Game Phases

In World of Darkness the game is divided into segments. These are Stories, Chronicles, Seasons, Episodes, Scenes, Turns, Actions and Reactions. They can be summarized as follows:
*Note: If you are checking the rules for a quick gameplay reference than proceed to Scenes.

Stories

A combination of several chronicles in a larger world where those chronicles affect the outcome of one another, no matter how subtly, is treated as a story. A story can contain literally hundreds of characters, dozens of players and several different storytellers. A player will usually find that the actions their characters from each chronicle had made have overarching consequences.

Chronicles

A chronicle is a single campaign in which the players create one or more characters and use them during the course of the campaign. A Chronicle is in most cases a self-contained campaign which is written by a single storyteller.

Seasons

A Season is a combination of several episodes which conclude one arch of the campaign before another can begin. Depending on the length of the campaign a Chronicle can have any number of Seasons.

Episodes

Each session of World of Darkness is referred to as an Episode.

Scenes

A scene is exactly what it sounds like. It is a single scene which can be a meeting at a bar, a shoot-out in an alley or friendly conversation on a train. If hard to determine it is up to the Storyteller to advise when one scene ends and another begins. Scenes roughly translate into Social Scenes and Combat Scenes.
Social Scenes are interactions between NPCs and player characters which are consider for the most part to be non-combative if not outright cordial. Players can speak up and act based on their own initiative and the storyteller’s discretion.
Combat Scenes are aggressive actions against NPCs or player characters. A Social Scene can easily devolve into a Combat Scene with the players making the wrong (or right) decisions.

Turns

Turns are more prevalent in Combat Scenes rather than Social ones. This is mainly due to the fact that World of Darkness tries to be as organic as possible with its gameplay.
During a Social Scene players should be allowed to interact with NPCs and each other as they wish, with the Storyteller making sure everyone gets a chance to speak.
During Combat Scenes the first thing the Storyteller does is ask the players to roll their Initiative. The result is than taken as a rough guide for the order in which players Actions are carried out. Each Turn will than be carried out as per the Combat Rules.

Actions

A single action is a single act performed by the individual. This can be drawing a weapon, throwing a punch or activating a power. A Turn is divided into 2 Actions in order to give its players more options during their turn but not to be so complex the Turn gets bogged down on one player.

Reaction

Sometimes a player cannot perform the action he desired as he is instead intercepted or disrupted by an opponent, item or event. If this occurs than any Action the character wanted to perform immediately fails to manifest and instead the Storyteller offers the player a few options to perform as a reaction instead. Player ideas and thinking outside the box is of course welcomed and encouraged.

Time

World of Darkness does not specify how long a single Turn, Action or Scene takes. This is done on purpose to allow its players and storytellers more freedom of interpretation. Generally speaking an Action is something quick and instantaneous (checking your phone, drawing a weapon, getting up) and if a guide is needed than an action should take between 1-10 seconds, a turn is 2 Actions so it could take between 2-20 seconds and a Scene can last any number of turns so its length can vary.