8 free hours in single day


Advice


Hello! I've got a question. How do you (DM's) roleplay these 8 useless hours left in one day? I mean, travelling day. Because, if I'm right, it goes like this: 8 hours of travelling, and 8 hours of sleeping. Day has 24 hours, 8+8=16, it gives 8 free hours. I know, that it should be used to make a camp, prepare rations etc. but I don't think that it would take whole 8 hours! So, can you tell my how you're dealing with this?


You know the scene in any movie where the protagonists sit around talking to each other and eating?

Or maybe it's the dwarf actually plays with that chess set he bought last time everyone went shopping.

This isn't a GM question, it's a "What does your character do in his spare time?" question.

Liberty's Edge

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Err. Isn't that the hours you adventure on? Like, first travelling to the dungeon. And then exploring it.

Do you roleplay 8 hours of travel each day? I know I don't. That's awfully boring. My next session is going to take place a week or more after the last, in a new location the party is assumed to have travelled too.

Or are you asking what actually takes place when the party are on the road, but have those 8 hours when they aren't actually walking? That's not so complicated.

Rasing and striking camp takes probably an hour each, if you're travelling in the wild. Heck, I can spend half an hour picking up after my self leaving a hotel room! In adverse weather, with snow and what not, rasing camp might take several hours.

You talk about preparing rations, but you have to eat them too. Eating takes an hour, probably more, each day. Sure, you can speed that up if you've got something prepared, but you'll need that hour-long lunch break most often anyway.

Then there's things like repairing equipment and doing laundry. Might not crop up every day, though.

Many Pathfinder characters have things they need to do each day. Wizards have to go through their spells and clerics pray. The fighter, while not necessary by rules, probably spends time caring for her weapon and armour. Some characters spend time on crafting.

But still, there's bound to be slack. You can't walk the entire day. The rest might just be killing time around a camp fire. Remember, war is mostly just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Adventuring is probably similar.


In addition to the above, 8 hours to travel means 8 hours worth of walking, not that it takes 8 hours to do. It may well take 10 hours of time to get 8 hours worth of travel in, with rest breaks, stopping for lunch, and stuff like that.

Also, if you are keeping watches, it takes more than 8 hours of time for 8 hours of rest to happen. If you have 3 watches, and want everyone to get 8 hours of sleep over the course of the night, that will take 12 hours.

In truth I would expect that after meals, setting up and breaking down camp, caring animals and all the other stuff that needs to be done, most people would be hard pressed to manage 8 hours of actual travel in a day.


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I often ask myself where the extra 8 hours of my day end up. I sleep less than 8 hours a night and work 8 hour days, but never seem to have more than an hour or so of "downtime" in a given day.

It is amazing how quickly those 1 hour and half hour chores add up to eat a third of a day.

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