Why every heist choice must affect the resolver
If a planning choice never reaches the resolver, it was never a choice. It was set dressing.
Heist fantasy dies when prep menus do not change outcomes. THUG's rule is simple: if players can select it, the resolver must be able to reward, punish or transform it.
Menus without consequence train cynicism
Players learn quickly. If bringing a better driver never changes escape pressure, they stop caring about drivers. If casing a building is flavor text, casing becomes a skip.
We would rather ship fewer options that bite than a wide board of toggles the simulation ignores.
The resolver is the contract
Preparation, role assignments, timing, tools and exit plans feed a resolution pass that also sees police attention, evidence links and city conditions. Success is not a single roll wearing a trench coat.
Partial success, complications and expensive wins are allowed. A job can pay and still burn a corridor, a contact or a vehicle's usefulness.
- Inputs must be readable in outcomes
- Police pressure is part of the same pass
- Complications preserve story continuity
Choices should create trade-offs, not dominant openers
A louder entry may speed the score and spike heat. A safer team may lower ceiling payout. Extra casing may cost time while rivals move. The resolver should make those tensions real.
That is how heists connect to the rest of THUG: the same people, heat and vehicles matter tomorrow in businesses, Family routes and street work.
Design discipline going forward
New heist toys must declare which resolver hooks they touch before they ship. If we cannot name the hook, the feature waits.
Players should be able to explain a failure: wrong team for the heat, weak exit for the district, ignored intel. That explanation is the difference between a strategy game and a slot machine with cutscenes.
Questions from the street
Are THUG heists pure chance?
No. Chance can exist inside a resolution that already consumed prep, roles, timing and city pressure.
Why can a successful heist still hurt?
Because heat, evidence and damaged assets are outcomes too. Cash is only one scoreboard.
Will every future option be resolver-backed?
That is the design bar. Options without resolver impact are considered unfinished.