oxybe
2019-12-21, 05:22 AM
So not too long ago, after 20+ years of gaming something clicked.
I don't really remember what it was. I was working on my on-again/off-again fantasy heartbreaker for the umpteenth time after a recent umpteenth do-over, listening to some RPG podcast YouTube had thrown my way as background noise and it just clicked how to finally run those dungeon crawls "the right way".
see I suuuuck at keeping track of time and could never grok doing so in a dungeon "live", so my crawls were relatively short ins and outs.
But working on my own project it finally clicked on how to break down your time in a dungeon "correctly".
Abilities and spells usually work on a 6sec round by 6sec round up to a minute basis in D&D, with most fights usually being done under a minute.my own game works on a minute round, but in the greater scheme of things the distinction doesn't matter.
The next time bracket i would consider "the dungeon round", or 10 min. This is enough time to give a room or corridor a good searching or take a breather. several spells obviously made to help explore last this long, as well as those meant to mask your presence.
The next time bracket would be "the exploration round", which is one hour. This is long enough to search a small cluster of houses or thoroughly check one house or small cave unimpeded. It's also the duration a torch lasts. a few spells and abilities last this long, but they tend to be more utilitarian in nature
The fourth time bracket is "the travel round" of 8 hours, the time needed to travel 1 hex of well-maintained road. this is the duration a hooded lantern lasts on a pint of oil. rare are the spells and abilities that last this long. most people "work", "relax" and "rest" in travel rounds. maybe not all at once, but it's a decent generic breakdown of a day.
finally the last bracket is "the day", or 24 hours.
I don't know if it was because I was in the amateur designer mindset but it finally clicked on how I can breakdown player actions and spells into these time blocks and get a good idea of how long they've been in a dungeon or figure out if they're early or late outside of narrative convenience for that evil necromancer's ritual. It helps manage (some) player resources much more easily.
10 combat rounds to the dungeon round.
6 dungeon rounds to the exploration round.
8 exploration round to the travel round.
3 travel rounds to the day.
I don't know if this was just badly or never explained to me during my 2e days but I can't remember seeing anything mentioned in 3e or 4e about the benefits of segmenting your time when running a dungeon and how spells and abilities are timed in such a fashion to make it easier to count their use and when they wear off (i can't speak for 5e, don't own the books).
I finally get some of that old school gameplay i never understood. I knew something similar was used by older editions or modules but for the life of me it never clicked.
all it took was 20+ of play and years of hammering out a game that will never be seen outside of a private Google doc.
I don't really remember what it was. I was working on my on-again/off-again fantasy heartbreaker for the umpteenth time after a recent umpteenth do-over, listening to some RPG podcast YouTube had thrown my way as background noise and it just clicked how to finally run those dungeon crawls "the right way".
see I suuuuck at keeping track of time and could never grok doing so in a dungeon "live", so my crawls were relatively short ins and outs.
But working on my own project it finally clicked on how to break down your time in a dungeon "correctly".
Abilities and spells usually work on a 6sec round by 6sec round up to a minute basis in D&D, with most fights usually being done under a minute.my own game works on a minute round, but in the greater scheme of things the distinction doesn't matter.
The next time bracket i would consider "the dungeon round", or 10 min. This is enough time to give a room or corridor a good searching or take a breather. several spells obviously made to help explore last this long, as well as those meant to mask your presence.
The next time bracket would be "the exploration round", which is one hour. This is long enough to search a small cluster of houses or thoroughly check one house or small cave unimpeded. It's also the duration a torch lasts. a few spells and abilities last this long, but they tend to be more utilitarian in nature
The fourth time bracket is "the travel round" of 8 hours, the time needed to travel 1 hex of well-maintained road. this is the duration a hooded lantern lasts on a pint of oil. rare are the spells and abilities that last this long. most people "work", "relax" and "rest" in travel rounds. maybe not all at once, but it's a decent generic breakdown of a day.
finally the last bracket is "the day", or 24 hours.
I don't know if it was because I was in the amateur designer mindset but it finally clicked on how I can breakdown player actions and spells into these time blocks and get a good idea of how long they've been in a dungeon or figure out if they're early or late outside of narrative convenience for that evil necromancer's ritual. It helps manage (some) player resources much more easily.
10 combat rounds to the dungeon round.
6 dungeon rounds to the exploration round.
8 exploration round to the travel round.
3 travel rounds to the day.
I don't know if this was just badly or never explained to me during my 2e days but I can't remember seeing anything mentioned in 3e or 4e about the benefits of segmenting your time when running a dungeon and how spells and abilities are timed in such a fashion to make it easier to count their use and when they wear off (i can't speak for 5e, don't own the books).
I finally get some of that old school gameplay i never understood. I knew something similar was used by older editions or modules but for the life of me it never clicked.
all it took was 20+ of play and years of hammering out a game that will never be seen outside of a private Google doc.