You need a time tracker, I need a time tracker, we all need a time tracker. Well, here I am to give you your medicine. Behold, my new AD&D tracker in use at the table.

Time is of the Essence

I’ve been running old school games for a while now, and one thing that differs from other types of roleplaying games is the importance of game time; it’s passing and the necessity of recording of it. We all know that a classic fantasy campaign looses much of its meaning if strict time records are not kept. The reasons are multifarious; daily healing rates, spell acquisition, travel times, and the frequency and odds of random encounters. The list is long and has to be accounted for.

Essentially, time is an important game resource. I don’t want to bang on about this and play at being the broken record, if you’ve played older editions of D&D then you know very well how important this is. I just wanted to post the campaign tracker I’ve made for my current AD&D campaign, since I was unable to find one that fit my needs exactly. 

There are plenty of trackers out there, hell, a scrap of paper would probably do, but none of the trackers I’ve found had exactly what I was looking for. Here are some of the specifics I wanted on my tracker sheet. 

Segments

I wanted to have a segment tracker on my sheet. Though they don’t necessarily come up in every combat, having them on my sheet helps me adjudicate certain situations quickly.

For example, when a spell is cast with multiple segments times, or if there are player characters with readied missile weapons.

An example in a recent game was when a fighter was standing at a door with a net ready to throw (+2 segments as per their DEX bonus), during this round another player character was casting a spell, and before both of them were three charging ghouls.  

The tracker sheets I’ve found online that do have segments usually only supply them up to ten rounds. That makes sense mechanically, since there are ten rounds to a game turn, but what if a combat goes beyond ten minutes? What if you have multiple combats in a game, do you need to use multiple sheets?

I want to use only one tracking sheet per game if I can help it, so I tried cramming as many rounds and segments onto my tracker as possible. When a combat ends, I strike a line below that round and the next combat to occur is recorded below.

I circle which group has the initiative where its labelled P (party) and E (enemy), or both if its simultaneous. 

Turns and Days

You often see check boxes used for recording game turns on tracker sheets. I like that, and I’ve done nothing different here. I just also happen to use the same check box area for the passing of days. I have put a small space next to the rows of turn boxes to record whether the row is recording the passing of days, turns, or hours. There is nothing revolutionary going on here really. 

I have a separate game calendar, so after the game I check how many days have elapsed on this sheet and update it. 

Simplicity

I wanted the sheet to be clutter free, easily printable on A4 paper, black and white, and have enough space for me to record a whole session. We’ll see how that goes over the next few months.

The Tracker

Here is it, I will keep adjusting it as I play more, and if it changes significantly I’ll post an updated version.

If you have a favourite tracker for AD&D, or one of your own design, please share it with me.