Oh no, agreed, and I totally agree that your page 180 reference is the correct reference. There’s no way the clocks can advance on every miss.

My current understanding is:

* Indicate a mission clock has started by marking 1200. That’s a start-of-phase thing. Other clocks start at 1500 when you write them down.

* The fiction might mandate that you move the clock up to where it matches the fiction. Move the clock up and make your show the barrel/complicate now move to illustrate it. That kinda-sorta breaks PbtA doctrine because it’s an unstated fourth trigger for the MC to make a move (albeit very specific and narrow) because you’re actually making two MC moves in a row: the tick, and then what the tick requires.

* You might move the clock up as an MC move (resulting from miss, waiting for the MC to say something, or the fiction demands) and then execute the matching description, i.e. it’s kind of a one-use move. So if I move my Legwork to 2200 as a result of a miss, then in the fiction I indicate that the target “has reliable information about the time of the mission” by showing the barrel/complicating now.

* The further up the clock, the harder all the MC moves ought to be. But that’s a six-step gradation and tbh I’m not sure I can really tell the difference between a 1/3rd-hard move and a 1/2-hard move.

The rules are good! And I’ll be doing it a little different going forward.

I know my close-read breakdowns make some folks crazy but get used to it if you’re gonna read this collection. 🙂