So, yes, T-Minus. Liked it a lot. Eric, I don't know if you're still checking this forum but, if you are, here's some rules questions and general comments.
1. Out of interest, why is it the GM who decides everything about the setting?
2. That first example is a little dull. Firstly, I'd like to know how he finds out he's only got 8 hours to live. Some more detail might help, too. It's much less exciting than, say, the opening sections of 1984 or Brave New World.
3. Could you put in some practical details about how to use the stopwatches and account for minutes being spent? It looks as though what you have to do is start the stopwatch running, note the time at which it ends (30 minutes), and then take one minute away from that time whenever a minute is spent. Is that right?
4. Just to check, when the player fails the roll and rolls again, does he do any more narration? Or just roll as fast as he can again?
5. To clarify: when you spend a minute on a die roll, so that you succeed on a 9 or 10, and then you fail; then on the reroll, you also succeed on a 9 or 10, without having to spend an extra minute (apart from the 2 minutes you spend to reroll). Is that right?
6. Can I spend minutes on the reroll if I didn't on the original roll?
7. That example about the secretary. Wow. She reveals the names and numbers of the other three callers? Bloody hell. She's not much of a secretary.
8. What happens if a character leaves a moment early? Can he reenter?
9. I'm generally confused about how you keep tallies of minutes for everyone and what happens when someone enters a scene. When a character enters a scene, he spends five minutes. That doesn't come out of his next moment, does it? Just out of the time for the present moment. Is that right?
10. What happens if he enters after 15 minutes? Does he only get ten minutes to act - I think this is right, but could you explain exactly how this works?
11. The character who plays, say, "Who is against us?". Does he actually play a character who is against the other players?
12. Likewise, does the "Who will help us" player play a character who helps the "Why me?" character?
13. In the second part of the game, does each player continue playing the same character?
14. In Breaking The Glass, you say each subsequent use of a Stake costs 1 minute. Just to check, that's not cumulative, is it - so that the first use costs nothing, the second costs 1, the third costs 2 and so on?
15. When you say each subsequent use of a Stake costs 1 minute, from where is that minute taken? From his time in the next moment?
16. Isn't it quite likely that the How Did This Happen character won't really care about being out of the next Moment for a few minutes, so will always Break The Glass?
17. To clarify, the stakes are used in two ways: to establish facts at the end of the Moment and for Breaking The Glass. Is that right?
18. In Emotion Against Reason, does he declare the roll to be invalid after the roll or before it? What if it's been rerolled ten times?
19. In Spare Time: when you say "The amount of minutes the GM used in opposition to your rolls", is that the amount used only in the first part of the game?
20. And again, when a player can purchase Spare Time up to two times "The amount of minutes the GM used in opposition to your rolls". Is that the rolls made by that player or made by everybody?
21. When the GM opposes rolls, how should he do it? Should he always attempt to beat the players? Should he just try to provide an adequate level of challenge?
22. Do the characters always die or can they save themselves?
There you go. I hope they help. I've got some more mathematical thoughts about that dice-rolling mechanic later.
Graham