~SPOILER ALERT about Beyond the Rim.~

When traveling to Cholganna, the book goes in depth about the results of the astrogation checks to get there (48 hours + 24 hours or 55 hours if you take the direct route, threats equal +4 hours). Then they fine tune the timing with finding the wreckage (5 minutes to do this, 30 minutes to do this and on and on...). This all gets tricky keeping track of it all. In the end you have a grand total of time it took in hours and minutes. So then you ask yourself, did they do it in time?

The book gives the answer! ..."The GM may alter their arrival time to fit the PC's actions." Huh?! So I kept track of the timing, nit picking every little action to just eyeball it? It seems like they had the best intentions, but then rushed how to solve the timing. I expect a table of some sort of at least say, "Under 70 hours the rivals get there first."

It just seems REALLY odd.

I think the subtext is that by you, as the GM, monitoring and nitpicking over time, you convey a sense of urgency to the PCs when in the end, it actually doesn't really matter. It's a lovely, dirty trick.

I think the subtext is that by you, as the GM, monitoring and nitpicking over time, you convey a sense of urgency to the PCs when in the end, it actually doesn't really matter. It's a lovely, dirty trick.

That did cross my mind, but I felt so... dirty pulling that on my PCs, but I guess that is how you run the show in a way. Make them think it, and they'll comply.

That did cross my mind, but I felt so... dirty pulling that on my PCs, but I guess that is how you run the show in a way. Make them think it, and they'll comply.

Eh, they'll never know if you don't tell them. A dirty trick that makes them feel like heroes winning in just the nick of time is just fine by me!

I ignored all that timing info both times I ran BtR. I want the opposition to find them when it's dramatically suitable, not before or after.

In general there are two kinds of clocks. The first clock is only relevant to, and known by, the GM, and for those, I often pretend to track time and then pretend that timing was important when opposition is revealed. The reason I don't really care about sticking with the clock is that I don't want the story to be at the mercy of some arbitrary mechanic. Otherwise it's a total waste of time, especially if you are running an adventure of your own design, and did a bunch of prep work that will never see the light of day.

The second type is when the clock is explicit to the players. When the players know there's a race against time, then it's fair to have events that happen on specific ticks...that's part of the fun.

BtR has a GM clock, so do whatever you want.

IMO, times like these are one of the rare chances for a group/player who has investigated in Astrogation (and their hyperdrive) to shine. If the PCs take forever and/or botch the astrogation, I'd definitely let the NPCs have a chance to pull ahead. It's a consequence of being worse at Astrogation than they are.

As for the searching clock, I see it as an indication of how long something should take, rather than specifically applying to figuring out when the groups meet up. Just do what works for you. I'm the type to usually put the NPCs on a specific but fair timetable where the PCs can lose the race, so the timings are super relevant to me. Others just wing it and do what feels right. The book has to cover its bases and write both ways in though, b/c they don't know which type of GM will read it.

I'm currently running the campaign now and I've been "keeping track" of time as well, well at least my Players think I am, and it is helping keep the tension up. Otherwise it really serves little purpose. Have fun with it.