Time keeping / tracking inside dungeons?

[Grayscale]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

You can impose these D&D-isms onto GURPS if you like, but I don't really see the benefit, since GURPS is measured in real-world units for the most part — which has always been part of its stated purpose. Spell durations are given in seconds, minutes, hours, or days, etc., as needed. Each thing you want to do takes as long as it takes. To try to squeeze that into blocks of one and ten minutes, for instance, doesn't seem to lead to more efficient dungeoneering. The GM need merely decide how long something takes, and that's how much time passes.

Ah, it is not my intention to segment time in such a way. Instead I was just musing that time really is an important resource, as implied by several rules: duration of torches, when to roll to recover from a knockout, wandering monsters, meals etc, meaning I wanted to know if several recurring and important actions were already written up in terms of how long they take (in minutes, for example).

If time is not in the picture in some way, there's little reason, from a pure gaming standpoint, to not take 4 hours to search every room, open every lock etc - though the argument could be made that if your group is playing this way you might want to redress what you and the group want out of the game.

[Black Leviathan]

My General rule is that there are three types of actions at my table to keep things simple.
Instant - Glance out the window, hit someone with a sword, glance over the instrumentation of the plane. These rolls represent a second of work
Focused - Pick a lock, Search a room, perform first aid. These take about 15 minutes, less 10% per point under skill rolled, min one minute.
Extended - Repair a damaged car, forge a sword, construct a ritual. These take about a week, less 10% per point under skill rolled, these rolls assume you're working without assistants with no prepared materials.

Time reduction of course follows certain logical constraints. You can't design a ritual that has to be cast at night before nightfall no matter how well you roll.