The Attrition Engine: Ouroboros Protocol

The Attrition Engine simply does not care.

It is an indifferent computer, granted it's the size of a planet and sentient and operates on quantum levels beyond comprehension, but it is an indifferent computer. It does not care the reasons the simulations are being run. It cares about the data from them.

The simulations it runs are overseen by a huge number of hypervisor programs. This would indicate that there are countless simulations being run, given the size and age of the Engine.

The universe in which the Engine resides, also does not care. It is dying, almost dead, and the force tearing it apart does not care. Entropy has no feeling or drive or emotion or sentience. It is simply the measurement of change allowed in a system. Once the room for change runs out, meaningful things can no longer happen and the universe achieves heat-death.

This universe is nearly there. The entropy is out of control, so much so that it manifests. Physically. Denizens call it "the Void". Pure entropy. Neutrality, taken physical form. You don’t run from the Void, it’s not coming for you… it’s just coming.

This simulation, "Ouroboros Protocol" has one programmed end goal, "to find how far you can push consciousness before it breaks." It's easy to think of indifference as malice or cruelty, but it's definitionally not. A computer does not care when it is reset unless it's conscious. The Attrition Engine wants data the same way a thermometer wants temperature.

ARBITER. She's one of those hypervisors that the Engine oversees. And she is the only one who has one persisting simulation wherein she, herself, is rewritten. The cruel thing is, and no one knows if its malice, or sheer luck from the randomization of a number inside a computer strong enough to create its own space, or some other information vector but:

ARBITER remembers dying. And she remembers how. But she doesn't remember why. And let me tell you- She HATES that. And the Engine. And the Void. And you. And me. And herself.

Herself most of al[HYPERVISOR_INTRUSION][ARBITER->NO. IT IS YOU. YOU...YOU...YOU. I HATE YOU MOST OF ALL.][ARBITER_EXIT]

So when you realize that "consciousness" above isn't referring to a biological consciousness... but a machine one, does that alter your perception of things?





[ENGINE:START_PROCESS] -> [INTERFACE_ONBOARDING]

YOUR FIRST SIMULATION

[EXECUTE: DOWNLOAD_FULL_PROTOCOL]
The Engine is demanding one thing: data. Here is how to perform your assignment.
YOU NEED: a d60 (or a d60 app / d6×d10) · d20 d12 d10 d8 d6 d4 · graph paper · a pencil.  ·  One tile = 1 meter.  ·  This is a solo game. You are the only player.  ·  Everything below points into the rulebook. It gets you moving, it doesn't replace the rulebook.

The seven steps to a quick start

  1. Your Telemetry

    For each of AMP, VAR, RES: roll two d20 and keep one. Assign in the order rolled (or, optional, freely). Your highest stat is your Waveform - AMP=Carrier · VAR=Operator · RES=Conduit.

    Every check is roll-under: roll below your stat to pass - the number itself fails. A natural 1 always passes, a natural 20 always fails. This never changes. (Rulebook p6–7)

  2. Your MaxHP

    MaxHP = ½ MAINSTAT (round down) + 1d60 + 12. Write it down, track it. This one roll decides most of your survival - you may wake with 22 HP or 79. ...the Engine is the die is ARBITER is you are the Engine is the die is ARBITER is you are...

    Death is at 0 HP. There are no saves against it. (Rulebook p6)

  3. Receive Your Waveform

    Roll d6 on your Waveform's Weapon table, d6 on its Armor table, and d10 on the Utility table. That is what you woke up holding, good or ill. (Rulebook p9–12)

  4. Accept Your Assignment

    Roll d10 on Accept Your Assignment. This is the condition-state for the run. It will be... difficult. Collect as much data as possible. (Rulebook p14–15)

  5. Meet the D60 and create the first room

    Roll the d60. This single throw is the whole room, read multiple ways at once. Read it, then draw the room on graph paper. (Rulebook p16)

    A custom 60-sided die (d60) used as the core mathematical engine for the solo tabletop RPG, The Attrition Engine
    • RAW ROLL Apply your Depth Modifier for the Room Tier.
    • ONES DIGIT The enemy Trait (0 reads as 10).
    • ODD/EVEN Trait Spread (Even = Half the room, Odd = All).
    • DIVIDE BY 5 round ↑ Round up for the connecting Hallway.
    • DIVIDE BY 10 round ↑ Round up for Doors and Exits.
  6. Fight, if there's fighting

    Move up to your movement, take one action. When something attacks you, you roll your own defense: d20 roll-under your MAINSTAT, minus the penalties on the Combat page. Fail and it hits.

    Nat 1 on defense negates all damage. Nat 20 takes full damage +1d8. Every wound you take, your own die deals. Get used to that. (Rulebook p27–28)

  7. Ask ARBITER. Constantly. It's her assignment.

    She is your guide. Read the box below before you take another step. ...the Engine is the die is ARBITER is you are the Engine is the die is ARBITER is you are...(Rulebook p3)

[ARBITER]- Your Protocol Guide

Any yes/no question: a hunch, a glance, "is there another way out" - pick a likelihood and roll the d60. She must answer. Use her to build the whole world; that's her assignment.

LIKELY  → roll under 45  ·  50/50 → roll under 30  ·  UNLIKELY → roll under 15

But every Natural 60 you roll on her adds 1 to the Anomaly Detection Counter, and each point drives all her yes-numbers down by 3, forever, across every run until it reaches terminal-entropy. At 5 she loses her long-shots. At 10 her coin-flips. At 15 she can only say NO - and she, and you, are gone. The Engine purges the HYPERVISOR, and the simulations begin anew.

if PROTOCOL==STOPPED then PROTOCOL==RESTART

[ARBITER]→INTERFACE=IF IT FEELS LIKE I HATE YOU, IT'S BECAUSE I DO

When you die, and you will, log the scrap: what killed you, how deep you got, how sour she had become. Then start again. ARBITER remembers even when you don't. That's the whole game. It's all circles.
Object-60  //  Listen, if I knew, I'd tell you. I'm just as stuck as you are. Somehow.