Synthesis - flukeatzerocool/holonovel GitHub Wiki

Synthesis

Reference. For Game Masters. Synthesis enriches your server with community GM advice, lore templates, and action patterns. It is an optional workflow — your server works without it. Activate what matters to you.

What Synthesis is

Synthesis runs during the Build workflow (or independently as a post-build step) and produces guidance material — not rules, not mechanics. The output appears in badge briefings as supplementary content, tagged by provenance so you know where every suggestion came from.

Synthesis is three tiers. Each tier is independently activatable and removable. Inert by default — the GM activates what matters.

Source: spec §11 (REQ-262 through REQ-268).

The three tiers

Tier 1: Ruleset Wisdom (vendor content)

Curated play advice and reference material from established TTRPG communities. Processed at build time alongside ruleset extraction. Survives manage_synthesis (action: revert). Examples:

Dungeon World SRD (GM principles, fronts, moves)
Ironsworn: Starforged SRD (vows, progress tracks, oracle moves)
Sly Flourish Lazy GM (encounter design, campaign planning)
The Alexandrian (node-based design, Three Clue Rule, faction intrigue)

Source: spec §11.4 (REQ-225, REQ-227).

Tier 2: External Synthesis (web research)

Community play advice, actual-play breakdowns, and GM discussion gathered from web sources. Tagged [supplementary]. Removed by manage_synthesis (action: revert). Defaults to off — activate it explicitly when you want it.

Source: spec §11.1 (REQ-227).

Tier 3: Internal Synthesis (Novel-generated)

Synthesized from your own Novel state — lore entries, NPC backgrounds, faction goals, story journal entries, scene history. Tagged [supplementary] with novel:// source URIs. Generated on demand. Removed independently from external synthesis.

Source: spec §11.2.

Output modules

Synthesis produces content across seven output modules:

Module	What it provides
Voice examples (`voice_examples`)	Dialogue patterns from example-of-play, matched to NPC archetypes
Briefing order (`briefing_order`)	Recommended ordering for the badge briefing sections
Lore templates (`lore_templates`)	Keyword-triggered lore entries for common RPG situations — taverns, dungeons, wilderness travel
Action patterns (`action_patterns`)	Suggested player actions matched to scene types — combat tactics, social gambits, exploration moves
Supplementary guidance (`supplementary_guidance`)	General GM and player play advice, with anti-pattern warnings
Adventure advice (`adventure_advice`)	Genre-specific advice for horror, mystery, action, and adventure design
Narrative voices (`narrative_voices`)	Narrative voice profiles drawn from inspirational media

Source: spec §11.1 (REQ-080, REQ-159, REQ-225).

Activating Synthesis

Synthesis activates through natural language during the Build workflow or standalone:

"Synthesize the server with community GM advice." "Run Synthesis. Tier 2, focused on dungeon design." "Generate Novel synthesis from the current campaign state."

Use manage_lore (action: suggest) to get context-specific suggestions during play based on the current scene, NPCs, and lore.

Reverting

"Revert all Synthesis content."

Each tier reverts independently. Ruleset Wisdom (Tier 1) survives revert — it's build output, not enrichment. External and Internal Synthesis are removed. The server returns to pre-synthesis state.

Source: spec §11 (REQ-265).