Do you keep strict track of the date in your game world?

[jdrakeh]

Yes. I try to suspend disbelief as much as possible in games that I run and making sure that events in the world occur on an actual timeline and calendar is an easy way to achieve a level of verisimilitude that the players can actually interact with via their characters.

 

[ForceUser]

Just out of curiosity, those of you who use a game calandar: Do you use a made up one or do you base it on an actual 12 month/365 day year?

Hjorimir designed an impressive calendar for his game world that is tied directly to the mythology of his world. I'm in awe of both the effort and the product, actually (see attached for a small portion.) Me, I use the Gregorian calendar for my homebrew.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Up untila few weeks ago time wasn't something I ever tracked. Then I asked myself - when was the last time the party encountered winter? To my shame the answer was - never! Ugh. I can't believe I let myself become so lazy. I've prepared character folders now for everyone with a calander of the last 18 months of game time outlining important events the Pcs participated in.

I use the Scarred Lands calaender a player of mine found on the internet. It is simple and well layed out. Scarred Lands uses 3 8-day weeks with a 1 one day 'holiday' per month with 16 months to the year.

 

[Shemeska]

Generally speaking I gloss over strict keeping of dates and the passage of time.

 

[Solauren]

Date; Absolutely. We keep a plotline details campaign log.

In game time beyond rounds, no not really, unless there something time sensitive going on.

 

[Aaron L]

Weve always kept careful track of dates. Not as far as stating the exact date every session or anything, but tracking of time is very important. Or main campaign has lasted in real time for 13 years, and in game time for near 80 years, and time is important to us. The date that Twain Ironhelm, Dijin the thief, and the Summoner fought the battle of the Temple of Kovak is an important historical event in the world. The life of the Summoner has shaped the world, and many events in it have become legend and history. When the Summoner put on the Crown of Fire and was twisted by the evil god Firnoch, causing the Mountain of Power to erupt, is a day of sorrow remembered by all. The day Lord Whistlingwind became the paladin king of Ae'rea changed the face of the continent, and later when he was banished by his god Ae'ar and sought sanctuary in the duchy of Falcor, and when Falcor declared independance and became a kingdom decmating an army of paladins trying to invade the forested mountains of the ranger kingdom, are all important game events and game world historical events.

Dates and times are very important to our game and to handwave them would be a disservice to the historicisity(?!) of the world. I couldnt even concieve of not keeping careful record of them.

Its a credit to both the DM and the players of our game that it is so historical and has covered generations. We even ran a variant future game once, set a 1000 years in the future, playing characters that were descended from our original characters, but we didnt know who was descended from who. The DM decided during the course of play who was whos descendant, based upon classes, races, and character personalities. I ended up being descended from none of my original characters because of the personality, arrogance, and magical power of my character, and damn was it a blast.

 

[Maldin]

I keep a complex timeline that includes world events, DM-only secret events, and party actions/locations. My campaign world (Greyhawk) has had a continuous timeline since I started DMing in 1980, thus every party I've ever DM'ed (over 20 groups of 2 to 12 PCs per group, almost 30 players over the last 26 years) has been tracked on this same timeline, and had a prepared campaign world with a history that includes the actions of all my previous players. No adventure is ever run twice (although there have been occasions where one group visited a location years after another group had, and saw the aftermath). A PCs action can (and has) become legend for later groups. Some have sought out old, retired characters for information and advice. Some of the low-level groups even work for some of the high level groups. It all provides a rich, developed world, although sometimes it IS difficult to keep it all on track. Right now there are over a half dozen active groups, and it sometimes is difficult keeping them from jumping too far ahead (because one group's actions often interweave with what another group is doing).

Denis, aka "Maldin"
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Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Check out the ton of edition-independent material on my website, from new magic items and spells, new game mechanics, and loads of juicy Greyhawk goodness - ancient history (Kyuss, Twin Cataclysms, Isles of Woe), cities (Greyhawk, Irongate, Melkot), adventure locations and maps maps maps)..

 

[ThirdWizard]

Keeping track of all this requires a calander system, requires keeping track of what the current day is for the adventurers.

It really doesn't require it. You don't have to know that 25 days have passed to know a rumor has spread or that something has occured. I'm perfectly capable of going "It's been around three weeks or a month" instead and going from there.

Note that in my Planescape campaign seasons don't exist, every day is someone's religious holiday, and so on and so forth. Time of year doesn't matter so much. If it's winter somewhere, its most likely because a Power wishes it to be so (or an overzealous Druid).

And, I never ever write history before it happens. That's counter-productive to my DMing style of an open ended world.

 

[Li Shenron]

Mostly not, given the fact that I usually run small-scale adventures rather than one big plot, I have had no real need to keep track exactly.

There were a couple of exceptions for CotSQ and the Freeport series.

 

[Stormborn]

Just out of curiosity, those of you who use a game calandar: Do you use a made up one or do you base it on an actual 12 month/365 day year?

I used a 13 month Lunar Calander. The 1st of the month was always on the new moon.