Do you keep strict track of the date in your game world?

[MerricB]

I'm just wondering if you keep a strict track of the date in your game - thus, it's currently 1st Mirtul. The PCs travel for 4 days, so it's now 5th Mirtul. PC #2 decides to craft a +1 sword, so it's 7th Mirtul (and the other PCs have two days of actions to do).

Or do you handwave it more often. Well, it's spring at present. After a few sessions, it makes sense for it to be summer...

In my case, I tend to handwave much more often.

Cheers!

 

[diaglo]

we are playing in a time based adventure so it makes it important to keep track.

i'd much prefer not to be involved in the City of the Spider Queen. but the plot has driven us down this road.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Right now we are keeping very strict track of time because the PCs are on a deadline. Most other times we are a bit more lax. This is more from habit over a few decades than for any real reason.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Time passing is handwaved, generally. Usually it'll be things like "A few days go by." "You travel for a couple of weeks." And when everyone feels like its been about a year, we increase everyone's age by +1. It isn't lost on me how all the PCs always seem to have the same birthday.

When circumstances arise in which time is important, we keep track of it, but usually these time limits are small, at the most a month. Otherwise, they're long but not extremely important. For example, in a campaign I'm DMing the Captain of the Guard was going to be replaced in a year's time when the Hunting Games were scheduled to be held. As time goes by we just say "It feels like its been a month." "It feels like its been six months." Until we reach the year point and the games will take place and the new captain will take the position.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Yes.
In the campaigns I have run and in the one I am about to run in particular (Age of Worms), time is quite an important commodity. There are many things going on behind the scenes that are working to a particular schedule. While the PCs are the focus of the campaign, they are not the entire focus of the campaign.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[RuminDange]

I tend to track the days and sometimes the hours of the day pretty stricty. Everything is handled better when everyone knows for sure what day and time they are on, and especially when the players are split up for some reason doing things like research, crafting, etc and then need the others for help because they went off by themselves looking for trouble.

RD

 

[painandgreed]

IMC, yep, keep a calendar and track of what everybody is doing when. There are dates for holidays and festivals. Seasons take place and mountian passes become snowed in during the winter and muddy in the spring. Travel and war must be planned carefully unless the roads become unpassable or the party ends up filed under the name Donner. Many major events such as wars are pre-scripted to happen and do so unless the PCs do something to directly affect those events.

 

[Chimera]

One campaign I'm in does, two do not.

When I GM, I keep careful track, because I generally keep a timeline of events, many of which won't directly affect the PCs, but may come into play in certain areas. It also helps for in-game and RP reasons, to know if it's a Holy Day, or a full moon, or whatever.

 

[Crothian]

In my serious campaign I do, it's easy and rewarding

 

[DerianCypher]

We never used to keep strict track of time but our current DM has been keeping a calendar of events and its made the game a lot better in my opinion.