17Test and fix your threads.

A thread that won’t fire? Don’t guess... test it.

Every thread has a Test button. It plays one pretend turn, and nothing is saved to any session.

First, pick where the test starts. A brand new session, or one you’ve played... so the test uses its real values.

Then write what the player does, just like a real move.

Click Run test. Every thread in your world checks this one turn. The summary tells you what fired. Only Air Supply... the Spire stayed quiet. So let’s find out why.

Open Every thread to see what happened to each one, and why. Fired means it ran, and did everything in its THEN. Waiting means its timing is holding it back. It’s fine... it’ll be ready again in a couple of turns. Off means the thread is switched off. If you want it, just switch it back on.

Didn’t match? The numbers are its conditions, in order. Green was true, red was false... and grey wasn’t even checked. For the Spire, the first condition was false. That’s the one to fix.

It listens for spire, song and listen... but the player said music. So add music as a keyword.

Run the test again. The form keeps your last turn, so it’s just one click. Now the Spire fires. And you can read exactly what the storyteller will be told.

You can try other values too. Pick gold, and set it low... just for this test.

The words match, but there isn’t enough gold. The second condition is red, so the shop stays shut, just as it should.

And none of this touched your story. A test never changes a session.

Want proof? Open Variables, and show the values from The first dive.

Gold is still where it was, and met Maren was never set. The test changed nothing. Test, read why, fix, and test again. Next up: lore that finds itself.