D&D 5E managing a race against time

[GMMichael]

Use a d6 countdown. Roll a dice pool of d6s, and each one that comes up 1 (the lowest, or sometimes worst, roll) gets removed from the pool. When the last die is removed, the bomb goes off.

Check with [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] for the math on this, but my gut tells me that with a d6 pool, you essentially have 6 time checks until the timer's up. The more dice in the pool, the less volatility. So 1d6 could be up in one check or six. 10d6 will probably take about 6 checks. Make a game out of it: your PCs have chances to add a die to the pool for certain activities, but those chances end once the timer starts.

 

[pukunui]

Sounds kinda fun but I'm not sure I like the random element. I'm not sure my players would either.

 

[dmnqwk]

Set up a number of "encounters" with specific times they would take up for a speedy, normal or extended resolution.

Combat may be represented by mere seconds, but it's absolutely fair to put in combat scenarios where it is easy to believe they take 15 minutes, such as a group of Goblins entrenched behind a barricade against players who cannot clear it easily. Game Mechanics shouldn't get in the way of the story.

Other scenarios might be a room/corridor full of traps which, while the player may disarm in seconds thanks to a single roll, could represent them requiring several minutes per scenario to disable.

If you create 18 encounters for them to defeat, with each requiring 5 minutes on a speedy solution (avoiding combat by bribing the goblins, blazing through the traps without disabling them etc), 15 for a regular or 25 for an extended (combat where they miss a lot, the PCs keep arguing how to do it before they do something) you would reach a realm wherein they can only have 12 regular encounters plus 3 speedily avoided ones or they fail. With each Magical bomb counting as a scenario if you have 6 bombs, that is only 3 encounters per bomb to deal with.

 

[pukunui]

The thing is: I'm not creating any encounters. I'm going to be running an old con module from the 1e days, so the encounters are all set up and everything. I just need a way to keep track of the passage of time as they explore the various rooms and such, looking for the bombs.

So far, I'm thinking what I'll do is give them a set number of minutes (eg. 240 minutes if I stick with the 4 hour limit), and then I'll have various activities subtract from that total time. Failed checks might cost the PCs 5 or even 10 minutes. A short rest will cost them 60 minutes. Combat will cost them at minimum 1 minute. I might also run the timer during non-combat areas and then have them subtract however much time it took them to explore or reach a decision in real time from the total as well.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Seems like a tedious amount of work. Also loses a bit of the potential emotional impact of the players actually feeling the looming deadline of "BOOM!"

If you are running a module, you can always cut out some of the encounters to make it more achievable within a 4 hour period. Plus, in my experience it's just as important to give your players opportunities to fail. Maybe the bomb goes off and the PCs can't get there in time. Now they need to deal with the consequences, casualties, and are keenly motivated to find the basted that would cause such carnage.

Also, it's not a bad thing to deny your players the ability to rest. If anything, it forces them to ration their abilities more carefully. In addition, from my experience players are always willing to run into a fight. But if they are exhausted, out of powers, and struggling to find a bomb, they will learn to use more discretion and perhaps even consider running.

 

[Jester David]

Keeping track of each ten minute interval is probably the easiest method of tracking. Just put a tick on a piece of paper grouped in 6s. When you have four groups, time is up.
Any shorter and you have too many marks. Any longer and you lose the impact of decisions.

You can skirt around the need for short rests with a few potions. Maybe a wand. A font of healing that can be used once. A four hour window does give them enough time for one rest.
Or perhaps allow the party to "rest" while working on a puzzle.

Be sure to time conversations and arguments.
Going real time for much wouldn't be bad. You can skirt around the time discrepancy by not saying the exact time limit in world and just saying they're on the clock.
But be ready to pause for a scheduled break (and let them know)

Succeeding at a time cost also works. It should be an option. Time or hit points. Maybe a spell. Time is just another resource to manage.

 

[pukunui]

Time is just another resource to manage.

Yeah, exactly. That's why I'm thinking I'll have them roll for stuff I normally wouldn't, but instead of failure being actual failure, it'll just be a success but with the cost of time being deducted.

I can work with 10 minute increments, as well. Forget the "fail by 5 or more". If they succeed at the check, they succeed in a negligible amount of time. If they fail the check, they still succeed, but it takes them 10 minutes. Even if a combat only takes 1 minute, it can cost them 10 minutes of time catching their breath and looting the bodies and whatever else afterwards. None of the rooms in the dungeon are particularly large, so I could say that searching one thoroughly costs 10 minutes as well. And so on.

 

[Quartz]

Just use the physical timer as suggested earlier. If they want to take a Short Rest, lean back and say, "You're resting; the timer's still going."

 

[Rya.Reisender]

I don't have too much problems tracking time myself. I do need to track time all the time anyway to know when each spell effect ends (like Mage Armor) or just to know daytime to be able to narrate where the sun stands and so on.

For me it's mostly an estimate which I do after every round. A normal dungeon round is 1 minute. After combat looting is 10 minutes. Short rest is 60 minutes. Activity that can't be done in one minute I just roughly estimate how long it takes. Then I usually just keep track of some of the effects where it matters. If a bomb is going to explode in 4 hours and the Wizard has an active Mage Armor that still lasts for 360 minutes, then I just remember that the bomb goes off when Mage Armor reaches 120 minutes. I also know that when Mage Armor ends the sun is about to set. That way I usually only have 1-2 timers I really keep track of. I don't waste too much time on it, after each round I just think for a second how long that took and update the timers, done. Doesn't take me more than 15 seconds real time per round.


Edit: I just saw this with another DM which is an easy solution (I translate it to the bomb example): The DM doesn't use real time. The bomb might explode or might not explode. To get to the bomb the DM has an optimal solution in his head. He determines when writing the module: If the group wastes more than x time, they won't disarm the bomb on time. And then while playing he just notes down "time wasted" whenever the group does something time consuming that he didn't expect as part of the solution.