The flow of play can be summed up as the following list below. This is meant as a summary of the flow of play, rather than a full explainer. Further information will be provided.
The Storyteller sets up the initial circumstances for the session via a Cold Open. A “cold open” is a brief scene, usually a few paragraphs, where the monster (called the “Logic Ghost”) attacks or changes someone or some part of the town. This is optimally done using the information from building the town together and any further information given by the players.
Then, either the Storyteller or one of the players draws from the Poveglia Deck (the oracle card system here on this website) and reads the prompt aloud. This prompt is the Discovery. This establishes how some or all of the party discover there is something wrong going on in the town.
At this point after the Discovery, the Scene Clock becomes active. The Scene Clock is the mechanic that represents the pressure of Time on the party and the town. Each scene played while the Clock is active (defined here as a role-play interaction between party members, any NPCs present, and the environment) ticks one hour forward on the clock. As the clock ticks forward, circumstances get bleaker in the town and options moving forward can dwindle.
The first Active Clock phase is the Investigation. Players can choose to all move together or split up to investigate different places in the town to figure out clues about where the Logic Ghost is, what is at stake, and who is being targeted. Each Investigation scene should end in a clue, which takes the form of drawing one card from the Poveglia Deck. The Storyteller and/or players in the scene then interpret the prompt to generate the information that was discovered. Players may only move on to the next phase once three clues have been discovered. However, they may choose to risk getting more information that may help in the next phases, which burns more time on the Scene Clock.
The second Active Clock phase is the Exploration. Players head to where they believe the horror is located, as guided by the clues in the Investigation phase. Once they are in the location, they look in grouped zones of the area for supernatural resonances called regrets. To determine whether a room has a salvageable regret or if it is too diffuse to understand, a coin is flipped and called when the party enters a room. These regrets help the players with special actions in the next phase (the more the better). Players may only move on to the next phase once a single regret is found, though they may try for more. Each zone explored ticks one hour forward on the clock.
The final Active Clock phase is the Confrontation. Here, players have managed to run into or confront the Logic Ghost itself. Each Logic Ghost is like a role-playing puzzle. Using the information gained from the regrets, players then individually decide whether to do their playbook’s Hook action (which banishes the Logic Ghost, at the potential cost of life) or their playbook’s Key action (which attempts to rehabilitate the Logic Ghost, reclaiming the human trapped within).
During this time, the Logic Ghost will attempt to injure, kill, or incapacitate the party members using supernatural means. For each Logic Ghost, it takes a different amount of Hook or Key actions to successfully end the confrontation. Each full round of action (all party members plus the Logic Ghost) ticks the clock forward one hour. If the Logic Ghost dispatches the party or the clock reaches 13, then the Confrontation has failed and automatically ends, changing the town permanently.
Once the Confrontation is finished, whether the party is successful or not in stopping the Logic Ghost, the Downtime phase begins and the Scene Clock stops. Here, the players can begin to recuperate any injuries, work on any projects or upgrades for their base of operations, or generate leads for the next session based on the information that they received during the story.
After play has concluded, the Storyteller then can inform the players, either all together or individually, how many pips of affinity they get, and in which direction (more sympathetic to the Hours or more sympathetic to Cinderdust). Check-ins and cool-down are then recommended here, and the session concludes properly.