This article deals with time-keeping in Reluctant Heroes.

Why Have Time Advancement?

In Reluctant Heroes, several games typically run concurrently; without some kind of time management system, the players would be out of sync with each other. It would be impossible for the DM to track overall time. Themes such as politics, economics and weather are present in the game; with time management all these events can be kept in sync. Therefore, not only short but long term effects of events and actions of NPCs and PCs can be explored.

Additionally, TUs gives a level of realism to the game. With time advancement, characters gain years with levels. Percy Trapspringer started as a spry, young 18 year old Halfling Ranger in 1264; he ended his adventuring career in 1280 as a 21st level Druid/Ranger after four years of real time. It makes much more sense for Percy to be 34 years old than 22 years old. This also allows characters to perform actions such as build a keep they can live in, or make long term plans and carry them out. One player character, Sigmae du Lux, had children, the oldest of which Skald Syrcha now plays as a Player Character.

Finally, character can perform functions not usually available, like attending weddings and funerals, buying property, gambling, perfecting skills, and so on. These events are usually glossed over due to time-related issues, but TUs provide a way to keep every character in sync.

Time Progression

Time will progress in this game at a rate of 3 days game time for every day in real time. This equates as follows:

Years will occur triennially on:

January 1st

May 1st

September 1st

This gives us our three game years to one year real time.

When a character is in an active adventure, he will be taken out of game time and will move at the rate of the adventure he is in. When the adventure concludes, he will be considered to have however much downtime is needed to catch up with game time. He can do many things during this downtime, such as travel or craft items.

Here's an example: Willie the Wizard is in an adventure that covers a 3 day span of time. It took 4 real-life weeks for this game to be posted. This means that when the adventure is concluded, the world advance 3 months -- but he only advanced 3 days. He is then considered to have 2 months and 27 days of downtime. He uses that time to craft a wand and travel to a different region. In real world time, the player would have done this instantly and could have gone immediately from one adventure to the next.

Time Units

At the start of each calender year, each player will get 52 Time Units (TU). Time to run adventures are taken out of your TU total.

For example, Athylstan the Fighter and Mordachai the Rogue travel from Flanders to the Saxon Frontier, spending a week riding. The party adventures for two weeks, then rides back. This took a total of 4 weeks, or 4 TUs, out of their initial 52 TUs per year. This is to be subtracted from the characters total and kept track of on the characters' character sheets. This will be represented as "Time Units: 48/52."

When a character levels, they need to spend some TUs in training. The cost to level up is four plus the new level they've achieved. Continuing the example from above, Aethylstan the Fighter gains a level. Athylstan needs to train, so it takes him 4 TU + new level (2) TU for a total of 6 TU or 6 weeks Athylstan will be training. This takes Aethylstan's new TU total to 42/52 TU.

The amount spent is different for the first level of a class a character takes. The table below shows the amount of TUs a character needs to spend in order to gain a level in a new class. For example: Mordachai levels, and chooses to take a level of Wizard -- a new class for him. This will require 288 TUs to complete, or 6 years game time. Six years' worth of TUs is 312, which leaves Mordachai with 4 TUs per year to adventure. With Mordachai attending the Wizards College, the other players have to choose to move on without him or take up other activities while he is attending the college. He could also choose to stretch that time out, but this would delay his attainment of the new Wizard level.

Time Unit Costs

Leveling: 4 TU + 1 TU per level

Attend a college or university for a semester: 24 TU; a Year 48 TU; Degree 192 TU +

First Class Level Costs

Lifestyle and Upkeep

Your character will have expenses to pay to stay healthy and well supplied. The gold required to support characters while adventuring is called upkeep.

Upkeep for the standard adventuring character is 12 GP per TU, or 624 GP per year. Spending this gold keeps characters with a place to sleep (not necessarily a bed), good meals, travel, the care of mounts, replenishing consumable goods like food and arrows, mending broken items, and so on.

Characters may spend 50 GP per TU for luxury upkeep to raise their social standing and bring other benefits from that elevated status. Characters will gain a +2 bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Perform, Profession and Sense Motive checks applied when your DM determines that the increased social status of your wealth grants you a reasonable benefit. Wizard characters must pay this upkeep if they cast a spell in that TU. This pays for spell components, any research, and lab time. Characters can also spend 100 TU for noble upkeep for a +4 circumstance bonus. (This bonus replaces the above bonus.)

Worshipers of churches can be members of a church in name only or can be devout. Devout members of the Church of the West gain special benefits from their Patron Saints. Being devout includes not only praying daily and attending organized services at least weekly, but also a tithe of at least 10% of their income. Clerics and Paladins typically devote most of their income to the church, though this varies by religion.

Upkeep must be paid at the end of each game year on the first of January, May and September. If a character cannot pay the minimum upkeep, his equipment will suffer, reducing his Armor Class and Attack Bonus; if it falls to peasant level the character is likely to start incurring life threatening ailments.

Lifestyle and Upkeep Table

Time/Experience System

Ideally, a character should receive experience every 8 weeks in real time. However, things happen, adventures are prolonged, and some characters get missed.

For every real week of adventuring in which a player actively posts for their character, they automatically gain 50 exp. Experience for all of the adventures, quests, traps and other circumstances they've survived during this 8 week period are then added up, counted, and placed in the EXP folder under the character's name.