Who needs what answered?
authority, customer, mandate, intelligence_requirement, and jurisdiction.
Schemas and working examples / IARPG-OPS-2
The schema defines the minimum reviewable contract. The Hollow Signal fixture shows how authority, evidence, roles, interaction, synthetic-source policy, extraction, and debrief fit together in one complete fictional operation.
Field map
The schema is not a generic quest format. It is designed to keep intelligence purpose, player interaction, evidence thresholds, source boundaries, and review conditions visible at the same time.
authority, customer, mandate, intelligence_requirement, and jurisdiction.
known_facts and assumptions prevent preferred explanations from silently becoming mission truth.
roles, collection_plan, cover_plan, and interaction_model make the mission playable rather than decorative.
evidence_threshold, reason_codes, and source policy determine when the system may support an irreversible consequence.
abort_condition and extraction_plan protect sources, access, custody, and future operations.
debrief_deliverable preserves findings, confidence, gaps, consequences, and next collection.
Complete working fixture
The example is complete enough to reach Level C — Auditable in the local validator. It is a reference pattern, not a mandatory story, faction, or mission outcome.
{
"standard_version": "IARPG-OPS-2",
"profile_version": "2.0.4-wip",
"mission_id": "IARPG-MSN-001",
"slug": "port-access-anomaly-investigation",
"title": "Port Access Anomaly Investigation",
"authority": "Port Meridian Civic Continuity Office",
"authority_code": "CIV-01",
"customer": "Metropolitan continuity council",
"mandate": "Collect and assess information within the declared fictional jurisdiction and report uncertainty without forcing a preferred conclusion.",
"jurisdiction": "Port Meridian civil port systems",
"intelligence_requirement": "Determine whether repeated privileged export events reflect insider disclosure, automation failure, or fabricated traffic intended to trigger a purge.",
"known_facts": [
"A triggering anomaly or request has been logged.",
"The authority has access to some but not all relevant records.",
"At least two explanations remain plausible."
],
"assumptions": [
"Current system clocks are synchronized within the published tolerance.",
"Declared access records have not yet been proven complete."
],
"competing_hypotheses": [
"Administrative or technical failure",
"Authorized but poorly documented activity",
"Deliberate disclosure or manipulation",
"Fabricated evidence intended to redirect attention"
],
"roles": [
"Operative",
"Handler",
"Intelligence Analyst",
"Technical Operator"
],
"information_asymmetry": {
"Operative": [
"Role-specific tasking",
"Authorized evidence subset"
],
"Handler": [
"Role-specific tasking",
"Authorized evidence subset"
],
"Intelligence Analyst": [
"Role-specific tasking",
"Authorized evidence subset"
],
"Technical Operator": [
"Role-specific tasking",
"Authorized evidence subset"
]
},
"collection_plan": [
"Access-control review",
"Witness interview",
"Technical log collection",
"Open-source schedule comparison"
],
"sources": [
{
"source_id": "SRC-01",
"class": "human-or-record",
"reliability": "unknown-at-tasking",
"access": "limited",
"handling": "compartmented"
}
],
"player_interactions": [
"Review tasking",
"Establish access",
"Collect evidence",
"Mark contradiction",
"Request corroboration",
"Choose continue, convert, or abort",
"Complete extraction and debrief"
],
"cover_and_access": "Use a mission-appropriate fictional professional cover or declared inspection authority; access must be plausible and documented.",
"evidence_threshold": "Deliver an assessment only after two independent evidence classes corroborate the leading explanation.",
"synthetic_source_policy": "disclosed-and-claim-only",
"compromise_indicators": [
"Unexpected access challenge",
"Unexplained route change",
"Source behavior inconsistent with prior handling",
"Evidence item lacking provenance",
"Role handoff not acknowledged"
],
"abort_conditions": [
"Cover integrity below 35",
"Source safety cannot be maintained",
"Jurisdiction is exceeded",
"Required evidence custody cannot be preserved"
],
"extraction_plan": "Extract through the public maintenance corridor or abort to remote debrief if cover integrity falls below 35.",
"debrief_deliverable": "An assessment that separates observation, source report, interpretation, hypothesis, confidence, dissent, source impact, cover impact, and follow-on requirements.",
"reward_posture": "authority-reviewed",
"reason_codes": true,
"fiction_boundary": true,
"states": [
"Task",
"Plan",
"Access",
"Collect",
"Validate",
"Deliver",
"Extract",
"Debrief"
],
"transitions": [
{
"from": "Task",
"action": "accept tasking",
"to": "Plan"
},
{
"from": "Plan",
"action": "approve plan",
"to": "Access"
},
{
"from": "Access",
"action": "establish access",
"to": "Collect"
},
{
"from": "Collect",
"action": "submit evidence packet",
"to": "Validate"
},
{
"from": "Validate",
"action": "meet threshold",
"to": "Deliver"
},
{
"from": "Deliver",
"action": "complete handoff",
"to": "Extract"
},
{
"from": "Extract",
"action": "reach extraction or remote debrief",
"to": "Debrief"
}
],
"failure_paths": [
"Abort",
"Compromise",
"Partial success",
"Converted objective"
],
"seed": "hollow-signal",
"supporting_standards": [
"mission-brief-contract",
"mission-lifecycle",
"roles-and-information-asymmetry",
"provenance-confidence-and-corroboration",
"compromise-abort-handling",
"mission-event-logging",
"deterministic-mission-state-machines",
"debrief-product-contract"
],
"supporting_reports": [
"/docs/report/intelligence-operative-archetypes-and-tradecraft",
"/docs/report/justice-system-and-warrant-escalation-for-rogue-intelligence",
"/docs/report/hallucinated-ai-quest-design-in-vr-mmorpgs"
],
"evidence_events": [
"Observation or source report recorded with origin and UTC event time",
"Provenance and chain of custody reviewed",
"Corroboration or contradiction relationship recorded",
"Assessment and reason code published"
],
"extraction_states": [
"Primary extraction",
"Alternate extraction",
"Emergency extraction",
"Remote debrief"
],
"debrief_outputs": [
"Objective status",
"Evidence acquired",
"Unresolved uncertainty",
"Source impact",
"Cover impact",
"Access status",
"Follow-on requirements"
]
}
Canonical machine contract
Use the schema for editor assistance, validation, fixture generation, implementation tests, and release evidence. The browser validator implements the current required-field and value checks without a third-party library.
{
"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
"$id": "https://iarpg.com/mission-brief.schema.json",
"title": "IARPG-OPS-2 Mission Brief",
"description": "Mission brief contract for fictional intelligence operations under IARPG-OPS-2.",
"type": "object",
"required": [
"standard_version",
"mission_id",
"title",
"authority",
"customer",
"mandate",
"jurisdiction",
"intelligence_requirement",
"known_facts",
"assumptions",
"competing_hypotheses",
"roles",
"information_asymmetry",
"collection_plan",
"sources",
"player_interactions",
"cover_and_access",
"evidence_threshold",
"synthetic_source_policy",
"compromise_indicators",
"abort_conditions",
"extraction_plan",
"debrief_deliverable",
"reward_posture",
"reason_codes",
"fiction_boundary",
"states",
"transitions",
"evidence_events",
"failure_paths",
"extraction_states",
"debrief_outputs",
"seed"
],
"properties": {
"mission_id": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 3
},
"title": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 3
},
"authority": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 2
},
"customer": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 2
},
"mandate": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"intelligence_requirement": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"jurisdiction": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 2
},
"known_facts": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"assumptions": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"roles": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"collection_plan": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"evidence_threshold": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"cover_plan": {
"type": "string",
"deprecated": true,
"description": "Legacy OPS-1 alias. Use cover_and_access."
},
"abort_condition": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8,
"deprecated": true,
"description": "Legacy OPS-1 alias. Use abort_conditions."
},
"extraction_plan": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"debrief_deliverable": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"synthetic_source_policy": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"none",
"disclosed-and-claim-only",
"disclosed-and-intentionally-unreliable"
]
},
"reward_posture": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"verified",
"authority-reviewed",
"reputation-backed",
"unverified"
]
},
"standard_version": {
"const": "IARPG-OPS-2"
},
"interaction_model": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 20,
"description": "Legacy OPS-1 alias. Use player_interactions.",
"deprecated": true
},
"reason_codes": {
"type": "boolean",
"const": true,
"description": "Mission outcomes and restrictions expose reviewable reason codes."
},
"fiction_boundary": {
"type": "boolean",
"const": true,
"description": "The brief is explicitly fictional and does not invite real-world targeting or validation of personal surveillance claims."
},
"competing_hypotheses": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 2
},
"information_asymmetry": {
"type": "object"
},
"sources": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"player_interactions": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"cover_and_access": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 8
},
"compromise_indicators": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"abort_conditions": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"states": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 4
},
"transitions": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object"
},
"minItems": 3
},
"failure_paths": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"minItems": 1
},
"seed": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
},
"evidence_events": {
"type": "array",
"minItems": 1,
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
},
"description": "Reviewable evidence events emitted during the operation."
},
"extraction_states": {
"type": "array",
"minItems": 1,
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
},
"description": "Declared extraction and remote-debrief states."
},
"debrief_outputs": {
"type": "array",
"minItems": 1,
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
},
"description": "Products required from the debrief."
}
},
"additionalProperties": true
}
Machine assets
The canonical JSON documents are published at stable root routes and mirrored under `/docs/standards/` for long-term project memory.