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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8402170" data-attributes="member: 71699">It's interesting to ask what time represents in an RPG. Perhaps it best represents the relative number of other things that can happen while something is happening. A torch burns for 1 hour. How much can happen while it is burning? That varies from table to table - for [USER=694]@Jack Daniel[/USER] each character will get six exploration actions. In WWON it can contain at least 4 scenes, or 6 turns of focused exploration, and the variability of those spans is called attention to.RAW is clear that a light spell should last exactly as long as a torch... but does it really make sense that every natural torch in the world burns for precisely one hour? And if it doesn't, what does that say about a light spell? I find that time in fiction contracts and expands as to what it contains - to suit our narratives. What about you?Two fighters set out on one turn of movement. One walks 30'. The other skips (but does not dash). How far many feet can the second go? Or are the barred from skipping unless they dash? The specifics of narration seem to me in good part up to what is accepted at each table. A group might feel that initiative represents an inner readiness - akin to zanshin - in which case they might say that even though the player aimed not to waffle, their character did indeed, internally, waffle.The fictional reality of the stumble is suggested by the fact that as player I rolled a low initiative. If I wanted the die to narrate my preconceived narrative (that my character neither hesitated nor stumbled) I should have put it down with the number I wanted face up: rolling it was a noob error <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> Alternatively, I could prefer to make initiative inexplicable: resisting any in-world explanation as to how my fighter happened to be slower. If I do, am I saying that all ability checks should be inexplicable? My rogue picks the lock... but not through doing anything observable in-fiction.I think I'm just framing initiative as a Dexterity (Initiative) ability check, and narrating it along those lines.</blockquote>

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