# What is an interception step?
An interception step is a special kind of step. It is never wired through normal parent links: it fires automatically whenever a player lands on any step, provided its trigger conditions are met.
When an interception fires, it replaces the normal choices of the step the player just arrived on with a single choice that leads to the interception step. Once the interception has been read, its own children (if any) take over like any standard step.
Typical use case
A player dies in your story (the "alive" variable is false). You want their next choice — wherever they currently are — to take them to a game-over scene rather than continue the adventure as usual. An interception step gated on "alive = false" does exactly that.
# How the engine picks when to intercept
- The player makes a choice that leads them to step S.
- On arrival, the engine evaluates every interception step defined in the story.
- For each: does the audience include this player? Has it already been triggered for them? Are its conditions true?
- If several match, the one with the lowest priority wins (ties broken by the lowest step ID).
- The player then sees a single choice — labeled with the text you configured — that leads to the interception step.
- Once the interception is taken, it is marked as triggered for that player and cannot fire again in the same session.
Once per player
Each interception can fire only once per player in a session. If you need a recurring effect, create multiple interceptions or have the interception step itself modify a variable to break its own condition.
# Configuring an interception
In the step editor, open the Type pill and tick Interception step. The configuration dialog opens. Fill in:
| Field | Role |
|---|---|
| Single-choice text | What the reader clicks to land on the interception. Be evocative ("Something feels wrong...", "A scream pierces the air"). Avoid "Continue". |
| Trigger conditions | At least one. Same types as parent-link conditions: variables, events read, time periods, current player… |
| AND/OR operator | How conditions combine. |
| Audience | All players or a subset. In solo mode leave "all". |
| Priority | If several interceptions match at the same time, the lowest priority wins. Defaults to 0. |
Combine with another type
An interception step can be any type: Standard, Dialogue, Exploration or Hub. The Interception badge in the node-flow is added on top of the type's color. Use it to make a death interception, for instance, a Dialogue with a character commenting the ending.
# Things to keep in mind
- An interception has no parent links. It is reachable only through its own trigger.
- It can have children (by other steps using it as a parent link), so you can route the player back into the main flow after the interception.
- Returning to the original choices of the intercepted step is not handled automatically. If you want that, create a link from the interception's child back to that target.
- Conditions are checked at the player's next choice, not in real time — there is a natural delay between the state change and the trigger.
Node-flow visual
Interception steps wear an amber border and a lightning badge (⚡) in the top-right corner. You can also filter both the node-flow and the steps list by the "Interception" type.