November 1st, I did better than I could have hoped. Don't know how, don't know why, I'm not questioning it. We don't look a gift-muse in the mouth. We just say thank you, and take it.
With that in mind, November 2nd was still, uh, awesome?
But I did have something crop up halfway through the day that I thought was interesting and/or amusing...
So, for context, I write in 20 minute timeblocks, otherwise known as writing sprints. Then I take a 10 minute break. Rinse and repeat. I will usually write for a minimum of 2 hours like this, which is 1Hr 20Mins of active writing time.
As previously mentioned, Nov 1st I did really well. (Keep in mind I'm REwriting a draft, so none of this is new-drafting, which takes me significantly longer) But in Four 20Min sprints I managed to knock out a frankly ridiculous 3,527 words.
Today, November 2nd, after the EXACT same number of sprints, and the EXACT same type of writing (I didn't need to draft any entirely new scenes, or anything else that would slow me down) I managed to produce 2,396 words.
And I have a point, bear with me...
Because I used to track my progress via WORDcount. And while, as you can see, I do still make a note of my wordcount (because it's fun!), I no longer use it as a metric for my progress, and Nov 1st & 2nd is a perfect illustration of why.
Same situation, same rewrite, same time of day, same amount of time writing. Everything should have worked out to have at least a similar word count, but there's a huge discrepancy here. A mismatch of over a thousand words (1,131 words, to be exact)
So, yeah, I make note of my word count because it's fun, but what I use as a metric for progress these days is How Much Time I Spend Writing, which is why I actually track my sprints as well.
I also find this easier when editing. Because tracking word count when I'm editing was an absolute headache.
But, I digress, 2,396 for November 2nd is still incredible, and I was thrilled with it... but it's not actually enough to earn me my three slices of cheesy garlic bread. So I kept writing this evening, added another 2 sprints to my quota for the day (Bringing my total time up to 2 Hours of actually writing)
And tipped my word count for November 2nd over to 3,867.
Am I delighted? Yes
Am I terrified this isn't going to last? Also yes.
But we make the most of it while the inspiration is flowing.
And now, it's 11:59pm and I'm going to go and have my garlic bread. It's been well earned today. Roll on tomorrow!
"characters who spend more than 5 minutes in this room must make a DC 10 constitution save against poison."
To clarify, these refer to time in the game world. There's no need to start a stopwatch for your players. It is useful to measure time outside of combat, though. Especially in a dungeon where it's dangerous to linger.
It also makes it easy easier to answer questions like "how long until it's dark out?" or "how long have they been gone now?"
Tracking Time
Get a piece of graph paper or open Excel/Google Sheets.
Make a table with 12 hours that you can fill in and room for notes below.
Make notes of events like when torches were lit, when spells wear out, monster movements, when the party will need a long rest next, etc.
On paper, I do an X for 10 minutes and a single line for 5. I add a horizontal line to make an asterisk if there was a combat. Three X’s = half an hour. I also use vertical lines to track events so they don’t clutter up the time marks.
Example:
You don't need to record exact times or activities - it's fine if things are fuzzy. The goal is not to provide a log of what happened, it's just to estimate how much time has passed.
I try to abstract most actions into 5 or 10 minute intervals.
5 Minutes: A quick or simple task, or one that is aided by specialized tools or expertise. Most combats (1 round of combat is around 1 minute)
10 Minutes: A task that takes care or attention, or a task with complex steps. Examples:
Casually check a 20 x 20 area (1st edition)
Thoroughly search a 10 x 10 area (1st edition)
Move a distance equal to movement speed while mapping or checking for traps (1st edition)
Cast a ritual spell (5th edition)
1 Hour: A short rest.
But Why Add More Bookkeeping?
While it may be a little awkward at first, this soon becomes an unobtrusive part of play. It's actually easier than trying to track time by memory.
But more than that, time brings the dungeon to life. When time is part of play, you get events like torches sputtering out and mage armor wearing off that force players to strategize.
Monster movements become much easier to manage, as well. I like to write a rough schedule of when monsters will move barring interference. You could use it to move patrols or track progress in a fell ritual, for example.
For a simple 5-room delve, not necessary. But for a crawl? Indispensable.
Edit: you’re not crazy: I’ve edited this post for concision and to show what the graph looks like when it’s done on paper.
