Time in Game

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
 Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

Time in RPG's is a tricky business to convey accurately. Over the various editions the rules have conveniently broken down some aspects and left others widely open to interpretation. In 4E a round is thought to occur in about 6 seconds. (Rules Compendium page 189) That means that all most all combats last less than a minute. With a typical combat taking 18 to 36 seconds in "Game Time". For the players thirty minutes to two hours will pass. Combat ends with a short rest, ie a few minutes to catch your breath from the flurry of activity. The day ends with a single extended rest. I like some of the alternate rules out there for limiting extended rests. Simply stating that only one extended rest a day does not seem to be enough. The idea of requiring a safe well sheltered location to rest in is one I wholeheartedly support, but not one I have thrust upon my own players over our campaigns.

In your typical linear or near linear campaign the entire career of a PC from 1st level to 30th can occur in only a few short months up to a year. The absolute minimum being 30 days (due to requiring at least 30 extended rests, one for each level. The typical party takes two to three rests a level in my experience. Adding in a few ten-days per level for travel and you arrive at about 300 days or one year to obtain immortality. I found this matter quite distressing during my first and second campaign. I have always pictured heroic tales taking more time. This may be based on my love of Lord of the Rings, but Bilbo's adventure was a little over a year and Frodo's closer to two. I might ascribe low Paragon to the latter tale but the former was barely mid heroic. Aragorn's tale spanned nearly 50 years before he was king. Surely, he was only mid to high paragon at its conclusion. I am also plagued by my early experience with 1st and 2nd edition. The levels came slower the higher you advanced. However, on the counter point a 1 to 30 level campaign takes about 16 months to 36 months to play depending on your game frequency and table speed. No easy solution there.

In my current sandbox game I have been toying with the weekly session taking a ten-day for party prep and research. This is facilitated by an on-line forum where in the Players role play, shop, level, research, gossip and can get more out of their PC's lives. One PC is marrying, others are dating, another has a blossoming business. It is a fine line between creating a SIMS like in environment and a roleplay challenge. The PC's have a weekly expense book. That is not to say that they have to buy every meal nor clothing and gifts and what not. The typical PC spends about 30 sp a week on food and lodging. All other non-adventuring expenses are said to occur in that allotment. That amount is deducted from their over all silver intake. PCs can do odd jobs, buy businesses or receive stipends (Clerics, nobles etc) based on their character generation choices. This soon slides into the background but does present challenges when choosing missions purely for non-financial reasons. Then it can interfere with the PCs ability to buy that new armor or eat for the week but I digress. The forums are a struggle in that that ten-day between sessions is very abstract. What one PC finds out on the first day of the week may occur before or after what another PC does on the fifth day of our week. Its all about time "In Game" vs. time IRL. Not everyone has the same availability. When you sit down to game you have everyone's attention and things occur chronologically. I thought about linking post times to the time in game but away from the table things require a little less rigidity. I don't want folks feeling that have to rush to participate or time will pass them by. After all the whole hobby and this concept in particular is for fun. Once it ceases to be so it is time to bin it.

The sandbox method does create the passage of time though. Seasons change; 12 weeks have passed and mid-autumn has given way to winter. The world moves but only incrementally. The party has leveled up to 3rd and by my calculations at least two years will pass if we continue to 30th. As the party gets higher level and accumulate wealth, I expect that months or even years will pass "In Game" while only a week will pass for us IRL. After all managing a fief, kingdom or astral domain should occupy time when things are well and be but a brief interlude when they are not. How else will you get moments like Pippin and Beregond sitting upon the walls of Minas Tirith watching the gathering gloom first feeling despair and then finding courage...

Do you deal with time in your game? and if so How do you reckon its passing?

An Ent by Any Other Name...

Tolkien's Ents are walking and talking tree creatures. They speak the western tongue easily enough but prefer to communicate in Entish. An Ent named Fangorn or Treebeard, if you prefer the western tongue, meets Merry and Pippin. This meeting gives an insight into the Entish mind and the focus of my article to day. According to Fangorn Entish is an extremely slow language to speak. A simple name in Entish is a complete sum of the story of that being's life. This a truly interesting concept. Tolkien never mentions whose perspective the Entish name is told from but for this article it is of little consequence.

From our early days as humans we are labeled. Given an appellation at birth to indicate memories of past loved ones or burdened with our parents expectations. Sometimes just simply tagged with some thing that sounds cool. Humanity does this, we label things. We designate flowers by genius, species and fillum in order to group the world into ordered, digestible bits. This process occurs all throughout are lives. Yet, we expect ourselves never to stereotype nor name call. This contradiction has oft confused me. How can science expect to study with out considering the individual?

The Ents continually tell the hobbits not to be so hasty. Really, they are saying not to judge all things as one thing. Thru this simple statement we are cautioned to take time and analyze the situation before rushing in. Judging an individual solely on a group's past behavior has lasting and irrevocable consequences. However, on the flip side of the argument Tolkien shows that inaction due to over analyzation can be just as bad. All this is communicated via the threat that Saruman and his new orcs pose.

The Orc has represented the basest nature of people in high fantasy. To my point, the Internet is full of orcs. Marauding tree chopping and burning, orcs. They turn there rage and hate on anything they see. Like the Ents I am loathe to label the group of orcs and judge them as one entity. Each Orc is unique, it's causes and base nature are damaging, offensive and mind boggling. I cannot fathom its reasoning or internal justification but I can condemn its acts.

My trouble here is that as society we have no ancient beings to come in and squash the orcs. No one in his right mind wants the governments of the world policing the Internet and handing out citations for inappropriate behavior. So what then is the solution? Should we be outspoken and draw lightning bolts down upon our heads? Begging each Orc to Sally forth and meet us in single combat where words and wits are used to make personal attacks until the battlefield is found barren? Do we cast bark skin and try to ignore those who would seek to drive us into hiding or shame us into silence? Do we rattle sabers in sheathes or speak softly and carry big ban buttons? Shielding ourselves from attacks and possibly much needed criticism? I don't have an answer fair reader. One blog author posts hate mail for all to see. Another only shares comments that agree with him. Others block comments all together. Still others by bars and leave the orcs to their devices. Individual choice must drive your own decisions. For me I suppose I say come orcs, Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!