Initiative

Initiative is a person speaking without being spoken to. define initiative for <person> lists occasions, and each occasion says when the character might take the floor: on an open floor: when nobody is saying anything in particular, on silence: when the player declines to speak, when the subject changes: when the talk turns, and on <act>: for a witnessed act such as on harm:.

Every occasion takes an optional refinement, , when <condition> — so on an open floor, when it is cheerful: fires only in that mood. Whether a character actually seizes an occasion also reads their disposition, so two people with identical rows behave differently in the same room, and the same person behaves differently once their mood has moved.

Bodies use the conversation statements. hold their tongue is the explicit choice to say nothing, which is how you stop a normally talkative character from filling every silence. deflect to "<topic>" changes the subject to one of the owner's own topic rows. phrase <key> speaks a line, and then asks <exchange> opens an exchange.

Use initiative sparingly. A character who takes every open floor becomes the scene, and an authored on silence row in particular keeps a conversation alive that would otherwise have ended.

define initiative for Will Kemp
  on an open floor, when it is cheerful:
    phrase kemp-interjects
  on an open floor, when it is stung:
    hold their tongue
  when the subject changes:
    deflect to "the offer"
  on harm:
    phrase kemp-on-violence
end initiative