Measuring Time #

Time measurement is an important component in a lot of games. In particular, tracking and assigning timing and time values affects a lot of things like periodic events and makes it easier for you to set up more explicit gameplay loops.

In the broadest sense, I would largely advocate for abstract measurements of time over concrete. I’m eschewing counting in-character hours, minutes, seconds, that sort of thing. This is definitely for reasons of simplicity and an aversion to number-tracking. Also if you want to get more concrete with it, you don’t need my advice in that regard.

Foreword: Keep It Simple #

For all of these, try to keep values at 1 as much as possible: effects last, resources are spent, or resources are recovered within 1 of that measurement of time. You can break this rule every once in awhile but it’ll make things far more difficult to track for not much benefit. If you want more time for something, consider just using a longer unit of measurement: a 2-to-3-round effect and an effect that ends after combat, for instance, are effectively the same.

Turn, Round, and Phase #

A very typical abstract measurement of time in other games are turns and rounds. (Some games tie these to concrete measurements of time, which I will not be doing.) Typically in this construction each character that will act takes 1 turn within a round. So we can define effects using these measures: an effect might go away at the beginning or end of a turn or the beginning or end of a round.

Sometimes, turns and rounds aren’t the only measure. Especially for grander moves like a set of faction or environmental event turns, we can break it into a phase rather than a round - indicating that the actions before and after the phase aren’t the same phase again, but something else in between.

If you choose to measure something in these, determine when in that round or phase “counts” - is it the end of the initiator’s next turn, the start of the next round/phase, the end of the next round/phase, and so on.

Scene #

A very common unit of measurement is the scene. This is often phrased in a way that’s specific to the activity in question: “at the end of combat”, for instance, or “when you have a moment to rest” is an indicator of something that happens at a scene transition. Scenes are a good way to contain resources and effects that should matter in short-term gameplay loops: combat-as-sport, for instance. Too much scene-reliance, however, can make the events from scene to sceen feel disjointed.

Until/Upon Return #

The most explicit one of these is using a return to some kind of explicit measure of safety and stability as a timing mechanism. This can be tied to a very explicit game loop like a proper Mission, Incursion, Excursion, etc: you are tasked to do something, you go out to do it, you Return. This could also just be an implicit game loop, like access to a proper set of supplies and time or returning to town after being in the wilderness. In either case, this is a longer-term resource.

This is the trickiest one when mixed with others, because it can determine pacing when tied to quantities like resource recovery, positive or negative effect duration, and so on. A game mechanic premised on Until Return pacing is going to have to take great pains to make resources feel appropriately paced and “returns” snappy: otherwise, you can expect to see the several-month “adventuring day”.

Session #

A subset of this that I recommend a bit more is measuring based on a session of play. Each new session (or an agreed-upon period of time, if playing on a “rolling” basis such as via play-by-post) effectively wipes the board clean. This allows pacing mechanisms to match a group’s play preferences. This does come at the expense of longer-term attrition and can lead to different effects with people running shorter vs. longer play sessions, so do bear that in mind. In my opinion, it’s usually worth the tradeoffs, and in many cases you can make them one and the same.

Until/Upon Advancement #

The most noticeable option is to make something last until the next time characters advance in a level. Save this for truly dramatic mechanics or intervals. You’ll get at most 8-9 times to do this in a campaign, so don’t use this lightly: make it count.