D&D General Time Pressure and Adventures

[R_J_K75]

It's the most nail-biting shopping scenario you'll ever experience. I ran half a dozen groups through that one and almost all of them failed due to poor time management.

Im dying laughing at this because it reminded me of an old 1990s episode of supermarket sweep. The winning contestant at the end is getting all hyped up for the final Super Sweep, clock starts, 5 seconds in they're running with their cart and crash and burn into the canned green beans and are left rolling around on the floor of the aisle while time runs out before they can get up. I wish I could find the video its hilarious.

 

[Mort]

Lack of time pressure is how you get (most) complaints on 5e being "easy mode."

If the players are fully allowed to dictate the pace of play then the DM is going to have to absurdly over CR every encounter to provide any kind of real challenge

 

[CleverNickName]

Lack of time pressure is how you get (most) complaints on 5e being "easy mode."

If the players are fully allowed to dictate the pace of play then the DM is going to have to absurdly over CR every encounter to provide any kind of real challenge

That is also a good point.

 

[ad_hoc]

I am assuming an in-game ticking clock. Solve X puzzle within a time frame... or rescue Y before dawn on the 5th day etc...

Most general adventures won't have a time limit per se. The adventure just takes as long as it takes. My 1e group is exploring an underground complex, for instance, and there's no rush or imperative. They go in, explore, map, etc... retreat to their camp to rest and plan the next day's exploration. Classic expedition style.

If you're referring to an IRL time frame, well, yes, we usually schedule our games around a 4 hour session.

I don't mean a literal countdown. I mean, time pressure.

I've played dungeon expeditions and they all had time pressure. All 5e published adventures have time pressure.

The most classic and famous time pressure mechanic in D&D is the random encounter.

I guess I just don't see the thrill of it. In my game I would just hand wave that and tell the players they successfully looted the place.

 

[R_J_K75]

The most classic and famous time pressure mechanic in D&D is the random encounter.

Not following you, how so?

 

[Mort]

Not following you, how so?

Most adventures have a "roll every X minutes (or whatever) to see if a random encounter happens."

Since random encounters take up party resources and can disrupt rests - they impose time pressure on the party to move along rather than just linger around forever.

 

[J.Quondam]

Honestly, I'm having a hard time coming up with more than a just a small handful of types of scenarios that are not driven by some sort of time pressure.

 

[RuinousPowers]

I remember running the original Freeport trilogy. At least 2 of them had a time limit, which I thought was very effective at enforcing resource management, and led to some really tense fights.

 

[R_J_K75]

Most adventures have a "roll every X minutes (or whatever) to see if a random encounter happens."

Since random encounters take up party resources and can disrupt rests - they impose time pressure on the party to move along rather than just linger around forever.

True, now I understand. That pretty much keeps the party moving constantly if the players are constantly worried about a possible random encounter showing up within 5-10 minutes of them beginning to explore an area or situation. I don't use them anymore except for very rare occasions.

 

[CleverNickName]

I remember running the original Freeport trilogy. At least 2 of them had a time limit, which I thought was very effective at enforcing resource management, and led to some really tense fights.

In my experience, it's that whole "enforced resource management" part that some folks struggle with. Most are happy to have "really tense fights," but only if they can also have infinite arrows and bottomless lunchboxes...