Censure

CENSURE

 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THREE CENSURES = IMMEDIATE REASSIGNMENT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You have 15 turns to deliver three escalating quotas to the Extraction Directorate. Accumulate 3 Censures and you lose immediately. No second chances. No appeals.

Can you manage a star system's resource extraction without failing the Directorate?

THE GAME 

CENSURE is a solo dice-and-resource management game about survival in a corporate dystopia. You're a System Administrator overseeing six Extraction Concessions—rocky worlds, ice fields, gas giants, asteroid belts. Each turn, Events threaten your operation. Each quota gets harder. Each Censure brings you closer to reassignment. 

Playtime: 10-15 minutes 

Components: 2d6, paper, pencil 

Difficulty: ~50% win rate (tight and tested) 

Survey. Extract. Comply. 

HOW IT WORKS 

Every turn follows the same structure: 

1. ROLL FOR EVENTS — Windfalls give free resources. Crises force hard choices. Catastrophes can destroy your Concessions. 

2. SPEND 3 DIRECTIVES — Survey new Concessions to discover their quality (Poor/Standard/Rich deposits). Activate Concessions to produce resources this turn. Upgrade infrastructure to increase output. Convert resources or lobby for Political Favor. 

3. PRODUCTION PHASE — Only activated Concessions produce. Choose wisely—you can't run everything at once. 

4. MANDATE CHECK (Turns 5/10/15) — Do you have the required resources? Success earns rewards. Failure earns a Censure. 

Three Censures ends the game. Win or lose is decided on Turn 15. 

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT 

PHASED EVENT TABLES The game evolves across three phases. Turns 1-5 (Exploration) help you build your engine. Turns 6-10 (Development) pressure your infrastructure. Turns 11-15 (Crisis) throw everything at you. Rolling the same number on Turn 2 vs Turn 14 gives completely different Events. 

CONCESSION SYNERGIES Each of the six Concessions has a unique ability. Delta produces +1 resource when Epsilon is also active. Gamma can't be destroyed by Events. Beta reduces conversion costs. Alpha generates Political Favor when upgraded. Finding the right synergies is key to victory. 

POLITICAL FAVOR SYSTEM 

Earn Favor through lobbying or rewards. Spend it to re-roll dice, adjust results by ±1, or prevent Catastrophe Events. Managing your Favor can save you from disaster—or leave you vulnerable when you need it most. 

MANDATES RESOLVE AFTER PRODUCTION Turn 5/10/15 are intense. The Event happens, you take actions, production resolves, THEN the Mandate is checked. That final production can be the difference between success and your third Censure. 

THE SETTING

 The Terran Consolidation controls all human civilization. The Core Worlds hold 47 billion people in abundance. The Outer Systems provide the resources that make it possible. 

You're a GS-7 System Administrator. Your assignment: one star system, six Extraction Concessions, 15 operational cycles. The Directorate expects results. Deliver quotas, earn commendations, advance your career. Fail quotas, accumulate Censures, face reassignment to waste processing. 

The Consolidation always finds work for you. 

WHAT'S INCLUDED 

When you download CENSURE, you get: 

- Rulebook (19 pages) — Complete rules, examples, scoring system 

- Play Sheet (1 page) — Track resources, Concessions, Censures, and turn progress

- Quick Reference Card (1 page) — Turn sequence, actions, abilities summary

- Tutorial (5-turn walkthrough) — Strategic example of first Mandate with decision-making 

- Setting Guide (2 pages, optional) — Worldbuilding and lore for the Terran Consolidation 

Total: ~25 pages. Print double-sided to save paper. Black-and-white friendly. 

All you need: 2 six-sided dice, a pencil, and 10-15 minutes. 

DIFFICULTY

First playthrough? You'll probably lose. 

CENSURE is balanced for a ~50-55% win rate after you learn the systems. The first Mandate (Turn 5) is achievable if you focus. The second Mandate (Turn 10) requires good Survey rolls and smart upgrades. The third Mandate (Turn 15) is brutal—the Crisis Phase Events will test everything you've built. 

Winning feels earned. Losing teaches you what to do differently next time. 

The Directorate does not accept excuses.