I think another really important things about clocks that clicked with me between the session I ran tonight and reading your post here is how effective they are at adjudicating effect. Is in position/effect.

Like at one point in my game last night the Scout was trying to lay low and wait for a patrol to pass. Because of the situation it was a desperate action and I decided it would be limited effect. And the immediate question was “what does limited effect in this instance mean?”. I didn’t have a good answer. We sort of stumbled through the scene and it was fine, but I spent the rest of the night trying to decide what limited effect would mean in that instance.

When harm is involved, that’s pretty easy.

Finally I started thinking, maybe the whole escape should have been a clock. The specialist on the mission and the 2 PC rookies all had their moment to get past the patrols. I realized that most of the same fiction could have been generated, but if there’d been a clock on the table it could have solidified things a lot more.

This is a note to myself to really think more about using clocks and what they can represent. Especially after last night when a lot of the action involved moving into position or sneaking about. It gets old and samey. The situation could have been a lot more dynamic with a couple clocks involved.

And I love the idea of a devil’s bargain to add a new clock with no ticks. That’s brilliant and I never would have thought about it. When I’ve offered clocks as devil’s bargains before I always start them with a tick or two.