I hate to nitpick, but we’re about to start a new campaign and I’m having some trouble reconciling two parts of the BE book on the scene economy. Pacing was an issue we had in the past and I don’t want to have to revisit it too much.
On p. 429 the basic scene economy rules say that you get 3 scenes per PC per maneuver. 1 Color, 1 Interstitial, and 1 Building/Conflict. OK, got it.
However on p. 403 it says that for a Two-Maneuver Session “Each player gets one or two scenes per maneuver in which his character is the primary focus.”
It also says that for a Single-Maneuver Session “Each player gets two or three scenes with his character.”
My current reading of this is that you don’t really get 3 scenes per maneuver. I’m sure there’s a simple answer, but I’m not sure how to reconcile all this.
Do you just sacrifice the number of scenes per maneuver to speed it up to fit in two maneuvers per session? If that’s the case, why is p. 429 so specific? And if I am to sacrifice the number scenes, how do they end up getting divided?
It’s really just imprecise and confusing. I believe “primary focus” was meant to refer to bulders/conflicts not all your scenes. And since the entire group often joins in on conflicts, it was “one or two.”
As for each player getting two or three scenes with his character, I believe that is meant to include the GM, who doesn’t always use the full complement of scenes at his disposal.
You don’t have to use all your scenes. If you want to get through two maneuvers per session then focus on the players who really have something they want to get done within the context of this maneuver and hold off on stuff that can wait until the second maneuver.
The rules don’t change just the group’s attitude toward their application. This is why I only do one maneuver a session. I like players taking their full complement of scenes to deepen the details of what they’re doing.
