I’m new to the Blades in the Dark and I actually have a few likes and dislikes, but it could be that I’m not used to this type of gaming, but i love what I’ve stumbled across….
My first questions is….Is it important to use Clocks?
Second is….can I avoid the clocks altogether?
Clocks are one way to track when a goal will take more than one roll to achieve. Some downtime activities are designed to take longer, e.g. long term projects and harm recovery, but there other ways to track progress. Maybe not as elegantly but if you really don’t like clocks…
The game can also work fine if you want everything resolved in single rolls, but that means policing goals and chunking them into similar sized steps. Doable but seems like more work.
Clocks also lend transparency, helping align player and the GM expectations.
SeriesDirector1200 what is it specifically you don’t like about clocks?
I’m just learning more about them…I understand their purpose now, but at the same time I’ve never used them before and I think because I didn’t fully understand them it threw me off.
Clocks can be a really useful tool for pacing and communicating both threats and challenges. They’re not absolutely necessary (except for things like long-term projects), but I would definitely suggest you try to warm up to them a bit more.
Maybe try simpler clocks at first.
Instead of tracking a monsters HP, you have a “deal with Monster Clock”.
Instead of needing to roll (x or higher) to complete an (Acrobatics skill check) to climb a wall, you have a “get past wall clock”.
You don’t have to complete a clock before moving on to something else. So a game can have 5+ clocks going at once. The players choosing what to work on, and what to wait on. There should be pros/cons for both options on most clocks.
On the other hand: don’t make everything a clock! “Climbing a wall” probably shouldn’t be a clock, unless you’re climbing a pretty serious wall, or you have to get around the guards before you can actually climb it, or there’s something else going on. In general, if you don’t know how to describe fictional progress as the clock segments are being filled, it probably should not be a clock. (e.g.: picking a lock)
I love clocks because you’re able to present an obstacle, give it a clock and then lean back and watch your creative players ticking the clock: As a team, in single player actions, with different actions, with the obvious action, with the don’t-saw-that-coming-action, with items you not even thought will ever by useful.
How they deal with clocks shows a LOT about the players, the pcs, the crew, the table and gives you cool moments.
I think it’s a good idea to try clocks for some time and learn how to use them (for your group). If it’s not working out, that’s fine, too.
From a purely pragmatic perspective, clocks will make your life easier as a GM when dealing with mixed results that don’t have an obvious downside. Having a few bad clocks (like potential enemies) that you can tick off and move on can be a lifesaver.
I’ve taken clocks and used them in other games. Once I replaced monster HP in a D&D game because I didn’t feel like counting HP. Worked nicely.
I think the biggest thing you’d lose by omitting them is how helpful they are for scaling things.
One of my favorite things to do is throw down opposing clocks, with labels like “Open the Vault”, and “Guards’ Suspicion Level”. As the crew goes about trying to get into the vault, if they blow a roll, the suspicion clock starts going up. Having a visual representation of it on the table rachets up the tension, especially when both clocks are one tick away from completion, and everything rides on the next roll.
Dueling suspicion and sting clocks are good for a con too. You need to get the mark to the sting before they get too suspicious and back out.
I love the clock mechanic, but i mostly use it for long term happenings and plot stuff. Its cool for players to see things they are contributing toward or that are ticking away in the background. We’ve found it helps make the world live in a way where other factions are also doing things which might be independent of what the PC’s do. Its probably something I’ll steal for other RPG’s we play actually, I like it that much! 🙂 So far we’ve had only 1 clock used during a score – and it was a fairly predictable “Alarm level” clock. So we haven’t really done much with that use of them at this stage.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about clocks st the beginning either. However, as a player, I quickly realized that clocks add a ton of suspense. Especially when there are “dueling” clocks. We have a whiteboard on the wall with all of the clocks ticking away…
Eric Brunsell Man, i wish I had a whiteboard! That’d be great!
bondy034 it is easy my GM uses- < $10 whiteboard hung with 3m command hooks.
I made my own dry erase clock cards with plastic card sleeves.
I use these cards:
allrolledup.co.uk – Shop for All Rolled Up – the Perfect Gaming Companion and Dice Bag
My players are fans of post-its/sticky notes for clocks. They are great because you can stick them to your charactersheet (or backside) and carry them for as long as you like. They even keep the filled ones (or some of them) as a hall of fame.
Ok, you guys make great valid points….This game wouldn’t be as fun as it is without the clocks. I totally get why they are important now, you all have opened my eyes to the truth..lol
I do see that they had a little bit more to the game. Thank you guys.
I used clocks before I even realised they were a thing in that I had stacks of poker chips that you removed one from on a success and when the stack is gone you’ve completed the task… which was great for chases as the npc is adding chips back onto the stack. But now that I know about them I find that clocks and especially duelling clocks are actually a better visualization tool and engage the players better.
All this talk of clocks made me think about a score I ran recently, where I used ideas from Rob Donoghue’s long con to pace a social score: Flip Baszo Baz. I wrote it up here: plus.google.com – I use two big clocks on score all the time, where crew races to fill one befo…