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The Problem of Time
So I have been playing role-playing games for quite some time now and one thing that really boggled my mind for some time as a GM is the question of time. How does time really become effective in the game. I mean let’s face it, your characters are on Elfren and they want to journey all the way over to Moronia. They usually just get a boat and 15 seconds later they are docking. This is fine if you are just trying to get the characters somewhere in a hurry but can be a real issue if you are trying to make them feel a time crunch or make them feel the pain of traveling far away on a whim.
Being an avid fan of platform games I see this as a real problem. I want to make campaign characters feel the full wear and tear of travel. I don’t believe characters should get from the Citadel to Nakra in one sentence. So what do you do in this scenario? How do you make characters feel the brunt of travel and start to value their time more. Well here is a few suggestions that I have found to be effective.
One Onin, or any world for that matter is full of terrain and beautiful scenery. Allow the characters to interact with that. As a matter of fact demand that they do. I will promise you that in 500 miles of travel there is a LOT of things going on. Thieves will be traveling, caravans with gorgeous women on the road, wild beasts could attack, the road could end and characters might have to go into a dark forest or a deep cavern just to get to the other side quickly. I guarantee that if you draw out one scenario of travel your players will go through the forest or cavern just to save time of what could be further to the south.
You might be asking yourself what does a of rogue thieves or a haunted graveyard that the characters cross to get to their destination have to do with the main idea behind the campaign? Well that’s just the beauty of a campaign. It should be played out in a way that characters are given a chance to live life and life is full of random events. This also can be a way to throw in NPC’s or mini bosses so to speak. Playing a game like this not only allows characters to live out life and to get acquainted with the land more but it also encourages players to be cautious about travel and how far they want to go. If they know they are going to have to fight a giant sea monster well I would think twice before getting on a boat.
So we have some ideas for long distance travel but what if a character wants to sit around for 20 minutes and study a book for try and figure out something. Well instead of having this time be wasted perhaps you could have monsters approach during that time. If nothing is going to happen then just make then wait for a few real minutes to give them the idea that they can’t get the world just by saying I do it and then waiting.
Now let me comment on one more thing here. Role-playing games are not in real time and they shouldn’t be played that way. You need to be careful with this and not get carried away with it. There is a difference between making character feel the brunt of time and ruining a game because you have stared at someone for an hour and a half while their character is regaining HP. You don’t have to throw things like this in the game all the time. If you just do it every so often the players will learn to be a little more cautious and value the precious gift of time.
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TM