Many adversaries and events use a standard countdown, in which the die begins on a specific number (such as “Countdown 4”) and ticks down every time a player makes an action roll, regardless of the result. When the countdown die reaches 0, the countdown’s effect triggers immediately after the last action roll is resolved.

• Short countdowns (2–4) work well when you want a move or event to quickly trigger in an encounter regardless of how the players roll. If you want the countdown speed to vary with the players’ rolls, see the following “Dynamic Countdowns” section.
• Longer countdowns (5 or higher) are best used for powerful moves or events that you want to build across the length of an entire scene.

While in combat, standard countdowns for adversary moves are usually reserved for the major antagonist. Running multiple countdowns at once can be complex, so most encounters include no more than one adversary with countdowns.