In Toward One, are scenes played in series or parallel?

Question

Baker's Toward One is a fascinating and strongly-structured game. His scene sequence is slightly confusing. It reads:

Scenes, in Esteem+Renown order:

a. Some number of regular scenes;

b. A Final Confrontation scene;

c. A Collecting Rewards scene;

d. Some number of Self-improvement scenes;

e. A Taking On a New Jinn scene.

The "esteem + Renown" order is odd because it can be construed to apply to the set of scenes a..e or allow players to iterate through each scene before the entire group proceeds onto the next one.

Which reading makes for the best gameplay?

Answer 1

The section you quoted is in the Overview section, so is only for informational purposes to ease you into what the game is about. The subsection Players: Order of the section Play explains the Esteem-Renown order:

Everybody, add your Esteem to your Renown. Compare with the other players. In case of ties, roll off or do rock-paper-scissors.

Now, get up and physically order yourselves. Highest Esteem+Renown at the GM's right, then next highest, then next, around to the lowest at the GM's left. Your characters get scenes in that order.

So, you get scenes in that order. Not blocks of scenes or "turns" or "chapters" or something, just scenes, one to a player.

As for scene sequence, you don't iterate through a-e. Rather, you get to (b) when the fiction dictates, i.e., you've forced your Jinn to manifest through however many regular scenes it takes; and you get to (c-d-e) when the fiction dictates too, i.e., you've succeeded in your Confrontation.