The Pi(e) Rule was created as a reaction to one of the less glamorous effects of the legendary Singularity, but can apply to other situations.

The Rule

There are instances when an effect possesses a time frame in rounds that are not appropriate – while combat most certainly is played in rounds, character interaction almost never is.

Therefore, any effect that lasts for X rounds may be instead measured instead in pies. Once every real-time minute, roll 1d3. The result is the number of pies that appear during that moment in the scene – the Bartender is encouraged to describe the source and destiny of each set of pies. Once enough pies have appeared in scene, the effect may then end.

Example
Myndu The Hindu drinks a Singularity and is turned into a small rodent for 1d6 turns. Myndu’s player rolls a 4 – 4 rounds. However, the party is not in combat. As a result, the Bartender will roll once a minute. In the first minute, the Bartender rolls a 1 – Myndu needs 3 more pies to appear in the scene before he turns back into a canoe-welding ascetic.

Random Pie Chart

Since your players will likely want to know what kind of pies are appearing in their vicinity, roll a d20 for each pie:

1 – Apple
2 – Banana Cream
3 – Blackberry
4 – Blueberry
5 – Boysenberry
6 – Butter
7 – Cheese
8 – Cherry
9 – Chicken Pot
10 – Chocolate Cream
11 – Coconut Cream
12 – Fish
13 – Key Lime
14 – Lemon Meringue
15 – Meat
16 – Peach
17 – Pecan
18 – Pumpkin
19 – Strawberry Rhubarb
20 – Sweet Potato

Origin

When DWARF LORD received his free drink at The Floating Vagabond, be took up the local specialty. As a result of drinking a Singularity, he passed out for 14 (2d10) rounds. Tuck, who was Bartending, was quietly vexed by the fact that there was no way to appropriately measure rounds in a non-combat situation.

It was here at Shawn cracked a joke about measuring the time left using Pi, since pi is round. After the chuckles regarding the awful pun settled down, Tuck was amused by the concept. Thus was implemented the first instance of The Pi(e) Rule.