# The ClockWork Dark

> Source: <https://discuss.huggingface.co/t/the-clockwork-dark/177032#post_4>
> Published: 2026-06-22 01:33:59+00:00

The world is no longer static scenery — it **reacts**.

`unmake`

reckoning at the tower. The narrative spine is complete: tunnels open → descend → Hollow Hill → name the Hollow Crown → carry the older name → unmake the Dark.`:focus-visible`

; `prefers-reduced-motion`

.A deterministic engine holds all mechanical truth; two autonomous LLM agents improvise on top; a governance layer reins them in; OKFS feeds them canon; media renders it.

```
flowchart TB
    subgraph HARD["Hard Engine — engine/game/ (the only authority)"]
        STATE["GameState · dice · combat · crafting · travel<br/>evil_ticker · DoomClock · challenges · contracts"]
        SKILLS["@skill registry — engine/skills/<br/>roll_dice · resolve_combat · craft_item · move_to · confront_darkness"]
    end
    subgraph AGENTS["Two Agents — engine/agents/"]
        DRIVER["Storyteller / Driver<br/>big model · drives world · Evaluator gate + retry"]
        ASSIST["Assistant<br/>small model · unreliable companion<br/>AssistantDirector: when / with-what / how-reliably"]
    end
    subgraph GOV["Governance — engine/governance/ + engine/mcp/"]
        PRE["PRE interceptors — shape the prompt<br/>LoreInject · DoomBeat · EvilPhaseTone · StorytellerMind · AwarenessGate"]
        POST["POST audit — SceneRulesEngine R001-R005<br/>RulesGovernor records LLM overreach"]
    end
    subgraph KNOW["OKFS Knowledge — knowledge/"]
        OKFS["one concept per .md + frontmatter + links<br/>lore · NPCs · items · arcs · runbooks · metrics<br/>content-hashed _index.json"]
    end
    subgraph MEDIA["Media — engine/media/ (graceful degradation)"]
        IMG["ComfyUI images / cutscenes"]
        VOICE["Voxtral TTS / STT"]
    end
    OBS["Oracle — engine/observability/ · /api/metrics"]

    SKILLS <--> STATE
    AGENTS -- "propose, never decide" --> SKILLS
    PRE --> AGENTS --> POST
    KNOW -. "RAG / progressive disclosure" .-> AGENTS
    AGENTS --> MEDIA
    AGENTS --> OBS
    POST --> OBS
```

The balance we chase: let the AIs run loose enough to **surprise**; rein them with the engine + governance enough to stay **coherent and fair**.

| System | What it does | Key tools |
|---|---|---|
Deterministic dice / skill engine |
All randomness is engine-rolled and reproducible. The LLM must call a tool before narrating any outcome. |
`roll_dice` , `resolve_skill_check` |
Grounded combat |
Engine-authoritative d20 to-hit, damage dice, fear/exhaustion, fleeing, defending, and sympathy — the “unmaking” damage that works against clockwork foes. |
`resolve_combat` , `query_combat_state` |
Crafting |
Baking, herbalism, tinkering. Engine consumes inputs, grants output; recipes gate on location & ingredients. | `craft_item` , `list_recipes` |
The Doom Clock |
Turns evil drift into a story — arcs `quiet_life → whisper → march → convergence → consumed` , once-only world-sign beats (cog-harvesters, brass scarecrow, vines, the opened tunnels, the tower), and the terminal consumed ending if you never push back. Engagement (rising when you confront the Dark) slows the tick ~40%, but decays — so you must keep pushing. |
`confront_darkness` |
The reactive world |
Doom Clock beats reshape the map — each fires declarative effects (flags, discoveries, rumors, NPC relocations) onto `GameState` . Crossing a beat unlocks new ground, displaces villagers, and gates notice-board postings. The world remembers. |
`apply_beat_effects` |
Set-pieces |
Authored, world-gated challenges — the tunnel-mouth (a branching underground descent) and the warden barrow (Hollow Hill — learn the older name or trust the faceless Assistant). Presented by the engine, resolved by the standard challenge system, with per-node scene art and riddles. |
`start_set_piece` |
NPC movement |
Named villagers relocate as the Dark spreads — Aldric abandons the forest margin, Greta leaves the shrine, the gate thins. `npcs_at` reflects it; displaced villagers are marked and wear road-worn faces. Maris does not move. |
`npc_moves` effects |
The Forge |
Brann Holt’s smithy off the square — station-gated recipes (mend a blade, forge a warded blade, reforge a relic). The mundane anchor: honest anti-Dark gear, craftable only at the anvil. | `craft_item` (station: forge) |
The convergence |
The approach to the clockwork tower as ordered reckoning beats and the player’s last engine-resolved choice (`stand` / `unmake` / `walk_away` ), adjudicated on d20 + engagement vs a progress-scaled DC. Learning the older name in Hollow Hill sharpens the `unmake` roll. |
`resolve_reckoning` |
The unreliable Assistant Director |
Each turn, from trust, your struggle, the evil phase, and how recently it last appeared, decides whether the Assistant shows up, with what (quip / hint / lore / warning / gift), and how reliably (low trust → its advice may mislead). Help feels earned and uncertain, never owed. |
`grant_hint` , `reveal_lore` , `change_form` , `assistant_gift` |
Ephemeral structured challenges (the novel bit) |
The Storyteller can compose a rule-bound encounter mid-narration — a `skill_gauntlet` , `decision_tree` , `puzzle` , or `dice_table` — by handing the engine a declarative spec validated against a fixed schema. The AI supplies structure; the engine adjudicates the outcome. An improvising narrator that can’t cheat its own dice. |
`start_challenge` , `resolve_challenge` |
Notice board & contracts |
Opt-in work in three tempers: `mundane` (dawn-bread, a tinker’s lost cog), `bounty` (the wandering scarecrow), and `anti_dark` (still the harvester — raises engagement). The board reacts to the world — postings appear as their beat-flags fire, with signpost poster art. Rewards are engine-granted on genuine completion. |
`list_contracts` , `accept_contract` , `complete_contract` |
Chance encounters |
Seeded, deterministic rolls on arrival — from the destination edge’s `danger_dc` and the evil phase. Yields `none` (calm), a harmless `discovery` (engine-granted reward), or an `ambush` naming a clockwork-tagged foe. |
`query_encounter_foes` |
The Oracle |
A slim observability backbone. Every turn — latency, eval score, governance violations, the Assistant’s intervention/gift rate, evil drift — is recorded and rolled into aggregates at `/api/metrics` , so pacing (the heart of the dread) stays visible. |
`GET /api/metrics` |
Knowledge at runtime |
Agents search the OKFS bundle and pull a single concept’s body — progressive disclosure, not 3,000 lines at once. | `query_knowledge` , `read_concept` |