The Hourglass Engine

The narrator that runs your world: it tracks time, enforces consequences and keeps the story and the game state in step.

The Hourglass Engine is the game master behind every historical era. Instead of following a script it:

• Narrates the world's reaction to everything you do.
• Keeps your Ledger, inventory, goals, location and relationships exactly in step with the story.
• Moves the clock and runs the world while you're away. See Time & the Clock and The World Moves On.
• Gives the people in your story their own voices, wants and limits. See How People Behave.
• Refuses easy wins. If you try something your character couldn't do, it fails believably.

Two AIs at once

Each turn, one AI (your narrator) writes the story. A second, faster AI works in the background: it reads what happened and updates the record of your condition, inventory, goals, location and relationships, checking every change before it's saved. The narrator then reads that record before its next reply, so it can't simply forget.

A fast start

The official eras and myths open with a hand-written scene, so you're playing within a few seconds, with your inventory, exits and three Instincts already in place. From your first move on, everything is written live.

See also

• AI Narrators
• The Librarian
• How People Behave

Last updated 2026-10-08