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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9853300" data-attributes="member: 42582">I've never played BitD, and don't know it super-well, but thought I'd have a look at what the rules say about clocks: <a href="https://bladesinthedark.com/progress-clocks" target="_blank">Progress Clocks | Blades in the Dark RPG</a>This seems like it's relevant to the current conversation:Remember that a clock tracks progress. It reflects the fictional situation, so the group can gauge how they’re doing. A clock is like a speedometer in a car. It shows the speed of the vehicle—it doesn’t determine the speed.There is also this:Generally, the more complex the problem, the more segments in the progress clock.But presumably, for clocks that represent a threat/danger rather than progress, the opposite is true: the more pressing the threat/danger, the fewer segments in the clock. As the rules say, In this case, when a complication occurs, the GM ticks one, two, or three segments on the clock, depending on the consequence level.So if the GM starts ticking off a four-segment clock, the players know that the heat is pretty hot! Whereas if it's an eight-segment clock, they know that they have a little bit of breathing room. How do the character's have this knowledge? They're there, in the thick of it, exercising their full cognitive and sensory capabilities.(Of course there's a degree of contrivance/lampshading there. That's the same as any RPG where the players know that their PCs have some sort of mechanical "buffer" against total devastation at any moment - like hit points in D&D, the "will to live" in the BW family of games, the harm system in Apocalypse World, knowing that one rifle shot can't kill my Traveller character who has 7+ in STR, DEX and END, etc. Clocks don't seem to raise any new issues in this respect.)When the threat/danger clock is full,the danger comes to fruition—the guards hunt down the intruders, activate an alarm, release the hounds, etc.The relationship between this, and the ticking, seems a little bit like that between the individual action declarations in a Torchbearer 2e extended conflict, and then establishing the final consequences once the conflict is over: the fiction that is narrated with each tick is what then establishes the nature of the consequences when the clock is full.And it also seems like it would create the context for actions that "untick" the clock: Like, if the clock is "the guards release the hounds", and one of the ticks of the clock (as it approaches full) is "the guards go to release the houndmaster", then (say) locking the houndmaster's door and throwing away the key might be an action that "unticks" the clock.Those who know the game better than me can of course clear up any error/confusion in the above, but to me it doesn't seem that complicated.</blockquote>

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