I'm not entirely sure what you intend by your question.
If you mean how much time passes in real life...completely up to the DM and Party. All the "1d4" hours means is that if the party are on a schedule (eg, they have to get the McGuffin to McGyver before noon the next day), they will lose that amount of time. The other meaning is that if the DM sees fit to run another encounter within that time period, then that character will not participate.
Otherwise...it means pretty much nothing. Sometimes I'll run time in real time (usually while they're exploring a dungeon or something), other times I'll have weeks pass in seconds (usually if they're in down time). The in-game time passage has little to do with real time passage.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Time in D&D is a narrative device as much as anything else. I would suggest keeping a game calendar to track the days/months of in game time that has passed. Time can be very important in a short term for the reasons you gave, healing, short/long rest, spell effects etc... but that's generally localized to a specific play event. Once that event (such as a dungeon) is exited and that play event is over it's normal for you to wand wave / fast forward days as the characters are traveling or spending downtime in a town. It's completely up to you.
As a newbie, I am finding the biggest challenge is the freedom within the rules. I am used to boardgames, such as Gloomhaven, where everything is very prescribed.
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Hi
As a newbie, I am not sure how 'time' works.
For example, stable characters regain 1HP after 1d4 hours. How long is an 'hour' in gaming terms?
An hour is sixty minutes. A minute is sixty seconds. A combat round is six seconds.
An hour can take up a whole game night or a couple of seconds in real time based on what you want the players to be doing.
I'm not entirely sure what you intend by your question.
If you mean how much time passes in real life...completely up to the DM and Party. All the "1d4" hours means is that if the party are on a schedule (eg, they have to get the McGuffin to McGyver before noon the next day), they will lose that amount of time. The other meaning is that if the DM sees fit to run another encounter within that time period, then that character will not participate.
Otherwise...it means pretty much nothing. Sometimes I'll run time in real time (usually while they're exploring a dungeon or something), other times I'll have weeks pass in seconds (usually if they're in down time). The in-game time passage has little to do with real time passage.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Time in D&D is a narrative device as much as anything else. I would suggest keeping a game calendar to track the days/months of in game time that has passed. Time can be very important in a short term for the reasons you gave, healing, short/long rest, spell effects etc... but that's generally localized to a specific play event. Once that event (such as a dungeon) is exited and that play event is over it's normal for you to wand wave / fast forward days as the characters are traveling or spending downtime in a town. It's completely up to you.
Thanks everyone for your advice.
As a newbie, I am finding the biggest challenge is the freedom within the rules. I am used to boardgames, such as Gloomhaven, where everything is very prescribed.