Hey all.

Hey all.

Hey all. Pretty new to PbtA games. The Sprawl seems to have lots of clocks. Which is cool because it seems like it should  make the story feel complex I just don’t know how I’m supposed to manage various clocks.

First: When should I advance them other than when the mechanics tell me to do so?  ie. during the links phase of worldbuilding/character creation. 

Second: When a clock advances, what should that look/feel like in the game? I understand the clocks as story arcs concept but am struggling with how I’m going to actually apply it. 

I missed the kickstarter so I only have the v.0.2 currently but I’ve found the 0.3 playbooks and moves and will be using those for my first session. 

Thanks to everyone who has posted about MC first session advice. I’m seriously so pumped for my playgroup to dive into The Sprawl!

Also, if anyone has a way that I can contribute to the community I’d love to help. I want this to be a book so bad! 

9 thoughts on “Hey all.”

  2. Remember, advancing a clock is an MC move, and one of the triggers for MC moves is “the fiction demands it”.

    In the case of a corporate clock, for example, the clock represents how much attention the characters are receiving from that corporation – so if the characters take action that would attract more attention, then you could advance the clock to reflect that.

    Conversely, if you choose to advance the same clock for a different reason (e.g to add complications after a failed PC move), that means that for some reason, that corporation is choosing to look more closely at events, or becoming increasingly actively involved. At low levels, that might just be they’re watching, looking for leverage they can use – at higher levels, they’re more actively hostile…. impeding the team’s efforts, if not outright trying to kill them.

  4. That makes sense Simon. Are there any examples of what a certain point on a clock should represent? I think the book says that at 1800 the corp knows about them. But then at 2100 they are going to start taking action (pg. 89 of v0.2). What do other points on the clock mean? I mean I can figure out that 0000 means that the corp is throwing everything at them, I’m just trying to gain a sense of the natural progression. 

  6. The clock section is much expanded in the current/final version. Here’s the start of the section:

    “Certain events in the story will cause the countdown clock to “advance”. To advance a countdown clock, strike out the leftmost unstruck number in the list. When you read a countdown clock, the leftmost unstruck number is the clock’s value; so if 1200 and 1500 are crossed off, the clock is at 1800.

    Countdown clocks are descriptive. As they advance they show you the state of whatever that clock represents.

    Countdown clocks are also prescriptive. As the clock advances to certain values, it will trigger certain effects in the story.

    When a move offers an option like someone finds out or it attracts attention, that’s an invitation to the MC to advance a countdown clock. Time on a countdown clock is a scarce resource, so advancing a clock is a hard move. If a hard move isn’t called for, the MC might show them the barrel of the gun instead, leaving the clocks where they are.”

  8. Well, it’s kind of hard to be specific, because it’s going to be very dependent on context. But it’s basically a matter of escalating things – the closer the clock gets to 0000, the more effort the PCs will need to put into avoiding attention.

    So maybe at 2100, the characters start to catch word that someone is looking for them, at 2200 they personally notice suspicious (and well-armed) strangers hanging around their usual haunts, etc… they’re going to have to do something about it, whether that means going into hiding, or maybe rushing ahead with the mission, hoping to catch them by surprise. By 2300, the PCs might be contemplating ambushing the pursuers to buy themselves some time – risky, since a failure here would certainly push the clock to 0000.

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