Some folks don’t mind a campaign where three in-game months pass and the characters turn from farmhands into demigods. It doesn’t necessarily ruin the game, right? But it’s a bit of a smell that something is off. Worlds move slowly. Unfortunately, our attention spans do not.
I think our games move too quickly. We don’t let the setting and story cook. I think we should. I think there’s magic there. I believe we actually experience two related problems as game masters:
- We’re trying too hard to avoid player boredom.
- We don’t know how to run adventures over longer time horizons.
In another article, I talked about player boredom. In this article, we’ll cover how to run games over longer timelines.
Why Longer Adventure Timelines?
When we allow player characters (PCs) to live and act in the world for longer arcs of time, we develop richer stories and settings. With longer timelines, the impact of PC choices has the time to resolve and reverberate throughout the world. This opens up new avenues of lore and opportunities within the game. When we take a step back, we see players engage on a more meaningful level with the whole experience.
Dungeons & Dragons 5E even contains a few rules that capture the want for longer adventure timelines. In 2024 5E, crafting items can take up to 250 days. Adding a vast room onto a bastion can take half as long. In 2014 5E, building strongholds could take between 60 and 1200 days! To many of us, these time horizons might seem outrageous. If you’re hopping between settings with each adventure, they might be. But if you’re focused on a single setting, I’d argue they’re decent goalposts. Increasing the length of our adventure timelines doesn’t need to increase the real-world length of our campaigns. We just need better ideas for how to achieve it.
How to Run Longer Adventure Timelines
Follow the Tiers of Play
D&D is designed for characters of specific levels to have an appropriate scope of impact in their adventures. Teasing a world-threatening villain to your level 1 party is fine. Telling them they only have a few months to stop it is not. It makes no sense. Instead, lean into these tiers of play.
At low levels, the party is saving villages and exploring nearby ruins. Let that be enough. With our creativity as game masters, we can make it fun and interesting. When we let time pass, the party can feel the impact they’re having as local heroes. As the adventurers level up, we shift tiers. More of the map is uncovered. More time passes. More allies and enemies are made. The tiers of play help us focus our pacing and story in a way that enables us to let time pass.
Fast Forward
Perhaps the easiest tool at our disposal is fast forwarding. This is easily achieved within scenes of play. Skip the walk across town. Avoid the shoe leather (a film term for the mundane details that will bore the audience if shown). But it can be so much more.
After completing a major adventure or advancing to a new tier of play, zoom out and describe major shifts in the region or world as you fast forward.
After you defeated the night hag, the valley rejoiced. Festivals returned and your names were carried on the wind as far as the capital. But the threat of the arch lich still loomed over the kingdom. In the coming months, the king began sending scouting parties north. None returned. As summer fades, you are summoned to the palace. What were you doing during the months that have passed?
Take it a step further and do a time jump. “One year passes. What happened?” Let the table work it out together! The major time jumps can be jarring so use them sparingly.
Embrace Downtime
Between adventures, embrace downtime. This mode of play opens up a different set of options for player characters to engage. It also changes the pace of the game. Tie downtime to the tiers of play. At low levels, it could last days or weeks. At epic levels, it could span months or years. Fast forward and pick back up with the adventuring when you’re ready.
If everything in the campaign is urgent, nothing is. When we let our campaigns breathe a bit, we open opportunities for deeper connections with the setting. The story becomes more powerful. By following the tiers of play, we focus our lens on the right types of adventures at the right pace. At any time, we can fast forward. Embracing downtime opens up our characters’ connections to the game world while naturally letting time pass. All of these together equip us with the tools to run longer adventures timelines.
Game on.