Setting the Pace
During play, it’s important to set the Pace of the game. The Pace is a rough measure of how much time passes in-game for each decision made by the players. The Pace of the game should change based on the situation. If decisions are becoming repetitive, increase the Pace so that each action represents a greater amount of time. If decisions are becoming overly complex, decrease the Pace, so that players have more time to respond to the results of their actions.
Brief increases in Pace
If the Pace increases but then resumes fairly quickly, that can normally be ignored from tracking. For instance, if while travelling for a Watch, a Turn is spent speaking to a merchant, the total time passed is just a Watch.
Temporary Conditions
Faster paced conditions can be ignored during play at slower Paces. For instance, a potion of speed that lasts for a Turn wouldn’t have a noticeable effect when travelling for a Watch.
Beat
This is the fastest Pace, like the beating of a heart. Use this for tense moments when every second counts. See initiative for details.
Turn
This is about 10 minutes. Use this for Dungeon Exploration or conversations.
Watch
This is a about 4 hours. Use this for Overland Exploration, resting, and other reasonable tasks.
Days, Weeks and Months
The Pace can be set to any time unit as needed. Use this to recover from grievous wounds, wait out winter storms, or track safe travel.