作者：Troy Costisick

当设计RPG时，你要考虑到三种时间段：The Immediate、The Session和The Campaign。这三者按时间由长到短，且前者组成后者：一个Session中包含多个Immediate，一个Campaign中包含多个Session。Immediate时间是非常短的时间段，通常是用于一个游戏机制。Session时间通常会持续30分钟或甚至10个小时。Campaign包括所有游戏时间，从根据游戏创作小说到完成小说。

Immediate时间是玩家在游戏中进行具体的活动的时刻组成的。每一个Immediate时间各不相同。比如，可以是玩家在游戏中投骰子，可以是与角色交谈以获取信息，可以是为下一次进攻制作战略，可以是与角色上演一段浪漫情景，等等。

rpg(from oldschoolgm.tumblr)

作为设计师，你必须思考你希望你的玩家在这些时刻做什么。如果你冒出的第一个念头是：“随便他们做什么！”那么你就要再想想了。游戏必须有焦点。如果游戏的文本没有给玩家指出方向（或给他们“卖点”），他们就会不知所措，直到他们摸索出自己的规则或彻底放弃这款游戏。通过限制Immediate时间中能发生的事，就相当于给玩家的创造力增加了约束条件，使之不至于变成漫无目的的空想。所以，你的游戏包含浪漫情境？手把手操作的战斗？学习新世界的任务？所有这些是否需要规则？或部分需要？

另外，你必须想一想玩家在游戏时真的想做什么。好吧，你可能有有一款关于招募机甲飞行员的游戏，玩家加入机组必须能够讨论服役应得的奖金。所以游戏中的谈判应该是怎么样的？单纯地由一个投两次6面骰子和角色的谈判技能决定吗？玩家是否消费某些什么点数？还是取决于玩家的操作技巧？或GM的批准？战斗、谈判、解锁、作弊，等等，对玩家来说都是不同的活动，但从设计的角度看，这些都是完全相同的玩家活动：投骰子然后看是否投中目标数字。相反地，取决于你希望的规则，它们可以完全不同。

所以，当思考Immediate时间时，想一想某些活动在现实世界中是怎么进行的吧。思考一下玩家在游戏的任意一个时刻应该做什么，然后设计支持这个活动的规则。

Immediate时间的规则通常是程序性的。它们引导玩家一步一步地经历解决困难的过程。有时候，这些机制类型被认为是破碎的或琐碎的，但那并不是实用的说法。Immediate时间规则的例子包括战斗规则、任务解决办法、冲突解决办法、法术豁免、复原机制、角色养成、装备列表、致命一击表、随机遭遇战表，等等。这些规则通常用于短暂的时刻，然后放在一边；玩家在一个Session中通常会循环使用它们。

接下来我们说说Session。在一般的Session中，无论持续多长时间，你觉得玩家会做什么？他们应该完成什么？发生在Session时间的事情是由发生在多个Immediate时间内的事情组成的，比如探索、角色升级、物品收集、角色死亡、任务完成、奖励循环，等等。适用于Session时间的规则通常是程序性（比如升级角色）和方向性（游戏邦注：比如今天晚上要探索地下城的下一个关卡）的混合体。

第三种时间段是Campaign，也就是“我们最初为什么玩这款游戏？”的答案。Campaign时间是制作者对游戏的整体设想，是把所有Session从头到尾加起来后的东西。适用于Session的规则基本上是方向性的，比如“完成这个任务”、“正直地活下来”工中“解决犯罪问题”。Campaign提供主要内容，专注于Immediate和Session层面上的规则。并非所有Campaign的规则都是方向性的，有些可是能是程序性的。

这是节奏规则可以生效的地方。以《龙与地下城》的经验点机制为例。这些是角色升级的节奏机制。这款游戏的设计和开发团队考虑到一般的角色升级在Session应该需要多少经验点，然后相应地调整它们的规则、数值和期望值等。在整个Session时间，它给开发成员提供具体的指导方针。

这只是一个例子，但大部分时候，适用于Campaign的规则是为了引导玩家之间的交互作用而不是玩家和游戏一步接一步的机制之间的交互作用。

我们可以就以下三个问题来考虑这三个时间段：“我们现在在做什么？”；“我们今天晚上做什么？”；“我们在这个Campaign中做什么？”我认为我能归纳出这三个术语应该归功于Ron Edwards。但在任何时候，玩家都应该能够清楚扼要地回答这些问题。如果你的玩家不能，那么也许你就得再考虑一下游戏文本如何传达你的想法。

总之，如果你可以想出覆盖这些不同时间段的规则，你的设计的连贯性一定会大大提升。它还会帮助你理解游戏玩法如何进行，为玩家创造更加自然的体验。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What are the Three Major Timescales in RPGs?

by Troy Costisick

When designing an RPG, there are three time scales you have to worry about: The Immediate, The Session, and The Campaign.   Each is a component of the next and scale up in the amount of time elapsed.  So there are many Immediate moments in a Session.  There are many Sessions in a Campaign.  Immediate moments are very brief periods of time- usually the usage of a single game mechanic.  Sessions are one sit-down play experiences: whether that’s thirty minutes or ten hours.  A Campaign encompasses all of play from when a group begins creating fiction using your game to the moment they conclude the fiction.

The Immediate time frame is filled with what the players are doing at the table at any given moment.  Each immediate moment could be very different from the next.  Players could be rolling dice in combat.  They could be talking in character to barter for information.  They could be strategizing their next attack.  They might be acting out a romance scene between their characters and so on.

As a designer, you have to think about what you want your players doing at any given moment.  If your first thought is, “Whatever they want!” then you need to rethink.  A game needs focus.  If players aren’t given direction (or hooks) from the game’s text, they’ll just flounder about until they make up their own rules or drop the game altogether.  By limiting what can happen in the Immediate time frame, you give the players creative constraints within which they can work.  So, does your game involve romance?  Does it involve hand-to-hand combat?  Is it about fulfilling a quest or learning about some new world?  Do you need rules for all of these?  Or just some?

Also, you need to think about what the players are really doing at the table.  Okay, you might have a game about mecha pilots being mercenaries for hire, and as part of that they need to be able to negotiate a bounty for their services.  So what does that negotiation actually look like AT THE TABLE?  Is it simply a matter of rolling 2d6 and referencing their characters’ negotiation skills?  Do the players have to spend points of some kind?  Is it left to the acting skills of the players to decide?  Is it done by GM fiat?  Fighting, negotiating, picking a lock, hacking a computer, etc. are all different activities for the characters, but from a design standpoint, these can all be the exact same activity for the players: rolling dice then checking against a target number.  Conversely, they could all be completely different depending on how you write your rules!

So when thinking about the Immediate time scale, consider what is actually going on at the table in the real world.  Think about what the players should be literally, physically doing at any individual moment of the game- then design rules to support that.

Rules for the Immediate time frame are generally procedural.  They guide the players, step-by-step, through different processes of resolving dilemmas.  Sometimes, these types of mechanics are referred to as crunchy or grainy, but that’s not helpful terminology.  Examples of Immediate Timescale rules are things like combat rules, task resolution, conflict resolution, saving throws, recovery mechanics, Chargen, equipment lists, critical hit tables, random encounter tables, and so on.  These rules are generally used for brief moments then set aside, and often players rotate through them during a Session.

Speaking of which, the next step up (as far as timescales go) is The Session.  During an average session, whatever amount of time that might be, what do you envision the players doing?  What should they have accomplished by the end of the night?  Things that happen within The Session time frame are a result of what happens over the course of multiple Immediate time frames.  These can be things like traveling, character advancement, treasure accumulation, character death, mission completion, reward cycles, and so on.  Rules for what goes on at The Session level tend to be a mix of procedural (e.g. leveling up a character) and directional (e.g. the goal for the night is to explore the next level of the dungeon).

The third time frame is The Campaign, or “why are we playing this game in the first place?”  The Campaign (for lack of a better word) is the author’s vision for what the game is all about.  It is what should happen when all The Sessions are added together: from beginning to end.  Rules for The Campaign timescale tend to be mostly directional, e.g. “Fulfill this quest” or “Survive with dignity” or “Solve the crime.”  The Campaign provides an over-arching context and focus for rules at the Immediate and Session levels.  Not all rules at the Campaign level are directional, though.  Some might be procedural.

This is where pacing rules can come into play.  Take D&D’s experience point mechanics for instance.  These are pacing mechanics for character advancement.  The D&D design and development teams come up with how many XP the typical character should earn in a Session then adjust their rules, tables, values, and expectations accordingly.  It provides concrete guidelines for DMs to follow during the course of the entire Campaign.

That’s one example, but for the most part, Campaign level rules are guide interactions among the players rather than interactions between the players and the game’s step-by-step mechanics.

Since this is Socratic Design, we can think about these three timescales in the form of questions:  “What are we doing right now?” ; “What are we doing tonight?” ; and “What are we doing during this campaign?”  I believe I have to credit Ron Edwards for first organizing play in these three terms.  But players should be able to clearly and succinctly answer these questions at any given moment.  If your playtesters can’t, then perhaps you need to work on how your vision is being communicated by the game’s text.

Anyway, if you can think about designing your rules to cover each of these different time scales, the coherence of your design will be markedly improved.  It will also help you understand how play will flow from moment to moment and create an emergent game experience for the players.

Peace,

-Troy

P.S. I’ve included a diagram of play formy game “Blasted Sands” that shows how the different time frames work within the context of a flow chart.  You can find the text of that game here (spelling errors and all!).  I appologize for the low resolution of that image.  I could not find my hi-res version.  Once I do, I’ll upload it.(source:socratesrpg)