- Future commercial and noncommercial licensees under the org license policy
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## Strategic boundaries
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### This repository owns
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- GROUND game concepts, terminology, and edition identity
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- Card/token/mat/scenario/rules content and their stable identifiers
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- Print BOM, design tokens, symbols, and production-oriented manifests
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- Playtest datasets and design history for the product line
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- Product-level safeguards language and scenario review criteria
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### This repository does not own
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- The clay-borg engine, physics, networking, or rendering stack
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- Clinical diagnosis, therapy protocols, or adjudication of real abuse cases
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- Final graphic art production pipelines (beyond dataset + design tokens)
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- General Coulomb infrastructure (state-hub, ops-bridge, etc.)
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- Guarantees that every playtest scenario is trauma-reviewed until that gate is met
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## Maturity target
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A mature ground-game repository provides:
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1. One or more playtested, balance-stable edition packages with clear version tags
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2. Rules text and glossary sufficient to play without the designer present
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3. Print-ready manifests and BOMs for a first physical production run
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4. Machine-readable edition export consumed by clay-borg (or equivalent) for
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headless and tabletop digital play
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5. Documented learning modes (recognition → language → relationship)
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6. Expert-reviewed scenarios and published safeguards
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7. Optional Target Revenue Phase packaging for commercial development milestones
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## Stability note
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Changes to this file should represent a deliberate shift in what the GROUND
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product line is meant to become—not ordinary balance tweaks, edition packing, or
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implementation learning. Update [`SCOPE.md`](SCOPE.md) when delivery boundaries
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change.
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