Seems like it would be worthwhile to look at the actual gameplay of the SCRPG. Most of my readers have probably played already, but there are always new folks looking to get a feel for the game and sometimes explicitly spelling things out will be helpful even for veterans. Every group's "normal game session" will vary from the next, but there are enough commonalities to make some generalizations.
So what does an actual session consist of? Gameplay is largely going to be divided between the three types of scenes - Action, Montage, and Social - with the mix of those types defining that session's focus and tone. In most cases you don't want to use two scenes of the same type back-to-back, especially for Action scenes. Spacing out the different types will help make each more memorable as well as offering more variety for players with different preferences in gameplay.
Its worth noting that none of the scene types have strictly defined durations, lasting as long as they need to to support the narrative. Most Action scenes will be fast and frenetic, but you can use their mechanics for dealing with any event that has a clear ending point like a lengthy political campaign, an attempt to cure a character of a terminal disease, or a natural disaster that sprawls over days or weeks. Montage scenes are usually slower-paced and fast forward through "the boring stuff" by racing through hours, days or even months of time, but they can be compressed into a few minutes of desperate pep talks and recovery in between waves of alien invaders assaulting the White House.
Action Scenes
Action scenes are the most mechanically complex and for most groups will probably take up at least half of your total play time. Session lengths vary enormously from group to group, and individual scenes are equally variable depending on many factors, but in my experience you can expect to do anywhere from 1-3 Action scenes in a "typical" session of 3-5 hours. Action scenes require the most work to assemble, and you should probably prep at least two of them if you can. It's certainly not hard for an experienced GM to improvise an Action scene right at the table if you need to, but having some ready to use (often with minor tweaks for events earlier in the session) can't hurt.
As the rulebook notes, an Action scene doesn't have to include any combat at all, although most will do so. The defining aspect of any Action scene is a sense of urgency, reflected mechanically by the use of a scene tracker. No matter what the players do the scene will end sooner or later, and if the tracker "times out" there are always some kind of repercussions, often (but not always) negative for the heroes. This can be anything from the villains making a successful getaway to the heroes being rendered unconscious and starting their next scene imprisoned in a death trap. Most Action scenes will also have some kind of GM-defined "win condition" that the heroes can achieve to end things early, the most common of which is "defeat all the villains" or something similar. "Winning" a scene avoids any issues that might occur if the scene tracker would run out, and usually requires any challenges to be completed to avoid their own "time-out" effects.
You can find detailed discussion of Action scene construction in earlier posts, including a full example in two parts and a closer look at scene elements.
Montage Scenes
If Action scenes are defined by urgency, Montage scenes are defined by the lack of it. They represent a break in the action of the story, whether its a few moments for the heroes to take a breather between crises or days of training, research and preparation while waiting for the villain's next move. Even more so than most scenes they last as long as they need to in universe, and are one way to model the common comic book trope of a time skip. They also act as a "clean-up phase" with various effects from the previous scene ending - specifically, you remove all mods (even persistent ones), end all minor (but not major) twist effects, and end any other temporary effects or conditions that might be in play. The only notable exception is that effects based on the previous scene tracker running out usually persist, as do major twist effects if applicable.
The rules are rather explicit about what can be done during a Montage scene, with each character having three choices: You can Recover Health yourself, help another hero Recover Health, or take a Boost action to establish a bonus that can be used during the next scene. Recovery doesn't require any kind of die rolls, just some kind of narrative justification (which could be as basic as a pep talk or as elaborate as field surgery). Boosting also requires description and functions the same way it would in an Action scene, building a die pool and rolling for effect. For simplicity's sake I'd recommend just making it a basic Boost action rather than getting abilities involved, although opting to take a minor twist to make the mod last for two uses per the normal mod rules is probably okay since the twist effect will carry into the next scene so the player isn't getting something extra for nothing.
Social Scenes
The third scene type, Social scenes have the fewest mechanical elements to them and focus on roleplaying instead, either between PCs and NPCs or just PCs interacting with each other. This is the principle spot where things like investigation, negotiation, planning and debate play out, as well as dramatic scenes where characters confront their emotions and principles. The GM may call for Overcome rolls to determine how well things turn out and what twists might come into play, but its entirely possible not to roll any dice at all during a Social scene of little or no uncertainty is involved, eg heroes agreeing to a plan for foiling a villainous scheme, or deciding to go out for pizza after their nightly patrol. Participating in a Social scene can earn the whole team a Hero Point if the scene is sufficiently dramatic in the GM's opinion, or if an Overcome is made using a hero's Principles, but (unlike an Action scene) you can never earn more than one HP per Social scene total.
Of course you can and should be roleplaying throughout the session, not just in Social scenes, but these scenes push the game mechanics to the sidelines, encourage players to focus down on their heroic Principles while rewarding them with Hero Points, and provide worldbuilding through the NPCs. Players can call for a Social scene whenever they want, and assuming it makes sense the GM should accommodate them - although you generally won't be able to interrupt an Action scene to have a heart-to-heart talk.
So that's the basic ingredients of a session. The next post in this series will take a look at how to best use the different scene types in a session and some other elements of the gameplay loop.
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