Panels as time, or as plot?

[Profit]

Do you generally treat panels as an equivalent to time (so that any significant downtime automatically replenishes the energy pool), or "as plot" (meaning that a panel can have variable length, and you don't automatically get all energy back outside "action moments")?

[Manah]

Personally, I go with logic and the circumstances of the situation.

If a panel is akin to 'So hours pass, and-" or something, I assume the players have plenty of time to recover and are at full energy, and healed if appropriate depending on healing factors.

When action is going on but nothing urgent or life threatening is happening, I typically make panels 30 seconds more or less, adjusting as needed.

And when it's a fight or other intense life or death situation where every moment count, a panel can be but a handful of seconds.

To me, panels are usually both linked to plot AND time, and are quite variable depending on what's going on.