1:1 Time Doesn't Make Sense, Is Unnecessary, Retarded And Adds Nothing

I've caught imbecilic snippets from the BrOSR cult before, but largely ignored them for two reasons (beyond their irrelevance). The first is that they are seemingly obsessed with 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a game that I've never played. The second is that I'd read a few pages of what I guess you could call the founder's book, Appendix N, and was confused how, despite pretending to be some sort of authority he apparently doesn't know how wizards typically acquired spells.

Besides intolerability one of their schticks is trying to convince people that they must play the game as interpreted (by them), which includes what can be accurately described as arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping. From what I've seen them write, this is where they believe that for each day that passes in "real life" a day also passes "in-game", even though in-game time can pass more quickly or slowly than in real life (for example, combat rounds where resolving everyone's action takes more than 1 minute).

I have also heard some state that the one-day thing is only out of game. So in-game time passes however quickly or slowly the DM desires, but once the game stops every day spent not playing advances the in-game calendar by a day, regardless of what the characters were doing or would want to have done during that time.

As a discerning gamer and designer, I already knew that arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping is moronic grifter-grade bullshit from the start, and when I caught this question from the Dying Breed Tabletop I felt compelled to comment:

I responded to DBT, stating that what he was doing not only wasn't bad, but unlike arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping it actually makes sense (and, in retrospect, is how everyone that I've observed play the game plays the game). With about as much intellectual capacity and integrity I'd expect a "Bro" to be capable of mustering, the aptly-named Brain Leakage attempted to counter with an at the least mischaracterized query:

Either forgetting or not caring that, unless he is running the game where, say, if the party takes a week to travel to a dungeon that they stop the game, go home, and agree to come back in a week (or otherwise return on whatever day the DM rolls a random encounter), option 1 is a fantasy game in the sense that it doesn't fucking exist. Because if you actually read the 1st Edition Dungeons Master's Guide it doesn't tell you to have one game day pass for every actual day, period, but merely recommends having a game day pass for every real day "when no play is happening".

DBT claimed that he was engaging in a false dichotomy fallacy, I pointed out that he was being disingenuous in (mis)framing his position in a pathetic attempt at some sort of "gotcha", and as of posting this Brain Leakage hasn't responded to either of us. 

One of the shortcomings for arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping that I would have assumed to be obvious isn't the fact that it's arbitrary (I just like to say that because grifter Bros like to pretend that it's not), but what happens to the characters should the controlling player be burdened with one or more jobs, more meaningful pursuits such as friends, family, and other various creative endeavors and forms of entertainment to occupy his time.

Only game once every other week? Once a month? Then that means your character is standing around in town doing nothing at all, for weeks or even months, all the while presumably pissing away money on various expenses. It doesn't matter if that's what your character would actually be doing, or if you had any time-sensitive goals: the PCs for no particular reason (mostly) stop, while the rest of the game world just keeps on keeping on.

It gets even stupider if you have to end the session for whatever reason and you're still in the dungeon. If you're blessed enough to consistently game once a week, that means you can look forward to your character standing there, doing fuckall whilst the DM generates a week's of "real time" random encounters and I guess "resolves" them without player input. Well, not quite a week, as you're likely to run out of light, food, and/or hit points much sooner than that.

For all the praise heaped upon it by desperate brosr grifters with all the intellect and temerity of a delusionally-devout Biden supporter I've yet to hear any actual benefit for such inane adherence to a mere recommendation that could not be similarly and more rationally realized by simply playing the game how normal-brained hobby enjoyers who aren't starved for attention and internet-grade authority have been playing for decades: 

Pause the fucking game and get back to it when you get back to it.

Nothing about this tried and true--and coherent--method prohibits one from tracking time, keeping records or informing the players about made up holidays that they probably won't remember even if they can even be bothered enough to care. Though if you aren't arbitrarily tracking 1:1 time the narrative art of fast-forwarding through the tedium would increase the frequency in which the players are exposed to various calendar events.

Characters could also age more quickly (or at all), meaning that those age modifiers might actually see some use. Well, for humans, anyway.

From what I can tell arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping is, like XP for gold and training to level up, a preposterous procedure mercifully consigned to 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (at least as a standard rule). After a brief stint with the Easy to Master black box 2nd Edition is where I really started slinging d20s, and while its Dungeon Master's Guide touches upon the topic of Timekeeping, it refrains from the absurd assertion that one must meticulously maintain records in a specific manner for a nonexclusive benefit.

Instead, it impartially explains the potential pros and cons of simple and strict timekeeping, ultimately leaving it up to the individual DM as to how precise he wants to be at any given point in time. A section in Detailed Timekeeping cautions you that as characters advance in level, the campaign world becomes bigger, and/or more players jump into the game "simple" timekeeping can cause issues. I could see this, but it doesn't try to convince you to resort to arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping.

There is also a section on calendars. Here it states that a calendar can add detail and flavor to the campaign. I agree that this can add to immersion as well as keep everything in order, but again it doesn't try to convince you that arbitrary kinda-sorta-but-not-really 1:1 timekeeping is necessary. In fact, it doesn't mention it at all. The closest you get is a recommendation for the "easiest method", which is to buy a pocket calendar and start the game on the current date, even though "the real calendar and the game calendar will get out of sync quickly".

It's been several years I think since the BrOdy bunch started disingenuously screaming their misinterpretations about 1:1 Timekeeping from the Twittertops, and I've yet to hear a single unique and useful byproduct stemming solely from its misuse. All of its supposed rewards can be reaped through standard play, you just won't have characters behaving irrationally after the players pack it in for the night.