Time
The passage of time in Scion is determined by the pace of the story, just like how weeks can pass in a single episode of a TV show. Though time passes normally for the characters, players do not split up the game into minutes, hours, and days, but into scenes, acts, and episodes. The following units of time are purely narrative, but can govern the duration of certain effects, determine how often a particular power can be used, or help administer character advancement (p. 113).
Turn: The smallest increment of time, which can last anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. A character can perform a single instant action in a turn. Turns normally only matter in combat or other dramatic and stressful situations.
Round: A round is a snapshot of an exciting scenario such as a fight or competition. It is the length of time it takes all participants to have a turn in a situation governed by initiative. Every round, each character involved takes a single turn, which they can use to move around and perform a suitable action, like launching an attack.
Scene: A scene is a single coherent sequence of events, like an entire fight or the inspection of a crime scene. A scene takes as long as the story needs, whether a minute or several hours. The Storyguide decides when a scene has come to its logical conclusion, and moves the story along to the next one until the session ends.
Act (Session): An act is an entire game session from beginning to end. Acts are made up of different scenes, which together represent a single segment of a bigger story. An act can end early if the characters complete an episode mid-session.
Episode: An episode is a single small story, like an episode of a television series, which gives the characters a breather when it finishes. An episode might be completed in a single long session, or include multiple acts.
Arc: An arc is a group of episodes that takes a full storyline from beginning to end, but leaves loose ends, uncompleted tasks, and possible successor stories. Most arcs are made up of two to five episodes.
Season: A season is a complete and conclusive story, usually driven by some great threat or goal that is resolved at the season’s climax, just like in a television series. When a season ends, the characters tend to enjoy some downtime before the next story starts.
Series: The entire continuity of the game’s story. A “campaign” or “chronicle.”
It is sometimes helpful to approximate more literal times from these terms. For example, if a Boon lasts a single scene but the next fight is just minutes away, the Storyguide might decide that its blessing is still active when the characters catch up to their foe. In combat situations or similarly fast-paced action-adventure scenarios, a round lasts about four seconds. Scenes can usually be considered to last about an hour or two, while acts default to a single day, an episode covers a week, and an arc or season extends across a month or year, respectively.
Turn: The smallest increment of time, which can last anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. A character can perform a single instant action in a turn. Turns normally only matter in combat or other dramatic and stressful situations.
Round: A round is a snapshot of an exciting scenario such as a fight or competition. It is the length of time it takes all participants to have a turn in a situation governed by initiative. Every round, each character involved takes a single turn, which they can use to move around and perform a suitable action, like launching an attack.
Scene: A scene is a single coherent sequence of events, like an entire fight or the inspection of a crime scene. A scene takes as long as the story needs, whether a minute or several hours. The Storyguide decides when a scene has come to its logical conclusion, and moves the story along to the next one until the session ends.
Act (Session): An act is an entire game session from beginning to end. Acts are made up of different scenes, which together represent a single segment of a bigger story. An act can end early if the characters complete an episode mid-session.
Episode: An episode is a single small story, like an episode of a television series, which gives the characters a breather when it finishes. An episode might be completed in a single long session, or include multiple acts.
Arc: An arc is a group of episodes that takes a full storyline from beginning to end, but leaves loose ends, uncompleted tasks, and possible successor stories. Most arcs are made up of two to five episodes.
Season: A season is a complete and conclusive story, usually driven by some great threat or goal that is resolved at the season’s climax, just like in a television series. When a season ends, the characters tend to enjoy some downtime before the next story starts.
Series: The entire continuity of the game’s story. A “campaign” or “chronicle.”
It is sometimes helpful to approximate more literal times from these terms. For example, if a Boon lasts a single scene but the next fight is just minutes away, the Storyguide might decide that its blessing is still active when the characters catch up to their foe. In combat situations or similarly fast-paced action-adventure scenarios, a round lasts about four seconds. Scenes can usually be considered to last about an hour or two, while acts default to a single day, an episode covers a week, and an arc or season extends across a month or year, respectively.
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