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When am I? The Flow of Time

This section provides essential definitions that ensure a smooth gameplay and provide each player which opportunities to contribute to the narrative.

Definitions

  • Tick: Unit of time that an entity can spend to perform an activity.
  • Turn: In-order timeframe during which an entity can perform activities using up to as many ticks as they have at their disposal.
  • Reaction: Out-of-order timeframe between two turns of a given entity, during which the entity may use up to two ticks reserved during their previous turn to perform activities.
  • Round: A unit of time during which all entities take their turn or reactions to expend their ticks. It is equivalent to 12 seconds of game time.

Without conditions or modifiers applied, Level 0 characters can use up to 3 ticks per round, while Level 1 or higher characters are granted up to 4 ticks per round.

Activity Duration

Activities require time to perform, with predefined ones having an associated time cost.

  • Short activities (lasting seconds) are measured in ticks.
  • Long activities are measured in conventional time units (minutes, hours, etc.) or both.

For improvised activities, the GM determines the time cost based on the context, difficulty, and narrative flow. Keep in mind that the same activity might have different costs depending on the situation.

Initiative Order

During the normal narration, entities can perform activities when they see fit.

In time-sensitive contexts – for example combat – to maintain fairness and balance in gameplay, the GM may request to use a precise turn order.

  • Initiative Roll: Before the first round, each entity participating to the Initiative Order rolls a d20 and adds their Finesse or Cognition, whichever is the highest, to determine their Initiative Score.
  • Sort by Initiative Score: Entities are then sorted based on their initiative scores in descending order. The entity with the highest initiative score takes their turn first, followed by the entity with the next highest score, and so on.
  • Tie-Breaking: If two or more entities have the same initiative score, they roll a d20 without modifiers until the order among them is determined.
  • Reactions: A reaction temporarily interrupts the initiative order and allows the entity that reserved ticks during their turn use one of them to perform an activity. The type of activity performed determines when the reaction can be taken.
  • Leftovers: Unspent ticks during a given entity's turn or remaining from untaken reactions there after, are forfeited at the start of the entity's next turn.