I've had Hard Six's turn order system figured out for a while now, but trying to find the most articulate and approachable ways to teach ti has been challenging. I think I've gotten a good handle on it now, so I'm going to describe it, and justify why I made some of these choices.

In Hard Six's Danger phase, combat actions take place on beats - a variable measurement of time representing a "moment." 

Actions take 2, 4, or 6 beats, though sometimes skills modify those durations.

When Danger starts, characters set their beat marker (2 six-sided dice or token on a track from 0-12) to a value equal to their initiative (which is 6 minus their reflexes score). The yarnspinner (DM) says "beat 0." Once everyone with initiative 0 (or no one) has acted, the yarnspinner says "beat" and everyone moves their beat tracker down by 1. When your beat tracker reaches 0, you act! After acting, you set your beat tracker to the duration of the action you took.

My hope is that this system will keep people in the game - no one's looking at their phone for half an hour waiting for their turn to come around the table - you act frequently, although you only ever perform one action at a time.

This makes weapon choices interesting. A revolver might only inflict 1 wound, but it can be fired three times in the time it takes a hunting rifle to fire once. Entering and exiting cover, reloading, and moving between zones all take time as well, and the tactically-minded can time their actions advantageously around the actions of their enemies and allies.

This system also allows magic users to choose their level of investment in a spell. For the first-level spell effect,  the caster uses the action Kindle Magic, which has duration 6. When they act again (after 6 beats) they may either continue the spell, activating its 2nd-level effects with the action Stoke Magic, which has a duration of 4, or terminate the spell.  When they act again, they can continue the spell, activating its 3rd-level effects with the action Unleash Magic (duration 2),  or terminate the spell. As you can see, fully casting a spell takes 10 beats! That's quite a while, but 3rd-circle effects are very powerful, and the time required for each casting action decreases as the spell gains momentum.

That's turn order! Please remember to follow me at @izzypetersart on twitter for regular development updates, or talk to me about the game!

Cheers

Izzy