How Vowbound Plays

Vowbound is a real game: stats, moves, dice, vows, and progress tracks. The dice engine rolls everything deterministically — the AI narrates and applies consequences, but it never invents a die result.

You drive, or the GM drives

Vowbound plays two ways, switchable anytime from the mode toggle near the top of the screen:

  • You drive (You) — narrate freely; the Storyteller recognizes when your fiction triggers a move and rolls it. The Moves sheet lets you roll anything directly.
  • The Storyteller drives (You + Storyteller) — the loop below: it stages concrete actions and runs the scene structure for you.

The GM-guided loop

Every staged action is annotated with the move it would trigger. The button is a contract: tap it and the engine rolls exactly that move — no reinterpretation.

flowchart TD A["GM stages 3 actions<br/><i>each shows the move + stat it commits to</i>"] --> B{"What do you do?"} B -->|"tap an action"| C["The engine rolls<br/>that exact move"] B -->|"type your own"| D["Your fiction is mapped<br/>to a move — or no roll at all"] B -->|"let fate decide"| C B -->|"🌒 wrap the scene"| W C --> E D --> E E["Outcome turn:<br/>narration + consequences applied<br/><i>harm, progress, momentum, new fights…</i>"] --> F{"Momentum burn /<br/>Pay the Price window"} F --> A W{"Open fight or challenge<br/>in this scene?"} -->|"yes — settle it first"| A W -->|"clear"| X["Bookkeeping:<br/>milestones marked · threads reviewed ·<br/>scene titled · closing beat scribed ·<br/>the scene joins the story so far"] X --> Y["Next scene framed<br/><i>from your character, world truths & denizens</i>"] Y --> A

What keeps it honest

  • Deterministic dice. Every roll comes from a seeded engine — the same campaign replays the same rolls. The AI applies rules; it cannot fudge.
  • The full story, every turn. Past scenes ride along as distilled summaries and the current scene in full, alongside your live character sheet, open vows, world truths, and denizen roster.
  • Wraps are gated. An open fight or scene challenge blocks the wrap until the fiction settles it — no abandoning a battle mid-swing.
  • Progress is earned. Milestones mark only at true turning points; vows resolve with progress rolls; XP is spent on your call, never the AI’s.

Vowbound is based on Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin, used under the CC BY 4.0 license. See full attribution.