D&D (2024) I have the DMG. AMA!

[Parmandur]

I'm sure most DMs will use an Earth-style calendar for simplicity's sake, but FR has long been D&D's flagship (if not "default") setting, and yet WotC continues to ignore the fact that it doesn't use a standard Earth calendar. I can't remember if it's SCAG or SKT or what, but one of their FR books even refers to "weeks" and the like. Ugh.

To be fair...even J. R. R. Tolkien drew the line at making up a new calendar.

 

[pukunui]

To be fair...even J. R. R. Tolkien drew the line at making up a new calendar.

All the more reason to throw out FR's tenday-based calendar along with the Wall of the Faithless and the like. I might just do that for the Phanbox game I'm working on for my family.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Bastion Turns. As time passes in the campaign, players take Bastion turns to reflect the activity occurring in their Bastions, whether or not the characters are present. On a Bastion turn, a character can issue orders to the special facilities in their Bastion or issue the Maintain order to the entire Bastion (see “Orders”).

Frequency of Bastion Turns. By default, a Bastion turn occurs every 7 days of in-game time. Here are common examples of players taking one or more Bastion turns: The characters are on a long journey away from their Bastions. After the characters have been away for 7 days, you might say, “Time for a Bastion turn. Since you’re not there, we’ll assume you issue the Maintain order for your Bastions.” Then roll for events as described in the “Bastion Events” section in this chapter. The characters spend 7 days or more in their Bastions between adventures. You might say, “You have six weeks to spend in your Bastions. Go ahead and resolve six Bastion turns.” The characters return to their Bastions in the midst of an adventure. You might say, “You have just enough time to take a Bastion turn before you leave again in the morning.”
The characters are adventuring near their Bastions and resting in their Bastions at night. You might say, “It’s been a week since your last Bastion turn, so you can take one now.” You can slow the frequency of Bastion turns to better serve the needs of your players and your campaign. For example, if the characters have months between adventures, you can call for a Bastion turn every month instead of every 7 days, so the characters aren’t issuing so many orders or reaping too many benefits at once.

Bastion Events. Immediately after a character issues the Maintain order to their Bastion, the DM rolls once on the Bastion Events table to determine what event, if any, befalls the Bastion before the next Bastion Turn. If an event occurs, the DM reads the event aloud to the player whose character controls that Bastion. (All the events are described in the sections following the table.) The event is resolved immediately, with the player and DM working together to expand story details as needed. If multiple characters issue the Maintain order on the same Bastion turn, roll once on the table for each of them, resolving each event separately even if the Bastions are combined. Bastion events occur only when a Bastion is operating under the Maintain order, which often means that the Bastion’s owner isn’t present in the Bastion at the time. That means these events can be opportunities for the player to take on the role of the Bastion’s hirelings and roleplay their reactions to these events. The DM can even turn a Bastion event into a cutscene where each player takes on the role of one of the Bastion’s hirelings (under the guidance of the player whose character owns the Bastion).

Interesting. I like that here they suggest varying the length of the bastion turn to suit the pacing of the campaign. (Only if they had done this with the rests too!) I also do not understand at all why they would write the rules so, that the interesting events occur at the bastion only when the characters are not there? Like why? What?

 

[pukunui]

Interesting. I like that here they suggest varying the length of the bastion turn to suit the pacing of the campaign. (Only if they had done this with the rests too!) I also do not understand at all why they would write the rules so, that the interesting events occur at the bastion only when the characters are not there? Like why? What?

Maybe because if the PCs are at home, you can just play out interesting events as regular encounters / adventures?

 

[pukunui]

The peasant rail gun has made it into the new DMG!

Rules Aren’t Physics. The rules of the game are meant to provide a fun game experience, not to describe the laws of physics in the worlds of D&D, let alone the real world. Don’t let players argue that a bucket brigade of ordinary people can accelerate a spear to light speed by all using the Ready action to pass the spear to the next person in line. The Ready action facilitates heroic action; it doesn’t define the physical limitations of what can happen in a 6-second combat round.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

There is definitely an assumption about days, weeks, and months in the game.

I did a "week" of downtime in a recent FR game, and I realized when I was done that I'd variously charged PCs for either 10-days or for 7-days, depending on what I was thinking at a given moment.

Sorry if you mentioned this already, are bastions assumed to be party controlled, individual player controlled or some way of mixing the two (the cleric controls the chapel attached to the fighter’s keep, etc)?

Quick Answer: Yes. Long Answer - they are individual player controlled, but the players can share a physical location for their bastions while controlling their own "sections" of the building. They are mechanically separate, but they could be the same place, story-wise.

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting. I like that here they suggest varying the length of the bastion turn to suit the pacing of the campaign. (Only if they had done this with the rests too!) I also do not understand at all why they would write the rules so, that the interesting events occur at the bastion only when the characters are not there? Like why? What?

It would seem to me that the point of the events is to provide thebDM story hooks. If the Paladin's butler gets Fridheee, it could generate a whole revenge plotline.

 

[TiQuinn]

Quick Answer: Yes. Long Answer - they are individual player controlled, but the players can share a physical location for their bastions while controlling their own "sections" of the building. They are mechanically separate, but they could be the same place, story-wise.

So the rogue’s illegal gambling den can be in the secret basement under the paladin’s church! Good to know!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

@FitzTheRuke

Does the DMG in the Greyhawk sections mention the Rhennee at all? Did they get dropped or updated?

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

So the rogue’s illegal gambling den can be in the secret basement under the paladin’s church! Good to know!

"It's the oldest established permanent floating..."