Pace guide

Read the table's momentum and steer it, never force it.

What it is

Pace is the felt rate at which the campaign changes. It lives at three scales at once: inside a scene, across a session, and along an arc. A GM does not set pace by force. A GM reads it, names it, and applies the smallest correction that lets the fiction breathe.

Three pace states cover most tables. Drifting, scenes follow one another with no consequence and no visible pressure. Steady, every scene changes something in the world or in the party, and clocks advance in view. Cascading, clocks and consequences are firing faster than the players can respond, and choices start feeling meaningless.

Steady is the target. Drifting and cascading are both correctable with the tools you already have.

When to use it

Mid-session, when scenes start feeling long without moving anything.
When players hesitate for reasons that are not fiction, fatigue, unclear stakes, too many open threads.
After a big consequence lands and the table is quiet, check whether it landed or overloaded.
During prep, to decide which clock should advance next and which should hold.

Worked example

Reading the DeSauros summit session

Drifting · scene 3

Party spends 40 minutes debating which delegate to approach. No clock has advanced. Correction: a runner arrives with news that Negotiations Collapse just ticked to 6/8. Choice sharpens without a rail.

Steady · scenes 4–6

Each scene advances one clock and closes one question. Party trades exposure for evidence, trust for speed. Pace holds. Do not add pressure, the table is doing the work.

Cascading · scene 7

Three clocks fire in one scene, the party freezes. Correction: resolve one consequence off-screen ("the Clann pull back on their own"), leave the two that matter most, and let the players choose which to face.

Pairs with

Clocks

Advancing a clock is the primary pace lever, one segment moves the world.

Scene spine

Use the five functions to check which pace beat is missing this session.

Consequence planning

Pre-planned consequences let you slow a cascade by resolving one off-screen.

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