🗺️ Flow of the game

How a session unfolds at the table — pacing, who decides what, and where the dice come in.

Before the session

A few small habits make every session start cleaner.

  • Agree the tone. Grim, heroic, comedic — the GM steers, but the table sets the volume.
  • Recap last time. One person, two minutes, no side-quests. Where are we, who is hurt, what do we want?
  • Sheets ready. Pick a character, check stamina, note anything the GM asked you to bring.
  • Table etiquette. Phones down between rolls; one voice at a time when the GM is describing.

Scenes and narration

The GM sets the scene — where you are, what you can see, hear, and smell. Players say what their characters do and react to. Most of play is this back-and-forth, no dice required.

When the outcome is in doubt — you try to climb the wall, lie to the captain, spot the ambush — the GM asks for a roll. The relevant skill or statistic sets the target. Three dice land, and the story moves on.

If there is no real risk, you simply do it. Setting up camp in a safe glade does not need a roll.

Free play vs encounters

Sessions move between two gears.

  • Free play. Conversation, exploration, planning. Time is loose. Rolls are occasional and resolve a single question.
  • Encounters. The clock starts. Initiative decides order, and each round everyone gets a turn. Combat is the loudest example, but a chase, a tense negotiation, or a trap-laden corridor can run on the same rails.

For the mechanics behind initiative, perception, and damage, see Combat and Damage, armour & recovery.

Downtime

Between adventures, characters rest, train, shop, and chase personal threads. The GM may resolve a stretch of days in a sentence — or run a short scene if something interesting happens. Downtime is when wounds close, supplies refill, and the next hook quietly arrives.

Tell the GM what you want to do with downtime. That is half the prep for next session.

Wrap-up

At the end of a session, a short recap helps everyone leave on the same page.

  • What happened? One or two sentences each.
  • What changed for your character? Lessons, scars, debts, new contacts.
  • What does the party want next? Loose plan beats no plan.
  • Anything for the GM to prep? Asks, follow-ups, things you would like more of.

Wrap-up is also when the GM hands out character points — the same currency you spent building your hero, awarded for what the table actually did. See Character-point awards for what they reward, a rough scale, and how to spend them.

See also