So I wanted to start something of a discussion thread, specifically concerning how everybody handles the pace of their particular BW games. My background in role-playing (like so many others) comes from the d20 system. While I rarely (rarely) use this system anymore, I think that my current style of GMing comes from these roots.
Whenever I played D&D, generally a session corresponded with a single day, or a fraction of a single day. You heard there was treasure in yon “abandoned” mine, you stormed it, fought a bunch of stuff for a session or two, and emerged triumphant. Individual die rolls had very specific results, and generally lasted for only moments – climb this, hit that, intimidate him. Time was highly granular, if you will.
I get the feeling that BW doesn’t work so well with that style of play. As the rules say, only roll for the important stuff (Roll or Say Yes); don’t bother with all the little rolls that don’t really matter.
So I find myself in an interesting twilight zone. I’m used to the idea that sneaking into the palace to poison the ambassador and steal off with the beautiful co-conspirator would take an entire session – and what’s more, my players expect it as well. Yet in the back of my mind, I know that a couple linked tests could accomplish said task in just moments. If this is an exciting scene, which works better? What’s more, resources and circles seem like they are geared toward longer strides of time, rather than minute-to-minute play, making them feel forced at times.
So how do you all handle pace? Do your days, weeks, and months glide by as single rolls turn the clock with monumental power? Or do you find that six sessions results in barely a week’s in-game time passing? To those who have “larger rolls”: how do you maintain tension? To those who are practically gaming in real-time (myself included): how to you keep from being bogged down in minutiae? How do you all deal with large, complex plans that have many small parts begging to be rolled?