Keeping Track of Time (In Game)

[MGibster]

In most games, at least outside of combat situations, there isn't much concern among my players or I about how much time passes within the game. i.e. Whether the PCs are interviewing the burgomaster about local happenings, going on an epic pub crawl to tap some underworld contacts, poring over dusty tomes in an ancient library, or searching for their lost purse in the marketplace, it's just not important for me or even my players to keep track of the number of hours that pass in most scenarios. I try to keep things somewhat reasonable, but it's not something I sweat about because it doesn't really matter as far as playing the games goes.

But sometimes time is precious and PCs can't afford to squander what little they have. They might not even know how precious little time they have. Does anyone keep track of time that passes in their game? Blade Runner from Fantasy Flight Games keeps track of time by dividing the day into four shifts (morning, day, evening, night). An investigative task (interviewing witnesses, performing an autopsy, examining evidence, researching criminal records, etc., etc.) takes an entire shift. It's not that they literally spend 6 hours on this task, it includes travel time, stopping for a snack, doing any of the myriad of task a police officer might have at that time, etc., etc. The PC needs to spend at least one shift in four in downtime (sleep & recreation) otherwise their performance may degrade due to stress and lack of sleep.

Why is it important to keep track of time? I'm glad you asked. It's not. Not always at least. But sometimes it's a good way to introduce a little tension into the game. When the players know they have a limited amount of time they really need to consider what their next steps will be. I'm sure there are other advantages to keeping track of time.

This came up because I'm starting a Delta Green campaign. The PCs are tasked with doing something, and although time isn't strictly limited, they're going to lose Sanity for each day they don't take direct action. On one hand, they really need to prepare, but the longer they take the more Sanity they're going to lose. I was just thinking I need to keep track of their time spent in preparation.

 

[Distracted DM]

I keep track of time as the GM because I like to let the players know how much time has passed in game. It's also why I push downtime activities.

Just today, a player pointed out "hey, how long has it been since I took that 9-month loan from that dangerous bank?" Check the calendar... oh yup, looks like 3 days ago it went overdue. The player never had the intention of repaying it, so we knew that a few days didn't really matter (if it had, I would've been more forgiving if it's something that the character would have kept remember/kept track of in-world). So it was time for collectors to come a-callin'.

I also like making magic items that're time-reliant. The most advanced, which I probably wouldn't do again, was some moon-related items that recharged and/or were usable during certain phases of the moons. Did they get used? Yes. Did the players always ask me, rather than checking the available calendar themselves? Also yes. BUT it was always a nice reminder that time was passing.

Our Age of Worms game, levels 1-18, took 2+ years of in-game time. That's much more pleasing to my verisimilitude than the entire saga happening over a month or two.

OK now that I've addressed the good feelings of time-keeping, with regards to PRESSURE of time... that's a different thing. Red Hand of Doom, one of my most successful and favorite adventures, occurs over about a month, levels 5-12/13. That adventure has a running doom clock. Was it great? Yes. Did it mean that downtime went out the window, and the wizard was constantly pressed to not be scribing new spells they found? Also yes. If I were to do RHoD again in future, I think I'd expand the doom clock, add in some impassable/dangerous winter, and make it happen over a year or two.. mostly so there's some downtime opportunity.

The other thing I've found is that players can be TOO keyed up on conserving time. I scarred them a bit with a few doomsday clocks, and that trained them to value time a little too much. They never opted for downtime, they were always trying to get the next thing going, they'd forgo long rests if they thought there wouldn't be some big scary fight soon, etc. I had to break them of that a bit by just saying "OK, now's a good time for downtime. Take 3 weeks." That worked out and now we're in a good balance.

 

[Jahydin]

In practice, the day ends when the spell casters say it ends. Okay, sometimes it's the fighters if they're beat up badly enough...

Really though, thanks to players counting the days for me, I haven't really needed to track time until I started playing Shadowdark (which is just real-time), so interested what others have to say.

 

[Retros_x]

Yes I always use time tracking. I think its quite important to give meaning to players actions. I not always have time pressure in an ultimate sense, but at least consequences via events happening when amount of time passes.

On exploring unknown wilderness or a city I use just abstract shifts with 4 hour length, so a day has 6 shifts (morning, midday, afternoon, evening, night, dawn). Usually one travel segment or one exploration segment costs one shift. Its an abstract unit, so I don't mind if an action always takes 4 hours or not, it will always takes one shift. In dungeons I use dungeon turns. One turn is not exactly 10 minutes, but the cost of one significant action in the dungeon. 6 Turns are roughly 1 hour.

Time tracking also dissolves the old question " do you allow a character to repeat a failed action". Sure, but of course more time will pass.

 

[GMMichael]

Why is it important to keep track of time? I'm glad you asked. It's not. Not always at least. But sometimes it's a good way to introduce a little tension into the game. When the players know they have a limited amount of time they really need to consider what their next steps will be. I'm sure there are other advantages to keeping track of time.

Time-sensitive objectives are age-old game tools. And antagonists wait on no one.

My magic-users/spellcasters keep track of time because their power comes back hourly, not daily.

I had to break them of that a bit by just saying "OK, now's a good time for downtime. Take 3 weeks." That worked out and now we're in a good balance.

This is a little too close to "I just got my vacation time approved by middle management" for my taste.

Time tracking also dissolves the old question " do you allow a character to repeat a failed action". Sure, but of course more time will pass.

What about the old question "what was the result of the failed action?" That could take some time to resolve, too.

 

[aco175]

Time hardly comes up in the games out of combat. Last weeks adventure was the start of a new arc and I jumped things from late fall to spring and nobody cared. We talked a little about new followers and their bastion, but the players do not seem to care about this part much.

Then part of the adventure went into the feywild and the time jumped several hours confusing one player. They thought the babies were stolen only an hour before, but when they arrived on the other side of the portal it had jumped several hours. One player figured time works differently there.

In combat I might pull out a die and place it by the initiative tracker I use. This lets everyone know something is happening and they all act faster. There was an encounter under a lake in a room where golems activated and it they were holding up the ceiling to keep the water out as part of the trap. When they activated, it cracked the ceiling and stated to let in water. Each round I turned the die and explained ho water was coming in faster and then it was difficult terrain, and finally it broke. By that time though the players knew to avoid the golems and focus in the item and leaving.

I do not really worry about spells and powers thinking they last only one encounter. We did have a time where the barbarian wanted to quickly go through rooms while raging to keep it still active, but I tend to have things expire if they want to search or something.

 

[payn]

I dont mind mechanical shifts like the Android example, but its really important that everyone understands how they work. I think the real obstacle is GMs introducing these concepts into games that dont have them. Im not saying you shouldnt, but its important to discuss them ahead of time to avoid gotchas and player confusion. For example, it might make logical sense in a player's mind an action takes no more than 5 min, but the game clock might charge an hour for doing it.

There is often a desire for GMs to operate under fog of war. Meaning, the characters need to make decisions they are not fully cognizant of. This mystery is fun because they cant see what is around the conrer so its a play to find out dynamic. On the other hand, you can have time shifts and mechanical limits that test the player as part of the game. I dont think its entirely black and white, but I do believe you need to be clear and mindful of your goal, particularly if your goal is a mix of both.