Normally I consider Pace to be determined by Players, and Stride to be set by the GM.
Pace is how quickly players pass through scenes, determined by their interest and activity.
Stride is the time between scenes, determined by a variety of factors mostly adjudicated by the GM.
Thus together does the time flow.
AW seems to lend to a longer running game than other systems might. And longer Strides than many games seem to typically focus on.
How has time flow worked for you?
How has it differed, or been the same, as other games?
How much do you consider time, moon cycles, and seasons important?
How long do you, or your players, ever make long term moves?
How would you handle a Hardholder desiring resolutions for seasonal Actions, with a Witch attached to Rituals involving lunar-month cycles, with a Hocus making weekly Moves on the flock, with an Operator attempting daily Moonlighting, and a Chopper driving after lots of real-time Raiding?
So far I’ve found that time in my AW games passes a lot faster than in most other games I’ve run. This may have something to do with the fast resolution system, which means we get through more content per session than games where we have to spend an hour or more resolving a single fight.
Understandable.
Do you have as many fights, or even more short ones?
With a gunlugger leading the way, we do have plenty of fights. They sometimes take a little while, but at other times the outcome is clear after a single roll.
In my zombie apocalypse hack, I break time into six “moments:” Dawn, Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. Advancing to the next moment is a GM move.
Six moments in a day-cycle… I can dig it.
Do players have the opportunity to advance the clock?
Nope; it’s a GM move. Within the context of my game, time is against the survivors..they don’t want to be out in the dark, they have to worry about food and shelter (it is a zombie apocalypse and all). So time is a danger, and the GM controls dangers. But in a more traditional setting, maybe player control of time could work…
I do. Even still, I feel like I let the same thing happen basically 100% of the time in Monsterhearts … so I guess I have my revenge. It’s pretty crappy revenge but I’m learning from it so there’s that at least.
It’s not just moves snowballing though, I want to see what happens the whole time. I don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want to skip over something, because what if I missed something cool.
My philosophy on Pace and Stride being important to me, that was a problem I saw as well Dave Fried, and with it I have noticed a tendency to compensate (sometimes overcompensate) between sessions.
I wouldn’t want to force an unwanted Pace by taking on an unfair Stride. Such things are irritating to the players, often resulting in feelings of being cheated or harassed — depending on which direction the Speed has been pushed.
Certain playbooks seem to be preferential to specific impulse phases, for optimal performance. Not that this would be the reason to pick them, but it seems best for an MC to consider these as Player Flags to keep in mind. Fortunately ample opportunity is given to ask questions that can provide reason to make adjustments to that concept as well, as a player’s flags may then dynamically change over time.
Not worried about it, but I did see it as an Item that hasn’t been described or discussed yet. So part of me wondered if it had even come up.
You gave me perspective, and quite a bit to think about there, thanks.
Still openly interested in the original questions I’ve posted though. Don’t want this to sound like all my questions were answered, or that discussion is not open.
<3 OP