Turn Order
Survival hinges on more than just skill, it's about those crucial seconds, the moments between the flash of a claw and the crunch of bone. The game captures this real-time action and decision-making through a mechanism called the "Pace," which determines the sequence in which Hunters and Horrors take actions during combat.
At the onset of any combat encounter, all participants, Hunters and Horrors alike, need to establish their position in the turn order. To do this, each participant makes a pace roll. A pace roll consists of rolling 2 ten-sided dice (2d10) and adding both the effective Dexterity and Awareness modifiers, including Fatigue and any specific protections. The formula for a pace roll looks like this:
Pace = + Dex. mod + Awn. mod
Pace and Speed are separate stats. Pace determines when you act, setting your place in the combat turn order. Speed determines how far you can move on your turn. A Hunter can be quick to react yet slow on their feet, or the other way around.
Once everyone has made their pace roll, the Overseer arranges the turn order from highest to lowest pace roll. When one participant's turn ends, the next one in the order begins. The turn order cycles back to the participant with the highest pace roll after the participant with the lowest pace roll.
Breaking a Pace Tie
If Pace totals tie, the participant with the higher effective Awareness modifier goes first. If those also tie, compare effective Dexterity modifiers. If both are still equal, the tied participants roll unmodified 2d10, highest first, repeating only unresolved ties until everyone has a place.
Settle these ties once when establishing the order, not every round. Later changes to modifiers do not rearrange it unless a rule explicitly changes the order or calls for a new Pace roll.
Turns, Rounds, and Timing
A turn is one participant's opportunity to act. A round is one complete pass through the turn order. The first round starts with the first participant's turn; each new round starts when the order comes back to them.
Combat time is approximate. Do not add a fixed number of seconds for each person in the fight. When an ability gives a duration in both minutes and rounds, use its stated round duration in combat. Otherwise, the Overseer establishes the duration's meaning in the scene before it is used.
At the start of a creature's turn, resolve effects that explicitly happen then and recurring damage described as happening "each turn." At the end of its turn, resolve permitted resistance checks before effects that expire at that turn's end. Follow any more specific timing in an effect's description, and use the Death rules when a Hunter is Downed.
Reactions and prepared responses happen when their triggers occur, not only during the responding creature's turn. See Reactions and Preparation for their timing and limits.
Overseer: "Alright, time to roll for pace. Let's see how quick on your feet you all are."
David: rolls dice "I've got a 10, plus my Dexterity and Awareness modifiers... That gives me a total pace of 12."
Amy: rolls dice "I rolled a base of 10, plus my Dexterity modifier of 1 and my Awareness modifier of 2. That makes my total pace 13. I guess I see the beast before it can strike!"
John: rolls dice "I also rolled a 10, plus my Dexterity modifier of 2 and Awareness modifier of 1. That should also give me a pace of 13. But I guess Amy goes before me since she's more observant?"
Overseer: "You've got it, John! Amy, you see a flash of movement from behind the statue. Our turn order is Amy, John, and then David. Hold on to your hats, everyone. It's time to see what's lurking in the shadows..."
A high pace can mean the difference between seeing a Horror's attack coming and taking it head-on.