D&D General How Have Eclipses Been Used in your D&D?

[Minigiant]

Orc 1: "So we going to boil 'em or grill them?!?"
Shifter: Hop
Orc 2: "So, who we sending to the store for seasoning?"
Shifter: Hop
Orc 3: "Well, we're not sending Jim - he lost his last GP in that poker game when Mort cleared him out with an inside straight."

It actually became that as the orcs eventually started discussing the pros and cons of blocking out the Sun.

It somehow devolved into the orcs arguing about spinach and how it's un-orcy to eat green food no matter how hot drow vegetable chefs are.

 

[Laurefindel]

Not sure if I ever did.. maybe?

Now that I’ve seen a real total eclipse however…

 

[Incenjucar]

An eclipse was central to my campaign, as the big bad was the angry demigod offspring of the sun and moon deities, who not only wanted to create an eternal eclipse to rule with their undead army, but who also slammed two celestial planes together as its own "eclipse".

 

[ezo]

Now that I’ve seen a real total eclipse however…

You're lucky. Yesterday here was bright blue skies, not a single cloud. Today it was overcast and the clouds never broke. Was in the path for totality, had my tripod, camera, lens filter, and everything ready to go---never saw the sun or got a shot at all.

Other than it going virtually nighttime-dark, it was a very disappointing experience.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Of course, I'm pretty biased because it was a game I ran rather than a game I played, but the "masquerade ball murder mystery" adventure I had happened because the masquerade ball was specifically timed to happen during a solar eclipse. The eclipse wasn't as relevant to the players as the murder, but it still set the stage for the events (and everyone pausing for a long while during the day to look at the eclipse gave the murderer ample time to hide the body and almost successfully conceal the crime.

I'd say that was one of my most successful purely homebrewed adventures.

 

[Sulicius]

Did the PCs or the rest of the world know it was coming? Was the portal only there long enough for a one-way trip?

Of course! It was prophecized!

It was there for a brief moment, but no-one wants to enter the Underworld anyway.

 

[LordEntrails]

An eclipse was central to my campaign, as the big bad was the angry demigod offspring of the sun and moon deities, who not only wanted to create an eternal eclipse to rule with their undead army, but who also slammed two celestial planes together as its own "eclipse".

In your setting, did darkness give the undead any special powers? Were vampire-like (i.e. sunlight sensitivity) creatures common? Or did the demi-god just want it dark so that food and eventually all living things would die?

 

[jayoungr]

I ran an eclipse-based adventure over the weekend. I didn't have a lot of time to put it together, and I knew it was going to be a short session, so I made it super-simple. Monster emerges from local mountain and demands tribute from the local farmers every time there is an eclipse. PCs infiltrate the lair, kill monster, claim treasure. The group seemed to enjoy it, though, possibly because it was a nice palate-cleanser after the last adventure, which featured a good deal of investigation and intrigue.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I voted no, because the world had 2 suns and no moon. Can one sun really block out the other?

Yes! And in a typical binary system they do so rather regularly.

We had such an eclipse in my game a while ago. It was not a big deal, so I voted "uneventful" as it is not a rare thing in the setting. So basically the two suns eclipsing each other is considered holy, and has particular importance to the clergy of Khanda Aruna, the twin suns. So the characters were travelling at a desert when the eclipse occurred, and came upon a group of pilgrims who were praying during this sacred moment. However, a juvenile sand worm had also spotted the pilgrims and the characters. The characters noticed the shaking caused by the worm, but the pilgrims were too preoccupied with their holy ritual to detect this, let alone attempt to run to safety, so the characters had to save them.

The world also has three moons, so what I was thinking when there were all this talk about the eclipse, that in theory it would be possible for two of the moons to eclipse both of the suns at the same time, but that would have to be an incredibly rare occurrence.

 

[LesserThan]

Yes! And in a typical binary system they do so rather regularly.

But? You do not lose the suns light? I am confused.