This is the LEDNIK Flow of Play. The key elements are Status Quo, Tone and Scope.

STATUS QUO: Everything that has gone before. The State of affairs. More specifically (to allow for those occasional retcons) , the most popular version or best remembered version of what has gone before. The core loop of LEDNIK is to establish the Status Quo, introduce change and update the outcome into the Status Quo, repeat.

TONE: The Referee has 3 questions. The first is `What do you want?’ This is in response to introducing a change and presenting it’s most likely outcome in terms of the Status Quo. Up to this point the conversation may be quite broad and sweeping, it is a narrowing of options. When the Players respond the Referee must decide if what they want is reasonable and compatible with this change. If so, the Referee asks; `What do you do?’ This conversation is then summarized by the Referee (Roll into Status Quo) and play returns to discussion. If what the players want presents some likelihood of conflict with the introduced change, the Referee asks `What is your Plan?’ and proceeds to Scope.

SCOPE: The players present their Plan, a skeleton summary of how they want to deal with the change to get what they want. Scope is the Referee’s opportunity to think about the Status Quo, what the players want, Filters, Triggers and Oracles (See future Blog Posts!). To consider the scale and implications of the interaction between the change and the Player’s Plan.  The conversation at this point will either loop back to discussion or will proceed to Risks and Outcomes.

RISK: This is the dice mechanic built on the core of Cthulhu Dark. More on this in a future post. The output will be at least one Challenge that emerges as the players execute their Plan. Players can use Resources and Traits to offset some of the Challenges. [Beware the hidden Loyalty tracking mechanic!] The net result of the Challenges and Offsets are summarised by the Referee and incorporated into the Status Quo. Play continues.