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Add The Frontier, a second setting, and a picker to choose between them

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Cold Fork is a freight yard: 29 events across two stages, a four-day cycle, and
its own relationship and skill vocabulary. src/engine/ was not touched. Adding it
needed three changes outside the engine: one save slot per pack, app.js holding
the current pack, and turn.js no longer naming the mailroom (DECISIONS #34).
build.js now handles imports wrapped across lines. A conformance suite runs over
every registered pack. DECISIONS #35 records three calls on open questions.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01RxdJFbLq1rBKsUeticGV1g
This commit is contained in:
JesseMarkowitz
2026-09-12 21:03:50 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 4957c24e31
commit 7f20be83e8
25 changed files with 3015 additions and 300 deletions
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content/frontier/events/routine.js
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// Ordinary days in the yard.
//
// `stage_day`, `ridge_road` and `yard_work` carry no conditions, no cooldown
// and no `once`, which makes them this stage's floor: whatever else is
// excluded, there is always a turn to play.
//
// Note what the ungated options give. Corporate Ladder put four of its best
// negotiation gains behind a negotiation gate, and its logs show players
// bouncing off that wall for thirty turns. Every gate in this pack has ungated
// repeatable growth underneath it — see DECISIONS.md #32.
export const routine = [
{
id: 'first_morning',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 99999,
once: true,
description:
'Hollis Vane looks at your hands rather than your face, says the pay is ' +
'twenty-four dollars a run, the room at the Cordwood is eight and the ' +
'feed is what it is, and lets you do that arithmetic yourself. Dutch ' +
'Rennels is already harnessing.',
options: [
{
id: 'ask_the_rate',
label: 'Ask what a man makes on top of the twenty-four.',
result:
'He says that depends entirely on you, and goes inside. It is the ' +
'most useful thing anybody tells you all week.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'notable', op: 'push', value: 'Asked Vane what the work was really worth.' },
],
},
{
id: 'get_to_work',
label: 'Say nothing and pick up a harness.',
result:
'Dutch watches you do it wrong, then watches you do it right, and ' +
'does not offer a word either time.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: 3 },
],
},
{
id: 'ask_dutch',
label: 'Ask Dutch which of these animals bites.',
result:
'He tells you. He also tells you he has driven the Ridge road two ' +
'years, which is not an answer to the question you asked.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 1 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 5 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: -5 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'stage_day',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 100,
description:
'The stage is in and there are nine crates on the platform for a wagon ' +
'that holds seven. The driver wants to be gone inside the hour and is ' +
'saying so at length.',
options: [
{
id: 'two_trips',
label: 'Run it twice. Nobody has to know it took all day.',
result: 'It takes all day. Everybody knows.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
{
id: 'load_high',
label: 'Stack it high and rope it down.',
result:
'Seven crates and two more where a man would sit. It holds as far as ' +
'the creek crossing, which is farther than you expected.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 8 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: -2 },
],
},
{
id: 'talk_the_driver',
label: 'Talk the driver into leaving two for the next stage.',
requires: [{ path: 'skills.trade', op: '>=', value: 12 }],
result:
'He leaves two. He also mentions your name at the far end of the ' +
'line, favourably, which you will not hear about for a month.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 6 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 3 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'ridge_road',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 100,
description:
'A load for the Ridge camp, out and back in a day if the weather holds. ' +
'The last mile is the one with the bad turn on it, and everybody knows ' +
'which mile that is.',
options: [
{
id: 'drive_it',
label: 'Take it out yourself.',
result:
'The bad turn is exactly as advertised. You come back with the wagon ' +
'and the animals and most of your composure.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 9 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
{
id: 'go_with_dutch',
label: 'Ask Dutch to take the reins and ride along.',
result:
'He drives it in silence and points at the bad turn without slowing. ' +
'You learn the road. You do not learn much else.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.owes_you', op: 'add', value: -2 },
],
},
{
id: 'take_the_gun',
label: 'Ask Hollis for the scattergun and go alone.',
requires: [{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: '>=', value: 12 }],
result:
'He hands it over without a word, which is the first time he has ' +
'agreed to anything you asked for.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 14 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'flags.carries_iron', op: 'set', value: true },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 5 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'yard_work',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 100,
description:
'No stage, no run, and a yard full of things that are nearly broken. ' +
'Hollis is in the office with the ledger and the door shut.',
options: [
{
id: 'mend_harness',
label: 'Mend the harness that keeps parting.',
result:
'You find where it parts. It is not where anybody has been mending ' +
'it, which explains the last two years.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
{
id: 'shoe_the_team',
label: 'Walk the team down to the smith and stand for the bill.',
result:
'Eleven dollars of your own money on Vane’s animals. The smith ' +
'writes your name in his book, and so, eventually, does Vane.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: -11 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.owes_you', op: 'add', value: 12 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 4 },
],
},
{
id: 'idle',
label: 'Sit in the shade until something needs doing.',
result:
'Nothing needs doing. It is the first hour of the week that has been ' +
'yours, and you notice it going.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 1 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: -3 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'broken_axle',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 55,
cooldown: 5,
description:
'The near wagon comes back with a cracked axle and a driver who says it ' +
'was cracked when he took it. Dutch says it was not.',
options: [
{
id: 'fix_it',
label: 'Get under it and put a splint on.',
result:
'It will hold for a season, which is longer than the last three ' +
'repairs on the same wagon.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 3 },
],
},
{
id: 'back_dutch',
label: 'Say Dutch is right, because Dutch is right.',
result:
'The driver takes it badly and the yard takes note. Dutch says ' +
'nothing, and writes something in his book.',
effects: [
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: -3 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 8 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.owes_you', op: 'add', value: 6 },
],
},
{
id: 'stay_out',
label: 'Have no view on the axle.',
result: 'Both of them decide, separately, that you are no use to them.',
effects: [
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: -4 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: -2 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 1 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'the_store',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 60,
cooldown: 4,
description:
'Everything in Cold Fork that is not freight is in this one building, ' +
'and the book on the counter is where the town keeps its real accounts.',
options: [
{
id: 'buy_plain',
label: 'Buy what you need and pay for it.',
result: 'Coffee, a shirt, and a second blanket. The nights are turning.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: -6 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
{
id: 'on_credit',
label: 'Put it on the book.',
result:
'He writes it without looking up. Being in the book is not a ' +
'disgrace here; being in it a long time is.',
effects: [
{ path: 'owed', op: 'add', value: 14 },
{ path: 'flags.owes_the_store', op: 'set', value: true },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: -1 },
],
},
{
id: 'haggle',
label: 'Argue the price of the coffee on principle.',
result:
'You win eleven cents and an hour of your life goes into it. He ' +
'enjoys it more than you do, and remembers you afterwards.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: -4 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 1 },
],
},
{
id: 'pay_down',
label: 'Put money against the book.',
requires: [
{ path: 'owed', op: '>', value: 0 },
{ path: 'money', op: '>=', value: 20 },
],
result: 'He crosses a line through it and turns the page back over.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: -20 },
{ path: 'owed', op: 'add', value: -20 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 2 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'weather',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 45,
cooldown: 6,
description:
'It has been raining since the small hours and the creek crossing is ' +
'four feet up. There is a load for the camp that was wanted yesterday.',
options: [
{
id: 'wait_it_out',
label: 'Nothing moves today.',
result:
'The creek is down by evening and the camp waits a day. It is the ' +
'right call, which is not the same as a popular one.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: -2 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 1 },
],
},
{
id: 'ford_it',
label: 'Ford it.',
result:
'The wagon floats for about six feet, which is six feet more than a ' +
'wagon should. The load gets there wet and on time.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 16 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 3 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: 6 },
],
},
{
id: 'long_way',
label: 'Take the long road round the head of the creek.',
requires: [{ path: 'skills.trade', op: '>=', value: 12 }],
result:
'Eleven extra miles and a dry load. Dutch did not know that road was ' +
'passable, and now has to know that you did.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: 11 },
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.hollis.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: 4 },
],
},
],
},
{
id: 'road_agents',
stage: 'hand',
weight: 30,
cooldown: 8,
requires: [{ path: 'turn', op: '>=', value: 8 }],
description:
'Two riders come out of the rocks a mile short of the camp and sit their ' +
'horses across the road. Neither of them looks like he has done this ' +
'often enough to be calm about it.',
options: [
{
id: 'hand_it_over',
label: 'Give them the box and remember the horses.',
result:
'They take it and go. You give Marshal Ward a description of two ' +
'horses that is better than anything he has had in a year.',
effects: [
{ path: 'money', op: 'add', value: -8 },
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 2 },
{ path: 'relationships.ward.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 8 },
{ path: 'notable', op: 'push', value: 'Was stopped on the Ridge road, and gave Ward the horses.' },
],
},
{
id: 'talk_them_down',
label: 'Tell them what is actually in the box.',
result:
'It is a crate of hinges and forty pounds of nails. The older one ' +
'laughs. They let you by, which is worse for them than it is for you.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.trade', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 4 },
{ path: 'notable', op: 'push', value: 'Talked two road agents out of a crate of hinges.' },
],
},
{
id: 'bring_it_up',
label: 'Bring the scattergun up off the floorboards.',
requires: [{ path: 'flags.carries_iron', op: '==', value: true }],
result:
'Nobody fires. They go back into the rocks and the story is around ' +
'Cold Fork before the wagon is.',
effects: [
{ path: 'skills.nerve', op: 'add', value: 5 },
{ path: 'standing', op: 'add', value: 8 },
{ path: 'relationships.ward.trusts_you', op: 'add', value: 6 },
{ path: 'relationships.dutch.wary_of_you', op: 'add', value: 8 },
{ path: 'notable', op: 'push', value: 'Brought the scattergun up on the Ridge road.' },
],
},
],
},
];
export default routine;