Keeping Time in a Dungeon

[MrZJunior]

Good Evening,

There are a lot of things in a dungeon that are supposed to happen on a schedule. Mainly random encounters. How are you supposed to keep track of the passage of time?

I've worked past this before with some ad hoc systems, but I am working on a dungeon now where sections appear and disappear at different times of day and I need a better system.

[olskool]

If you're asking about incremental times I use the following system for ALL of my current RPGs.

A Combat Round = 6 seconds
10 Combat Rounds = 1 minute
1 Turn = 10 minutes
6 Turns = 1 Hour
1 Period = 4 hours
6 Periods = 1 day

A typical detailed search of a 10ft room takes 1 Turn.

A Short Rest is 1 Hour.

I use Periods for travel, training, and study. A long Rest is 2 Periods (8 hours) or 1 Period if you can Meditate. Long distance travel normally follows the routine of 2 Periods (8 hours) moving, 1 Period (4 hours) setting up camp, 2 Periods (8 hours) of rest, and 1 Period (4 hours) breaking down camp.

The time between wandering monster encounters will vary from 1 Turn in dungeons to 1 Hour during city travel to 1 Period during wilderness travel or while on guard duty.

I typically list the time of roleplaying encounters or events (a dinner for example) in my encounter notes.

I just keep track of time on a scratch sheet.

[kyoryu]

You invert it, and start with the time units.

If you use 10 minute turns, for instance, start with "okay, what are you doing this turn?" and allow them as much as they can fit in that time period. Assume a combat takes a full turn, even if takes less than that time, for all the post-fight bandaging, etc.

[Quertus]

You invert it, and start with the time units.

If you use 10 minute turns, for instance, start with "okay, what are you doing this turn?" and allow them as much as they can fit in that time period. Assume a combat takes a full turn, even if takes less than that time, for all the post-fight bandaging, etc.

Huh. I was going to give a much more complex answer, that would have required spreadsheets and exception-handling… but ultimately isn’t significantly better than “what are you doing with this unit of time” for most cases.

That said, there are times - like when the meteor is going to fall into the volcano where the cultists are about to complete their ritual to extinguish the sun of a world on the verge of falling into a black hole - where the PCs might reasonably want to skip past that 9.5 minutes of bandaging, to fit as much as possible into the time remaining on their ticking clock.

[Thrudd]

If we're talking a DM aid for marking off time, I like a piece of graph paper, that you've marked off in increments- one for dungeon turns, in six box increments to easily see how many hours have passed. another sheet to check off travel time (4 or 6 hour increments) and full days. Or even use the same sheet, just line through more boxes at a time when you cover bigger increments.

[kyoryu]

Huh. I was going to give a much more complex answer, that would have required spreadsheets and exception-handling… but ultimately isn’t significantly better than “what are you doing with this unit of time” for most cases.

That said, there are times - like when the meteor is going to fall into the volcano where the cultists are about to complete their ritual to extinguish the sun of a world on the verge of falling into a black hole - where the PCs might reasonably want to skip past that 9.5 minutes of bandaging, to fit as much as possible into the time remaining on their ticking clock.

Yup! For standard "I'm exploring a dungeon and have random encounters and use torches" kind of stuff, just use time units. That's literally how AD&D was written to work.

For those outlier situations, get as fine-grained as you need to.

[KorvinStarmast]

Use a d6. It starts with the 1 up. Outside of initiative order time, a turn is either 10 minutes or 1 minute. Let's go with the 10 minutes model.

Do stuff.
Turn the die face 2 up.
Do stuff.
Turn the die face 3 up.
Etc.

When you get to die face 1, either roll for a random encounter or introduce the d12.
Place the die face 1 up.

Can you see where this is going?

[Xervous]

Use a d6. It starts with the 1 up. Outside of initiative order time, a turn is either 10 minutes or 1 minute. Let's go with the 10 minutes model.

Do stuff.
Turn the die face 2 up.
Do stuff.
Turn the die face 3 up.
Etc.

When you get to die face 1, either roll for a random encounter or introduce the d12.
Place the die face 1 up.

Can you see where this is going?

Next you add a coin (d2). but I’m having trouble remembering where I put my d365.

[Kurt Kurageous]

The Angry GM has a concept called the tension pool which does a great job of representing the passage of time. The writeups are still on his website. I recommend it.

He has said he was going to kickstart a full blown product with custom dice, etc. But the writeups show you how it works. I use it when playing in person, and it works great because it's simple and creates a sense of urgency with a ticking clock that SOMETHING is going to happen.

[Easy e]

I am an outlier in how I run a dungeon and adventure, so I wager most folks will strongly disagree with my approach.

1. Do not bother tracking time in the dungeon

2. There is no such thing as a random encounter, they should all happen for a reason.

3. Since GMs help keep the flow of the game moving, they can use "random encounters" to keep it flowing. (Not really random at all, and should have some stakes to it)

4. If you need the parts of a dungeon to appear at certain times, make them appear when it is thematically appropriate or narratively necessary. Otherwise, you will just have the players camping until it shows up anyway, and unless your players are into the "Camping sim" pillar of D&D it will hurt the flow of the game.

All other ways of tracking time just add "load" to your plate as a DM and take your focus away from what you SHOULD be doing as a DM, and that is to help facilitate the space for entertainment.

[Thrudd]

I am an outlier in how I run a dungeon and adventure, so I wager most folks will strongly disagree with my approach.

1. Do not bother tracking time in the dungeon

2. There is no such thing as a random encounter, they should all happen for a reason.

3. Since GMs help keep the flow of the game moving, they can use "random encounters" to keep it flowing. (Not really random at all, and should have some stakes to it)

4. If you need the parts of a dungeon to appear at certain times, make them appear when it is thematically appropriate or narratively necessary. Otherwise, you will just have the players camping until it shows up anyway, and unless your players are into the "Camping sim" pillar of D&D it will hurt the flow of the game.

All other ways of tracking time just add "load" to your plate as a DM and take your focus away from what you SHOULD be doing as a DM, and that is to help facilitate the space for entertainment.

This answer is basically "don't run the sort of game you're asking about running". Which, while we're always free to speak about our preferences, isn't exactly germane to the question. Why not presume the person asking actually wants to run the game they're asking about? People can and have been entertained by "sim" games, as you put it, how do you know this person's players won't be entertained by it? There are methods and tools DMs can and have used to run this sort of game over the years to make the load easier, help keep the flow of the game, and there are many more options for this now that we all have computers in our pockets. What you "should" be doing as the DM is running the game you want to run, and hopefully that is in-tune with what your players enjoy, too (you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if it isn't). Also, time keeping isn't just for "camping sim" purposes, but also for ticking-clock challenges- which seems to be what the OP is considering. "Thematically appropriate" and "narratively necessary" isn't always a relevant measure. Sometimes people really do want to simulate being in a fictional world, where passage of time is meaningful to the characters.

[kyoryu]

This answer is basically "don't run the sort of game you're asking about running". Which, while we're always free to speak about our preferences, isn't exactly germane to the question. Why not presume the person asking actually wants to run the game they're asking about? People can and have been entertained by "sim" games, as you put it, how do you know this person's players won't be entertained by it? There are methods and tools DMs can and have used to run this sort of game over the years to make the load easier, help keep the flow of the game, and there are many more options for this now that we all have computers in our pockets. What you "should" be doing as the DM is running the game you want to run, and hopefully that is in-tune with what your players enjoy, too (you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if it isn't). Also, time keeping isn't just for "camping sim" purposes, but also for ticking-clock challenges- which seems to be what the OP is considering. "Thematically appropriate" and "narratively necessary" isn't always a relevant measure. Sometimes people really do want to simulate being in a fictional world, where passage of time is meaningful to the characters.

Or even have things like "supply constraints" be a factor. The style of game of "we're going into a dangerous place, and want to see how well we can do there with limited time and resources and constant pressure" is actually pretty fun, even if it's not someone's particular cuppa. Sometimes the reason for random encounters is "to provide constant pressure so you don't dawdle" and the "narrative" is secondary to the game experience.

RPGs really aren't one hobby. They're a whole cluster of related hobbies, some related more closely than others.

[Easy e]

This answer is basically "don't run the sort of game you're asking about running". Which, while we're always free to speak about our preferences, isn't exactly germane to the question. Why not presume the person asking actually wants to run the game they're asking about? People can and have been entertained by "sim" games, as you put it, how do you know this person's players won't be entertained by it? There are methods and tools DMs can and have used to run this sort of game over the years to make the load easier, help keep the flow of the game, and there are many more options for this now that we all have computers in our pockets. What you "should" be doing as the DM is running the game you want to run, and hopefully that is in-tune with what your players enjoy, too (you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if it isn't). Also, time keeping isn't just for "camping sim" purposes, but also for ticking-clock challenges- which seems to be what the OP is considering. "Thematically appropriate" and "narratively necessary" isn't always a relevant measure. Sometimes people really do want to simulate being in a fictional world, where passage of time is meaningful to the characters.

Because, sometimes people do not know there is another way.

They can always ignore it if they do know.

[KorvinStarmast]

Or even have things like "supply constraints" be a factor. The style of game of "we're going into a dangerous place, and want to see how well we can do there with limited time and resources and constant pressure" is actually pretty fun, even if it's not someone's particular cuppa. Sometimes the reason for random encounters is "to provide constant pressure so you don't dawdle" and the "narrative" is secondary to the game experience. Plus a bunch. Time pressure can be applied during an arc, during a session, and/or during a campaign.

[MrZJunior]

I am working on a temple with a bit of a clock theme. Certain parts of it appear and disappear on the hour. The temple is still in active use, so there will be some rituals/processions that happen at specific times as well.

This isn't a plot driven dungeon. I see it more as a giant puzzle for the party to solve and the schedule is part of that.

[Reversefigure4]

If certain things happen at certain times of day, or there's a hard deadline (1pm two days from now, the princess is sacrificed), I've just used a fairly basic spreadsheet that I tick of, or put a brief list on (10-11, Alric gathered supplies, 11-12, Party boats across the lake).

If it's for a basic random encounter setup, I find there's no need. The GM's ruling on "It's been an hour, time to roll" is usually good enough.

If it's an adventure set around time, then it gets worth tracking, because time management is a major point of the adventure. I once had one set around a 3 day court trial, where the PCs were gathering evidence to free an allied NPC accused of 3 crimes. Every day, from 10 to 2, the court was in session - and if you didn't have a PC in it to do the lawyering, then you lost that day's case automatically. It was a constant trade-off of time issues. Do the PCs sleep and regain resources, or do they just soldier on fatigued? Do we split up to gather evidence, increasing our risk? If we don't get evidence, then there was no point in searching... but if we get the evidence and don't get back in time for court, the evidence becomes pointless. Do we stall frantically for time in court? Can we get someone to sleep in the back of the wagon while someone else drives it, allowing us to travel and sleep at the same time? We've failed this roll - is it important enough to Take 20 on, or shall we move on?

A lot of fun choices happened from the time factor.

That said, I don't think I'd bother tracking a time unit smaller than 30 minute increments. If PCs are aware of a deadline, they usually don't leave things to the last last minute. And if they aren't aware of a deadline, they won't be hurrying anyway.

MrZ Junior, for your case I'd probably track half hour time units, use your GM judgement for how long things take ('fighting plus healing in the last room took 10 minutes, searching it took 10, you've got a bit of time left'). And I'd quietly watch a real world clock for how long the players spend talking, because it's something that maps nicely to in-game time (as opposed to an hour search of a room resolved in a single roll and 1 minute of description). If they just spent half an hour of conversation about whether or not Wizard Wally should prepare Fireball, or arguing about who should get the magic armor, that time is ticking away in the game world too.

Is there additional time pressure on the PCs? ("In 12 hours, they sacrifice the Princess!") Or are they just working on their own schedule? If there's no time pressure, it probably doesn't matter to track it once they've worked out how the temple works. So Room B isn't there... so we wait an hour, and enter it when it is there.

[MrZJunior]

The party's job will be stealing some royal regalia that has been stored in the temple for safe keeping. There is a ritual happening in a couple of days that they don't want to go off.

Even once the party figures out how the dungeon timer works waiting around can have consequences. The temple is in heavy use, so they might be discovered and an alarm raised. If the monks know they're there it gives search parties time to find the intruders. They might even call in reinforcements if things get bad enough. If their opponents figure out what's going on they might move or hide the regalia.

I'm also planning on having a 12 hour schedule so there will be a fair number of events for them to remember.

[Psyren]

Because, sometimes people do not know there is another way.

They can always ignore it if they do know.

^ Agreed. Sometimes the ideal answer is "mu" (the question is wrong.)

I think there are great ideas here for how to introduce random encounters, but "no random encounters" can be a solution too.

[animorte]

^ Agreed. Sometimes the ideal answer is "mu" (the question is wrong.)

I think there are great ideas here for how to introduce random encounters, but "no random encounters" can be a solution too.
Ah you beat me to it, by a lot. I was going to quote that thing exactly.

I have played this way (and often prefer doing so). I’ve never been terribly fond of random encounters for the sake filling up space. I will often have various things planned that will show up one way or another eventually. Sometimes I’ll let the dice determine when it happens and which of the things I have prepared will show up.

But for those who just need a reason to expend resources, go for it.