The Flow of Time: Converting Real time to Dramatic Units
The Flow of Time: Converting Real Time into Dramatic Units
Playing Mind’s Eye Theatre is like being in a movie. You and your friends are the characters, but there is no script. There may be a framework or setting that determines the parameters of the world around you, but you and the others are creating the story as you play.
The director of this movie is the Storyteller. She creates the stage and the minor characters that players interact with during the story. Scenes in Mind’s Eye Theatre are played out in real-time — an hour in the make-believe world is 60 minutes long, and so is an hour for the player: both pass simultaneously.
Players should always remain in character during a game, if at all possible. Occasionally there will be rules discussion, but it’s best to keep such things to a minimum in order to maintain the roleplay and atmosphere of a scene. If a player needs to take a break from roleplaying, she should inform the Storyteller. That player should leave the immediate area, if possible, and not interact with any of the other players while out of character.
Sometimes a Storyteller will call for a time freeze in order to adjudicate a rules dispute or to announce a change of setting during an interlude. All players in the area should stop whatever they are doing and fall silent until the Storyteller is finished with her announcement and declares, “Resume.” These timeouts should be kept to a minimum, since they interrupt the flow of the game.
Dramatic Time Units
In Mind’s Eye Theatre, time breaks down into six major allotments: chronicles, sessions, acts, interludes, scenes, and turns. Many of the mechanical systems of the game are measured in these units of dramatic time. They define how certain powers operate, the effects of derangements, and a number of other systems.
On occasion, players will find themselves at different time periods during the evening. One player may be acting very quickly, while another chooses to travel for several minutes and leaps ahead. One of the Storyteller’s jobs is to keep track of these periods over the course of an evening and apply dramatic units of time wherever possible in order to keep things moving and unified for all.
These units are defined as:
• Chronicle: A series of gaming sessions, usually over many nights, which are all connected thematically. An epic story spans the course of a chronicle and may take months or even years to complete.
• Session: A single game within the larger chronicle.
• Act: A natural division within a session. An act is usually defined as time spent in a single setting or one hour (whichever is shorter).
• Interlude: An interlude is not a division of a larger unit of time, but rather is defined as a period of time that elapses for characters, but not for players. Interludes may include a moment where characters travel from one setting to another (and have the new setting described to them by the Storyteller) or it may be a flexible unit of time during which characters may describe their actions (rather than portray them) in order to speed up a portion of the game.
• Scene: A smaller division within an act. Several scenes may occur within one act. Some examples of a scene might include a conversation between characters, a short combat, or a single dramatic encounter.
• Turn: Used during combat scenarios, a turn is roughly three seconds of time and includes a complete series of rounds.
Example
A Storyteller is running a session in a chronicle. The initial act is set at the Prince’s court. A number of characters arrive, including a coterie of Anarchs. During this act, all of the characters at the setting are involved in a number of different scenes, as they talk to one other and move about the room. During this time, the Anarchs discover that there is a serial killer down at the docks. They decide to go find him and stop his rampage!
The Anarch players request an interlude with the Storyteller. They describe their preliminary actions – getting into a car and heading down to the docks – and request that a new act occur, so that they can hunt down the serial killer. The Storyteller requests that the characters exit the current act (which is still ongoing for those players who are not leaving) and wait patiently for a short period of time while the Storyteller prepares for the new act.
Waiting for the Storyteller is a continuance of the interlude. During this time, players may track expenditures on their character sheets or refresh powers that have expired. They may also elect to roleplay conversations (among those who are going), reflecting time’s passage as the characters travel to the new act on the docks, so long as the Storyteller approves.
Once ready, the Storyteller invites these characters into a new act and begins narrating the initial scene of that act. Once the scene has started, the characters are attacked, and a combat with the serial killer begins! Now, the Storyteller slows the scene down further and begins using turns in order to track the actions of each character in the scene. The combat will play out in this manner, using the complex scenario rules.
When the combat is over, the characters on the dock revert to a new scene: the same location, but after the combat. They may talk, roleplay, or perform actions as normal. If they choose to go back to the Prince’s court and tell the tale of their adventure, they may do so (with an appropriate interlude to reflect travel time, as before). Players who remained at the Prince’s court may be within the original act, or (if an hour has passed) that setting may be considered a new act for the purpose of dramatic time. Either way, it is considered a new act for the Anarch characters, who must refresh powers and make expenditures as appropriate for the beginning of an act.
Durations
Many powers and effects measure time by specifying a number of sessions or months. For example, when a sire Embraces a new childe, she must spend 1 point of Willpower, which does not return for two sessions or one month.
Whenever the rules list two possible durations, the Storyteller should enforce the longer duration. For example, if a new sire played in one game every two months, her spent Willpower would return after playing in two games. If she played in one game per week, her spent Willpower would return at the end of the month.
When counting games towards an effect’s duration, the current game only counts if the effect happens within the first half hour of the game.
Chapter 4: Introduction to Core Systems
