Structure Beat Sheet · 2 of 5 · No. 02

Gauntlet

One spine · many deaths · survival against a hostile world

The shape: a single corridor of hazards. Branches are short -- deaths, backtracks, brief detours that rejoin. Tension comes from mortality, not divergence. Use for: doomed missions, horror, escapes, or adapting a linear screenplay sequence without betraying its plot.

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The Hook

HOOKWho the player isThe mission, one sentenceThe deadline / pursuer (why no resting)What is carried (the thing that must survive)

The Resource

One counter is usually enough (supplies, ammunition, nerve). It gates the riskier survival routes -- spent early, missed late.

RESOURCEName + starting valueHow it’s spentHow (if ever) it’s regainedWhich spine beats check it

Spine Beats (10–15)

Each beat: the place, the hazard, the safe route, the fatal route, and where its warning was planted. A death whose warning column is empty is not ready. Fill beats in order -- the corridor IS the story.

SPINE BEAT 1Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 2Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 3Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 4Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 5Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 6Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 7Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 8Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 9Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 10Place / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 11 (optional) optionalPlace / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 12 (optional) optionalPlace / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 13 (optional) optionalPlace / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 14 (optional) optionalPlace / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

SPINE BEAT 15 (optional) optionalPlace / situationHazard (1–3)Safe route (and what it costs)Fatal routeWarning planted at beat #

The Win

THE TRUE ENDINGArrival imageWhat the journey cost (name it)Why it could not have been cheaper

Handoff checklist

Universal sheet attached and complete
Every fatal route has a warning planted earlier (telegraph ledger matches)
Exactly one true ending unless the universal sheet budgets a hidden variant
Deaths escalate -- late corridor deaths feel graver than early ones