I just created something I call a "watch Clock". It has an outer cardboard disk divided in to 24 hours, with Midnight, 6am, Noon, and 6 pm marked. An inner circle of cardboard is divided in to four six hour watches, and a single hand points to the hour. At the beginning of the day, when the party wakens, I set the inner circle to the beginning of the first watch, and then count off the hours as the day progresses. I measure my party's progress based on the number of miles they can walk in an hour on various terrain, and I follow their progress on a hex map, and calculate how far they can travel in one 6 hour watch. This way I can always keep track of activities by watch, and know what time of day it is to enhance the description of the world, and thus immersion. In a dungeon I just estimate how long things would take based on the action, and move the hour hand along as seems appropriate. It's a fairly simple system, and you always know where your party is in the world, and what time it is... but it's only for those who like using hexmaps for travel... the world builders.
Going to steal the timewheel idea immediately, lol. My own personal system uses "Zones" that equate to rooms in this demo, but it all breaks down to node-based dungeon crawling, as someone else in the replies already said. I had a relatively equivalent, but far less elegantly presented, time tracker that used check boxes to do what you do with pie slices in your timewheel, but under consideration, it's far less flexible than what you're presenting here. One of the big advantages of the timewheel that jumps out at me immediately is the ability for the GM to place markers at certain slices of the while to indicate when an event happens, a check needs to be made or a resource/spell-effect/etc. runs out. Overall, great stuff!
We do a similar thing only based on light/View distance (some times the slowest party members move rate will become important too). Essentially the party can see what they are moving into and yes "everything is a turn" is a great and useful short hand which works in most cases.
I like the idea. Bascially turning the dungeion into a node-based design with each room being a node. And depending on the rpg system, the time increments of the wheel could obviously be different. As could the things that need reminding of (sleep, food, recharge batteries). And then of course time wheels with added rings for longer/shorter periods. Or separate time wheels for weeks/months/years.
@@TomPalsson as a new GM, I am so happy to have found your video. Blessed algorithm moment. My games have been verging more and more towards procedural play, and event-based play. This way, I lean towards what you said in the video: "everything takes a turn". That's wisdom right there.
Thanks for the video! It is a very interesting idea, I've heard about similar things before...but yours is a bit more streamlined and I like your tracker circle :)
a downloadable time wheel image would be very nice to have and to print out, thank you very much. Did you know that, contrary to what most ttrpgs would tell you, historically torches burned for around 2 hours, not just 1 hour?
Interesting video/concept. A few things ... I agree tracking exact movement rates is no fun and should be converted to rooms/zones. Most modern game systems are going this way for this reason. In combat, some of those bigger rooms would probably also have sub-zones but that is "fast time" (rounds) so doesn't matter for the purpose of this video. As far as tracking time, I too build in an automatic time period for searching, being careful, etc. Mine happens to be 15 minutes, but tomaytoe/tomahtoe. I like the wheel idea as it is more visual for the players. I will try and do this in my VTT somehow. It would give the players a bigger sense of urgency. One thing that bugs me though, is being a stickler for "realism" when it comes to torch duration. I mean, you are ditching exact movement rates and times to make things more fun right? So now a lowly human that must use a torch is stuck carrying dozens of torches? Like, looking at your dungeon layout, just to get through it, we are talking 54 turns minimum assuming they KNOW where the secret doors are and there are NO fights. That 54 turns is 9 torches. Per person. In a practical dungeon run with random encounters (I really hate "random" encounters and refuse to waste player's time with them, but that is another topic entirely), you are probably talking 2-3x the needed "turns" so someone is carrying at least 27 torches? I really want to play the NPC selling torches to your party at the entrance! They'd be as rich as a king :-)
Haha! Yeah, that would be more profitable than actually delve into the dungeon. I have found that most of my players tend to favor the oil lamps for its effectivness, and that torch are more backups like if they split the party or something.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Dude, your intro is so whimsical and reminds me of science education TV from the late 90s.
Haha. Awesome! :)
A D6 and a D12 are a great short hand too.
Thanks for the tip for how to keep a clock and a sense of time within-world going.
I just created something I call a "watch Clock". It has an outer cardboard disk divided in to 24 hours, with Midnight, 6am, Noon, and 6 pm marked. An inner circle of cardboard is divided in to four six hour watches, and a single hand points to the hour. At the beginning of the day, when the party wakens, I set the inner circle to the beginning of the first watch, and then count off the hours as the day progresses. I measure my party's progress based on the number of miles they can walk in an hour on various terrain, and I follow their progress on a hex map, and calculate how far they can travel in one 6 hour watch. This way I can always keep track of activities by watch, and know what time of day it is to enhance the description of the world, and thus immersion. In a dungeon I just estimate how long things would take based on the action, and move the hour hand along as seems appropriate. It's a fairly simple system, and you always know where your party is in the world, and what time it is... but it's only for those who like using hexmaps for travel... the world builders.
Awesome. I love tools like that. Do you have a pin in the center so that the discs can be turn independent of eachother?
@@TomPalsson Yes, exactly.
Going to steal the timewheel idea immediately, lol. My own personal system uses "Zones" that equate to rooms in this demo, but it all breaks down to node-based dungeon crawling, as someone else in the replies already said. I had a relatively equivalent, but far less elegantly presented, time tracker that used check boxes to do what you do with pie slices in your timewheel, but under consideration, it's far less flexible than what you're presenting here. One of the big advantages of the timewheel that jumps out at me immediately is the ability for the GM to place markers at certain slices of the while to indicate when an event happens, a check needs to be made or a resource/spell-effect/etc. runs out. Overall, great stuff!
Wow! I haven’t even thought of that. Thanks!
We do a similar thing only based on light/View distance (some times the slowest party members move rate will become important too). Essentially the party can see what they are moving into and yes "everything is a turn" is a great and useful short hand which works in most cases.
If you like playing like this, I highly recommend looking into Blades in the Dark. You've basically reinvented some of its mechanics.
I like the idea. Bascially turning the dungeion into a node-based design with each room being a node. And depending on the rpg system, the time increments of the wheel could obviously be different. As could the things that need reminding of (sleep, food, recharge batteries). And then of course time wheels with added rings for longer/shorter periods. Or separate time wheels for weeks/months/years.
Yes, i had a crazy idea once of making a steampunkish chronometer measuring everything...wheels within wheels...
Procedural play is so important. Tick timers and resources, Event Check, Description, Declarations, Perception Checks, Resolve Events/Declarations.
Yes - I find that I want all the mechanical stuff to take no bandwidth while I am GMing.
@@TomPalsson as a new GM, I am so happy to have found your video. Blessed algorithm moment. My games have been verging more and more towards procedural play, and event-based play. This way, I lean towards what you said in the video: "everything takes a turn". That's wisdom right there.
Thanks very much. Helpful tips and I may try using the time wheel for overland travel with the game I'm currently playing, as well!
Awesome. If you have any ideas for improvments please let me know.
Such a great and simple idea! Easy to convey to players too.
Definitely using this rule going forward! Thanks so much!!!
Genius! I'm going to use it in my games!
Your intro is one of the best I've ever seen on UA-cam. Jealous!😊
Thanks - i think....I think its a bit simple but the music is wholeome. :)
Hey, old man How are you doing?
@@JustinThorLPs hey there doing well,but life has been keeping me away from my hobbies.
The timewheel is a great idea! Love it!
Thanks! To be honest I don't think I came up with it. I must have seen something similar somewhere and then recreated it.
that's a very clever way of handling that. Thanks!
Well, I am not saying I don't have OCD. I am just saying that I want to choose my own OCD. :)
Thanks for the video! It is a very interesting idea, I've heard about similar things before...but yours is a bit more streamlined and I like your tracker circle :)
Thanks a lot! I think I got the inspiration from one of Greg Gillespies books but changed it to suit my style.
a downloadable time wheel image would be very nice to have and to print out, thank you very much.
Did you know that, contrary to what most ttrpgs would tell you, historically torches burned for around 2 hours, not just 1 hour?
Haha, it figures. I will try to arrange a googledoc!
Hey - you could download the a PDF of the timewheel here: drive.google.com/file/d/1WLRLctpPU9zcBakOIIzeXuctispLbUd4/view?usp=sharing
@@TomPalsson whoah, that was quick. Thanks!
Very cool. Very clean and seems easy to use
Well, if it isn't easy to use it has to go. At least that has become my position as I am getting older. :)
It's brilliant! Thank you very much!
No problem! The quest for easy GMing continues...;)
The time wheel is very interesting, anyone know what software was being used to present the wheel and move around the tokens in the video?
Yes, it was Power Point.
DM Nogge is back again. Thumbs up!
Tjohooo!!!!!!
Interesting video/concept. A few things ...
I agree tracking exact movement rates is no fun and should be converted to rooms/zones. Most modern game systems are going this way for this reason. In combat, some of those bigger rooms would probably also have sub-zones but that is "fast time" (rounds) so doesn't matter for the purpose of this video.
As far as tracking time, I too build in an automatic time period for searching, being careful, etc. Mine happens to be 15 minutes, but tomaytoe/tomahtoe. I like the wheel idea as it is more visual for the players. I will try and do this in my VTT somehow. It would give the players a bigger sense of urgency.
One thing that bugs me though, is being a stickler for "realism" when it comes to torch duration. I mean, you are ditching exact movement rates and times to make things more fun right? So now a lowly human that must use a torch is stuck carrying dozens of torches? Like, looking at your dungeon layout, just to get through it, we are talking 54 turns minimum assuming they KNOW where the secret doors are and there are NO fights. That 54 turns is 9 torches. Per person. In a practical dungeon run with random encounters (I really hate "random" encounters and refuse to waste player's time with them, but that is another topic entirely), you are probably talking 2-3x the needed "turns" so someone is carrying at least 27 torches?
I really want to play the NPC selling torches to your party at the entrance! They'd be as rich as a king :-)
Haha! Yeah, that would be more profitable than actually delve into the dungeon. I have found that most of my players tend to favor the oil lamps for its effectivness, and that torch are more backups like if they split the party or something.