Basics
Clocks
Clocks are a tool the Judge the can use to manage the pacing of the game and keep track of projects and events that take more than a single check to resolve. They are important for adding tension and weight to the player's choices.
Basics
Clocks are a tool the Judge the can use to manage the pacing of the game and keep track of projects and events that take more than a single check to resolve. They are important for adding tension and weight to the player's choices.
Whenever they feel the fiction calls for it, the Judge can create a new clock. They do so by drawing a circle and then drawing lines through it to cut it in several segments. Most clocks have between four and eight segments. A clock should be visible to all the players, so it is best to draw it on a note card and leave on the table where everyone can see it.
A clock should also have a label that tells what it is tracking or what will happen when it fills up, something like:
"The cave collapses"
"The ritual is completed"
"The village is evacuated"
"The dark servant escapes"
"The pilgrims depart on their journey"
Each segment of a clock represents a step being taken toward the event or conclusion that the clock is tracking. When the party makes headway toward a goal or a threat creeps closer, the Judge should advance the clock, filling in one segment for a normal achievement or two for a major one. Usually, this happens when the party succeeds or fails at a check.
Once a clock is completed, it should be discarded. The Judge should also discard a clock if the project it tracks is abandoned or the threat it represents is neutralized.
When you suffer an injury in combat, it gains a clock of weeks to represent the slow process of healing.
A progress clock tracks how much progress has been made toward a specific goal. It advances by one when the party succeeds in making headway toward their goal or by two when they complete a major objective.
When a progress clock is filled up, the project is complete, and the clock can be discarded. Progress clocks are used frequently in the haven frame to keep track of injuries, research, construction, crafting, and more.
A threat clock represents an undesirable event that the party wants to avoid. The Judge can advance a threat clock by one whenever a character fails a check, or by two whenever the party suffers a major defeat or setback, such as being forced to flee from a battle.
The party may be able to take steps to hold back a threat clock, removing segments from it. For example, if a clock is counting down to when "the giant wolf breaks free," a character trying to secure its chains or calm it down could remove one or two segments on a success. When the threat represented by a threat clock is neutralized, the clock should be discarded.
A timer is a clock that represents the actual passage of time. Its segments can represent combat rounds, dungeon rounds, days, or even weeks.
A Judge can create two clocks to represent a race against time. For example, if the party is trying to evacuate a town before a mudslide destroys it, the Judge can create a progress clock to represent their headway and a timer or threat clock to represent the closing window to achieve their goal.