The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition table-top role playing game (TTRPG) is fundamentally a game of Logistics and Resource Management, with a bit of combat and roleplaying thrown in for fun. Light, food, water, transportation, combat medical care, and the delicacies of getting that treasure safely back to civilization are paramount considerations for the players and for the non-player characters managed by the game’s referee, the Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Master, or DM, and the players must track these necessary items and optimize their use to successfully navigate events within the game and achieve their objectives. The DM has an important job and wears many hats during the game.
Game designer
in his book "Arbiter of Worlds" lays out the four roles of the DM within the context of a TTRPG. They are:Judge (or Referee) of the game
Worldbuilder of the game environment and settings
Adversary to the Player’s characters
Storyteller for the Players’ interactions with the game.
The fifth role that he does not list, but one that I believe is crucial to the game is Master of the Game Clock. This job of time keeping and managing the time flow is critical to play, but is often invisible to both the DM and the Players, much like a fish might not take notice of the water in which it swims. For the discussion of timekeeping, consider this diagram of perceived Time below which represents the two distinct measured times discussed in this article.
The red clock lives where the DM and the Players live — in the Real World. The red clock displays the way we as human beings perceive time to flow in the Real World, from one second to the next, and out of our control or influence. The teal stop watch is how the Player Characters (PCs), Non-player Characters (NPCs), and all other creatures that exist in the Game World perceive how Time passes. We will shortly get to why this is a stopwatch.
Why worry about time at all? Isn’t it just a game? Yes, it is. It’s just a Simulation Game. Almost everything in AD&D hinges on accurate records of time to successfully create that simulation.
Resources are used up over time. Training to advance skills takes time. Traveling between two points on the map takes time. Combat and searching for treasure takes time. But, “so what” you say. “Why and how does this help me enjoy the game?”
Rick Stump has written a great post (linked below) on the importance of resource management, the logistics of play, and how these are the hinge for many aspects of character interaction in AD&D. All these things are ultimately linked to timekeeping. Rick’s blog is a wealth of AD&D knowledge. Stop by, bookmark, and browse a while at your leisure.
Don't Split the Party: If Your Torches Burn for only One Hour your NPCs will be More Important
For the sake of distinguishing between these two measurements of times in two different systems, we will represent the rate of time passing as measured in the Real World as "T", while rate of time passing as measured in the Game World will be represented by "T*". The ratio of T to T*, written as T:T*, represents how fast the time in Game World passes relative to time in the Real World.
If the ratio T:T* < 1, then time passes more rapidly in the Real World than the Game World. If the ratio T:T* > 1 then the reverse is true and the passage of time occurs much more rapidly in the Game World than in the Real World. When T = T*, then the special case of “1:1 Time” exists, where the Real World Time and Game World Time are synced.
Again, the critical elements to the T:T* ratio are these:
every second of time in the Real World is experienced by the DM and the Players, with an unvarying rate of progression, and is measured as T;
every second of time in the Game World is experienced by every PC, NPC, creature, and all other elements of that world, and is measured as T*; and we will discover that the third quality of the ratio is
due to the nature of the DM's control of the Game Clock as a stopwatch, the ratio of T:T* may vary widely throughout the game.
The difference between the Real World and the Game World clocks is that the Game World clock can be made to run more slowly or more rapidly relative to the Real World clock at the discretion of the DM, hence the T:T* ratio. The Game Clock can even be stopped, as one can pause the second hand of a stopwatch, freezing the Game World in time relative to the Real World, while Reality’s clock ticks on and on.
The hand on the stopwatch of the Game World belongs to the DM.
Why is it a stopwatch? Because of the nature of humans, namely our need to sleep, work, eat, and other factors, the Game World may need to be slowed or even stopped to allow for us to do those things rather than keep up with the Game World at all times. Perception of events and actions may require discussion between players and the DM, so the Game Clock slows or pauses for those discussions.
If the Game World time passes at a rate equal to the Real World, then the condition of T = T* exists, creating what is referred to as "1:1 time". This is a favored ratio by some players, allowing the Game Clock to run at the same rate as the Real World clock. But that is not the only ratio that is used in any TTRPG.
Consider the ‘search for secret doors’ task. While it might take an actual game turn or more in the Game World for the PCs to conduct the search, typically several short die rolls later in the Real World, the Game World result of the search is decided (T < T*).
Some Game World combats may require more detailed adjudication due to spells, saving throws, dealing with wounds, and dealing with prisoners around the Real World table (T > T*).
Travel to the next city on the map is typically much shorter in the Real World versus Game World (T << T*).
Combat can be anywhere between unrealistically short for the players (T < T*) or interminably long (T >> T*) based on the complexity and number of PCs and NPCs involved.
These events get lost in the actual play, but the DM is constantly adjusting the T:T* ratio within the Game World as he performs his tasks as Judge/Adversary for the Players. This activity is crucial to the flow of the game, but it is typically overlooked by both the DM and the players.
Ultimately, the DM and the players may make a general decision on how to deal with time away from the table. What happens to the stopwatch setting when the evening's session is done and everyone walks away for a day, a week, a month, etc? Opinions vary on what to do.
One extreme is maintaining “1:1 time” flow until the next game event, meaning T = T*. The DM and players typically exit from any dungeons or break off from combats then end the play at the table. Since the game can continue in the interim between table sessions, the players can take other actions in communication with the DM, or resolve actions that take place in the interim as a first action at the next at-table gaming event.
Another extreme is to press the pause button on the Game Clock at the end of a table session. The DM and players walk away from the table, go about their lives until the next game session, and then pick up exactly where they left off when they stopped the game in the last session. Days or weeks might pass in the Real World, but no time has elapsed in the Game World between the end of the previous session and the beginning of the new session.
No judgment is made here about the merits of either extreme, except to say that one rule must not be violated in any T:T* case. That rule is:
"Everything in the Game World must experience every tick of the Game World Clock and every character in the Game World must have an opportunity to make use of that time. When the Game World clock starts and stops, everything in the world starts and stops with it."
Either extreme can easily deal with the timekeeping example of the 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide on Pages 37 and 38. The fixed “1:1 time” group merely marks off days until parties eventually meet and can adventure together, while the other group can use the time compression feature of the Game Clock (along with random encounter tables) to move through days where no adventuring is occurring.
Results will be determined by the rules and rulings in a like manner for both cases.
BUT, what this does indicate is that “1:1 Time” is not the default setting for timekeeping in AD&D 1E. It is an option, but it is only one of many T:T* ratios that can be and are used for timekeeping within the game.
Along with this, accurate records are a must, so sharpen those pencils, Dungeon Masters and players!
As an endnote, I would like to recommend a few ‘stacks that I read for some good game analysis and commentary. Please stop by these outposts, read a bit, and then consider subscribing for their insights. Thanks for reading!