D&D General How often are your stories on a clock?

[DND_Reborn]

soo I ask, how often do YOU use this?

It isn't about a ticking clock in many cases, but about the unknown.

The biggest deterrent to the 5MWD is random encounters IME, I often see (during travel, for instance) a group go NOVA on a random encounter because they understand the odds of another encounter is low and they can get in a short or long rest. BUT a few times the adventuring beginning (due to story constraints) before they get in their rest teaches them to be cautious.

If you never know what is going to happen or when, you will learn to not be so flippant with your resources IME.

Now, there certainly are times when the PCs are on the clock, but it is always due to story reasons.

 

[nevin]

But it doesn't have to be "an emergency," it just has to be a bit of time pressure.

My players learned that the temple of Heironeous in Greyhawk had a potion of supreme healing available, which they wanted -but they didn't have the means/funds to get it. They did however have an opportunity to acquire the funds, they pursued the opportunity.

The opportunity took them 5 days. I had privately determined that, after 3 (1d4+1) days (It's Greyahawk, lots of wealthy people), a 3rd party would buy the potion.

So when the players returned for it, it wasn't there - a bit of a loss. But they still had a boat load of gold and had gotten experience along the way - they weren't exactly crushed.

Not any kind of emergency, just a time pressure.

but it's no different if it's everytime. my point was if time or emergency or anything is used too much then it simply become's the norm and it doesn't motivate anymore. It's just a predictable fact. If it's used judicously it's a great plot device.

 

[Mort]

but it's no different if it's everytime. my point was if time or emergency or anything is used too much then it simply become's the norm and it doesn't motivate anymore. It's just a predictable fact. If it's used judicously it's a great plot device.

I'm not sure I follow. I've mentioned in prior posts that overuse of blatant, in your face, time clocks will likely be a turn off to the players. But that's only one (rather ham-fisted) time clock/time pressure.

Time pressure isn't always about motivation, it's more about risk/reward etc.

Say a group learns an area has treasure that they want. Their motivation for exploring the area is - they want treasure.

Now, in exploring the area, they learn 2 things:

1. There's more and better treasure the deeper the go into the area;
2. it's got roving undead. The deeper they go, the more frequent (more random encounter checks) and deadlier the undead become.

Is this a time pressure scenario?

Yes, because, while it's not itself time sensitive (unless the group has other external pressures that limit their time), There's A LOT of time pressure within the scenario itself.

But the time pressure isn't the motivation, it's essentially a consequence of the motivation.

I can see a campaign where time pressure doesn't exist, or is uncommon- but I think they are rarer than you'd expect.

 

[cbwjm]

There is a bit of time pressure in a game in running because the players know that a warlock is working to crack a ritual to absorb the energy of a dragon elder and so become a demigod. They'll still make it to final battle, but if they take too long, they may be fighting a mythic version of the warlock instead of just an enhanced version.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm not sure I follow. I've mentioned in prior posts that overuse of blatant, in your face, time clocks will likely be a turn off to the players. But that's only one (rather ham-fisted) time clock/time pressure.

Time pressure isn't always about motivation, it's more about risk/reward etc.

Say a group learns an area has treasure that they want. Their motivation for exploring the area is - they want treasure.

Now, in exploring the area, they learn 2 things:

1. There's more and better treasure the deeper the go into the area;
2. it's got roving undead. The deeper they go, the more frequent (more random encounter checks) and deadlier the undead become.

Is this a time pressure scenario?

Yes, because, while it's not itself time sensitive (unless the group has other external pressures that limit their time), There's A LOT of time pressure within the scenario itself.

Unless they're somehow trapped in the area, the logical approach for the PCs here is to be patient and nibble - go in, take out what undead you can and maybe gain some new ground, then retreat to safety. Do the same the next day, and the next, and so on. Sooner or later (unless there's a spawner or gate in there somewhere) the place will run out of undead; and if there's a spawner/gate sooner or later the PCs will find it and - one hopes - shut it down.

IME what usually does this approach in is player-at-the-table impatience, causing the PCs to overextend themselves into all kinds of trouble.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I've gotten away from mechanical ticking clocks - I try to make the stakes personal enough that the pcs wouldn't rest even if it was the optimal move - they should care enough about the npc hostage that they would feel bad about resting before going in, even if the fight would be easier if they did.

I won't make extra rolls to see if the npc dies, though.

I do occasionally use hard time limits, but not by default, and then I want them long enough to give the players wiggle room to rest if they want, just not too much.