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D&D 5E – Time Tracking Tool

21 Comments Posted by Ronny on August 20, 2016

DM Tool for Tracking Time

Download your free copy here.

I have tried several different ways to keep track of time in a dungeon. Years ago I even wrote a “Time Tender” software program. I was thinking of getting a toy clock, or a broken clock that I could turn the hands on. Thinking of clocks, I came up with this simple idea, and it works! Download and print as many of these as you may need. The idea is that you use a pencil to mark off the time as your players explore the dungeon.

Each clockface represents one day. One sheet can track 4 days. The hours are marked around the sides. Midnight is at the bottom and Noon is at the top. There are 6 little boxes between each hour. Each box represents 10 minutes. I fill in each box as time passes in the adventure. I find this works well. I say it takes 10 minutes to search a room. I mark off 10 minutes after each combat for searching bodies, recover arrows, clean up, etc. Moving along a cooridor doesn’t take much time unless it is very long or they are being slow. I also mark time for other activities as well: one hour for a short rest, eight hours for a long rest, overland travel time, etc.

There is plenty of blank space to scribble notes.

Enjoy!

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21 responses to “D&D 5E – Time Tracking Tool”

static1st August 20, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Brilliant! I should have thought of this years ago. Below the date, I simply write any major event(s) that occurred that day, like “poison begins to effect Marius”, “Carobb gets separated from group”, or “Delaney’s fever breaks”.
Thanks for this, Ronny!

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- Ronny August 20, 2016 at 5:10 pm
  Me too. Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to see.
  If you have any other playing aids that you use, please share.
  
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Miztres August 20, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Brilliant! Thanks again Ronny

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- Ronny August 21, 2016 at 1:36 pm
  Glad you like it.
  
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Fieldmechanik August 21, 2016 at 8:27 am
Thanks!

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- Ronny August 21, 2016 at 1:37 pm
  You are welcome. Let me know if you use it.
  
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Anonymous October 26, 2016 at 8:29 am
Brilliant! I tried using one with random highlights at certain time slots and watched the players freak out as they approached.

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- Ronny October 26, 2016 at 8:33 am
  LOL
  
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HandyDandyHim October 16, 2017 at 8:36 am
I just started to DM my first campaign a couple weeks ago and I was really frustrated with my inability to keep a grasp on the in-game time. I’d often guess and sometimes caught the players off guard when they found out that not much time had passed. I’ll have to give these a try.

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- Ronny October 16, 2017 at 8:45 am
  I hope they help.I have found them useful (when I remember to use them). You will also want to have a calendar to mark off the days. I recommend this for that:
  https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/calendar/
  
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  - HandyDandyHim October 16, 2017 at 8:49 am
    Wow! Thanks for that. I’ve been using a cheap weekly planner to track the days but I’ll have to give this a try.
    
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  - Ronny October 16, 2017 at 8:52 am
    You are welcome. I guess it is about time for me to make another post of all of the cool web sites I have ran across that have useful tools and references.
    
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questclock November 10, 2017 at 8:51 am
This is a shameless plug, but like everyone else, I’ve had trouble keeping track of in-game time. This summer, I decided to do something about it, taught myself to code, and after about 7 months this is what I came up with. Quest Clock – A time tracking app for RPGs. Hopefully somebody will get some use out of it! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quest-clock/id1277275995?mt=8

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- Ronny November 10, 2017 at 9:42 am
  I love this.
  Unfortunately, I don’t own any apple products.
  A couple of questions:
  1) Do you plan on offering an android version?
  2) Can I enter my home-world’s calendar (like the one here https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/calendar/ )?
  
  This brings back memories. In the 1980’s I wrote a program similar to this. I called it “Time Tender”. I remember that I called TSR and asked them if I could write and sell a program that could be used to create D&D characters and was told that I could not, so I wrote this instead.
  I first got an Atari and wrote it for that. I bought a case of 10 minute cassette tapes and printed out a bunch of labels. I couldn’t sell any. Lots of people said that they didn’t have an Atari, but I should offer it for the Commodore. So I got a Commodore, re-wrote it and even rented a table at a D&D convention. I sold ONE copy.
  
  Here’s wishing great success.
  
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Eric Blancho May 12, 2019 at 2:03 am
Great idea thanks

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- Ronny May 12, 2019 at 8:50 am
  Thanks for leaving your comment. I’m glad you like it.
  
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DungeonMasterPastor January 12, 2021 at 11:30 pm
I’ve tried keeping track of time in previous campaigns, and I always fall off the wagon pretty quick. I found this little tool and have been using it over a year now on my current campaign and I LOVE it! It’s well designed and simple enough to do what I need without getting in the way. I love being able to share in the boxes. Thanks so much!

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- Ronny January 13, 2021 at 8:48 am
  Thanks for feedback, and thank you for posting a link to this on your site.
  For any of my followers that haven’t yet discovered the “Dungeon Master Pastor” site, you should check it out. It is definitely geared to Christian players but it has a lot to offer to all serious D&D enthuses.
  https://dungeonmasterpastor.com/
  
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