Timers for Tension

A GM Tool

Poor pacing on the GM’s part can have players fiddling on their phones instead of moving the plot forward. To help keep the dynamic tension up, we believe every adventure should have a timer–not a literal one, but a literary one. These are narrative tools or mechanics that add motivation and urgency to a session.

The way it works is to pick a die to use as a timer. Though you can use playing cards, a pile of pennies in a jar, or any other obvious and countable method you like, we always have dice at our table, so we default to that. Place the timers front and center, in a place where they won’t get bumped or knocked over. Tell your players to keep an eye on these throughout the game, as you’ll be using them continuously. The reason may vary, as you may be ticking down to disaster, marking progress toward project completion, or measuring distance travelled. There may be multiple timers, and because their primary purpose is to build tension, players should almost always be told what the timer is tracking–though you may decide that the exact details of what exactly the timer triggers may be something you conceal or determine after that point is reached (like rolling on a wandering monster table). Even when the timers are used as triggers for encounters or the countdown to a secret agenda, the players need to know whether the die signals weal or woe.

Remember, if you use a timer, you need some way to show it to the players, or it doesn’t fulfill its purpose. Whatever the mechanic being employed, make it obvious and dramatic when you add (or take away) a counter. Your players will feel the tension, and will be less likely to quibble over how many arrows they were able to salvage after the fight and will instead agonize over whether they should burn ten more minutes to squeeze in a last Treat Medicine check. Each adventure we provide will have one or more timers to add tension.

Like much of our philosophy, this idea was inspired by the works of others, and can be found in games like Blades in the Dark (or any of its permutations).

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