The party gains a point of tension whenever one of the following things happen:
Tension supports the adventure's dramatic arc and can be used to represent how the setbacks and learning experiences of the adventure support the characters in their final push against the main villain.
Tension can be spent for the following party effects:
The party can spend time and 1 point of Tension to unwind, restock, adapt their plans and take a rest. An interlude is only possible if the fiction allows the party to spend at least a few hours in a safe place.
Each character can take 1 downtime activity. The GM rules which activities are available depending on the circumstances of the situation. Typically, train, work and long-term projects will not be available during an interlude.
The GM also decides if it is possible to spend coins for additional downtime activities. If the party takes their interlude in a city or town, this will usually be possible at least to some degree. If they are in the wilderness, not.
Any Magic Artefacts the party owns will regain 1 charge.
During an interlude, any antagonists in the adventure also get to advance their plans. While the party is resting, they are acting. The GM may advance any progress bars by one. This may cause the party to immediately regain the tension point they spent.
When the party is in a corner, or doesn't know how to proceed, sometimes Lady Fate intervenes.
You can ask the GM for a lucky break at any time during the game. He will offer you something and name a price, usually from 1 to 3 tension points. The GM can also offer a lucky break by himself.
A lucky break can be a clue falling into the party's hands, a minion turning on the antagonist, an unexpected ally suddenly appearing or some other kind of twist that works in favour of the characters.
The GM will describe his offer in broad terms (similar to the examples given above) and the party can decide to take the offer or not. If they take it, the tension is spent and the lucky break occurs. If not, nothing happens and play continues as normal.
In general, lucky breaks don't require dice rolls. The lucky break may consists of one or more bonus dice to a roll, if that is what the GM offers.
A Lucky Break is similar to the Devil's Bargain in Blades in the Dark and serves the same role, but it works slightly differently.
Sometimes, the characters set things in motion that then continue without them. This can be anything from sowing the seeds of dissent, to court intrigues, to sending a messenger to ask for help.
When these things occur, the GM will start a progress bar for the plot the character have started. He may or may not tell the players how many boxes the progress bar has.
Usually, the GM will mark boxes on this progress bar as time progresses or based on Fortune Rolls.
In addition, tension points can be spent to advance this plot. Describe what your character does to speed things up, spend a point and make a fortune roll, looking up the result on this table:
| Fortune Roll | mark boxes |
|---|---|
| critical success | 3 |
| success | 2 |
| partial success | 1 |
| bad outcome | none |
Plots like this cover scenarios where the characters send someone to fetch reinforcements, or request/pay someone to do legwork for them and similar circumstances in which NPCs are acting on behalf of the characters.