So two things.

1) I was actually surprised to see that many clocks on the table. It’s certainly a way to run things but you don’t have to. If you watch some of the games I’ve run online we generally use clocks for complex things that can’t be overcome in a single roll, growing threats (alarms, alert levels) or as you put it overarching things (faction goals). It’s a way to run stuff (and it’s fine) but I don’t know if it’s the sort of base assumption for play. If it’s working for you/your group—keep doing it! 😀

2) Why even bother? Fictional position (it’s kind of ruined me for many other games at this point).

If I describe any fiction for my AW character as I seize by force it largely doesn’t matter except as poetry for the table to enjoy. If I’m using a familiar weapon, if I’m in a better position, if I’ve got the element of surprise—my outcomes and chances are largely based on my + Hard.

Here, as a player, I can build up fiction. I can flash back to show why someone trusts me before I shiv them. I can try to play to my advantages and make good choices. We establish stakes and fiction as a table. And consequently I’m rewarded. My consequences are lessened, I have better control of the situation, I have better outcomes, I’ll take less harm.

Also I may not anticipate something, and I might have to make some desparate calls, and everyone is sitting with baited breath because a miss/middling-result on a desparate roll against someone with potency or of a higher tier can mean death.

It’s a game where you don’t just roll your plusses (you can, but the most common outcome is 4-5 and that’s what this really thrives in), you establish fiction and think through what you do. If you don’t do that, if you strip all that away, you have something far lesser. You have a game where you can easily just shrug and say “I attack” and have the same outcomes. For some people that’s fine, but it’s not what I’m looking for. When I watch Firefly/Star Wars/Cowboy Bebop I can see the risky move, and the 4-5 outcomes. I can see the desparate moves and their consequences. And I wouldn’t trade that for simplicity.

In something like SaV you can get away more easily with “hub play” because the setting and the genre is a bit forgiving and it won’t just ruin the game. It’ll work! But for something like BoB where the enemies usually outclass the PCs and you can’t just brute force solutions, and you have to actually come up with a plan on the spot to have a shot … this is a huge difference.

So that’s the why ^_^