How much value do you place on Time

[Sadras]

In another thread we were discussing the use/value of Time as an actual constraint or resource in the RPG. I am curious to know which of you actually use time or have used time in this manner – whereby the time factor results to change insettings, may bring about heavy consequences and the like.

My current campaign storyline (completely sandbox), set in the Duchy of Karameikos,is described below.

[sblock]
The characters are making their way to a Castellan Keep (Keep on the Borderlands) to assist with a group of cultists hiding out in the Caves of Chaos who survived the destruction of the ToEE.

Zuggtomoy was accidently released before the destruction of the ToEE. The PCs believe her current location is in the Altan Tepes, possibly the Caves of Chaos.

The demons of Zuggtmoy who escaped the temple’s destruction have fled to the orc warrens of the Wufwolde Hills and have subdued the orcs tribes residing there which have now fallen under their command.

The displaced orc chieftain, blaming the humans for the current state of affairs of his tribes, rode out with those still loyal to him razing the country side, putting any humans to the swords, cutting off breadbasket of the north.

The political scene in the Penhaligon is undergoing much upheaval: the people are restless given the rising costs of food and the danger, the knight’s order is selecting another elder for their council and the Lady in charge is being pressurised in approving a candidate she does not like.

In the party's journey to Castellan Keep, they also came across an Efreeti and its minions, which combat ended in a stalemate – the Efreeti is a survivor of the Fire Elemental Nodes of the ToEE and there are likely more surviving denizens of the elemental nodes scattered within the Duchy, causing havoc.

Closer to Castellan Keep the PCs learn of one village, Fort Guido, being under the shadow of a Hobgoblin Warlord (modified Horror on the Hill) with ties to the cultists and another village, Bergoi, being suffocated by a group of ruffians and their leader Glasstaff (LMoP).

I have drafted a timeline of events happening in the course of the the next 30-50 days. The characters know they are pivotal in the defence of Castellan Keep, but they cannot be everywhere, and decide which side quests to pursue – either for personal reasons or future tactical advantage.

Information about the duchy is revealed to gradually them through an enchanted book one of the PCs possesses. His mentor is currently in Penhaligon and keeps a diary. As his mentor becomes aware of important news he inputs that in the diary – this information is then reflected in the enchanted book the PC holds.
This revelation of the Duchy’s news assists the party in making more/better informed decisions.

They dealt with the hobgoblin warlord, weakening his forces significantly which forced him withdraw from the hill and return to the Black Peak Mountains. They defeated the ruffians terrorising the other village – but their investigation led them chasing a being known as the Spider and this deviation has now got them hopelessly lost. Despite their successes, their deviations from their primary objective, to reach Castellan Keep, have cost them time.[/sblock]

I understand time is not always a factor for every adventure; it is just that this campaign arc we are currently running seemed to necessitate it.

We track days, but record the hours of specific checks points in days (to determine day/night for travel and vision purposes as well as appropriate rest points). This does not = every second or minute or every lunch break.

Utilising time like this I find has instilled a sense of urgency. It ensures:

• The decision to take a short/long rests matters (No more I rest after every combat);

• The method of travel (barge, on foot or horseback) matters given that each has its own obstacles;

• That not all treasure found may be taken as it might affect overland movement (through encumbrance);
• The benefits of succeeding in side quests affects time allowance for the primary objective, thereby forcing hard choices;
• That it engages the players/characters in real debate;
• The players know their actions affect the progress of the main campaign storyline that seems different to the adventure-of- the-week-scenario.

There are no wrong or right choices, just better or worse ones for different reasons.

So what are your thoughts on the implementation of time as a resources/constraint. Is it too much work? Does it require the right story-arc? Best only in small doses – through the use of a Skill Challenge

EDIT: Inexperienced with the interface, trying to "hide" in a box the portion relating to my campaign. And I don't know why some of it is coming out in red - maybe the mods can help please

EDIT 2: Kindly assisted by @LostSoul

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I mostly use dramatic time: the culists' ritual will start five minutes before the characters get there. If the players would have to work under time pressure, they would clearly have to know about it - and their deadline.

In old-style games of dungeon exploration, where resource management plays a role, time should be more precisely measured. But even then I mostly wing it. Counting each second the torch has burnt is as unfun as counting each coin for encumbrance.

 

[D'karr]

I voted other because time keeping might be relevant in one session and completely unnecessary in another. Unless the scenario requires accurate time-keeping, and more importantly players know the relevance of time in the scenario it is completely unimportant.

Plot time works just fine under the majority of scenarios.

 

[SirAntoine]

I'd say every campaign uses it, so it's nothing new.

 

[LostSoul]

So what are your thoughts on the implementation of time as a resources/constraint. Is it too much work? Does it require the right story-arc? Best only in small doses – through the use of a Skill Challenge

EDIT: Inexperienced with the interface, trying to "hide" in a box the portion relating to my campaign. And I don't know why some of it is coming out in red - maybe the mods can help please

I think you want to use sblock and /sblock tags around the text you're trying to hide. You've got PHP code instead.

Anyway. I enjoy having time as a resource in my games, either as a player or DM. I don't think it's too much work. I take notes about what the PCs are doing and I keep track of them by the month/day/hour; if something's going to happen later on ("the cult finishes their ritual") I put that in an entry after the current one. That said, I think the system has a lot to do with making time a resource. In my own game I have certain events trigger at the beginning of each month - a structured campaign reaction phase - and I've recently added some magical crap to the moon phases.

Here's some junk I did for a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...emental-Evil&p=5994773&viewfull=1#post5994773

 

[Sadras]

Here's some junk I did for a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign

Thank you for this gem - I just skimmed it for now, the notes looks great. Will read them over on the weekend. With 5e's PotA, Return to the ToEE as well as your notes and the crazy direction my PCs have taken the campaign I will have enough material for the next two years.

With regards to time - seems like we have a similar approaches

 

[Rod Staffwand]

Time is one of the best weapons in the DM's arsenal to create compelling gameplay. Period. Full stop. End of story.

Time limits spur action and force choices.

I picked 'fast and loose' since I don't like to account for each and every second of a game day. I usually break the overall adventure action down into 'scenes' which are all about 10 minutes long. A combat, a chase, an interaction with an NPC, exploring a chamber, or climbing a tall cliff are all scenes and are counted as 10 minutes whether they take 5 or 15 minutes. Thus, a consequence might be 6 scenes away with the players needing to determine how they spend those 6 intervening scenes to their best advantage. I usually do the same with days, weeks and longer periods of time if needed.

I try to avoid artificial or contrived time limits for the sake of having them. I usually go with a dynamic situation in which the party is facing off against a rival force with its own goals and timetable.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I keep track of time in a campaign log no matter if what is happening is time sensitive to the PCs or not. Sometimes, they are doing something and know that there is a sense of urgency. Other times, they may just be exploring somewhere at what they think will be a safe pace.

Either way, things are happening in the rest of the world and it helps to know how much time the PCs spend somewhere. Marking off days during a session doesn't take much effort. Comparing those spent days to events taking place apart from the PCs and seeing how their activities or inactivity shapes them is one of the more fun parts of game prep.

 

[Lanefan]

I keep track of time in a campaign log no matter if what is happening is time sensitive to the PCs or not. Sometimes, they are doing something and know that there is a sense of urgency. Other times, they may just be exploring somewhere at what they think will be a safe pace.

Either way, things are happening in the rest of the world and it helps to know how much time the PCs spend somewhere.

This; and with multiple parties running in the same game world time management is essential, if only so I can keep track of who is likely to run into who, and where, and when.

I'm not so worried about downtime - if the party's going to spend a few weeks in town training and dividing treasury we go into what we call "rubber time" where various characters just do whatever they want to do while in town; and if we need to determine whether something happened before something else we just roll for it. But once back in the field time is much more carefully kept.

Lan-"time gentlemen please"-efan

 

[pemerton]

I track the passage of time in the campaign - the timeline for my current 4e game is attached.

For time to be a resource, the players need to be able to make meaningful decisions with respect to it. That depends on aspects of system, and knowledge of backstory.

Default 4e doesn't really have the mechanics for making time a resource outside of the combat context (where time is formalised through the action economy). If I wanted to make the passage of time part of a situation, I'd do it via a skill challenge. The last time-sensitive journey I remember running was this one, but that was just time as a source of damage, for time spent travelling through a hostile Abyssal environment.