Time management in AD&D DMG

[pemerton]

I thought I'd fork this out of the thread it came from, which is the "WotC layoffs" thread.

What's wrong with Gygax's advice on time management?

There's nothing wrong with it if you want to play a "pool of PCs, form a party on the night" style game of the sort that Gygax himself apparently GMed.

But for party-based play it is no help. And the idea that one day passes in the campaign for every real-world day makes no sense either, when you are playing weekly or fortnightly as a coherent group rather than the GM running the campaign every day or two for a changing group of players.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The one game day per actual day is merely a suggestion. It can be used when desired or suspended in the case of a session ending essentially in a pause.

If the PCs are between adventures its a nice convenience for those that want to study new spells, and other stuff that takes game time without being unavailable for play at the next session.

It is a suggestion for one possible treatment of game time and not taken as THE LAW.

 

[enrious]

Having just re-read it, it's some...interesting advice. It does read as if a group is sharing characters (because you need to keep track of the time expenditures of each character) or a DM juggling multiple groups. I am reminded of a football team and the coach calling up a few players to go play while the rest sit on the bench.

The bit about time passing 1:1 applies to those going in a dungeon - so a dungeon delve session evidently was meant to be only a few hours.

So it's a very specific form of time management advice for a very specific form of play - and not one that seems to be common these days.

 

[billd91]

I really don't see much of a problem with the time management advice for a game that meets fairly often. If it's 4 days between sessions and nothing was going on adventure-wise, I don't see much of a problem if you treat that as 4 game days in duration as well. It allows the characters to have a notable amount of off-screen time and allows the DM to advance the calendar at a reasonable and easily felt rate for the players.

Of course, it's really just an example underlining how important it is for a DM to keep track of timelines for the PCs, when they're together and when they are apart so they can be reintegrated.

 

[Bullgrit]

There's nothing wrong with it if you want to play a "pool of PCs, form a party on the night" style game of the sort that Gygax himself apparently GMed.

But for party-based play it is no help. And the idea that one day passes in the campaign for every real-world day makes no sense either, when you are playing weekly or fortnightly as a coherent group rather than the GM running the campaign every day or two for a changing group of players.

Judging from this and other things Gygax wrote in the early days, it does seem that his table had a very different game group dynamic than most game groups outside Lake Geneva. It seems that he had a large pool of Players, and he ran a game most every night of the week.

Bullgrit

 

[kitcik]

Judging from this and other things Gygax wrote in the early days, it does seem that his table had a very different game group dynamic than most game groups outside Lake Geneva. It seems that he had a large pool of Players, and he ran a game most every night of the week.

Bullgrit

Wish we all could have been a part of it...

 

[howandwhy99]

I thought I'd fork this out of the thread it came from, which is the "WotC layoffs" thread.

There's nothing wrong with it if you want to play a "pool of PCs, form a party on the night" style game of the sort that Gygax himself apparently GMed.

But for party-based play it is no help. And the idea that one day passes in the campaign for every real-world day makes no sense either, when you are playing weekly or fortnightly as a coherent group rather than the GM running the campaign every day or two for a changing group of players.

Seeing the title I immediately thought, "Ahh, you mean DM time tracking or the challenge of managing time for the players!" But no. Tracking combat Round and dungeon exploration Turns and more are a big part of the game for me. Sometimes time is even simu, usually when players are planning what to do next.

But one real day is one in-game world day? It's not something I would do, but then I doubt many, if any, could pull it off now.

 

[The Shaman]

There's nothing wrong with it if you want to play a "pool of PCs, form a party on the night" style game of the sort that Gygax himself apparently GMed.

I would so like to run that game.

. . . [T]he idea that one day passes in the campaign for every real-world day makes no sense either, when you are playing weekly or fortnightly as a coherent group rather than the GM running the campaign every day or two for a changing group of players.

Top Secret has the same rule, and our group jettisoned it immediately. It simply didn't work with the flow of the game.

It's a fun idea, with a very limited application.

 

[pemerton]

Top Secret has the same rule

Interesting, I didn't know that.

 

[Luce]

Also consider that:
1) earlier editions resolved combat faster. IME most adventures (the ones in Dungeon, not the stand alone modules) during 2ed days can be run in a single night, two at most.
2) Before Internet became staple of life there was more free time (some may have been filled with reading books or other hobbies, but overall it meant more time to game)
2A) Ditto for video games. While they existed and were fun I cannot remember consistently spending 5+ hours on a single game the way I do now. Also new games were published less often in the 70s and 80s compared to nowadays. (Or may be without the likes of Amazon, Ebay and Stream you often were at the mercy of whatever your local provider decided to stock)
3) AD&D was originally targeted at high school to college age group. That is a time in the life where people can play on average 1 time per week often more.

4) Again in my experience, games tended to be more episodic in nature (that is to say while there may or may not have been an overarching theme
there were a lot of adventures unrelated to the said main plot)

Therefore the rule was applicable in a time where at least some people run weekend 8-10 hour (or longer!) gaming sessions. Enough time to finish an adventure. So the time between sessions can be considered to be used for healing/resurrection/PC replacement getting to the next adventure site.

Unfortunately, the above does not hold true anymore. Many a-gamer is busy bee, with a job and family and the responsibilities thereof. A weekly commitment for even 4 hour session (by the commute, which can add 1-2 hours easy) is a big chunk of some people's lives.
Just my 2 cp.