This week, I came across an article entitled “Return of the Dungeon Turn” discussing time-keeping in dungeon environments. It focused on the importance of time as a stress and drama-inducing factor. As characters’ actions depleted time, light sources would be exhausted, wandering monsters would be rolled, and events would transpire. The concepts of wandering monsters and time management piqued my interest in dungeon exploration.
Mr. Gygax wrote that combats should be avoided. Wandering monsters were the worst kind, since they carried no treasure or valuable objects to acquire. In the past, I always included a wandering monster table in my dungeons and scenarios. It seemed appropriate, since monsters live in the dungeons and could be wandering the halls looking for something to eat (like the characters). Recently, I have been thinking about player agency – the idea that players’ actions have positive or negative effects – and how it interacts with those encounters. After all, if the goal is to avoid wandering monsters that deplete your strength and have no treasure, you should be given a way to do that. In the end, wandering encounters are really just a way to punish players for poor adventuring.
Instead of just rolling for wandering monsters every 6 turns, the player’s actions can directly attract an unwanted encounter. When characters choose to bash open a stuck door, fail to disarm an alarm trap, chop down a locked door, or break apart a wooden chest to loot for treasure, that noise can attract a wandering monster. Players understand that making loud noises in a dungeon may attract danger (though they will not know what kind) and can choose to take the action or forgo it for another time. They can choose to use spells to silently open locks or portals (e.g., Knock or Silence 15-foot radius) to avoid a random encounter and still accomplish their task. Sometimes, in the case of Shriekers or other noise-inducing creatures, they may attract wandering monsters without being given a choice. That is something that all brave heroes face when they explore the unknown, but I think it should be the exception, not the rule.
Besides wandering monsters, the article treats time as another resource players need to keep track of, alongside hit points, spells, and light. Running out of torches might force the characters to leave the dungeon. This is true, but only to a point. There are a host of spells that can provide all the necessities adventurers need, such as Continual Light (for light), Create Food & Water (for food), Leomund’s Tiny Hut (for protection), and so forth. After a few levels, characters also have plenty of gold to buy oil and other items that reduce or even eliminate such limitations. I like limiting my party’s time, so this reminded me of the “Day is a Day” concept – the idea that a gaming night in a dungeon equates to a single day in the campaign world – and how it could work cooperatively with the Dungeon Turn.
Merging the two concepts becomes even more interesting. Under “Day is a Day,” one gaming night equates to about 72 Dungeon Turns worth of exploration. Each turn the characters’ let slip away means less chance of acquiring any treasure or experience. It creates tension and drama as the constant, relentless ticking of the turn clock winds down. When the adventuring day is over, characters have to wait until the next gaming session to continue. There is no “return to the town, get our spells back, and come back to the dungeon” on the same gaming night. This means that the characters must be more careful about how they use their spells, what they choose to fight, and how they spend their time.
There are drawbacks to the “Day is a Day” concept. Low-level spell casters (especially magic-users and illusionists) do not get to participate as much. They cast their spell and then sit around the rest of the night, throwing darts or carrying torches. Novice characters, too, are often fragile, and a gaming night could come to an abrupt end if an encounter goes wrong. Like negating wandering monsters, “Day is a Day” demands clever playing – avoiding unnecessary combats and managing resources effectively gives you greater odds of success.
It can also lead to gaming beyond the dungeon. The characters could spend the rest of their gaming night talking to patrons in a town, buying supplies, learning rumors, and preparing to return to the dungeon. If role-playing is something your party enjoys, it can lead to interesting things. Still, it requires the game master to be readily prepared not only with a dungeon to explore but with a community to interact with when the adventuring is over for the night.
In the end, I found “Return of the Dungeon Turn” to be very interesting and thought-provoking. It made me think about how I’ve changed my wandering monsters over the years and reminded me how rarely my group minds the clock. Although at higher levels I think players need more pressure to play a role, lower-level characters without the same resources could be bound to the toll of the “Dungeon Turn” clock. In any case, I plan to keep track of time much more diligently at my next gaming night. It could create the tension a gaming group needs to keep them committed and focused on exploration.