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Real Time Passing Between Games

RPG Vloggers chatting about Gygax note on real-world time-synchronization[a] have got me thinking about really using this rule. In case you haven’t heard the idea - Gygax demanded that every day which passes in the real-world, one day passes in the game. The troupe starts and ends their games somewhere safe, like a tavern in town.

[a]

It sounds like a bizarre concept at first, but when you view it from another angle, it makes perfect sense.

Problem: You can’t organize a group to arrive on time anywhere.
Solution: Run the game every week, and whoever arrives, arrives.
New Problem: When session one goes through three months of in-game time, and session two goes through through two days, then when characters of session one and session two meet, we have to make awkward adjustments.
New Solution: Hold each session with a fixed amount of Downtime.

When I think about this the unintended (but workable) side-effect of solving schedule-faff, it makes perfect sense. Besides ‘problem players’, getting five people to arrive at the same time every week may be the most common and pernicious problem in RPGs.

Restructuring Stories

Instead of having a dedicated group who always work together, the group heads out for a mission depending upon what happens at the table.

Let’s say the cast of Friends join an RPG game (with Gunther as the DM). On week one, all the players arrive, make characters, and begin some short mission in town.

Session 2: Chandler, Ross, Rachael, and Phoebe join, investigate a necromancer, and defend a village from attack. They end their session in that village.
Session 3: Chandler, Ross, Monica, and Joey arrive for a game. Evidently, Chandler and Ross’s characters have returned to town, and they start investigating the bandits in town (where they also end the session).
Session 4: Ross, Monica, Rachael, and Phoebe join. The DM says that Phoebe’s character has found more information about the necromancer, so all of them venture out to find his lair, and they end the session there.

With different characters wandering in and out of the spotlight, it becomes clear why Gygax was keen on time-keeping. His quote in full (from Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 37):

Game time is of utmost importance. Failure to keep careful track of time expenditure by player characters will result in many anomalies in the game. The stricture of time is what makes recovery of hit points meaningful. Likewise, the time spent adventuring in wilderness areas removes concerned characters from their bases of operations – be they rented chambers or battlemented strongholds. Certainly the most important time strictures pertains to the manufacturing of magic items, for during the period of such activity no adventuring can be done. Time is also considered in gaining levels and learning new languages and more. All of these demands upon game time force choices upon player characters and likewise number their days of game life…YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT.

Problems

I’ve never played a game which uses these rules, but I really want to. Even if it has problems, I want to see those problems. Until then, I can only guess at the problems, and solutions.

Trapped Characters

Sometimes a session simply has to end. If the party finds itself imprisoned, caught deep underground, or simply too engaged in their current task to retreat, they may simply not be able to venture forth. I few solutions present themselves:

If only one person is missing their character, they can use a new (temporary) characters until their old character has been freed. Perhaps this new party can venture forth to free them? After all, they have been missing for a week.
If only one person new person has arrived, perhaps they could join the party underground - perhaps they’ve already made it underground.
The entire ending may be resolved with a single roll at the start of the next session. Roll Intelligence + Whatever to see if they can resolve the situation and escape, otherwise they remain trapped or dead.
Perhaps some new rule could resolve everything with a single roll. A table could tell you if your character comes out alive, wounded or dead.
Or perhaps the characters gain no XP for the session. After all, if the session ends early, there will be no time to award XP.

At the very least, players should all clearly understand that they have limited time, and must return to safety soon or risk real consequences.

Real Downtime

Real Downtime fits in rather nicely with characters who need to research, investigate, or do other things, but some things require more Downtime. Characters can’t be expected to grow, learn, and gain awesome magical powers if the Campaign only lasts four months. The game needs longer Downtime periods here and there.

Solution 1: Downtime When the Stars Align

I don’t think this poses a challenge - the DM can simply call for a longer Downtime when everyone in the Campaign seems ready. If opportunities present rarely, that doesn’t seem much of a problem - two stints of ‘two years pass’, within a four-month Campaign means that the Campaign lasts four and a half years.

Solution 2: Time Moves Differently in Arcadia

Alternatively, I don’t see why a group couldn’t use ‘1 week real time = 1 month game time’. It means a troupe can decide to sit, and rest, for a week or two in the middle of a game.

Real Time | Game Time
----------|-----------
 1 week   |  1 month 
 3 weeks  | 3 months 
6 months  |  2 years 
 1 year   |  4 years

Cliffhangers

Real-time passing between sessions means that sessions will lose their dramatic cliff-hanger endings (at least if things according to plan). I simply don’t see a problem here. If each session is good, players will return. If someone doesn’t feel invested in the Campaign as a whole, the cliffhanger won’t save it.

Group Dynamics

I suspect this old-school time-keeping will subtly change group dynamics. With various characters switching here and there in order to go on different missions, they won’t feel so tied together. They will be less ‘family on the road with a single, common, goal’, and more ‘professional treasure-hunters who team up whenever they have to’.

Hooks

A lot of my BIND games simply began, and continued. The players already had a solid idea of what they needed to do to continue their missions. But with a bunch of randomers meeting in the tavern all the time, it seems that each session must begin anew with a plot-hook. Clearly, the ‘old man in the tavern gives you a mission’ trope will have to see some resurgence if every session demands a new, shiny, hook.

Minimum Numbers

Of course, this doesn’t solve groups not showing up entirely. Some minimum must arrive - and personally I couldn’t see myself running a session with fewer than three people.

System by System

The systems clearly worked for Gygax’ A,D&D Campaigns well enough, but what about other systems?

Could a Vampire: The Masquerade Chronicle play out with a heap of players running around in a city, coming together for easy missions? I think this would work out fine. Each troupe would talk and coordinate. Coteries could not be so close-knit, but as long as each group of Cainites maintains enough common-interest to work with each other, I don’t see a problem. And plenty of common-interest hooks present themselves - Sabbat incursions, common sires, encroaching garou, or elders imposing strict laws which affect all neonates.

All in All

It looks like a promising move. I still don’t know how it might interact with my ‘Story Weaving[a]’ style of writing, but I think it could do well. I feel like organizing a new Campaign just to see how it turns out.

[a]