Check In
Connection · consent-based support
Break the Grid / Inpatient Corridors
Break the Grid
Change the response. Or change the system.
Sixteen neutral cards in four categories: Boundary, Connection, Resource and Voice. Every card offers an immediate response and a collective change, turning shared support into a choice players can make.
From the design record
Safe Room
Resource · make a square safe
Rewrite One Rule
Voice · collective change
Typeset reference specimens · not finished card artwork
The world & variant
Where it belongs
A new compact pressure/support module for initial two-player paper tests. It is separate from the archived War Hand and the earlier artist-linked Inpatient concept.
Explore the variant indexThe companion
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No deck-specific bot was verified. A future Duet implementation is proposed; this catalogue does not automate facilitation.
Read the companion recordThe visual language
Design & artwork
The printable review sheet and all sixteen card texts exist. Code, title and category accompany every card so meaning never depends on color alone. Balance values remain provisional.
The complete paper prototype
Sixteen cards. Two choices each.
Initial setup: two players, one card each, draw one at the start of a turn, hand limit three. Play one card instead of a normal action; choose one path and discard it. Reshuffle the discard pile once.
Players may decline, exchange or discard an uncomfortable card without penalty. Values are provisional; this is an arts-and-engagement prototype, not a clinical tool.
Closed Door
Immediate response: Contain any piece in your quadrant. Its controller gains 1 Tension. Collective change: Spend 2 Support collectively. Remove one wall restriction until the end of the round and reduce System Pressure by 1.
No Safe Exit
Immediate response: Move one of your pieces to any empty square in your quadrant; gain 1 Tension. Collective change: Spend 2 Support collectively. Mark one empty outer square as Safe until the end of the game.
Forced Pace
Immediate response: Take a second Move action; then gain 2 Tension. Collective change: Spend 1 Support. Every player may move one piece one square toward a Safe square without gaining Tension.
Rule Without Appeal
Immediate response: Cancel another player's non-card action; raise System Pressure by 1. Collective change: You and another player each contribute 1 Support. Cancel one phase restriction for everyone until the end of the round.
Check In
Immediate response: Reduce another player's Tension by 1. Collective change: Spend 1 Support. Reduce two different players' Tension by 1 and lower System Pressure by 1 if both consent.
Peer Relay
Immediate response: Give one card from your hand to another player and draw one card. Collective change: Two players each discard one card. Create 2 Support and divide it between them.
Shared Pause
Immediate response: Skip your movement and gain 1 Support; also gain 1 Tension. Collective change: Spend 2 Support collectively. No player gains Tension from Mask or an obstructed path this round.
Accompaniment
Immediate response: Move beside another player's piece. Neither piece can be Contained until your next turn. Collective change: Spend 1 Support. Move one Ensnared piece to an adjacent legal square with its controller's consent.
Safe Room
Immediate response: Protect one square from an Outburst until your next turn. Collective change: Spend 2 Support collectively. Remove one Trauma token and make that square Safe.
Ride Home
Immediate response: Move your piece from the Void to the nearest legal outer square; gain 1 Tension. Collective change: Spend 2 Support collectively. Move any consenting player's Ensnared piece to a Safe outer square and reduce their Tension by 1.
Flexible Fund
Immediate response: Gain 2 Support; raise System Pressure by 1. Collective change: Place this card beneath a locked Care card. Its collective cost is reduced by 1 for the rest of the game.
Creative Outlet
Immediate response: Remove 2 of your Tension, then place one card from your hand on the bottom of the deck. Collective change: Spend 1 Support. Until the end of the round, every player who Masks gains 1 Support without gaining Tension.
Name the Rule
Immediate response: Look at the top three cards; keep one and return the others in any order. Collective change: Spend 1 Support. Identify one active rule that created Tension this round; suspend it until the round ends.
Refuse Safely
Immediate response: Decline a Contain, forced move, or card effect targeting you. Gain 1 Tension. Collective change: You and one supporting player each spend 1 Support. Cancel the effect without either player gaining Tension.
Rewrite One Rule
Immediate response: Convert one of your Tension into 1 Support. Collective change: Spend 3 Support collectively. Choose one rule from Closed Grid or Creeping Web and replace it with a table-agreed rule for the remainder of the game.
Public Record
Immediate response: Place this card face up. The next time System Pressure would rise, record its cause and prevent 1 point of that increase. Collective change: Each player may contribute 1 Support. For every 2 Support contributed, remove 1 System Pressure. After the game, add the named cause to the debrief.
Source record
BREAK-THE-GRID-DECK.md and current project README.
Read the public source · See reconciliation notesContinue through the collection
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Rules & court documented
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