Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 SillyMind Feb 27, 2015 8:38:31	Hi all,   For my present campaign, I would want to introduce a sense of time pacing. I was never a fan of level 1-20 in a month of game time and I think that all you need to play a meaningful campaign on a long timeframe is there right in the rules but not that well explained.   What I want is to let my player live full lifes, following their character from the start of the campaign at age 18 (in human years, young adults) up to something like age 50-60 (still in human years, venerable old in medieval terms). This would allow my players to become kings, get married and have children, build a compeling story of what happened in the ''off years'' tying their character to the setting/organizations/factions, etc.   I know that is was something done frequently in the past of D&D and somewhat less popular nowadays but I would be interested to learn more about others that did/do this and how they manage.   Edit: changed the title and: I played a little bit of Pendragon and The One Ring (such a great game). Those games go a long way in doing what I want, I could simply take their system of one adventure/journey every year and that probably could work but I was wondering if there were other pacing systems or other options to deal with it.
#2 iserith Feb 27, 2015 9:08:09	I don't think there's really any need for a system per se. Just say "Time Passes" between one adventure and the next- months, years, decades, whatever - then collaborate with your players on what their characters were up to during that time and how they've changed. Take what they give you and weave it into the basis for the next or future adventures.
#3 Noctaem Feb 27, 2015 9:58:01	Yeah time lapses can be a great tool for DM's to use between adventures.  The key though is to make sure you have player buy in as usual.   I was DM'ing an eberron campaign some years ago and the players ended up in a hard spot.  They were being chased by the Breland's military airships and managed to make it into the Mournlands hoping to ditch their pursuers.  Of course the Mournlands are a messed up place and after a few hours they decided to use the wizard's leymund's secret chest ritual which had been prepped ahead of time to transport themselves out of the mournlands.  The problem was that they had previously lost the chest in question and didn't know where it was currently (that and the fact that they were struggling is why I allowed it after confirming with them the details).  We ended the session with them taking turns going into the chest and dismissing / re-summoning it and ended the session there.  We were going on hiatus for the holidays and so I had time to craft exactly what happened.     When we got back together I jumped the campaign forward 3 years and explained that the BBEG was the one who had the chest (he had family relations with the wizard and political power so had confiscated the chest in order to keep tabs on the PC's via ritual magic) and as they had been transported by the chest, the wards and defenses of his lair had captured the PC's one after the other.  From there he had sent them to the dwarven controlled prison of Dreadhold where they had been kept in solitary confinement in the bowls of the towering structure.  The campaign started up again as the PC's were left to RP their characters.  After everyone had their chance to RP, queue the good guys attacking the prison to free captured prisoners and finding the party whom they believed had died in the Mournlands years earlier.  It was a great opportunity for everyone and really made them dislike the BBEG who at this point had spent the last 3 years solidifying his power.   Lots of fun.
(Reply to #2) SillyMind	iserith wrote:
#5 AaronOfBarbaria Feb 27, 2015 10:36:00	What I find to be the simplest thing to do is communicate with the players that there will often be long stretches of time in which there simply isn't any adventure for their character to be doing, so they will have to be mindful of what their character is doing in the meanwhile - even if that is just looking for adventure (i.e. spending their downtime chasing rumors of treasures, or helping to police/patrol some dangerous frontier).   When you frame it as "downtime is part of the game" rather than "downtime is choosing not to play the game" the players, in my experience, dive right in to giving their character a place in the world even when trying to avoid it (like the above character that is being played as trying to not have downtime, thus perfectly describing their downtime activities).   It is actually the default way in which I pace campaigns.   The only other thing that is important to remember is that if one adventure ends with a clear lead on what to do next and either no reason to wait to follow up or a sence of urgency to complete the next adventure, then the players are unlikely to want to take any downtime - so you have to be careful in making sure that any time you want the players to take downtime that you have given them adequate reason to choose downtime, since the entire "level 1 to 20 in a month" phenomenon is the result of the players not feeling like they can/want to take a break.
#6 Noctaem Feb 27, 2015 10:40:40	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
(Reply to #6) SillyMind	Noctaem wrote:
(Reply to #6) AaronOfBarbaria	Noctaem wrote:
#9 TheNovaLord Feb 27, 2015 11:52:57	Kingmaker AP.   Anything where there is a lot of building n exploration stops getting you from 1st level come the new year and 15th by the time the first daffodils appear   Just add a few one ring elements.......long journeys, long stopover, long recovery, family matters and holdings to attend too, moots to talk at, festivals and formal occassions   Most Paizo aps annoy me for their rapid progress.....lots players seem to think they can adventure 18 hours a day, seven days a week
#10 Noctaem Feb 27, 2015 12:33:28	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#11 Orethalion Feb 27, 2015 17:03:31	Noctaem wrote:
#12 DungeonKrusher Feb 27, 2015 19:48:37	Definitely it depends on the adventure, and the will of the players versus the campaign in the DM's mind. (how's THAT for vaguery?)   Basically, if you play a module that is threat after threat after threat, it's completely conceivable that the characters are 20th level in a month. However, if the group is running adventures that aren't combined to one story, then it's easily explained at the end of the first adventure that they go back to their old lives, or settle down somewhere... and then adventure comes calling again. Something along those lines. Maybe they save a region of the world that isn't constantly beset by creatures and evil? It makes sense that an 18yo punk is part of a group that staves off a goblin raid, then goes back to being a blacksmith because THAT'S WHAT THE FAMILY DOES, only to have a traveler come along five years later and try to hire him, or pick trouble, or whatever.