In Time Lock players assume the roles of intrepid time travelers moving through different parallel timelines collecting items and altering the current state of history.
A time traveler might expect to have enough flux energy to travel into the future and reach a particular era only to find that the current timeline had changed and now that era doesn't come into being until a later time.
A player has 3 actions per turn. For each action a player may:
1. Move through time (costs 1 flux energy per space moved and must be the first action in the turn)
2. (once) Take a common item from the player's current era.
3. (once) Attempt to find the artifact from the player's current era. May "Get There First" an already found artifact if attempting in an earlier time. If failed the player may still take a common item.
4. Fortify the next pivot point to secure the timeline, costs 10 flux energy per +/-1 to the pivot point.
5. Temporarily effect the next pivot point, costs 5 energy per +/-1 to the pivot point. May be done multiple times for a single action.
6. Drop an item (free action)
Taking and dropping items could effect the next pivot point in the timeline, depending on where they occur. A player's character also has expertise in particular area's of history, so may be able to better control altering that era's timeline.
A time traveler's objective is to collect items and to change the course of history to meet his goals, as well as assemble the artifacts necessary to construct the Time Lock, fixing the timeline in place and ending the game.