The Elephant in the Room

Aside from the 50 pound gorilla that is WotC Brand D&D, there is another large animal in our midst. 

The elephant in the room here is as follows:

"If even Gary says you can't have a meaningful campaign without strict timekeeping, then why aren't you using 1:1 time?"

To which I don't have a solid answer. 

Edited this post several times, and it still sounds like cope.

They don't know I'm playing wrong.

 

The Simple answer is: I don't think I'm ready to do that heavy lifting yet.

You can't go from Virgin module story gamer to ChAD&D BRO over night, it takes time to build up the muscles necessary to play at an #EliteLevel. To change up the mindset and approach.

A similar period of refinement is required to smoothly transition from Prep to No Prep. It takes time to detox, freeing yourself from the vices of #PrepAddiction.

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The Long (and more Post Hoc) answer:

Two of the main pillars of #BrOSR style play are the utilisation of 1:1 time and Patrons. 

When I started this project I had a very limited understanding of how these tenants would playout at the table; I wasn't sure if I could handle the "Always On" aspect, I wasn't sure if I could implement them properly, I wasn't sure if the group I play with would understand or even enjoy them. 

Too many niggling little doubts kept me from diving in head first.

I was more content to boil this frog slowly.

Ironic, in that I myself have advocated (hypocritically it seems) to others curious about this style of play, that one can not be half hearted about it:

"There are unfortunately no half measures. If you do not utilise 1:1 time in its fullest, you may as well not use it at all."

"Unfortunately, 1:1 time must be strictly adhered to. To be utilised properly. It does not work so well when you start to mess around with it. If you are going to hand-wave time then it is better not to implement 1:1 time in the first place, lest you be disappointed by it."

Because.

"...the True 'Always On' campaign benefits greatly from pairing the strict time keeping with Patron play."

My guilty conscience.

As stated in the inaugural post on this blog; the first phase of my Grand Experiment is to fully get to grips with running Patrons, ceding control of the campaign to the others at the table. 

Killing the darlings that are "Muh Plot" and "Muh Story".

There is a time limit on this campaign; 1 year (in-game time) or a hopeful minimum of 36 sessions (in line with the in-game calendar), bound loosely to the premise of the original module and the walls of the City sandbox. With the overarching "Win" condition being acquiring the Hoard of Dragons.

Then I will be taking what I've learned and applying it to Phase 2.

...Though another small self justification is that the setting we are playing in has a 'Fantasy Calendar', which I'm using to track the holidays and festivals, and is unfortunately set to having a week be 10 days. A headache I didn't want to deal with at the time.

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Which begs the question: How are you tracking time?

- Game Sessions will fall on the first day of the week on the Forgotten Realms calendar.

- Patron Orders will be submitted at the start of the Gregorian Calendar week, and I will have these orders adjudicated by the end of the week.

- The Patron Characters Turn will encompass one "workweek" (or 10 days) of the Forgotten Realms Calendar.

- The Player Characters during session play will be tracked upon the Forgotten Realms calendar, but (as is likely to happen during the first session because it'll still be framed by the Modules opening) there may be periods of "freeze time".

- The Player Characters Downtime periods will vary depending upon what they are pursuing. They may be able to scribe a spell scroll within an afternoon, but it will take a further 'workweek' of effort to secure a potential buyer. (utilising the rules from XGE).

- During the Session the Player Characters will pay their 'Lifestyle Expenses' which will determine how lavish a lifestyle they live during that Workweek. This should hopefully serve as a crude patch to bridge session lag.

- Keeping track of several different 'half finished' Projects, as Player Characters split downtime activities, may also occur depending upon how much time they have between sessions.

Will I have to start tracking Blades in the Dark style clocks!?

Hopefully, you'll stick around to see how big of a train wreck this becomes. 

And treat it as a learning opportunity. 

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