Prepare the attribute deck
Find every HR Violation card in the Attribute deck and set them aside. They go back in at the end of setup, not before.
System initialization
Internal portal
Access is restricted to employees present at this meeting.
4–8 employees required.
Onboarding
Assign ranks
Deal the Employee IDs face down. Whoever holds the highest rank is the CEO and turns theirs up first.
The CEO then appoints their VP, the VP appoints the Director, and so on down the chain until everyone holds an ID.
Deal the Employee IDs face down. Everyone flips their card up and announces their employee name and title to the room.
Write your starting rank on your Book of Record now. You need it at the final audit.
Deal secret identities
The CEO deals one Secret Identity face down to each player. It carries your role-play objective and your end-of-year bonus.
Do not reveal it. If a colleague correctly names it at the final audit, you are fined $500 — so mind how you behave.
Initial funding
Starting capital and attribute cards by rank:
- CEO
- $5,000 · 2 cards
- VP
- $4,000 · 2 cards
- Director
- $3,000 · 3 cards
- Manager
- $2,000 · 3 cards
- Associate
- $1,000 · 5 cards
Heads up: the printed SOP lists 4 attribute cards for the Manager, while the Manager's own Employee ID card says 3. This shows 3 — what the player is actually holding. Agree as a table.
Skills up, perks hidden
Skill cards go face up in front of you straight away and stay live all game unless another employee negates them.
Perk cards stay hidden in your hand and can be played at any point. Read them now — most are worth far more held back for the right moment.
Rebuild the deck
Shuffle the HR Violation cards back into the remaining attribute cards. That is the deck you draw from for the rest of the year.
Take a Book of Record
One each. Track every dollar in and out by quarter, note anything Breaking News does to you, and mark your starting and ending rank.
Use the grid at the top to work out everyone else's Secret Identity as the year goes on.
Good luck, and welcome to your only year at Ascend Corp.
Encrypted comm link
Circle back with the Board
The Board is preparing this quarter's directive. When you're ready, request it — the CEO will draft from it.
Board directive
Required objectives
Integrate all four into this quarter's global directive.
Every one of these still in the final memo pays the CEO $1,000. Three must survive for the memo to pass.
Q1 directive
CEO action
Board directive — include all four
Corporate objectives may be abstract. Keep the grammar and the tone professional anyway.
Chain of command
Hand the device to the VP
Nobody else should be looking at the screen when you tap this.
Prior memo — source data
Confirm it unchanged, or change up to two words.
Quarterly transmission complete
Failed
Meeting discussion
05:00
Go down the chain of command. Share what you like about the memo, play any perk card, and watch who gets defensive — every employee has a secret identity, and this is where it shows.
Memo passed
Collect compensation
- CEO
- VP
- Director
- $1,000 + salary + 2 attribute cards.
- Manager
- $500 + salary + 3 attribute cards.
- Associate
- $500 + 3 attributes, replace any HR violations, two 1:1s.
The printed SOP pays the Associate $300 here, not $500, and doesn't add salary for the Director or Manager. Unresolved — agree as a table which to use.
Board intervention — vote failed
Corporate coup
VP, take the CEO badge from the former CEO. Everyone else, pass your badge down to your direct report. Associates are immune to HR violations drawn this quarter.
- Former CEO — keyword payout
- Mismanagement fine
- −$1,500
- Former CEO settlement
- New CEO
- $1,500 + salary
- New VP
- $1,500 + salary
- New Director
- $1,000 + salary
- New Manager
- $1,000 + salary + 2 attribute cards
- New Associate
- $500 + salary + 3 attribute cards + a 1:1
- Returning Associates
- $500 + salary + 3 attribute cards + two 1:1s
The printed SOP pays less on a coup — $1,000 / $750 / $500 / $400 / $300 down the ladder. These are the app's original figures. Unresolved — agree as a table which to use.
Executive decision
Promote or demote
Influence the ladder. Your decision is not final — the Board still votes on it. Choose carefully; what goes around comes around.
Meritocracy protocol
Rank swap
CEO: choose one employee to promote. They swap badges with whoever is immediately above them.
Disciplinary protocol
Demotion
CEO: choose one employee to demote to Associate.
Board decision
Sealed envelope
Compensation
Collect your salary
All employees: collect your quarterly salary at your current rank.
Place your final guesses on everyone's Secret Identity now, before the audit.
Breaking news
The Global Ledger
Vol 1 · No 1
Separation of service
Mark your ending rank
On your Book of Record, next to the starting rank you wrote down in Q1. Everyone does this before anything else is revealed.
Play your last perks
Final chance. You may not play a perk that changes the corporate hierarchy now — that ship has sailed.
Fold any payout or fine into your FY total, above the bonus section.
Total the fiscal year
Add up Q1 through Q4 on your Book of Record: money in from skills, perks, salary and news, minus fines and violations.
Write the total above the bonus section. Bonuses come next.
Circle your guesses
At the top of your Book of Record, circle who you think holds each Secret Identity. Say so out loud when you're finished.
Nobody reveals anything until every player has locked in.
Reveal, starting with the CEO
Then clockwise around the table.
- Each identity you guessed right
- +$1,000
- Each time someone guessed yours
- −$500
Mark a tick by each correct guess and an X by each miss as you go.
Secret identity bonus
Add your objective bonus for every quarter you achieved it — not just once.
Example: a Saboteur whose memo failed twice collects $4,000.
The promotion bonus
Add $1,500 for every rank you climbed above where you started. This is why you wrote down your starting rank.
Highest individual total is named Chairman of the Board. Everyone else is laid off.
Separation of service
FY comprehensive audit
Every memo, exactly as it was passed down.
Mark your ending rank, total your Book of Record, then reveal Secret Identities starting with the CEO.