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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3755147" data-attributes="member: 4937">When I spoke of a 'clock', I meant it in the most abstract terms.  Essentially, by 'clock' I meant only a way to adjust the math so that waiting was not as attractive of a tactical decision as pushing on.  There really is no actual clock counting down in 'Ravenloft' either, its just that the more chances they give Strahd to recover, the worse things get for the players.  Thus, while there is no actual timelimit after which the scenario is lost, there is effectively a time limit.  What Mkhaiwati lists are a few excellent ways to put a 'clock' on the party.  With all the different techniques for putting time pressure on the party, a DM really has no excuse for being unable to do so.  It's not always desirable, but its usually desirable.  You'd be hard pressed to find an action/adventure movie where the hero wasn't under time pressure.  If you are looking for cinematic feel, perhaps you should be looking more in that direction.ruleslawyer: My argument isn't too binary.  We have just been focusing on a special case underwhich the logic is really binary.The logic goes, "If benefit I get from waiting minus the cost of waiting is greater than the benefit I getting from pressing on minus the cost of pressing on, then I should wait."  The special case in question is, "There is no cost associated with waiting."  There is as I've put it, 'No clock'.   If there is no cost associated with waiting, and there are any resources that can be recovered by doing so, then its always best to wait.  A party might still choose to push on even then, but if they do so it isn't for any tactical reason.  For example, they may push on because they feel vaguely uneasy about the 5 minute adventuring day and don't want to break versimilitude.  But that's really a different issue.If there is some cost to waiting, some risk or resources that are expended, then the math gets less binary.I think you are on safer ground when you suggest that the per encounter system can't make this problem worse, and that I fully agree with.  I'd add to that that one thing it can do is help deal with that unease about the story not flowing right by making the imaginary rest period more plausible.  However, my guess on how it will actually play out in practice is that the game will go even stronger toward one single big encounter because a 'per encounter' system puts even more pressure on the DM to 'ramp it up' if he wants to challenge the players.As for Ravenloft, its one of my favorite modules for so many reasons I won't list here.  I just think that the recommended levels for the module are too low if the module is not being run as a tournament module.  It certainly can be run as written, and I've seen skilled parties (those that realize that a vampire enherently means time pressure, and can avoid going in circles in the castle, and stay out of unnecessary fights) get close to achieving victory.</blockquote>

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