Guild Mechanics Reference
This is your rules reference. All custom systems are explained here. When a rule conflict arises between a custom mechanic and standard 2024 D&D rules, the custom mechanic takes precedence.
1. Guild Roster & Rotation
The guild runs 10 members. Only 5 can go through a Door at once.
Every session you are either Active (going through the Door) or Bench (running the Bastion). The 5-player cap is a hard lore limitation of the Infinite Staircase — the planar connection cannot sustain more than 5 anchored souls simultaneously.
Claiming a Slot
Silas posts each session on the quest-board the Monday after the previous session.
| Timing | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Monday | Quest-board post goes live |
| Monday → Tuesday (24hrs) | Priority Window — players benched last session claim Active slots first |
| Tuesday onward | All remaining slots open to everyone |
| Session Thursday | Roster locks |
Priority Window: If you were benched last session, you have 24 hours to claim an Active slot before it opens to the general pool. This ensures no one is involuntarily benched two sessions in a row.
Voluntary Bench
Can’t make a session? Volunteer for Bench early. Complete your Garrison Duties async before session start and you still contribute. Voluntarily benching does not cost you your priority window for next session.
If You’re on Bench
You are not sitting out — you are running mission control. Your Garrison Duty rolls go before session start. The active team feels the difference.
Extraction Caller
Every active session designates one player as the Extraction Caller — responsible for monitoring the Sundown timer and calling for extraction when it is time to leave. Rotate this role. It should not fall to the same person every session.
2. Garrison Duty
Bench players run the Bastion. Two tasks. Every rotation. No exceptions.
Select two tasks from the available Garrison pool, post them in bastion-activities before session start, and roll with Avrae. Your results feed directly into active team buffs, resources, and intel before they go through the Door.
Rules
- Two tasks per rotation per bench player
- No two bench players may select the same task in a single rotation — coordinate in Discord
- Tasks lock once posted — no changes
- Must be completed before session start
How Rolls Work
Each task uses one of two associated skills. Your roll determines how well things go. Strong results produce strong outcomes. Poor rolls may produce nothing — or occasionally make things worse. There is no floor on a bad roll. Play to your character’s strengths.
Task Access
Tasks unlock as your Guild Rank advances. Initiates have access to the foundational six tasks. Higher ranks open more specialized and powerful operations. See Garrison Duty — Task Reference for the current task list.
Synergy Combos exist. Certain task combinations performed in the same rotation produce bonus results beyond their individual outcomes. You are not told which combos exist. Discovery is part of the guild experience.
Crafting Cap
A maximum of 3 crafted items (Potions and Scrolls combined) may be produced per rotation across all bench players. Once that cap is reached, further crafting tasks that rotation produce no output. Resets each rotation.
If You Don’t Complete Your Tasks
Missing your Garrison Duties carries consequences — personal gold penalties, Bastion degradation, and escalating results for repeated offenses. Complete your tasks.
3. Sundown Protocol
Every session has a hard end time. When it hits, you come home whether you’re ready or not.
Silas announces the Sundown time at the start of every session — typically between 9 PM and 10 PM. A shared countdown is visible on screen throughout the session.
Warning Signs
The Staircase warns you before it takes you. You will feel it coming — glitches that start small and escalate as the deadline approaches. When your hands start passing through objects and Silas starts calling through the Door, it is time to leave.
If You Get Snapped Back
At Sundown, any player still inside is automatically Snapped Back — no roll, no save, no exceptions.
Immediate consequences:
- All non-soulbound items and currency dropped at your exact location
- One level of Exhaustion gained
- Fractured State triggered
- Anchor Debt deducted from the Guild Vault per snapped player
Soulbound items return with you automatically.
Dropped Loot: Silas will inform you at the start of the following session what became of anything left behind. The outcome is never guaranteed.
The Right Call
Getting out clean — even empty-handed — is always the right call. A failed quest with a clean extraction is a functioning guild. A Snap-Back costs the Vault, costs your character, and may cost your gear.
4. Guild Economy
Everything flows through the guild. You borrow. You don’t own.
The Tithe
Silas automatically deducts 10% of all raw coin found in the field at session end before any personal distribution. This is non-negotiable. It goes to the Guild Communal Wallet to fund Bastion operations, communal consumables, and emergency costs.
The Iron Ledger
Everything you find in the field belongs to the guild. Unless a mechanic explicitly designates an item as soulbound to you, it is guild property. Silas tracks all guild-owned items in the Iron Ledger.
An item is soulbound if:
- A game mechanic explicitly designates it as soulbound
- It was crafted specifically for your character via a class feature
- You have formally bought it out of the Iron Ledger
Everything else defaults to guild property.
Item Checkout
Before each session, active players check out items from the Guild Vault in bastion-activities before session start. Items are your responsibility for that session. Return them after.
Forgetting to Return Items
Silas will get it back. Return your items. Silas has methods of retrieval that become progressively less pleasant with repeated offenses.
Buying Out an Item
Want to own something permanently? Submit a buyout request to Silas.
- Cost: 150% of market value
- Silas may deny requests for items of high communal utility
- Once bought out, the item is soulbound to you permanently
- Limit: one buyout per player per campaign tier
The Guild Vault
The Guild Wallet holds all Tithe gold and guild-earned currency. It funds Bastion upgrades, potions, emergency costs, and anything the guild needs collectively. All players can see the current balance. No one spends it unilaterally — that’s Silas’s job, guided by the guild’s collective needs.
5. Fractured State
Death in the field or Snap-Back fractures you. It gets worse if ignored.
A Fractured State represents structural distortion caused by the Staircase’s instability bleeding into your character. It happens when you die in the field or are Snapped Back without a proper extraction. There are multiple tiers of severity — each worse than the last — and left untreated, a severe Fracture can leave permanent Scars on your character.
The details of each tier will become clear through play. What you need to know going in:
- Treat it early. Early-stage Fractures resolve with rest. Later stages require active Garrison support — specifically the Void Cleansing task — and potentially more.
- It escalates. Being Fractured and then Snapped Back again makes it worse.
- Permanent Scars are real. Tier 3 left untreated long enough leaves something behind. Those scars stack. Get treated before it reaches that point.
The Staircase doesn’t let go of you cleanly. Plan accordingly.
6. Memory Anchor
After every session, one active Key writes the mission report. 72 hours. No exceptions.
At the end of each session the active team designates one player as the Memory Anchor — the scribe for that session. That player posts a mission report in the designated Discord channel within 72 hours.
What to Include
- What the team set out to do
- Key events, decisions, and outcomes
- Notable NPC interactions
- Quest status (complete, incomplete, failed)
- Loose threads or unresolved questions
Style and length are at the scribe’s discretion. A clear summary is sufficient.
If No One Posts
There are consequences for the entire active team — mechanical and financial. Don’t let it happen. It’s one report, 72 hours, and the session recording is available to help.
Rotation
Don’t make the same person do it every time. That is the entire rule.
Need Help
Ask the DM for the session recording. It exists. Use it.
7. Fracture Intensity Meter
The Staircase is fraying. That fraying has mechanical consequences for the campaign at large.
The Fracture Intensity Meter tracks the Staircase’s deterioration over time — corruption that worsens regardless of your success in individual missions. It escalates at campaign intervals. You will notice it. It will become mechanical.
This is not a mystery to solve. It is a tide to manage.
Details of each Intensity stage will be revealed as the campaign progresses.
Rules Interactions
All seven custom mechanics are interconnected. Key relationships to know:
- Snap-Back triggers both Fractured State and Guild Vault Anchor Debt
- Garrison Duty is the primary source of Void Cleansing to treat Fractured State
- Missed Garrison Duties degrade the Bastion over time
- Resonance Locks require bench players to complete research tasks before the active team can descend to deeper floors — coordinate with your bench team before the session
- Vault overflow automatically converts to Construction Points for Bastion upgrades
When in doubt: extract clean, complete your Garrison Duties, post the report.