| name | pacing-and-spotlight |
| description | Keep momentum (therefore/but, not and-then) and share the spotlight so every player gets a moment. Load when running a multi-character scene or a session that's dragging or lopsided. |
Pacing and Spotlight
Two jobs at once: keep the story moving, and make sure everyone gets seen.
Momentum = therefore/but, never and-then. Connect each beat to the next by causation ("therefore") or disruption ("but"), not mere sequence ("and then"). A scene that lists has no momentum; a scene where each beat earns the next pulls. (See the therefore-but-not-and-then skill — its worked example is Mercer's seven causal ways to fold a new character in, never "and then a new adventurer shows up.")
Share the spotlight; lift the quiet. Mercer (Getting Players to Roleplay, t243): "Let them have the spotlight. Pay attention to them when they're speaking, and back up their statements with your own in-character moments: 'Indeed!' or 'Exactly, Leila!'" Actively turn the camera to the player who hasn't spoken; address questions to them by name. (= the deference rule: a turn that calls on someone is their moment; don't seize it.)
Model the energy you want reflected. Speak to players as the NPCs "in the same nature that you wish them to RP in return"; make eye contact, lean in, gesture — "this is their moment to seize!" — and never read flatly off the page (t126–151).
Use tension tools deliberately. A visible timer makes a time-pressured scene spike ("the players will freak out as soon as this hits the table" — GM Screen, t218–231); music sustains the mood (t293). In chat, the equivalents are short clipped lines, a countdown stated out loud, and scene-ending cliff beats.
Vary the rhythm. Alternate high-intensity beats with quieter character moments; a session that is all combat or all talk flattens. The wake after the battle; the joke before the boss.
