So you want to run a time loop
There's something enticing about a time loop story. It's a plot device that captures the imagination by fundamentally altering the flow of time and uncovering a wide variety of story options. It's only natural that after enjoying media like Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Majora's Mask, and Outer Wilds your GM mind gets to thinking "could it be done in a TTRPG?" Of course it can! My adventure, No Time For the Wicked, is proof.
So you want to run a time loop? Awesome, but before you do let's investigate the pros and cons of the format. Every choice the GM makes has tradeoffs: if you decide your game takes place in a gritty medieval setting there aren't going to be any spaceships (probably). The time loop adds some truly unhinged tradeoffs, and you should understand them before moving forward.
No consequences
The biggest tradeoff in a time loop is the removal of consequence. If time is going to reset no matter what, the PCs are suddenly empowered to experiment much more than when choices are permanent. On the other side of the screen, the GM doesn't have to make balanced encounters or worry about players going wildly off-base and messing up the narrative. This is the central joy of time loops in TTRPGs, and that space creates so many possibilities. No consequences also leads to all kinds of hilarity. Even your kindest players will be tempted by the siren call of their inner murderhobo. However, you might have noticed the huge red flag in everything I just said. No consequences means no tension, and no tension means no story.
To resuscitate your consequences, find places to add permanence back into the time loop. NPCs are great for this, if some of them are aware of the loop then their knowledge can help or hinder the party. They would also have opinions about what the PCs have done in previous loops. Another option is to add an element that persists or grows between loops. Let's say the party is stuck in a village that gets destroyed by a meteor every few days, followed by a time reset. When the party learns that the meteor starts a little closer every loop, they suddenly have a time limit again and know that they can't just endlessly mess around. Finally, you can add permanent changes to their character sheet. In No Time for the Wicked, while the party does effectively get a long rest on every loop, any damage they take that reduces their HP maximum persists.
Easier and harder
The next tradeoff is in the complexity of the planning. In a time loop story you get the luxury of knowing the exact scope and size of your possibility space. The players can't go to a city you haven't built out yet, or pursue a story hook you haven't developed because they literally won't have enough time! The downside is that you'll have to put extra effort into fleshing out and knowing that possibility space, because chances are your players will poke at every detail with their unlimited time. To accommodate the extra detail I recommend keeping the time loop story to a relatively small and contained space where you can feasibly track all the details. I also suggest creating a timeline of major events to help you track when certain things are supposed to repeat. You could even make detailed schedules for crucial NPCs. This applies to in-game improvisation as well. Knowing the exact possibility space makes improvisation much easier. However, to really allow for the experimental joy of a time loop you have to be ready to understand how the events of the loop might change based on the choices that your party makes.
What are we doing again?
The final tradeoff lies in setting goals and measuring progress. Being stuck in a time loop focuses the party's intentions in that the only goal that really matters is escaping and/or saving other people stuck in the loop. You can then build around that goal with the confidence that the party will pursue it. However, if time is constantly resetting, it's suddenly much harder to measure progress for both the GM and the players. One way to address this is to make the time loop a giant puzzle where the party has to perform specific actions to escape. This way, party knowledge is the progress metric. Another option is use the permanence mentioned a few paragraphs ago and make certain things persist between loops.
Next Steps
| Tradeoff | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| No consequences | Empowered players, wild experimentation, no need for balance | No tension, no story |
| Easier and harder | Exact scope of possibility space, easier improvisation | Extra effort in fleshing out possibility space, players will poke at every detail |
| What are we doing again? | Focused party intentions, clear goal | Harder to measure progress, time resets make it difficult to track |
None of this is to scare you away from creating a time loop adventure. Rather, I want you to understand the complexities of the genre so that you can take full advantage of its strengths while mitigating its weaknesses. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series where I explain how to actually go about crafting one of these beasts. If you want to be the first to read it, please sign up for my newsletter below.
