Does leaving the vault and entering the town phase reset the turn counter? I assume the reason not to do this, is because of the plague and thievery timers, (which are really cool by the way). Would you recommend not having city adventures if they don’t have that kind of time sensitive pressure?
It wouldn’t be that hard. You sneak into an eccentric noble’s manor, but if you leave for town the noble discovers your entry and bolsters his defenses. The thieves guild suggests lots of exciting variations of this.
The other question I had was about camp phase. Most of the time I would narrate camp phase as an extended sort of rest, but with the timers on VoQoB, I could see that becoming confusing fictionally.
Great questions!
[slight spoiler warning for The Secret Vault of the Queen of Thieves!!! I’ll try to be vague, but stop reading now if you don’t want to be spoiled.]
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I would treat the timers as one tool in your toolbox for all kinds of adventures. I would hesitate to recommend them for every city-based adventure, but definitely use them when they make sense. Your noble manor example is a perfect example!
As for resetting the turn counter? No. If they leave and come back very quickly – have a drink in the tavern, buy a few things in the market and hustle back to the dungeon – I would just count each lifestyle ‘tick’ as a turn. But if they get a room at an inn or do other things that take time, I would advance the timers to the end and let them deal with the consequences. The dungeon is still there, but the situation is drastically changed.
As for the extended rest in camp: I hear you. In earlier versions of the adventure, entering the camp phase shot you straight to the end of the timers for that very reason. But it seemed a bit like I was pulling the rug out from under players who had learned that Torchbearer best practices were to take things slowly and not plunge ahead. If it bothers you, I think it would be perfectly reasonable to adopt a middle ground where camp actions that seem like they should take a lot of time, like recovering from the exhausted condition, speed you to the end of the timers, but quicker actions only take a turn.
I feel like the consequences of camping are fine if the players know they’re on a timer. Perhaps like the manor break in. But with VoQoT they aren’t really aware the dangers hanging over them. So yeah that could be a rude awakening.
I think it could be an interesting to see adventurers not have the camp phase to lean on. Just a mad dash to the loot then out.
Is it important to keep the areas strictly seperate, the ‘dungeon’ and town? Like say they fail on escaping out the window, and the twist is the town guard stumbles upon the adventurers. Maybe a chase scene through the streets could be exciting. I suddenly feel a weird temptation to have tavern brawls lol. But I also know the players should be firmly in control mostly when in the town phase.
And just to clarify. You’re saying entering the town phase wouldn’t reset the Grind counter either?
Agreed. Letting the players know about the timer definitely changes things.
As for keeping things separate: You don’t need to keep locations distinct, but it is important to keep town adventure distinct from the town phase. A chase through a busy market is great. But you don’t want them stopping to shop in the middle of it, unless they’re ready to enter the town phase, roll for town events and tick off lifestyle costs.