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1.4. Phases of Play

Each session of play is an "Episode" of the game unless the GM informs you it's a two-part Episode, in which case the Episode will span two sessions of play. Each Episode will test your mettle by limiting how much healing you can do and how often you can use some Abilities.

Each Episode has four phases of play:

Opening Credits

At the start of each Episode, the GM will be go around the table and do the Opening Credits. Each Adventurer will introduce or reintroduce themselves (in character.) To add some flavor, the GM may also ask each Adventurer for a 5 second, opening credits-style "clip" of their life outside an Episode. This could be as simple as your character opening a jar with a knife, cheating at cards, or eating cabbage stew with their family. This scene should capture the essence of each Adventurer.

After introductions, the GM may play out a "Cold Open" scene that sets up some of the events and stakes to come. This could be a peasant dying in an alleyway or a monarch making a speech about raising taxes. These scenes will often not include the Adventurers, but help provide a peek into the events to come.

To conclude the Opening Credits, anyone that has an Episodic Ability can use it. These Abilities often grant points or effects that you can cash-in later in that Episode. Anything gained from an Episodic Ability will not carry over to the next Episode, so be sure to use what you get.

Freeplay Phase

During Freeplay the GM will lead by describing the scene and the events unfolding around you. Each Adventurer can then choose to act on that information, exploring and progressing the story.

While Freeplay does not have a strict turn-order, the GM will work to give each player chances to act on the story unfolding. The GM may even use a loose turn-order to add tension into time-sensitive parts of the story. That said, you should treat each Adventurer's actions in Freeplay as overlapping, time-wise, with events often happening in parallel.

Novice Note: Getting Involved

A great player will find reasons and motivations for their character to get involved and encourage other player characters to step up to challenges. Situations may arise in which players are hesitant to act. In those moments of indecision you should find a reason to step up to the challenge or to talk another player's character into stepping up for you. Encouraging other players is a great way to help a shy or hesitant player get more "screen time."

For your first times playing, you should strive to work together with your fellow players and your characters should strive to become a family, of sorts, that watches out for one another and is "in this together!" After you have experience a more cooperative style of play, it will be easier to explore other dynamics while keeping the game fun for everyone.

During Freeplay, you are free to use any Abilities available to you. Abilities from your Character Sheet (such as spells or weapon attacks) list how long they take, but during Freeplay, you can often ignore those Ability Times. The one exception to this is Montage Abilities. These generally take 15 minutes or more to complete, often requiring that you use them in certain locations, like a marketplace. When you want to uses a Montage Ability, check with the GM that you can do so. The GM may ask that you play out scenes from the Montage before it takes effect.

You can also improvise Abilities not found in this book, like opening a door, cooking dinner, or driving a cart. When you want to improvise an Ability not found on your Character Sheet, you will need to describe the action for the GM and the other players. For simple tasks, like opening an unlocked door, the GM will proceed with a description the effects of your action. For more difficult tasks, like if someone barred the door, the GM may ask that you perform a Test. For most improvised Abilities, the GM will ask you to perform the Test using one of your Skills. The Score for that Test will then determine how well you did. A Low Score may mean you failed or succeeded with a worse outcome. A Mixed Score will often lead to success, but with a delay, hard choice, or sub-optimal outcome. A High Score will generally result in you achieving your goal with little or no downside.

If you describe a task that would be near impossible for most anyone, like performing open heart surgery in a swamp with not but a dirty stick, the GM may inform you that the task is not possible. If you press on anyway, the GM will describe your failed attempt with no Test needed to determine the outcome.

GM Note: Fostering Creativity

When Adventurers suggest outlandish improvised actions, try not to punish them for the suggestion, as that can stifle creativity.

At times, Adventurers may come up with creative solutions that, if allowed, would become a go-to solution or possibly break the game in some way. In these situations, it can help to be forthright with your concerns. A good way to proceed is to allow the player to do their creative solution once, but express that you will expect different solutions in the future. You could also inform the Adventurers that future attempt at that solution will come at a Disadvantage. This allows the Adventurers to exercise their creativity while ensuring that game (and The Story Rule) are not broken.

Encounter

When tense moments arise or a fight breaks out, the GM will announce the start of an Encounter. An Encounter has four phases: the Setup Phase, Main Phase, Reward Phase, and Pause Phase.

Setup Phase

When the GM announces the start of an Encounter, the Setup Phase begins.

Each Adventurer will perform an Artifice Test:

Main Phase

The Main Phase proceeds in a series of Rounds in which each Adventurer takes a Turn. Following each of the Adventurer's Turns, the GM will get a Turn to respond to what the Adventurer did on their Turn.

Rounds

Each Round of the Main Phase proceeds with each Adventurer taking a Turn. There's no strict Turn order, though the GM may ask certain Adventurers to act first, if the story would benefit. For larger parties, the GM may also prefer to go in-order around the table. If the GM doesn't specify an Adventurer or Turn order, then the Adventurers can decide among themselves who will go in what order. If ever you want to interject and take your Turn earlier, for story reasons, let the GM know.

After each Adventurers' Turn, the GM can respond to the that Adventurer's part of the story. The GM will choose to take a Turn in whichever way builds best on what the Adventurer did on their Turn. Most often, the GM will use their Turn to give NPCs a Turn, though they may also take the opportunity to spring traps or control other parts of the world.

Once every Adventurer has taken their Turn and the GM has taken all their Turns in response, the GM has an opportunity to give all remaining NPCs a Turn, though the NPCs won't gain any Beats on those Turns. Most often the GM will use these extra Turns to use Free Actions, like using Move to reposition the characters on the battlefield.

After the GM has given each NPC a Turn, the next Round begins, repeating in the same way. The Encounter continues like this, Round after Round, until the GM transitions the Encounter to the Pause Phase or the Reward Phase.

Taking a Turn

On your Turn you get to lead the narrative, move, and act on what's happening around you. Each Turn represents about 6 seconds of time. Each Turn overlaps with everyone else's Turn in a staggered pattern.

Beats

At the start of their Turn, each character will gain a Beat that they can use to perform Abilities with an Ability Time of "Action" on their Turn. On their first Turn of an Encounter Adventurer gain the number of Beats determined by the Setup Phase instead of gaining one Beat.

After you use a Beat on an Ability, and that Ability finishes taking effect, you gain one Hook that you can use on future Abilities.

At any time you can convert one Beat into four Hooks or vise-versa.

You can, optionally, save one Beat for later, carrying it over to the next Round. Also, when you start your Turn you can, optionally, choose to take a Beat one Turn early. If you do, you will count as being in Beat Debt on your next Turn. While in Beat Debt:

Hooks

Hooks represent your building adrenaline in an Encounter and allow you to push yourself in new ways.

Each Adventurer has a chance to gain a Hook on their first Turn if they roll a High Score during the Setup Phase of an Encounter. You can also start an Encounter with extra Hooks if you choose that as one of your Perks. You will gain one Hook after using an Ability that required a Beat.

Any character can use two of their Hooks to:

Remember: At any time you can convert one Beat into four Hooks or vise-versa.

Using Abilities

No matter who you play as, you will generally have access to the Basic Abilities. This includes the Move Ability, which lets you move around the world. You can also attack using the Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, and the Magic Attack (though you'll need to know one other Spell before you have access to Magic Attack.) The book will cover each Basic Ability in a future chapter.

Beyond the Basic Abilities, when you build your character, you will have the opportunity to choose from a list of other Abilities.

Of the Abilities that you can use in an Encounter will see one of four different Ability Times:

Helpful symbols

An easy way to remember if an Ability requires a Beat or a Hook is to look at the symbol for the Ability's Time. If it has an outline, then it requires a Beat or a Hook:

Improvised Free Actions

Improvised Free Actions are a great way to add flavor to an Encounter without worrying about using up your Beats. You can perform at least two improvised Free Actions on your Turn to do simple, fast interactions with the world, like talking smack to enemies, pushing over a small objects, or opening doors. The GM may even allow more than two Free Actions, if they could all be reasonably done together in a 6 second span of time alongside whatever Abilities you use.

If your improvisation would require more effort or time, the GM may as that you spend a Beat to perform it.

Improvised Free Reactions

You can always use a Free Reaction to respond to what someone else has said. Depending on the situation, your GM may also allow you to improvise other Free Reactions.

If your improvisation would have a larger effect on the Encounter, the GM may ask that you spend a Hook to perform it.

Ending your Turn

You will often gain Status Conditions during an Encounter. These Status Conditions can impose negative or positive effect on you. At the end of each of your Turns, you will erase one Stack from each Fleeting Condition on your Character Sheet unless you gained that Stack on this same Turn that is ending. Erasing Status Condition Stacks will lessen or entirely remove their effect. (For more information on Status Conditions, see the chapter 3.7. Status Conditions.)

Note: Enemies also erase one stack of each Fleeting Condition at the end of their Turn.

At the end of your Turn, you should also look to see if the effects of any Abilities have expired. You may need update values on your Character Sheet to reflect those changes.

Adventurer Combos

If ever Adventurers want to take their Turns at the same time to perform a Combo of some kind, they are free to do so. The only caveat is that the Adventurers performing a Combo must play off each other in a way that would create a new or enhanced result than if they took their Turns separately.

Once Adventurers complete their Turns for a Combo, the GM will then have a chance to take Turns in response for each Adventurer involved in the Combo. The GM can use the opportunity to perform a Combo of their own or take each Turn separately.

Game Master's Turns

The GM has a chance to take a Turn after each Adventurer's Turn. The GM will use their Turn to build on the actions of the Adventurers. Most often, the GM will use their Turn to give NPCs a Turn, though they may also take the opportunity to spring traps or control other parts of the world.

When the GM gives NPCs a Turn, the number of NPC Turns that the GM can initiate depends on the difficulty Creature Tag of the NPC. The GM should total up the following values, not exceed 1 for each GM Turn:

When the GM gives an NPC a Turn, the NPC's Turn works in the same way that Adventurer Turns work. Namely:

At the end of a Round, after each Adventurer has taken their Turn, and the GM has taken Turns in response, the GM has a chance to give each remaining NPC a Turn, though these end-of-round Turns won't grant those NPCs a Beat. As such, the NPCs will have to stick to Free Actions, Beats from previous Turns, or borrow a Beat from a future Turn in the same way that Adventurers do. When an NPC is in Beat Debt, they remain in Beat Debt until they take a turn that isn't an end-of-round Turn.

When controlling a part of the world instead of an NPC, the GM can trigger events that they hinted at. For example, if they hinted that a cliff was unstable, they could use their Turn to have the cliff edge give way.

Reward Phase

At any time, the GM can announce the end of the Encounter.

When an Encounter has officially ended, the GM will give you Experience Points. You will receive one Experience Point per Encounter, but the GM may reward a second Experience Point for achieving secondary goals or more optimal outcomes. You can track Experience Points on the Experience Tracker on Page 2 of your Character Sheet. Once you have gained enough Experience Points, you can Level Up, gaining new Abilities, Upgrades, and Perks.

If you took Damage in the Encounter, you will have a chance to recover using your Defend and Recover Abilities now that the Freeplay is returning. These Abilities restore your Shield, Health and Vitality levels. (For more on these Abilities, see 1.8. Abilities and 2.0. Basic Abilities.)

Pause Phase

At times, the GM may wish to pause an Encounter without officially ending it. The Pause Phase is most used when someone calls for a parlay or wishes to take a moment to deliver a monologue. The Pause Phase works the same as the Freeplay Phase, but players will need to announce all Abilities that they are using (where in the Freeplay Phase, GMs often let you Recover and use the other recover Abilities without announcing it.)

The Pause Phase concludes when the GM transitions the game back to the Main Phase or on to the Reward Phase. If you trigger the end of a Pause Phase by spending a Beat, that Beat will be unavailable on your next Turn of the Encounter if the game returned to the Main Phase.

Closing Credits

At the end of each Episode, the GM will announce the Closing Credits. The GM may play out the adventure with a scene or two that helps tie up the adventure. This could be a random family happy discussing the vanquished troll at dinner or a back-alley deal that hints that the greater threat is still out there.

If some time will pass before the next Episode, the GM will also ask each Adventurer if they would like to play out any "resolution" style scenes, where their Player Character discusses the Episode's events with other PCs or NPCs, like their friends or family. In these scenes, players do not need to stick to characters that already exist in the world and could be as simple as discussing the day's events with a local sandwich maker.

After the resolution scenes, players will have an opportunity to reset much of their Character Sheets. Below is a list of resets to perform. New Abilities that you gain may add to this list. (Later chapters will describe each in more detail):

The GM may alter what you can reset between Episodes if two Episodes are close together. For example, the GM may halve any values restored to carry over the effects of a difficult fight to the next Episode.

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