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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7400873" data-attributes="member: 16814">Um, no, you're kinda, pretty far off the mark.  The structure of clocks and how actions interact with them isn't like a SC.  You could using something like an SC and not use clocks, but it's not the same at all.Clocks are used to track potential events.  They are specific.  If I set a clock for 'Alarm is raised' then, if that clock fills, the alarm is raised, no matter what action failure caused it to fill.  This differs from SCs in that the situation in an SC adapts according to the actions taken.  Clocks just are.  They can be long term, short term, personal, situation dependent, etc.In the case above, for instance, the 'success' clock had 4 tick and the 'fail' clock had 6.  That's inverted from the SC concept.  Further, I could have added even more clocks, like 'the package leaves the building' and set that at a 10 clock to set an overall pressure on the entire score, so 1 success clock and 1 small fail clock isn't the 'usual'.  Another example, same game, is that the gang is currently almost at war with one of the neighborhoods.  That conflict is currently using a 8 segment clock where the neighborhood get 1 segment filled every downtime phase to represent their actions against the gang, and the gang can take downtime actions (or declare a score) against that clock to remove segments.  This isn't a skill roll check, but a fortune mechanic check in both directions.  If the clock fills, the neighborhood's goal is to bring the heat onto the gang and they'll gain a wanted level (the neighborhood has hired a barrister to work the courts against the gang).  If it empties, it's empty and will start refilling.  If the gang declares a score, they can eliminate the clock, but the outcome may be outright war or even a settling of difference depending on the target and outcome of the score.Long and short, the clocks are a tool for the GM to use to put pressure on situations or to track long term events.  They aren't SC's, and how a given scene of a score plays out may be more or less like an SC in 4e.  Honestly, I think they may have similar outcomes, but the approach and intent in play is different.  There's also the problem that checks in Blades have variable outcomes, so you may be able to tick more than one clock at a time, or may tick a clock hugely in one go.  A four clock can be completely filled in one resolution by a critical success or one with a great effect.  Actions are declared by the player and then the GM decides the position - desperate, risky, or controlled - and the effect - limited, normal, great.  The player can then modify or change actions if they don't like the situation.  If the player rolls, then the result is 1-3 failure, 4-5 succeed with complication, 6 success, more than one 6 critical (you look at the highest die roll in the pool).  Desperate actions have bad failures and complications, controlled have mild failures and complications.  Limited effect means you get part of what you want, great means you get even more than what you wanted, criticals can go super-awesome levels of impact.  Effect is set by the DM by the action and situation, and then modified by the difference in tier of the gang and the target (a tier I gang going against a tier II target is down one level of effectiveness).  This means that actions can have outsized impacts on clocks, as the number of segments filled is tied to the position and effect.  A desperate failure may fill 4 or so segments, while a controlled failure would fill but 1.  A critical success on an great effect might fill more than 5 segments on a clock.  So, a clock isn't the same as the number of successes or failures in an SC at all.</blockquote>

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