In the 2512 / 2840 universe time is measured by four distinct units: the Round, the Scene, the Episode, and the Season.
Round
The most basic unit of time in the 2512 game is the round. Lasting approximately six seconds-long, a round signifies the amount of time required for a character to make one simple action such as firing a weapon, hiding in a closet, or stating a complementary remark. If multiple characters wish to make an action during a round the GM may call for an initiative roll to see who performs their action first. For every resisted roll, the character with initiative is considered the aggressor while characters still awaiting their turn are considered defenders. The benefit of being the aggressor is that only the aggressor can inflict damage during a resisted roll. A defender may use a combat skill (like De’Carta) to counter a combat skill but their defensive response will be a block or a parry—not a counterattack that deals damage.
Time slows down during a round as it could feasibly take several real-time minutes for each player to declare their intended actions, roll their dice, and wait for the GM to interpret the results. GMs should remind players after several rounds of action that the movements that took minutes (if not hours) for the players to roleplay only took up a few seconds of in-game time.
Scene
A scene takes place within a location that can be displayed on a single action map. A scene encompasses multiple rounds of time and can be as short as several minutes, or as long as several (in-game) days. Typically a scene ends when the players move to a different location or an in-game decision (like getting a full 8 hours of sleep) makes a time-skip necessary. During a scene, in game time moves just as fast as real time. Players may have conversations in real time, while activities that take several minutes to perform such as cooking a meal, driving a vehicle, or reading a book may be reduced to a single dice roll. If the players do not wish to conduct real-time actions or conversations during a scene, they may simply declare an action is completed during Downtime and resume the roleplaying action once the task is completed. For example Frank is playing the character Bobby, and Robin is playing the character Mathilda. Mathilda is cooking lunch and the GM decides this requires a Wits + Cooking and Brewing Roll. Robin scores 4 successes on the roll and the GM explains that it will take 30 minutes to prepare the meal. During that time, Frank and Robin may converse as their characters in real time. However, if Frank and Robin only need ten minutes to complete their conversation, they may opt to jump ahead twenty minutes to the time when Mathilda has finished preparing the meal and resume action.
Episode
An episode is made up of several scenes put together. All of the episodes described in this module are comprised of 3 to 5 scenes which can be started and finished in a single 3 to 5 hour gaming experience. Naturally, a GM may attempt to lengthen an Episode by several hours if the Roleplaying is particularly fun for all involved, or they may try to hurry through multiple Episodes at a time to create a particularly fast-paced game delivery. As a general rule, individual Episodes should contain a micro-story arc which is concluded at the end of the Episode, and a macro-story arc which takes multiple episodes to reach a satisfying conclusion. In this way, the players will come to expect a certain amount of closure at the end of every episode, while growing a sense of narrative tension binding the whole story together. In this module, the Moth Man story is an example of a micro-story arc that begins, climaxes, and resolves over the course of a single Episode. Embedded within that Episode, are the narrative seeds explaining that the Player Characters are in the process of having an exciting (and sometimes terrifying) childhood aboard the Howard and Johnson Space Station,
Season
A collection of episodes strung together from the basis of a season. This module is designed to contain four seasons comprising of eight episodes each. If a GM runs this whole campaign module, they (and their players) will experience 32 individual episodes totaling approximately 96 –150 total hours of actual play. In the game, the characters will progress from age 5 to 24 (19 total years) so some of the Character development will take place during periods of downtime in between individual gaming sessions or Episodes. For this module, the largest periods of down time transpire between seasons. For example, in the first season the Player Characters are five years old, while in the second season, they are eight, indicating three years of downtime development. This development is reflected in this module by experience points that players may expend to develop their character’s attributes, abilities, and powers.
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