D&D General Time Pressure and Adventures

[payn]

I will say I often make my players make decisions they don't like making. Chase after the bandits fleeing, or continue to the bandit HQ to help the victims. On one hand, the bandits could regroup and return to the HQ and cause an issue later, on the other who knows what the victims are going through and how much time they may have? My players always try and find the "do it all" solution but it just doesn't exist.

So, I agree with the style @el-remmen discusses above.

 

[R_J_K75]

Also, I dont like megadungeons in general, so I never use them.

Im the same. I used to like them but as a DM theyre too hard and time consuming to make unique over the long haul. As a player I despise them. Most DMs Ive played with run them too linear and my attention span drops to non-existent immediately as they usually just suck.

 

[payn]

Im the same. I used to like them but as a DM theyre too hard and time consuming to make unique over the long haul. As a player I despise them. Most DMs Ive played with run them too linear and my attention span drops to non-existent immediately as they usually just suck.

Yeah, I can see the appeal to folks not like me. It cuts right to the chase and gives them their fun. I just prefer a world that makes more sense, a more typical pulpy adventure, and I like the idea that an adventuring day should be enough to solve something. Often in megadungeons its just press your luck and then find a place to rest. Some GMs will have the dungeon react, many wont. Just not my scene.

A megadungeon is an excellent way to learn a new gaming system. It's all tire kicking so to speak, so I do see usefulness in them, despite not liking them.

 

[Flamestrike]

If some evil wizard is going to set off his magic nuke to destroy the city, he's not going to wait for 3 extra weeks just because the PCs decided to do a bunch of side-quests and got hammered in a pub and woke up without pants. That story has a time limit. These PCs will wake up without pants and without city if they decided to ignore that time limit.

This.

Can anyone give me a work of fiction, or even a real life scenario, where the primary antagonist is NOT the clock?

Literally any movie featuring a ticking time bomb, or other pressures to drive the story forward. Luke didnt have time to leave the battle of Yavin and sleep overnight before coming back and blowing up the Death Star the next day any more than Han had time to fall back overnight to shut down the Death Star 2's shield generator, Frodo didnt have the luxury of just staying home for a bit longer and chilling out while Sauron sat on his hands, and SF Operators overseas cant just clear a few rooms of a hostage compound, bugger off and rest for a few hours, then come back to finish the job.

I cant just go on holidays forever, or delay that project for work. I cant turn up at whatever time I want in the morning, any more than I can take 4 hour lunch breaks.

So many DMs totally never turn their mind to temporal constraints, and they exist in fiction and in the real world, constantly.

I personally find an adventure where time is not of the essence, to be not only boring but also frankly lazy and unrealistic.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yeah, I can see the appeal to folks not like me. It cuts right to the chase and gives them their fun. I just prefer a world that makes more sense, a more typical pulpy adventure, and I like the idea that an adventuring day should be enough to solve something. Often in megadungeons its just press your luck and then find a place to rest. Some GMs will have the dungeon react, many wont. Just not my scene.

A megadungeon is an excellent way to learn a new gaming system. It's all tire kicking so to speak, so I do see usefulness in them, despite not liking them.

I never understood dugeons, especially mega-dungeons. I just cant suspend disbelief enough to accept that all these dungeons were built and abandoned.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Voted negative because it is the opposite of what I want out of the game.

I'm here to relax and have fun. Explicitly going out of the way to add stress is where I check out. If it's one leg of an adventure, I'll grit my teeth and hate you for a while, but I'm just not going to partake if it's a regular feature.

 

[payn]

I never understood dugeons, especially mega-dungeons. I just cant suspend disbelief enough to accept that all these dungeons were built and abandoned.

I can definitely see old ruined keeps taken over by monsters, or keeps in very good condition that are currently upkept. Having hundreds of them around tho, starts to stretch the imagination. Which is why I like wilderness, urban, and dimensional. Spice it up and get creative!

 

[Li Shenron]

Suppose it's game night, and your DM announces that tonight's adventure has a time limit. The clock is ticking! Maybe the princess is going to be sacrificed at dawn. Maybe the caves will flood as soon as the tide comes in. Maybe the curse will take you all at midnight! Or something like that...your DM has made it clear to you that you won't have limitless time to explore, rest, and chase rabbits. You have only a limited amount of time to Do The Thing or you will fail the mission.

Indifferent. I am ok with characters having time constraints, but they don't make the adventures more exciting to play for me personally.

However... if the DM starts to apply time constraints to players, with shenanigans like countdown timers in the middle of the table, I will play along but probably leave the group after the session.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I think one important factor of a ticking clock adventure is clear consequences.

If the consequence of not completing the goal in time is out-and-out failure... Well to be honest I don't find that as fun.

If the consequence of not completing the goal in time is a loss of reputation, the treasure hoard being cut in half, losing some hostages, the villain gaining more power... That kind of stuff is fun!

All in all, though, I want a DM to be clear about what the consequences are. It wouldn't be fun to arrive at the dragon's hoard and the cave is empty, and for the DM to announce, "During your week of downtime the dragon took the treasure and flew away."

 

[R_J_K75]

I can definitely see old ruined keeps taken over by monsters, or keeps in very good condition that are currently upkept. Having hundreds of them around tho, starts to stretch the imagination. Which is why I like wilderness, urban, and dimensional. Spice it up and get creative!

My point exactly,a couple sure, Ill believe. I vote to change the games name to "A Couple Dungeons and a Few Dragons".