Author Topic: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?  (Read 2911 times)

Offline Greysect

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Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« on: November 22, 2011, 07:09:04 PM »
My table has been rotating adventures each month, with a new DM for each adventure. Most of the DMs are either newbies or have been leaching off of other people's books, unable to do any rules studying on their free time. Because of this, each adventure has boiled down to the players being dropped off in random locations to fight in, with no sense of transition or down time. When players need to get from point A to point B, it seems as though they simply will it and they are where they need to be. One way in which a DM can apparently create a sense of world beyond the characters and the dungeons is the actual track of time and distance between locations.

When creating your own adventures, to what extent to you keep track of the time of day, time of year, and the distance traveled and its repercussions, such as the depletion of supplies? How do you make use of your system so the players don't feel like they are in a vacuum?

Offline veekie

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2011, 12:51:44 AM »
Usually I just track time, my players don't seem particularly interested in dealing with supplies, etc, but the time of year does have a useful role in themeing games.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2011, 10:59:56 AM »
I've been getting less and less fussy with tracking supplies. In many situations, it takes a small amount of money to make sure you're well supplied enough.

As for time, once, I went out and bought a day-planner with a calendar in it and used that to track the passage of time to make sure I could keep things like seasons realistic. I'd record important dates in there as well. Oddly enough, only two or three months went by as the group gained 14 levels! If nothing else, it was a good reminder for me to realize how fast-paced D&D is!
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Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2011, 11:17:27 AM »
I absolutely keep track of time.  The PC's just finished a story arc where they traveled after a group of slavers to rescue some of their countrymen.  They thought they would be back in a week, and told that to the ship captain.  It took them 3 weeks to catch up, and by that point the slaves had been sold to a noble family.  They then went on a two-week excursion to earn the slaves back.  They just got back to the coastal town, seven weeks after they thought they'd be back.

Obviously, I also track distances between places, and have that prepared beforehand; winging it has gotten me into spacial problems before.

Right now my campaign is just heading into an adaptation of Red Hand of Doom, but the big "Battle of Brindol" will occur at a specific spot, during the Winter Solstice.  There will also be specific "planar conjuctions" that occur in timing with the lunar phase that will impact this adventure.  Add to that the fact that my campaign is set in the equivalent of scandinavia, and the shortening days will begin having quite an impact (by the time they head to "Rhest" it will already be within the polar night).  So, I've got a big spreadsheet that tracks the days (which I can check off), the lunar cycle, the temperature high and low for where the PC's are likely to be at that time, dawn, dusk, sunrise, and sunset of where they are likely to be, wind direction and speed, and movements/happenings of the horde.

Finding real world data for the weather of various points around Scandinavia from several years (I'm basing my weather pattern on 1986), and sunrise/sunset data through the fall (I've been collecting it real-time every few days this fall) has been a great help in constructing the above.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2011, 11:23:55 AM »
Oddly enough, only two or three months went by as the group gained 14 levels!
Absolutely possible, but highly dependent upon the DM's world.  Is there a lot of stuff close together that will continue to challenge them?  Or do they have to travel hundreds of miles overland (which will eat up weeks, potentially) seeking out adventures?  Once you get teleport this no longer is an issue, but for the lower levels, the DM's campaign style can certainly impact the length of time between level-ups.

My PC's started at level one on June 21st (in game).  It is now October 14th, and they just reached 7th level.  I expect them to be 11th level or so by December 21st.

Offline Ryu Hayabusa

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2011, 10:32:51 PM »
When creating your own adventures, to what extent to you keep track of the time of day, time of year, and the distance traveled and its repercussions, such as the depletion of supplies? How do you make use of your system so the players don't feel like they are in a vacuum?

Loosely. Unless the party has a highly abnormal interest in keeping time and distance relative to a medieval setting, I use imprecise terms like 'early afternoon' 'midsummer' 'dozens of miles' and other such things. It lets me keep broad track while avoiding over much bookkeeping, plus it adds style. As for supplies, I ask the PCs how much they're buying/bringing relatively to the estimated length and need of the trip. If it looks like this may matter, such as loss of supplies, delays or other problems, I can refer back to it and give them a heads up.  If not, no big deal. Drop little lines about it as you describe the ongoing trip, such as perhaps having to eat more supplies due to scarce game or broaching your water casks because the nearest springs are poison.

It's good tool to use, just don't get too tangled up into it. Generally these things take up 1% of session time, if not less. Make sure your PCs know they need to take care of these things, but don't make it a huge deal either.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Time and Place: How much Bookkeeping?
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2011, 02:27:53 PM »
When creating your own adventures, to what extent to you keep track of the time of day, time of year, and the distance traveled and its repercussions, such as the depletion of supplies? How do you make use of your system so the players don't feel like they are in a vacuum?

Loosely. Unless the party has a highly abnormal interest in keeping time and distance relative to a medieval setting, I use imprecise terms like 'early afternoon' 'midsummer' 'dozens of miles' and other such things. It lets me keep broad track while avoiding over much bookkeeping, plus it adds style. As for supplies, I ask the PCs how much they're buying/bringing relatively to the estimated length and need of the trip. If it looks like this may matter, such as loss of supplies, delays or other problems, I can refer back to it and give them a heads up.  If not, no big deal. Drop little lines about it as you describe the ongoing trip, such as perhaps having to eat more supplies due to scarce game or broaching your water casks because the nearest springs are poison.

It's good tool to use, just don't get too tangled up into it. Generally these things take up 1% of session time, if not less. Make sure your PCs know they need to take care of these things, but don't make it a huge deal either.
Yeah, I don't overly keep track of supplies.  There's a druid in the party, so a few survival checks and goodberry spells will keep them going regardless.  Time is important due to my setting specifics.  Supplies not so much.