Scenes and Actions

The Infinite Horror rules measure time in three ways.

Real time:

Real time means seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and so on.

Whenever an ability in the rules mentions a real-time duration, it means real time.

Example: if an effect lasts "one day", that usually means 24 hours of Earth time. So if you start the effect in a world where 1 day = 48 hours, it only lasts "half a day" in that world.

As a special case, if a resource's description says "the effect lasts until the next sunrise", follow the sunrise and sunset times of the world you are in. And PCs can reasonably assume that in a scene of endless night, the effect lasts forever.

Abstract time:

Abstract time means turns, rounds, scenes (encounters), Films, and other units of time that don't exist in reality.

Turn: describes the fight itself. When every unit in a fight has acted once in initiative order, one turn has passed. A turn counts as 6 seconds of real time.

Round: describes how long a character acts in combat. Unlike turns, each unit in a fight is on a different round. A round runs from the start of one unit's action to the start of its next action, and the duration of an ongoing effect is timed by the character who started it. Timing starts when the character finishes activating the effect and it takes hold; when that character's next action begins, the effect "has lasted one round".

Scene (encounter): a scene is a time-like unit controlled by the ST, used to divide up the story. A complete stretch of story is made of several scenes and transitions. Usually each transition counts as changing the scene, and a fight is always a scene of its own.

For example, a stretch of story begins with the players meeting at the duke's residence and ends with their audience with the king. The meeting at the duke's residence is one scene. If nothing unusual happens, the duke leading the players to the king is a transition. The audience with the king is another scene. If the players then fight the king's guards after the audience, that fight is yet another scene, separate from the audience itself.

When a stretch of story ends or the story turns, or the location changes, and so on, the ST can declare that the scene has changed. This usually applies in these cases:

A fight starting changes the scene, and a fight ending changes the scene. The fight must be one the ST accepts as real. Teammates declaring a fight on each other just to change the scene and farm certain Skills is against the rules.
The end of a stretch of story can count as a scene change. For example, after the Sith Emperor throws Mace Windu out the window in Star Wars, or after the Red Queen's mainframe is shut down in Resident Evil, the place and people haven't changed, but one stretch of story has ended, so it can still count as a scene change.
A change of area, when that change can affect where the story goes next. For example, entering the sanctum in Indiana Jones can count as a scene change. But in any case, you can't go in and out of an area over and over to change the scene and farm certain Skills; that is against the rules.
A change of time, when that change can affect where the story goes next. For example, a countdown running out in The Lost Tomb.

Note: the ST has the final word on scene changes. Nobody may use a single key point to change the scene over and over to wreck the story on purpose, or to farm certain Skills for a benefit. The ST can force-end non-permanent effects that would last across several scenes (for example, an effect lasting an hour); this means PCs must use their buff abilities again after entering combat rounds. Likewise, the ST can let players use buff abilities before a fight starts, without counting it as combat time, and have them keep working once the fight begins.

Film: a unit unique to the Infinite Horror world. Everything from entering a Film until leaving it counts as one Film. This also applies when returning to a Film's world.

Combat time:

Combat time is a unit used only in combat. It only tracks how long combat actions take to perform, not how long effects last.

Each turn, when it is a combat unit's turn to act, it can take the following five "combat actions".

A combat unit only gets all the actions below when it gets a full round. If a player somehow gets just one action on its own, they get only that action and none of the others, but it can still be converted as normal.

Free action: when it is a unit's turn to act, it can take any number of free actions. But apart from speaking, most free actions can't be taken outside your own action. Also, you can only use one free action for the same kind of act. The ST may also cap the number of free actions in a turn.

Example 1: Player A holds two weapons. He can use one free action to drop both. Then he can spend a move action to draw a new weapon, but he can't spend another free action to drop the new one.

Example 2: Player A casts a spell at B as a free action, then casts a spell at C as a free action. This isn't allowed, even if they are different spells, because both are the same act: casting. The same goes for melee attacks and ranged attacks.

Swift action: when it is a unit's turn to act, it can take only one swift action.

Move action: when it is a unit's turn to act, it can take only one move action. A move action can be converted into a swift action, but not the other way around.

Standard action: when it is a unit's turn to act, it can take only one standard action. A standard action can be converted into a move action, but not the other way around.

Full-round action: a full-round action is a move action and a standard action combined. So if a unit uses a full-round action this turn, it loses its standard action and move action this turn. Abilities activated with a full-round action take effect as soon as they are used.

Full-turn action: a full-turn action is a swift action, a move action, and a standard action combined. So if a unit uses a full-turn action this turn, it loses its standard action, move action, and swift action this turn. Abilities activated with a full-turn action take effect as soon as they are used.

If, after using a full-round action or full-turn action, a character still has a standard action or move action left over for some reason, they can use it as normal.

There is also a special case: actions described as "anytime" or "no action".

Anytime actions can be taken at any time, including on an opponent's turn, and each character has unlimited anytime actions each turn. An anytime action is always something a particular ability allows.

Besides the actions above, there are some special actions that work differently from the standard combat actions.

Immediate action: only certain resources or abilities let someone take an immediate action; otherwise players can't take one, except to drop prone. An immediate action can usually be taken at any moment. Unless stated otherwise, the unit that takes it loses all its swift actions in its next round. Normally you can only take one immediate action per round, unless a special ability gives you more. An immediate action can interrupt an action someone else is taking. After the immediate action ends, if the interrupted action can still be carried out, it must continue; otherwise it automatically fails.

The swift actions you lose aren't the price of the immediate action. That is, if a character has several immediate actions, using the first one costs them all their swift actions next turn, but doesn't stop them from using their remaining immediate actions.

(If the target of an attack uses an immediate action to get away, the attack still has to be carried out, because the action can still be taken. But if the target uses an immediate action to leave the attacker unable to act, for example by killing them, the attack fails.) When you use an immediate action to leave an attack's area, your Dodge Defense (including Base Defense) is doubled against that attack. If the attack is an area attack that can be dodged, the successes on the rolls used to negate the area damage or area effect are doubled.

Readied action: a readied action lets you prepare to take an action a little later, at some point after your turn ends and before your next turn begins. On your turn, you can spend a standard action to declare a readied action (for example: "when the enemy attacks me, I immediately step back"). You can ready a standard action, a move action, or even a swift or free action. To do so, you must first state which action you will take and under what condition. Then, at any time before your next action, you can use the readied action in response to that trigger. The readied action happens just before the triggering action. If the trigger is part of someone else's action, you interrupt that person's action; if they can still carry on, they continue after you finish your readied action. In effect, this gives you an immediate action against a particular action of your opponent's. The action you declared (free, swift, move, or standard) is skipped in your next round, as if you had borrowed it in advance.

Attached to or combined with an action: certain resources or abilities let a character attach an effect to an action they are taking. Such an ability takes no action itself, but only one such ability can be attached to or combined with the same action.

For example: ability A must be attached to a Blade attack, and ability B must be attached to an all-out attack. When the character makes a Blade attack as an all-out attack, they can attach only one of A and B.

But if a Technique involves several actions, an ability can be attached to each eligible action.

For example: a Technique has you move and then attack. Ability A must be attached to a move, and ability B must be attached to an attack. When the character uses this Technique, they can attach ability A and ability B to the matching actions in it.

For example: a Technique makes three Blade attacks, and the last one is an all-out attack. Ability A must be attached to a Blade attack, and ability B must be attached to an all-out attack. The character can choose to attach ability A to the first and second attacks, and on the third attack can choose to attach one of ability A and ability B.

Concentration: some actions, once started, need you to keep your mind on them to sustain them or extend how long they last. These actions are called "concentration". How much concentration each ability needs can differ. For example, someone with a "Vision Eye" must spend a standard action each turn concentrating on watching for coming danger, while a psychic must spend all their actions each turn to read someone else's thoughts.

Concentration usually starts with an activating action. Once activated, the effect lasts 1 round by default; to extend it, you must keep concentrating. Whether or not the character sustains the effect next turn, once it starts, they count as concentrating.

Whether you keep concentrating each turn is decided at the start of the character's round. If you choose to keep concentrating, the matching action is lost at once.
If an ability doesn't say what action concentration takes, it takes the same action as activating it. If the activating action is an immediate action, concentration takes a swift action.

A concentrating creature can act as normal as long as it has the matching actions.

In any case, a person can only sustain one concentration effect at a time, even if sustaining it takes no action. This means a character can't start or use 2 actions that need concentration in the same round.

A concentration ability can only be sustained within the same scene. Once the scene changes, it must be started again.

Converting actions:

As described above, a standard action can be converted into a move action, and a move action into a swift action. Here is a simple example:

Player A runs into a powerful boss. Seeing that the boss has short arms, Player A decides to put some distance between them and wear it down with ranged attacks. Player A first uses a move action to back off. Player A's speed is 10, so he moves at most 10 meters. Then he decides that isn't enough and he needs more distance, so he converts his unused standard action into a move action and retreats another 10 meters. In all, Player A used 1 move action and 1 standard action to move twice. He still has a swift action left, but decides to end his turn there.

Action rules:

In Infinite Horror, anything a character does can be called an "action". Taking an action means the player character has done something, or reacted to something someone else did.

Most actions include one or more rolls.

Sometimes what a character does takes very few steps, or they only get one chance. Other times they need to work slowly and carefully, finishing the task step by step. This splits actions into two kinds:

Instant actions:

An instant action is one whose outcome is decided by a single roll. If something is an instant action, it takes only one or a few steps to finish, and usually can't be, or doesn't need to be, perfected by repeating the work.

Instant actions include, but aren't limited to: jumping over a pit, shooting a basket, making an attack, scouting, or opening a door.

The time an instant action takes isn't fixed. Some take only a few seconds; others may take a few minutes or longer.

Difficulty of instant actions: when you take an action, roll once and count your successes (that is, how many of your dice came up 8, 9, or 10; if you have at least 1, you can then add extra successes from Attributes, Skills, or other sources). Your successes must equal or exceed a certain number for the action to succeed. That number is called the difficulty (DC). The more your successes exceed the DC, the better the result (this is usually stated in the description of the act). Many acts have a DC of 1, meaning just 1 success does it. Others have higher DCs. In general, an act with no stated DC has a DC of 1.

As a special case, some acts have no DC; instead, the result depends on how many successes you get. For example, when you attack an enemy, each success deals 1 damage to them.

Extended actions:

An extended action is one that takes several rolls, adding up successes, to finish. If something is an extended action, it needs several steps repeated over and over, perfecting the work bit by bit.

Extended actions include, but aren't limited to: making something, finishing a work, completing a ritual, giving a performance, repairing something, or getting free of a situation.

Difficulty of extended actions:

The difficulty (DC) of an extended action shows how much work you need to do to finish the task well. You roll several times and note the successes each time. When your total successes equal or exceed the difficulty, you have finished the job.

Unlike instant actions, how good the work is already counts in the difficulty. For example, "a novel people can follow" might be DC 5, "a gripping novel" DC 7, and "a novel good enough to publish as a book and earn royalties" might be as high as DC 15. You can't lower your standards halfway through to change the DC; there's no turning back on the hard road.

Interval of extended actions:

The time between rolls for an extended action is its interval. For example, if writing a novel takes one roll a day, its interval is a day. The rules give some examples; the ST should judge the interval for other acts by those examples.

For some acts, the character can rest, go adventuring, and so on between intervals, setting the work aside for a while. Other acts must be done in one go. Depending on how long the work is set aside, successes already earned may sometimes drop. For example, when painting in oils, leaving the work one more night lets the paint dry too much, making it hard to blend new colors into the base. The ST decides such cases.

Deadline of extended actions:

Some extended actions must be finished within a certain time, or the action fails. For example, a vampire may need blood to create a barrier, and must finish the ritual before the blood freshly drawn from a body loses its potency. In that case, the character must earn enough successes before the deadline.

Optional rule: mistakes in extended actions

The rules above assume an extended action steadily moves the work toward a good result. But when you do something, you aren't always improving it. Sometimes your efforts leave mistakes, and those mistakes are hard to fix. For example, an accidental heavy black stroke on a watercolor, or snapping a part off while building a model. This optional rule covers such cases.

As an optional rule, the ST doesn't have to use it. And if the ST does use it, they should tell their players.

When a player takes an extended action, note how many dice come up 1 on each roll. If the number of 1s reaches or exceeds the DC before the character's successes do, the act fails through a mistake. Time and materials are wasted, and it may even cause other bad results; for example, you meant to stir-fry a dish, but the wok caught fire. If the character still wants to finish, they must start over from scratch. Note that if the act succeeds in the end, the number of 1s doesn't affect how good the finished work is; the mistakes made along the way were fixed or undone.

Before actually failing or succeeding, the character knows the situation they face: the wok caught fire, or a circuit burned through while soldering. These are mistakes the character can notice. If the act is at risk of failing, the Storyteller should tell the player.

Repeated instant actions:

Some actions need repeating, but when time is pressing, we don't treat them as an extended action. Instead, we treat them as a series of instant actions, because each step affects the situation.

For example, in Shaun of the Dead, Yang Kang gets separated from the main characters and wants to climb onto a roof to look for them (this is an Athletics roll). But several zombies surround him and try to drag him down. So how high he can climb each round decides how much of a threat the zombies are to him and how much help he can be to the main characters. In this case, he makes an Athletics roll with a move action each round.

When time isn't pressing, you can also turn an action that needs repeating into an extended action, to simplify play. For example, after the story ends, Yang Kang wants to enjoy the moon and a drink on the roof. Climbing onto the roof can then be handled as an extended action.