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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 9315436" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Sorry, been out of town.  Just some quick thoughts.  So I would say that if GMs want to keep Faction Clocks out of the meta-channel/off cards/not written down in the common space, that is the table's prerogative.  However, I would say that such an approach would have fairly significant impacts on play.  Also, while Harper's text never comes straight out and says "put all Faction Clocks in the common space," I'd say a holistic, integrated reading of the text does that work.* GMs are directed to Bring Duskvol to Life.  If your Setting/Faction Clocks are only GM-facing, then the moving and the shaking of Duskvol that they represent isn't perpetually in the face of the Crew/PCs; "word through grapevine is this (thematic and gamestate-changing stuff related to the decisions you've made about Enemy/Allied Factions and the way you've perturbed the setting") is going down...what the hell are you going to do about it?"Faction/Setting Clocks on a card (or in Discord Channel if you're playing online) optimize for Bringing Duskvol to Life.* Player-facing Faction/Setting Clocks optimizes for Provide Opportunities and Follow the Players' Lead.* It follows through on the instructions embedded in Tick a Clock and Put It on a Card where your advised to put important information.* It optimizes for Play Goal-Forward, Keep the Meta-channel Open, and Help the Players Use the Game System because it puts several engaging, pressurized vectors for Scores or Longterm Projects right out in front of everyone and helps them generate and manage a compelling, highly consequential decision-space.  This helps the players (Best Practices) Go Into Danger and Fall in Love with Trouble while simultaneously allowing you to present a danger-packed, haunted Duskvol.[HR][/HR]TLDR (lawl?): The long and short of my opinion here is (a) leveraging and activating the offscreen is different in Blades than it is in AW (where you're using your Fronts/Threats for that) and (b) putting Faction Clocks on an index card out in front of everyone is both (i) supported by the text (but there is certainly enough wiggle room where you could opt out) and (ii) generates a significantly compelling and decision-point-enriching play-space, while also (iii) helping session economy (players can point to visible trouble and say..."lets interfere with that" if they'd like).That being said...I can absolutely see a possibly interesting variation of this that generates even more pressure and mystery by keeping Faction Clocks (but not Setting Clocks...if players start a supernatural contagion in a Score or bring back a Forgotten Goddess or something, the clock and attendant game: fiction dynamics should definitely be visible for everyone) partially in the meta-channel and partially opaque:* The Index Card for a Faction Clock has the Faction and the thematic name of the Clock on one side.  On the other side is the actual game tech (Clock dynamics, Clock status, what happens when it goes off).  Players have to perform Scores and/or small LTPs to open up that other side.  However, the problem I see with this is two-fold:(a) You lose the richness of the evolving fiction of the clock (which might actually see play via player invoking it) and "in-your-face" gamestate pressure mentioned above.(b)  By the time the other side is uncovered, the Clock may basically be either going off or ready to go off to the point that dumping an eff-ton of Downtime Actions and Coins (to trade in for DTAs) to thwart it is impossible or too punishing.</blockquote>

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