Clocks

Pressure, and a living campaign.

The clock procedure used in this chapter is based on the progress-clock tradition most closely associated with Blades in the Dark and Forged in the Dark games. It is presented here as a system-neutral campaign-management tool rather than as part of any one resolution system.

The purpose of GM tools

GM tools should reduce preparation while improving consequence and player agency. They are not scripts. They do not determine what the characters must do, which scenes must occur, or how the campaign must end. Instead, they help the GM answer four recurring questions:

• What is changing while the characters act?
• What happens when they ignore a problem?
• How does failure change the situation without stopping the campaign?
• What should become visible next?

The most useful tools in a Mar de Oro campaign are:

• session objectives
• faction moves
• clocks
• clue webs
• leverage
• hard choices
• consequence planning
• end-of-session updates

What is a clock?

A clock is a segmented tracker representing a situation that is progressing, deteriorating, approaching completion, or running out. A clock does not necessarily represent literal time. It may track:

• an enemy plan
• political suspicion
• the collapse of negotiations
• the destruction of evidence
• the completion of a machine
• the deterioration of a ship
• Source instability
• an ally's loss of trust
• progress toward a rescue or investigation
• an approaching military force

A six-segment clock might be displayed as:

Each filled segment means the situation has moved closer to its defined consequence. When the final segment is filled, something specific happens.

The anatomy of a clock

Every useful clock needs five elements.

Name

The name should describe what is developing. Weak: Albion. Better: Albion Identifies the Asset. The second version tells the GM what the clock is actually measuring.

Segments

Most clocks use 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 segments. More segments do not mean the event is more important. They mean the characters have more opportunities to notice, influence, accelerate, or prevent it.

Current progress

The clock always records its present state, 4 of 6 segments filled. The progress should reflect what has happened in the fiction, not what the GM wants to happen next.

Advance when

A clock must define which events move it forward. For example: Advance when the characters openly use Heller signals, display the Ear, expose an Albion operative, or allow Albion to interrogate a relevant witness. These triggers prevent arbitrary advancement.

When full

The clock must define a concrete consequence. When full, Albion begins an armed extraction operation. Avoid vague results such as "things get worse." The GM should know exactly what changes.

Why clocks are useful

They make the world move

Without clocks, inactive factions can appear frozen until the GM needs them. A clock lets the GM show that factions continue acting while the characters pursue other goals. The party can influence everything, but it cannot control everything at once.

They turn delay into consequence

Players often need time to investigate, negotiate, repair, recover, or debate. That time should matter, but it should not always lead to an immediate punishment. A clock creates gradual pressure: one segment fills while the party spends the night preparing legal access, and during that night the Project Custodian moves Resa to a different location. The players still gain the benefit of their preparation, but the situation changes around them.

They make failure productive

A failed roll should rarely mean that nothing happens. Instead, failure may produce the immediate information or access at a cost. The characters obtain the customs ledger, but the clerk is identified as their source. Advance Traffickers Erase the Route by 1.

They reduce arbitrary GM decisions

A major attack, collapse, betrayal, or manifestation feels more convincing when it results from accumulated events. Albion does not attack because the GM believes the session needs action. Albion attacks because the characters' exposure, captured signals, and faction activity filled the clock.

They communicate pressure clearly

A visible clock tells the players that a situation is changing. They may not know every trigger or consequence, but they know that their choices have weight.

Choosing the number of segments

Four segments

Use four segments for immediate or volatile problems, guards complete a search, the Clann withdraw trust, a witness is relocated, a chamber reaches an active response, landing forces secure a beachhead. A four-segment clock may fill during a single session.

Six segments

Use six segments for a substantial threat that should develop across several scenes or sessions, Albion identifies the Ear, traffickers erase the route, Vega loses control, a covert extraction is prepared, a ship's command network collapses. Six segments are a strong default.

Eight segments

Use eight segments for major campaign developments, negotiations collapse, the Project Custodian completes the Ear, a public case is built, a regional blockade is organised, a protected witness network is established. These clocks should allow several forms of intervention.

Ten or twelve segments

Use longer clocks for complex, slow, or campaign-wide processes , Source Disequilibrium, preparation for open war, a regional investigation, the reconstruction of an ancient system, the gradual loss of an institution's authority. A long clock should produce visible warning signs before it fills.

Types of clocks

Threat clocks

Threat clocks track an adversary's plan.

Collapse clocks

Collapse clocks track the breakdown of a situation or institution.

Exposure clocks

Exposure clocks track suspicion, discovery, or loss of secrecy, Heller's hidden orders are exposed, Marina's role is discovered, Albion identifies Black Thorn, the Shadowed Tide safehouse is compromised. When full, the secret becomes actionable. Someone knows enough to move against it.

Progress clocks

Progress clocks track work toward a beneficial goal, establish a protected witness route, repair the Aurora Ventus, gather enough evidence for a public case, earn Clann access, evacuate civilians from a threatened district. Progress clocks remind the GM that clocks are not only punishments.

Instability clocks

Condition clocks

Condition clocks may begin full and lose segments.

These are often useful in battles, pursuits, and ship emergencies.

Building a useful clock

Step 1 · Name the developing situation

Ask: What is moving toward a consequence? Do not name the faction alone. Name its action or condition, The Custodian Completes the Ear; Traffickers Erase the Route; The Clann Withdraw Trust; Vega Loses Control.

Step 2 · Choose the consequence first

Ask: What concrete event happens when this fills? Troops land. Evidence is destroyed. A witness disappears. Negotiations end. A chamber manifests a correction. A faction becomes open opposition. If the full consequence is unclear, the clock is not ready.

Step 3 · Define fictional triggers

A good clock usually has three to five clear triggers. Triggers may include delay, failed covert action, public exposure, faction success, player violence, ignored warnings, movement of an important asset, or environmental disturbance. Do not make every failure a trigger.

Step 4 · Choose visibility

Decide what the players can see.

• GM only, players see fictional warning signs but not the tracker. Use when uncertainty is central.
• Progress visible, players see progress but not the exact triggers or consequence ("Unknown Albion Operation: 4 / 6"). Creates tension without revealing the plan.
• Fully visible, players see the title, progress, triggers, and consequence. Use when the danger is already understood.

Step 5 · Decide whether it can be reduced

Some clocks can move backward. Others cannot. A repaired signal system may restore cohesion. A protected witness may slow an investigation. A public atrocity cannot be undone merely because the party later makes a good speech. Define what can reduce, pause, redirect, or replace the clock. Do not assume every clock can be reversed.

Advancing a clock

A clock should advance because something changed in the fiction. When you fill a segment, describe the event first.

Common reasons to advance a clock

• the characters knowingly accept a delay
• a faction takes a credible off-screen action that meets a defined trigger, whether or not the characters are involved
• a relevant check fails with meaningful consequences
• the characters expose a secret
• an adversary achieves a scene objective
• the party chooses one pressure over another
• an environmental warning is ignored
• a trigger defined by the clock occurs

When not to advance a clock

• after every failed roll
• because the session needs more excitement
• merely because a faction was ignored or a session ended
• because the players chose an unexpected route
• to force a planned scene to occur
• when the failure has already produced a substantial consequence
• when the event does not support the clock's specific development

When a clock fills

A filled clock changes the situation. Do not simply announce that it is complete. Show the consequence immediately or show unmistakable evidence that it has begun, Albion ships change formation and descend toward the island; the final warehouse is empty and the ledgers are burning; delegates leave the conference chamber under guard; the eastern rail warms, even though the Ear is inactive; a Clann guide erases the trail and refuses to continue; the Source chamber develops a second rhythm.

A completed clock may end, remain as a permanent fact, create another clock, become a condition, or split into several smaller threats. When Albion Identifies the Asset fills, replace it with Albion Extraction Force Lands, a four-segment immediate threat clock.

Linked clocks

Several clocks may interact. Linked clocks create a living campaign, but avoid tracking too many at once. Three active clocks are usually enough for a normal session. A useful combination is: one immediate threat, one political or faction pressure, and one long-term campaign clock.

Clocks and faction turns

At session end or between sessions, review active factions, including those that received the least attention. Ask what each wants, what its assets and current position allow it to do, which established trigger that credible action meets, and what visible sign appears at the start of the next session. Example: the party focused on Albion and ignored Stroomdijk. The traffickers relocate captives and burn one ledger. Advance Traffickers Erase the Route by 1. The next session begins with smoke rising above an exempt warehouse. This is the faction turn. Being ignored does not itself require a tick. Hold, reverse, or redirect a clock when its established rules and fictional cause warrant it; preserve player-earned victories.

Clocks and failure

Failure should create pressure, not dead ends. A failed investigation roll might mean the clue is found but a witness is exposed; the clue becomes rumour rather than proof; the wrong faction reaches it first; the party loses time; a clock advances; or access is gained under restrictive conditions.

Clocks and player-facing tension

Not every clock should be secret. During an airship battle:

The players immediately understand that they cannot solve every problem at once. The clock creates urgency, but the choice remains theirs.

Other essential GM tools

Clocks are strongest when used with several other preparation tools.

The session objective

Every session should have one clear objective, secure the original ledger, protect Resa, gain access to the laboratory, prevent Albion from securing a landing zone, reach the Source before the retreating force, force a public vote. The objective should answer: what does success change; what does delay cost; what happens after failure; what happens if the players reject it. A session may include many scenes, but it should have one central direction.

The clue web

Any truth required for the campaign to continue should be available through multiple routes. A strong default is three clues. If one clue is missed, destroyed, or controlled by another faction, the campaign continues through the others.

Faction moves

Every active faction should have a current move, relocate a witness, offer the party a private bargain, destroy one document, test a false signal, request legal custody, move a ship without written orders, warn the characters away from a site. A faction move should be concrete enough to appear in play.

Hard choices

A strong session contains at least one choice between two desirable outcomes, protect the clerk or follow the courier; preserve evidence or evacuate captives; maintain lawful access or act before the laboratory moves; stabilise the chamber or pursue the Beast; defend the northern landing zone or protect the Ear. The choice should not have an obvious correct answer.

Consequence planning

For each major scene, prepare four possible consequences: failure, delay, excessive violence, and ignoring the scene. This does not mean all four will occur. It means the GM knows how the world reacts.

The five-scene spine

A flexible session can be structured around five functions: opening disruption; first meaningful decision; investigation, negotiation, or movement; escalation or reversal; climax and consequence. These are functions, not mandatory scenes.

Running a session with clocks

At the beginning of the session

• Select two or three active clocks.
• Record their current progress.
• Identify what may advance each clock.
• Decide which clocks are visible.
• Prepare one fictional warning sign for each.

During the session

• Describe the situation.
• Resolve the characters' choice.
• Apply the immediate result.
• Advance a clock only when a defined trigger occurs.
• Describe what the new segment means.

At the end of the session

• Review autonomous faction goals, assets, and pending events, including those left unattended.
• Resolve credible off-screen moves from the established position.
• Update clocks only where established triggers and fictional cause warrant a change; no session-end tick is required.
• Record NPC and evidence changes.
• Decide which consequence is already beginning.
• Use that consequence as the next session's opening pressure.

Example, building a complete clock

Warning signs

• At 2 segments: a night clerk does not report for work.
• At 4 segments: shipping records are transferred to a private office, and an exempt vessel requests immediate departure.
• At 5 segments: the warehouse is being emptied before dawn.

Possible reduction

The clock may be reduced by secretly protecting a clerk who controls the schedules, feeding the network false confidence, or securing the transport route without alerting its organisers. Public pressure cannot reduce it once the network knows it has been exposed.

Common mistakes

Too many clocks

If everything has a clock, nothing feels important. Use only the clocks relevant to current decisions.

Vague consequences

"Albion becomes more dangerous" is not enough. Use: Albion begins the extraction and moves four frigates toward the island.

Advancing clocks invisibly

Even secret clocks should create observable signs. The players may not know the cause, but they should feel the changing situation.

Punishing every failure

A clock is not a universal failure tax. Use it only when the failure supports that clock's development.

Predetermined completion

Do not fill a clock because the planned climax requires it. If the players prevent the trigger, the clock should remain incomplete, be redirected, or disappear.

Reversing irreversible events

A public scandal, atrocity, death, or revealed secret may not be reduced like ordinary progress. Some filled segments represent permanent facts.

A practical GM checklist

Before the session, confirm:

• The session has one clear objective.
• Two or three factions are active.
• Each active clock has defined triggers.
• Each clock has a concrete full consequence.
• Required truths have multiple clue routes.
• At least one hard choice exists.
• Failure changes the situation without ending the campaign.
• Ignored factions have prepared moves.
• The next session can begin from the consequences of this one.

Final principle

Clocks are useful because they make pressure visible, consequences cumulative, and faction activity consistent. They should never replace judgment, description, or player choice. A clock does not tell the story. It records how the story has changed.