Keeping Track of Time (In Game)

[Koloth]

Depends on the game. Recent Fantasy type RPGs often turn into the discussions about the 5 minute day. Traveller is generally more about how many days have passed as characters track progress on the next skill increase. When jumps take a week, there is a lot of down time for self improvement.

Tracking time during action can be for spell duration, casting time, fatigue, time after calling for an artillery strike before the shells start impacting, attempts to do something to that poor door, or even healing that character that failed at trap removal.

During non action, time tracking often isn't that important. More like is it breakfast, lunch, dinner, time for bed. Unless hobbits are involved, then there are additional meal times.

I have seen the GM do it all and other times where the GM asks one of the players to track the number of time units since X. In one group, I try to note time and place for when the game ended. Another group, the GM does that.

 

[Scott Christian]

The last campaign I ran (D&D 5e), I kept track of time through seasons. At the end of each section, I had them focus on long term goals and then used a random table chart to show what happened during the month or two of downtime. This also allowed me as a DM to move time forward. A typical chart looked like this:

Town Debaucher

Some adventurers like to rest during their off time. But that doesn’t mean they don’t get up to shenanigans. This option is for the adventurer(s) that wants to lay around and use their wealth to live it up in the city of Joshua Tree telling tales of their survival against the displacer beasts and skeletons.
Use the following table to help determine what boon the adventurer(s) might receive during this debaucherous time. Roll a performance check (Performance DC 10). The number of consecutive successes determines the results. If the PC fails, they stop the checks.

Town Debaucher
0 successes	While the first week of the two months spent was fantastic, basically full of people buying you drinks and trying to woo you, after that, the crowd’s admiration fell off. Many nights were spent alone in a tavern, drunk, and trying to impress the bartender, who all but ignored you.
1 success	For a month you swooned and swayed crowds with your tales of heroism. They bought you drinks and hung on to your every word. For the second month, not so much. That said, many people admire you for what you have done, and have offered to supplement your income. You gain 100 gold for the two months and also gain twenty pounds due to being fed large meals everywhere you go.
2 successes	For two months the city of Joshua Tree came in throngs to see you tell your tales at stages and taverns. They bought you food, drinks, rooms for the night (many offered their rooms!). But one person in particular, a noble businessman named Hazim, offered to go into business with you. He would make trinkets and clothes and use your name to sell them. It now earns you 50 gold each month for one year.
3+ successes	For two months the citizens of Joshua Tree have been enthralled with your tales. They have bought you food, drink, rooms, and offered many a hands in marriage. One such hand, should you accept, happens to be the Sovereign’s daughter (Dalilah). She snuck off to see you and fell in love. The Sovereign, Yazid, has accepted this, and will offer to marry you two and give you an official title should you say yes. With this title, you earn 100 gold a month for doing nothing.

That was for a specific campaign, where time was short. We finished in four months. So we had to keep it moving. For longer campaigns in my own world, I use a traditional calendar. Of course, different regions have different calendars. Here is one example:

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I once scoffed at Gygax's "YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT." After keeping good time records for two campaigns, I am inclined to agree. But, it has to matter. If there are no time limits or expenses or long-term durations, than it's just bean-counting for its own sake. But with all those things together, it does make the campaign more meaningful.

 

[Nytmare]

In Torchbearer, time is tracked abstractly through "turns" but those turns aren't any kind of concrete measurement. They specifically pass when a player takes an action that results in them having to roll dice. A turn might be a single sword swing that takes a handful of seconds, or it might describe a week's worth of crawling through the Underdark.

Guess I should also add in that every 2 or 3 cycles of adventure/return-to-town a party goes on triggers a change in seasons. Aside from narrative effects, the season mechanically affects overland travel and our encounter tables. In addition, Torchbearer has a separate phase that typically takes place in the winter instead of adventuring, where the players can hunker down and hide in town and have what's known as the Respite phase.

 

[kronovan]

For me it depends upon the game and the audience of players. One of the games I run is Old School Essentials and for dungeon forays it by default requires time keeping. I'd pefer to loosen it up, but I've found that PCs generally tend to fare better (i.e. die less) if its rules around time are adhered to. For Adventures in Middle Earth, I always use the Joruneying system when the party is traveling between significant distances, as its well integrated into the core rules. I run some SciFi settings with Cepheus Engine and Traveller, where time is often a factor. For those I generally pay attention to time and slip the passage of time into narrative when appropirate.

Even for games where the time of travel between distances and terrain is stated, how I handle it it depends upon the audience of players. If the players are attentive to, or anticipating what transpires between distances, I'll pay more attenttion to time. If on the other hand the party of players isn't really interested in that, I'll have travel occur at the speed of narrative.