Iconoclast -- RPG -- Time
Time flows as it needs to during role-play. During discussions, etc., one minute equals one minute of real time. Obviously, however, there will be times when it's beneficial to slow time down, speed it up, or stop it altogether for various reasons. It's thus very helpful to keep a clock or stopwatch near where you're role-playing. Whether it's an electric digital or a wind-up analog or the little clock on your computer's menu bar, it will allow you to more accurately watch the progression of time in the game. If the icons all go to sleep for 8 hours, you just push time ahead 8 hours. If multiple activities are taking place and time needs to slow down to handle them, you push time back a little bit. And if you're using a stopwatch, you can also "stop time" entirely when necessary.
As far as game time is concerned, there are always 10 rounds of activity per minute, each lasting 6 seconds, or "beats" (so named for two reasons: 1)a "beat" is a theatrical term for a one-second count, and 2)because the average heart rate of an adult in good health is approximately 60 beats per minute, or roughly once per second, give or take) During each contest round, actions take place according to these one-second beats, the overall limits as to movement, potential actions, etc. limited in relation to the round as a whole.
The FORGE Gold system, under development, uses a more precise, realistic combat system, and so doubles the number of beats in a round to 12. Since there are 10 rounds in a minute, this is also known as 120bpm, or "rave" mode combat.
When possible, the person to act first should always be the person who declares an action first. That is, if one icon says he's going to punch another icon in the head, his statement of action is as good as his action--the other icon doesn't get to "roll initiative". He simply gets punched in the head. Or, if he's lucky, his reactive roll will be good enough to dodge the blow.
