Copying this from a comment I made a few months ago, I’d like to try having an “adventuring week” rather than an “adventuring day”, i.e. have X encounters per in-game week(ish) rather than the same number per in-game day. The Gritty Realism variant rules basically provide this though I think the name really puts people off; I’m not trying to add realism, just make it so you can have actual meaningful resource-draining encounters as part of something like a week-long travel (currently I’d need to throw in so many encounters that it becomes tedious, or have one-encounter days which we all know the problems with!)

Has anyone tried Gritty Realism before, and if so how did you implement it and how did you find it? My main question would be:

  • How many days did you have per long rest?
    • I’m thinking probably three (so two short rests per long rest) but that’s more a guideline for me the DM when planning rather than mandating a minimum time between long rests.
  • How long were your long rests and did they need to be in a “safe haven”?
    • I think something like at least 24 hours of downtime in a safe-ish place (including two sleeps), though again it’s on me the DM to make sure safe havens are common enough.
  • How did you adjust spell times?
    • 1 minute stays as 1 minute, it’s meant to last a single combat
    • 1 hour up to several hours, could last multiple combats but doesn’t persist after a short rest
    • 8 hours up to several days, lasts most of the adventuring week (e.g. mage armour)
    • 24 hours up to several days, at least as long as the adventuring week
    • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      I like the idea of using the lifestyles, generally good when you can use an existing mechanic instead of having to guess at how to implement a new one.

      By “narrative week” do you just mean that the party have a week of downtime (just to do whatever downtime activities they want) and call that the long rest period?

        • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          If the DM is choosing how long the long rest takes then is there much reason to pay for the better lifestyle which gives a half-duration long rest?

          Also do you apply similar things to the short rests? For example if they’re just camping in the woods then that’s probably squalid, but if they make some good rolls to find a nice location, forage some food etc then it could improve the situation.

  • Sandra@idiomdrottning.org
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’ve tried it! The players revolted because I was running mixed-level parties and this system exacerbated the issues inherent in that (low-level chars need to rest more often than high-level chars in the same environment).

    @smeg @dndnext

    • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      I’m guessing it would have been the same situation if you had done the same number of combats per short and long rest for a normal adventuring day, do you think? Also how big a level difference are we talking?

      • Sandra@idiomdrottning.org
        2·
        2 years ago

        If D&D had only been a series of fights, it would’ve been the same thing, but the revolt happened when one char was doing fun fun village stuff and exploring and social interaction while the other char was healing up from bloody wounds in an inn bed for a week. I think they were only like three or four levels apart.

        Now we use https://idiomdrottning.org/oh-injury instead for our HP realism purps. (Basically HP is fatigue/hope/destiny.)

        @smeg @dndnext

        • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
          2·
          2 years ago

          Ah OK, I wasn’t planning on using any of the slow healing / lingering injury rules, I’m not looking for “realism”, just to make the days a bit less busy. Also I don’t plan on having PCs end up more than 1 level off each other, how did you end up in that situation?

            • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
              1·
              2 years ago

              Damn, I’ve never heard of anyone playing that new characters have to start from level 1, you run a pretty brutal table!

                • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
                  1·
                  2 years ago

                  Do the low-levels not find themselves completely overshadowed and very vulnerable? For instance a level 1 barbarian isn’t going to be able to do much tanking for a level 5 party if the monsters they’re facing can kill them in one hit, and a level 1 wizard won’t be solving many problems with their first level spells if everyone else has third level, right?

              • Sandra@idiomdrottning.org
                2·
                2 years ago

                I know, right? And I’ve had that group since 2014 and our most recent campaign was 254 sessions and if even players accustomed to that kind of brutality wasn’t into the “weeklong healing” rule, that’s saying something about how beyond brutal that rule is!

                @smeg @dndnext

  • foyrkopp@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’m currently running a campaign that involves a lot of exploration, travel and a dash of politics.

    Cramming a full “adventuring day” of 6-8 encounters into each calendar day was just not feasible - “interesting days” will have one, maybe two encounters, occasionaly with several days of travel/downtime in between.

    So if adjusted to “SR = a night’s rest” and “LR = 24h of downtime” and it fixed the problem immediately.

    A LR requires more creature comforts than a fire and a blanket, but if they invest into supplies and hirelings, they can set up a “base camp” that allows a LR even in the wilderness.

    As for spell duration: I’ve just set all spells that are supposed to cover most of an adventuring day (like Mage Armor) to last until the end of the next Long Rest and this has covered all problems so far. Remember to adjust the recovery of charge-based magical items, too.

    • smeg@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      This sounds like exactly what I’ve got in mind, cheers! Any other adjustments you made or pitfalls I should watch out for?

      • foyrkopp@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 years ago

        Try to hit the aforementioned 6-8 encircled per LR.

        Apply common sense whenever you find a mechanic interacting weirdly with this.

        Don’t spring an altered test model on your players unannounced.

  • Douglas Kilpatrick@mastodon.social
    2·
    2 years ago

    @smeg What I’ve done with other systems is to try and turn it a bit more narrative….

    Each “episode” (hopefully game day) starts with a long rest. Each “scene” starts with a short rest. If your episode covers a week? One long rest. If you deliberately break one challenge into multiple fights? Still one scene, no rests.

    • ...m...@ttrpg.network
      2·
      2 years ago

      …nice approach; that strikes a transparent compromise between hex / grid pacing for folks who appreciate videogamey dungeon crawls…

      …the only concern i have is that it makes rests an overt game of DM-may-i, rather than a tool of player agency, even though careful narrative framing could reduce either approach to identical mechanics…