The Steward's Year: Kingdom Management Game

How to start

1. Open it in your AI. Tap Open in ChatGPT or Open in Claude and press send, or paste the play prompt into any assistant. Nothing is sealed, so a pasted card plays fully.
2. The year opens at the thaw. Four dials stand at 6, and spring's four petitions are read out with every writ and its numbers.
3. Sign one writ a petition. Answer with a writ's letter, or name it and confirm with yes. After four petitions come the season's printed end and the neighbours' printed moves.
4. Check the tape. Every player gets the same year. Rebuild the tape at aigamecards.com/verify and compare it with the printed docket.

Questions

Can Claude run a strategy game?

Yes, when the game is on the page; not reliably from a typed prompt. In plain chat nothing is printed to check against: the model writes each event as it goes and plays your rivals as it likes. The Steward's Year puts those jobs on the card: all sixteen petitions, every writ and its exact effect on four dials are printed; the order of the petitions and each season's weather come from a dice tape published before you start; the two neighbouring powers move only by printed rules; and a one-line ledger after every reply carries the whole state. The tape proves the draws were not picked for you. It cannot prove every sum, which is why each dial move is shown old → new for you to check. The same card serves as a ChatGPT or Gemini strategy game prompt: open it by link where your chat can follow one, or paste it.

Who decides what happens — the AI or the dice?

You do, one writ at a time. The dice were rolled before play: a d20 tape seeded the-stewards-year:1.0.0 deals the order of each season's four petitions and picks each season's weather, and the card prints the result, so the AI looks it up instead of rolling. Every player of this edition gets this same year on every replay; a second game is a second attempt at the same sixteen petitions. The neighbouring Margrave and the Mere Towns act only by printed lines; the AI applies them and shows each move old → new, so you can check it. Nothing on this card is hashed or sealed: every ending is printed, and you can rebuild the tape at aigamecards.com/verify.

Can I actually lose, and what am I aiming for?

Yes. Four dials start at 6: the crown's coin, the price of bread, how hard the law bears down and how far the kingdom leans on its neighbours. If one reaches its end, low or high, the Council takes the seal back and the year is over, so a full chest loses as surely as an empty one. Six of the 48 writs each build a work, such as a stone bridge or a granary, and works are most of the score. On this card's tape, in our simulations, choosing writs at random sees the year out about 2% of the time, and a player who only avoids writs that end the year on the spot about 19%; careful play one petition at a time scores 30 to 60 when it lasts the year; planning each season from its printed docket to build works scores 60 to 80; the best line scores 85. Par is 50: the year out with three works.

Is it suitable for a family or a classroom?

The content suits all ages: harvests, fairs, tolls, a feast and two neighbours, with no battles or weapons, and nobody is hurt, jailed or punished beyond a charge or a curfew. It assumes an adult at the keyboard running the chat. We pitch the reading (tithes, drovers, a coppice) and the arithmetic of four dials at about ten and up with a grown-up reading along; a family can decide each writ together as one player. The card asks for no name or personal detail.

How long is it, can I stop partway, and what if my chat can't open links?

Thirty to forty-five minutes for sixteen petitions. Say "save" and the card prints a block holding the four dials and every writ signed so far; paste the card and that block into a new chat to carry on at the same petition. Nothing is sealed or fetched later, so if your chat can't open links, pasting the whole card plays the full game.