In-Game vs. Real Life Passage of Time

el-remmen · Feb 25, 2005

I was going to make this a poll, but there are too many possibilities to list them all.

Basically, I was thinking about how even though my current campaign has been going on a little longer than 4 years in real time - it has been just over 1 year of in-game time (there are 308 days in the Aquerran year).

This is probably the least amount of time I have ever had pass in a campaign.

In the past my campaigns might have lasted 2 or 3 years of real time and have been 3 to 5 years of game time.

The last long term campaign I ran (The Oath) lasted almost exactly the same amount of time both in terms of real life and in-game time.

So, do people have a general ratio for their own games they've noticed? What was the largest disparity you have ever seen?

JoeGKushner · Feb 25, 2005

Generally, game time passes much faster than real time.

This is true especailly if you're using the training rules.

For me, wizards and clerics are always hunting down some esoteric lore and fighters are always seeking rumors of that latest weapon.

Then again, I'm a fan of 'generational' things too where new characters that are related to the main characters can move in.

Doesn't work quite as well in 3rd ed where levels are pretty easy to accomplish.

MonsterMash · Feb 25, 2005

Generally at the moment I find game time passes much slower than real time - but then again, that's on one three-four hour session per month, more frequent gaming and the ratio could be reversed..

diaglo · Feb 25, 2005

in a 10+ years RL campaign ( just a little bit shy of 11 years really) the party played 78 years.

ThirdWizard · Feb 25, 2005

Lets see, current campaign time passed: ~3-4 months
Sessions completed: 8 (5 months) @ ~6 hours per session
Average PC level: 5

So, I'd say things are going right about where I'd like them. I'm about to have some serious travel time for the PCs, so there's another two months (there and back) probably, which will put game time almost exactly the same as real time come the next session or two.

Henry · Feb 25, 2005

It's a problem with any fictionw with weekly or monthly installments - comic books have this problem all the time. The worst I've seen has been a game that IRL lasted two years, but maybe took six months game-time. Now, the more recent Eberron game I DM'ed in-game lasted 4 years, but was played out in six months. However, that was because of prologues and flashbacks.

The first session was at the last hour of the last day of the Last War, and then the second session picked up four years later. The rest of the action spanned about three months and 7 character levels.

Arnwyn · Feb 25, 2005

Hmmm... at a completely wild guess/estimation, it's about 3-4 campaign years for every 1 year in real life.

Kid Charlemagne · Feb 25, 2005

I generally run at roughly a 1-1 ratio, though I'm working at extending that so that more game time passes. I'd love to have the PCs in my game go from young 18 year olds to hardened grizzled forty somethings by the time they hit epic levels.

Its something you have to make a concerted effort to have happen, though. Its easy to give PC's time constraints that make them feel they can't take time off.

maddman75 · Feb 26, 2005

I've contemplated playing with this difference by playing with a real-time game, in the style of 24. A one shot using a relatively rules-light system. We start at 3pm, and the bad guys have stolen a nuclear weapon/aquired a biovirus/kidnapped the president. At 9pm real time, they blow stuff up, unless the players can stop them in time.