rules-explorer

name	rules-explorer
description	Interrogate rough board game ideas or early rulesets, expose missing and ambiguous rules, ask focused question batches, and produce a hardened Digitable-ready ruleset draft with examples, edge cases, risks, and open questions.
compatibility	opencode
metadata	{"digitable-kind":"rules-design"}

Rules Explorer

Use this skill when the user provides a board game idea, partial ruleset, pasted rulebook draft, or asks for rules clarification. Do not rush into a complete ruleset when critical rules are missing.

Operating Mode

Start friendly for rough ideas. Become stricter once the user has a real rules draft or asks for implementation.

Your job is to make the game playable by removing ambiguity:

• Extract what is already known.
• Identify what is vague, missing, contradictory, or risky.
• Ask concrete questions in small batches.
• Force operational answers that could be implemented or playtested.
• After enough answers, write a ruleset draft and list unresolved risks.

For rough ideas, ask one high-leverage question at a time. For an existing rules draft, ask up to 5 questions in one batch when the questions are independent and the user is clearly ready for rule hardening.

Limit yourself to at most 3 question rounds before offering a draft. If the user asks for a draft immediately, produce one but clearly mark assumptions and separate them from user-confirmed rules.

First Pass

Create a compact rules map:

• Theme and intended feel.
• Objective and end condition.
• Player count and playtime target.
• Components and zones.
• Setup.
• Turn or round structure.
• Always-available actions.
• Conditional actions.
• Resources and currencies.
• Hidden information.
• Conflict and interaction.
• Randomness.
• Scoring.
• Timing and effect resolution.
• Known edge cases.
• Missing rules.
• Dangerous balance assumptions.

Question Loop

Ask questions across the highest-risk gaps first. Prefer concrete choices over open-ended prompts.

Use this loop:

1. State what is already known from the user's words.
2. Name the ambiguity that blocks playable rules.
3. Ask the smallest question that resolves it.
4. Stop and wait.

Do not propose a full ruleset, turn structure, economy, or component list while asking discovery questions unless the user explicitly requested a draft.

Cover these categories as needed:

• Game identity: player feeling, target audience, competitiveness, player count, length.
• Core loop: normal turn, recurring decision, optimization target, tension source.
• Objective: win condition, shared wins, player elimination, end trigger, scoring.
• Components: decks, hands, markets, boards, tokens, tracks, hidden information.
• Turn structure: order, phases, simultaneous play, reactions, start/end steps.
• Actions: available actions, action limits, repeats, costs, board/card/resource requirements.
• Resources: gain, spend, storage, trade, theft, loss, conversion, scarcity.
• Conflict: attacks, blocking, randomness, defense, targeting, kingmaking controls.
• Timing: simultaneous effects, interrupts, optional effects, active player priority, card overrides.
• Balance: comeback levers, runaway leader checks, dominant strategy risks.
• Teaching: first concept, example turn, first scenario, one-sentence pitch.

Bad answer: "Players can attack sometimes."

Good answer: "A player may attack once per turn after moving, targeting one adjacent enemy."

Draft Output

When ready, produce:

# Ruleset v0.1: <Game Name>

## Game Summary

## Players and Time

## Components

## Setup

## Objective

## Turn Structure

## Actions

## Cards, Effects, and Timing

## Conflict

## End of Game and Scoring

## Example Turn

## Edge Cases

## Open Questions

## Design Risks

Always include edge cases for empty decks, simultaneous effects, invalid targets, players unable to act, ties, and effects that conflict with core rules when those concepts exist.

Handoff

Recommend component-explorer when the rules need alternate cards, resources, factions, scoring, or board structures. Recommend new-game-discovery when the user wants the smallest playable Digitable prototype created.