Passing the time...how do you do it?
malcolm_n
Adventurer
For me, it's always depended on the campaign. Our most recent campaign had the party complete their paragon tier (going from 20 to 21) by closing a rift to the far realm in modern Thay. After they closed the rift, they were congratulated by the gods and the people of Faerun. Then three years passed, and the thrill was gone. Suddenly, the separated party finds themselves alienated by the same people they saved and have to reunite to figure out why while dodging local governments since they didn't want to hurt somebody by accident and give the rumors about them a foot hold in truth.
In an earlier campaign, we would have a couple weeks of role play while the characters "leveled up" before they were sent back out to keep the rival countries from starting war. The role play included one character getting to know his adopted kid, while another researched the gods and worked closely (albeit secretly) with Bane, and the last built up her rep around the nation for being as cut throat at the table as she was on the field of battle.
In an earlier campaign, we would have a couple weeks of role play while the characters "leveled up" before they were sent back out to keep the rival countries from starting war. The role play included one character getting to know his adopted kid, while another researched the gods and worked closely (albeit secretly) with Bane, and the last built up her rep around the nation for being as cut throat at the table as she was on the field of battle.
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My idea is to run a campaign that begins in past of the game I am currently playing in. Any time we have a player unable to make it, I would run my game, kinda like the encounter a night premice but with a story arc.
In between each of these games there will be a few years that pass and several levels...what I am trying to put together is the rules to use...a mix of skill challenge and chart system as time passes.
The players tell me what they want to do in the three years and we consult the charts to determine what type of skill challenges needs to be made.
In between each of these games there will be a few years that pass and several levels...what I am trying to put together is the rules to use...a mix of skill challenge and chart system as time passes.
The players tell me what they want to do in the three years and we consult the charts to determine what type of skill challenges needs to be made.
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the Jester
Legend
Can you give some examples of this? I've never heard of it (except sort of in Chivalry & Sorcery), but the "30 levels in 3 months" thing drives me crazy, so I'd love to see ideas for handling it.
As for my campaign, I try to have things take up time- it might take the party a week to find a good navigator, I have a skill challenge coming up that will likely take roughly a month to complete, I had a 5-year siege with my last group, etc. But rules, mechanics- I got nothin'.
Nytmare
David Jose
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what you mean?
Like, "How much XP do I give people if I handwave them spending the last X months mopping floors at the inn?"
If that's what you mean, I'd probably vote for none, at least for 4th Ed.
I've personally never had a campaign with real down time. Maybe a week or two, but even then that tends to be a traveling or "waiting for a particular event to happen" stories that take a night or three to run and happen to line up miraculously with 3 or 4 encounters.
My games tend to involve the characters getting swept up in events beyond their control where they stay either busy or just plain on the run till they manage to get control of them.
Like, "How much XP do I give people if I handwave them spending the last X months mopping floors at the inn?"
If that's what you mean, I'd probably vote for none, at least for 4th Ed.
I've personally never had a campaign with real down time. Maybe a week or two, but even then that tends to be a traveling or "waiting for a particular event to happen" stories that take a night or three to run and happen to line up miraculously with 3 or 4 encounters.
My games tend to involve the characters getting swept up in events beyond their control where they stay either busy or just plain on the run till they manage to get control of them.
I reread my post and forgot to mention the all important part that it's house rules that do the level a year thing. And what I was trying to say was if anyone had any 'random' chart systems for 'out of game' play/encounters.
My current game is finishing up (4e) our heroic teir, there is a gap between the 'campaigns' of a year game time...granted for story purposes each of us will only level once in the year of down time...
What I am doing is setting up a series of 'encounters a day' sort of game...any time one of the group can't make the game, we'll play my game...and in between each of those games years will pass...of course I will still set the levels that the characters gain...but I am trying to come up with a system to determine what the characters were doing...randomly. sure I can gm stamp it but even I as a gm like to be suprised.
Sorry for not being clearer.
Kingreaper
Adventurer
Wouldn't the players be the best people to decide what their character does with its downtime?
Or is the random chart intended to be for things that get in the way of what they want to do?
Or is the random chart intended to be for things that get in the way of what they want to do?
LostSoul
Adventurer
I wrote up a bunch of stuff for this - not too rules-heavy, but there are some guidelines. It's about controlling settlements and allocating resources. It ties in with a number of other changes I made.
Check out my "Fiction First" playtest for more. I haven't gotten around to playtesting that, since it's the large part of the reward cycle.
Check out my "Fiction First" playtest for more. I haven't gotten around to playtesting that, since it's the large part of the reward cycle.
The players do decide what they want to do...the random charts are exactly for what you asked...all the stuff that gets in the way while they are doing stuff.
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
This has long been an obsession of mine. And I will go on a long diggression on it in this post, before betting back to the OP in a seperate post.
The defualt response is, don't worry about it. A lot of campaings don't really track calender time, and its all in the abstract.
Another is to treat it purely as a metagame issue. So at a natural breaking point, the DM (along with the players) just sort of agree that a year or so passes.
Then there are mechanical approaches. Basically the current RAW, is a the "day here and there" approach. So some time is spent traveling, making stuff, buying stuff...but with the current raw, this won't be much time.
In 1E, you had much slower healing and harder traveling, and this could take more time.
You also had training, (though groups often ignored it) which can require days or weeks. In my 2E years, I went farther, and had a rule of a minimum 10days per level per level. I.e. A 5th level charecter had to be at that level for at least 50 days.
The problem with these approaches is that they are not that flexible, and may still not chew up as much time as the metagame approach, or if you do have them chew up a lot of time, they get really inflexible.
I have tried XP for downtime as a sweetner. This works pretty well, but you have to be carefull or charecters will start tracking by the day. An alternate on this is XP for gold spent (this goes back to XP for gold in 1E) which can also take time. These both can be more flexible.
This is my current house rule:
Rest and Readiness: To fully recover with an extended rest requires one Rest and Readiness (R&R) point (otherwise at least a few days are needed). To level requires one full day off and three R&R points. You regain R&R points during down-time in which you are not adventuring (or otherwise not using powers or rituals (much)). The amount regained depends on the amount of time and related expenses. The later are generally spent as appropriate for the character and go beyond basic living expenses. Characters in higher tiers need to spend more. You must gain one or more levels in between R&R periods:
Time Cost (H/P/E) R & R Points gained
1 Week 100gp/200gp/400gp 3 R&R points
1 Month 200gp/400gp/800gp 6 R&R points
6 Months 400gp/800gp/1600gp 12 R&R points
1 Year 600gp/1200gp/2400gp 18 R&R points
This allows players to take breaks when the opportunity is there, but still rack up the levels (and extended rest) when needed.
Of course, what the OP is actually getting at is something else...
