In order to play the game, you must first understand the concept of scenes.
A scene is a segment of gameplay with a beginning and an end, focused around a specific character, obstacle, or conflict.
Scenes are an easy way to split the game into manageable “time sections” and also act as a “stage”: characters who are not part of the current scene may not perform any kind of action to affect the story. It is the Game Master’s responsibility to declare the beginning and end of each scene, but the Players can ask the Game Master to set up specific scenes as well.
Generally, a scene flows like this:
The Game Master introduces the scene and describes the situation (a process known as framing the scene), especially the following:
Note: The GM should keep things simple — one or two sentences are enough.
Player Characters interact with what is present on the scene, and their actions and decisions push the story forward. The GM describes how the environment and Non-Player Characters react, and adds details to the scene as needed. Characters may also enter and/or leave the scene, provided the GM agrees.
Additionally, there will be times when the outcome of a character’s action needs to be determined by rolling dice (see Checks, on page 38).
The Game Master can end the scene at any point, often wrapping things up with a short description of what happens. You should generally end a scene when:
Once a scene has ended, another one will begin.