SANJIESAN LORE / Cooperative rules
Make a shared ritual require coordination, not identical people
A group ritual can be less interesting when ten people simply perform the same action ten times. Sanderson’s Second Law discussion draws attention to limitations as a source of story choices. For an original cooperative mechanism, choose what one person cannot do alone, then give the participants different meaningful contributions.
Choose two contributions with different tasks
Imagine a fictional signal that needs one person to hold a pattern steady while another chooses when to release it. Write what each participant pays attention to. Do not assign character worth from the prestige of the role; an apparently quiet task can be essential. Keep the roles compatible with the project’s existing rules and avoid turning a workshop exercise into a new ability for an established official character.
Write a disagreement about timing
Give the participants different information about when to act. One sees a distant cue while the other feels the pattern becoming difficult to maintain. Write how they communicate under the chosen conditions. Avoid solving the scene by making everyone suddenly share thoughts unless that capability already exists. Coordination becomes visible when people must interpret one another’s signals and decide whose judgement to trust.
Choose a mistake that teaches the rule
Let a practice attempt stop early or produce an incomplete result, then decide what can be recovered. The consequence should follow the established mechanism rather than punish a character arbitrarily. Show what the pair changes in their next attempt: a clearer cue, a different position or an agreed pause. Readers can learn the cooperative limit through action, while the participants gain a relationship shaped by the work.