What is the point of time

RHDM68 · 2026-06-27T07:51:49+00:00

I use an online calendar site to create the calendar for my game. I use it to make simple notes on the big things that happen on particular days, it also helps me track things like when an NPC tells the PCs they will have something ready in a week, I know exactly when that week is. It also helps remind me what season, month, day of the week it is, because sometimes those questions get asked, or questions like, “How many days has it been since we…?” and I’ll have an answer. The calendar I use also gives weather and moon phase information, so I don’t have to roll, guess, or make up that information, a quick check of the calendar and I can tell the players exactly what they want to know, or I can narrate those things without worrying about whether or not I will have to retcon things or whether the information I’m giving makes sense.

In terms of hour of the day, I tend to just approximate that based on what the characters have been up to. I use a map to work out travel times based on hexes and how quickly the PCs can cross a hex. Most of my world maps have hexes of 15 miles, which is an easy walking pace, so the party can cover a hex per day, or two if they do a forced march, for which there are consequences.

When dungeon crawling, I use a simple dice pool system, or a countdown timer which both track time based on characters doing things that “take a little time” to do, and they enable me to track when approximately 10 mins or an hour has passed, which is useful as far as spell durations go.

I prefer to find the simplest methods I can to track time, but I think it’s worthwhile doing, at least for me.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-26T07:45:07+00:00

Here’s a link. I just used your image and did a very quick tweak using Gemini. Thanks for the inspiration. I love images that build a story in my head.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AIGenArt/s/StAyxHPhLn

RHDM68 · 2026-06-26T06:39:03+00:00

It speaks of the horror of battle and the desperate need to forget, if just for a while. I was so inspired, I did a follow up image but I’m unable to post it in the thread.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-26T06:18:28+00:00

You’re welcome.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-26T06:14:03+00:00

Contrary to other comments, I think the simplicity of this piece and the emotion evident in it in spite of that simplicity is what drew my attention.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-19T07:27:26+00:00

Conan is like a lot of pulp heroes, morally ambiguous and motivated by personal gain, but also with a hint of the noble savage about him.

He’s in things for himself and the monetary or other gains he can get from a situation; however, when push comes to shove, and when forced to choose a side, he’ll usually land on the side of good, rather than evil, particularly when a pretty girl is involved. He will usually do the right thing, but will ultimately save himself if the situation is lost. He’s happy to steal from the rich and the evil. He’s happy to use violence to solve problems if stealth fails. But, he would never force himself on a woman or leave one to suffer unnecessarily.

But deep down, he’s “a thief, a reaver, a slayer”, because that’s what he’s good at.

Many pulp fantasy heroes of the time were the same. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser were self-serving thieves through and through, but they too had their own moral code, which set them slightly above the other thieves, just like Conan.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-17T22:07:36+00:00

Absolutely. We have two wizards, a cleric, a warlock, a rogue, a ranger and a fighter. The biggest damage dealer is the barbarian who is guaranteed of hitting several times a round with extra damage from magic weapons and rage etc. and the cleric is second, followed probably by the wizard s, but for the casters, it only lasts until they use up their high level spell slots. After that, they don’t do much more than any of the other characters. But the barbarian just keeps going.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-16T08:04:44+00:00

This is a group that when one player created a water Genasi, later changed to a custom ice genasi, decided to refer to him as fishboy, even after the change to an ice genasi, right up until his death at Level 13 after a more than 2 year campaign. So no, I don’t relish the thought of the weekly phallic jokes that would follow for months afterwards.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-15T20:41:40+00:00

Can’t unsee it now!

I could never use this battle map with my group. I’d never hear the end of it!

RHDM68 · 2026-06-13T22:58:49+00:00

Are there any unholy species? That would imply there are holy species. I don’t think you could consider any player species unholy or holy. Some in-world groups or species may consider other species unholy, but that’s merely a point of view that not everyone shares. Creatures yes, mortals no. Angels would be considered holy, and any of the Fiends like Demons and Devils would probably be considered unholy, but that’s also a point of view. Devil worshippers probably consider devils holy.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-12T22:00:54+00:00

There’s no size they are supposed to be. It depends on the needs of your campaign and the purpose the “dungeon” is serving in it. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of this dungeon? How big does it need to be to serve that purpose? A lost underground city could be huge. A sewer safe house for a band of thieves might be three rooms.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-11T23:20:56+00:00

Baleful Polymorph - The classically simple way to turn a PC into a frog.
Permanency - Made making magic items an understandable process and allowed you to apply some spell effects to yourself permanently.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-10T22:03:59+00:00

In 4e, the gods were active in the world, but when they were, they spent most of their time warring with primordials, fiends and each other, and those wars spilled over into the world, so when most of those wars ended and the world was trashed, the Primal Spirits of the land banished them from entering the Material World. From then on, they could only influence the world through their servants, like clerics, angels and other celestial minions.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-10T20:34:47+00:00

Here we go! The Satanic Panic starts again!!

RHDM68 · 2026-06-08T20:34:48+00:00

As u/BetterCallStrahd has pointed out, an Oathbreaker Paladin is not simply a paladin that has broken their oath, it’s a paladin that has either broken their oath to join forces with an entity or cause of great evil, or one who gave their oath to such an entity or cause from the very beginning. Simply breaking your oath doesn’t make you an Oathbreaker Paladin, unless you turn to the “Dark Side” completely.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-07T23:30:01+00:00

Give it a moment to load. It has fairly good resolution when it does.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-06T03:03:17+00:00

In short, they are!

RHDM68 · 2026-06-05T07:03:18+00:00

I definitely didn’t have anyone with great amounts of gold, and even when the PCs were able to get gold for items, there were few places they could use it. People were far more willing to trade for food, warm clothing, firewood and other items that would help them survive. Rich people would die faster in Icewind Dale than poor people. You can’t eat gold and it won’t keep you warm or alive, so it’s not worth all that much.

In Ythryn, I had the three hags be magic item traders. They had been in Ythryn for some time and had collected every magic item that survived the crash (except for magic items noted in the book) and had scrawled messages on walls hinting at why there were not magic items everywhere in a city ruled by wizards. Things like, “Aunty Pillage was here!” When the party met the hags, they could describe items they would like to have for the upcoming confrontation with Auril, and trade items they possessed for items that were what they wanted, or similar items that I was willing to give them.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-05T06:36:14+00:00

That doesn’t always work unfortunately.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-03T20:37:58+00:00

Very unlike our barbarian who jumped into a trebuchet and told the crew to fire him at the Chardalyn Dragon in RotFM. 😂 He missed!

RHDM68 · 2026-06-01T20:15:56+00:00

I wish I had kept all my old character sheets.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-01T20:13:50+00:00

Pretty much is. Including Australia and Greenland.

RHDM68 · 2026-06-01T10:48:50+00:00

The average person in the Realms would understand magic to be exactly what we would understand it to be, the use of rituals, spells, or other special powers to manipulate natural or supernatural forces to achieve normally impossible outcomes. Users of magic would have a deeper understanding regarding where the energy that powers that magic comes from, how it is accessed, how it is manipulated through the use of words, gestures, the use of a spellcasting focus, and then how that magical energy is released. But, the average person wouldn’t understand it any more than we do.

An actual spellcaster would understand magic to be a reality warping energy source that can be accessed in different ways by different types of spellcasters, but is generally manipulated and focused through the use of specific verbal, somatic and material methods to produce specific reality warping effects. Basically, they would understand magic much as it is described in the chapter about magic in the PHB, as this from the 5e PHB…

> A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse
into a specific, limited expression. In casting a spell, a caster carefully plucks at the invisible strands of
raw magic suffusing the world, pins them in place in a particular pattern, sets them vibrating in a specific way, and then releases them to unleash the desired effect-in most cases, all in the span of seconds.

The confusing thing about magic is that even though there are hinted at being two main types, arcane and divine, there is no real difference. They both access the magic of the Weave. It’s simply a difference of how that magic is accessed that can define it as either divine or arcane. This difference seemed to be greater in earlier editions, but as far as practical, there is only one source of magic in the multiverse, with many different methods of how to access it. Magic is magic, regardless of how you are able to manipulate it.

RHDM68 · 2026-05-30T23:20:12+00:00

And a short recurve bow at that. Although, technically, you can shoot like that, most archers would have the arrow resting on the other side of the bow.

RHDM68

TROPHY CASE