Poses, speech, smoke, scenes, roaming. The coffee parks when his hands are busy: side table normally, on the book stack when books are around. Captions stay parked.
Voice buckets → poses (the rig follows the speaker)
Bucket
Pose
Notes
lobby-wisdom (16)
Pipe
Proverbs. Sage-contemplation pose.
lobby-tale (16)
Storytelling
Lean in, hand mid-gesture.
lobby-muse / lobby-arrive
Idle / Sip
Mug in hand, business as usual.
lobby-abandon
Peering
“Are you still there?” Eyes open, head tilted in.
ladder terminus
Drowsy → Sleeping
Abandon runs dry → tired eyes → he nods off.
wake-up (to record)
Sleep → Drowsy → Idle
“I was merely resting my eyes.”
poke tiers (to record)
Hat tip + talking
Amused → exasperated → delighted. Asleep-poke is its own pool.
non-verbals (to record)
Any
Sighs, hmms, chuckles, snores, puffs. Fire often; they don’t interrupt.
Seasons
spring Mar–May · summer Jun–Aug · fall Sep–Nov · winter Dec–Feb
additive dressings over the rolled scene, ~40% of visits (rolled once per load, like night luck). floor props follow candle-style allowlists and YIELD to the night candle. buckets self-activate on audio install. halloween (sep 15–oct 31, ~50%) rides the fall dressing
December tree
december, 1-in-3 of winter-dressed visits
lights twinkle in ember/gold/hat-purple, gold star on top; its three lines (season-tree) play only while it stands
Poses
Idlelobby-muse / arriveSipbrief; also a non-verbal momentStorytellinglobby-tale. lean + gesturePipelobby-wisdomReadinghands busy → coffee parks on the stackPlaying cardssuits dealt in. coffee parked on the side tablePeeringlobby-abandon. eyes open, head inCastingsparkles up, coffee safely parkedDrowsytired eyes, drooping hat, mug at half mastSleepingladder terminus. snore lines welcome
Roaming — he lives here (auto-loop: hop down, wander, vanish behind the column, toss a book home, return)
Concept rig · variants rotate in order: WALK → HIDE → ERRAND → TOSS · the chair stays
High scores
Speaking — indicator now, captions later
Talking indicatorstar pulses + beard bobs. drive off audio amplitude
I once bested the snake. It held a grudge.
Caption bubblePARKED · selective per line, never blanket
How long have you had me muted? · muted
The muted discoveryPARKED · bubble fires at volume 0 → they unmute → sys-wizard lands
Pipe — smoke levels
Level 1a thoughtLevel 2a theory. coffee waits on the tableLevel 3a whole philosophy
Scenes — the corner changes with him
Minimalno books. clean corner, default shipping lookThe librarystacks close + behind, coffee on the stackLamp, onglow fully in frame nowLamp, offreading in the dark anyway. centuries of practiceThe big wooden TVwalnut cabinet, longer antennas, little legsArcade floor + cardssuits on every card now. two mines, two flags, longer snakeWhiskeyafter hours. no steam, no apologiesThe Developer’s Desk NEWa wizard, not a developer. the duck disagrees — `dev` lines installedThe Long Game NEWone move per session. his opponent has feathers — `chess` + `owls` lines installedThe Easel NEWthe snake sat for him. briefly — `easel` lines installedThe Garden Corner NEWthree centuries. nothing. he respects it — `garden` lines installedNight Watch NEWafter 8pm, local clock. the good hours — `night` lines installedThe Observatory NEWevery star up there is somebody’s record — `observatory` lines installedThe Lute NEWfour songs. three are the same song — `lute` + `nv-hum` installedThe Owlery NEWthe barn owl came first. the cage door stays open — `owls` lines installed404 — The Lost Page NEWpage-state, not a lobby scene. he found YOU — `err-404` lines installedFiresideglow uncropped, flames tall. peak phillipStackedeverything he owns, all at once
Seasons — the occasional dressings
Spring SCHEDULEDMAR–MAY · ~20% of visits · tulips, drifting petals, the chair-back bird (furniture: never reacts)Summer SCHEDULEDJUN–AUG · ~20% of visits · the standing fan (spinning), lemonade in the mug (no steam), fireflies at duskFall SCHEDULEDSEP–NOV · ~20% of visits · indoor leaves, the plain pumpkin, cider steam runs doubleHalloween SCHEDULEDSEP 15–OCT 31 · ~40% · rides the fall dressing: carved flicker, the web at the chair’s foot, string bat, the owl’s little hatWinter SCHEDULEDDEC–FEB · ~20% of visits · indoor snow, garland over the chair and down its side, frost, cocoa steam, the ringed log basketThe December Tree SCHEDULEDDECEMBER · 1-in-3 of winter visits · it stands BEFORE the chair now; lights twinkle in ember, gold and hat-purple; a gold star on top
Core assets — the pieces on their own
ChairThe seat itself — back, studs, cushion, both arms.HatThe cone, the band, the star at the tip (it twinkles).MugThe staple. Steam included; hands and season garnishes left behind.PipeStem, bowl, ember, and the level-1 smoke curl.OwlThe resident barn owl — the same one who plays chess and wears the Halloween hat.
The rules — what shows, and when
Item
When it appears
The rules
Scene roll
once per visit
one weighted roll at lobby mount, fixed for the session. a new scene enters the roll only when its voice bucket is installed; weights renormalize around whatever is missing
an overlay, never rolled as a scene. the luck rolls once per load; “past midnight” only fires after midnight
Night candle
night watch only
the side table stands only in minimal, library, arcade, lamp, lampoff, whiskey, tv, lute (clear right floor) — re-checked on every scene apply. the 64px night clearance applies only while it stands
furniture: never move, never react, not clickable. the owlery cage door is ALWAYS open
The mug
most scenes
in his hand or on a surface, never floating. parks on the book stack (library, lampoff) or a side table on whichever side the scene leaves open
Clicks
always
hat tip on every click; one line per 6s; a gated click is swallowed, never queued; escalation runs poke → pokeloop; milestones at 10 / 25 / 50
Chattiness
profile setting
quiet / normal / chatty are frequency multipliers only. click responses always fire; quiet is a floor, not off — mute lives on the volume slider
Mobile
<900px
he sits bottom-center of the lobby scroll; roaming off, night band hidden. in the games he is voice-only with the hat badge, at every width
Parked lines
out of rotation
wiz-auth-title-27..31 (returning-visitor shorts) and wiz-chess-04 (the empty-chair line). recorded and installed; the ONE list lives in src/js/wizard.js