I am not new to the AW Engine, so some things don’t surprise me. But this caught me off guard (and I am not sure if I just missed it in AW):
“Keep the full version of the Legwork Clock secret, but also show its current value where the players can see it. Visibly adjust it when it advances.”
All the clocks are the same. They can easily check on their clock how far along that means things are. Why would you keep the clock hidden? Seems like an unnecessary level of obfuscation.
In AW, I think keeping that secret is part of the cloud of moves around “make a move but don’t speak its name”, i.e. part of maintaining the fiction for the players. In The Sprawl, keeping the Clocks visible is explicitly designed to increase tension and provoke the players into action. I can’t speak for Vincent, but I think the design goals are different, so think about the impact of that on the individual game.
Its less about keeping the clock visible that confuses me.
Its more the idea of keeping the current number visible, and hiding the rest of the clock that confuses me.
Riley Crowder Part of your prep work includes making notes about the what happens at each segment of the Legwork clock. So it isn’t just the countdown its the fictional consequence for having reached that segment. The idea is you show the players how far down the clock they are and since all the clocks, as you point out, are the same they know how far from 0000 they are. BUT the “full version” includes your fictional notes about the consequences. THAT you keep hidden.
Oh right, I misunderstood.
There I’m referring to the MC’s prep about what will happen at different levels of the clock. The players will know that bad things happen as the clock advances, but I think it removes tension if they look at the clock, see “4 guys with body armour and assault weapons”. That would also put more pressure on the MC to make their prep notes tidy and awesome, and I don’t want to do that.
Ah..so I was taking the description of the phrase ‘full version’ of the clock too literally by just thinking about the numbers itself. 🙂
My wording could definitely be clearer there.
It certinally doesn’t need to be in your errata updates, but if you feel so compelled go for it.
I probably won’t I’ll just bear it in mind for next time.
I’ll see how sick I get on answering that question 😉