Do you track the date? The phases of the moon? The weather? Holidays?

[howandwhy99]

I track combat Rounds, dungeon exploration Turns, hours of the day, days, weeks, months, and years, etc. Phases of the moon too, but that's easy really.

Most of this can fit on a calendar. It's not that hard.

I find using words closer to their commonly understood definitions is the best way to allow players to deal with time in game. "Ballthwacks" being 7.41 "Dwacks" of a "Quar", but only every 11th "Nardents" is an easy way to way to put off players.

But... if that's what they want, if that's what they came up with, then I'll make it as easy for me as possible. Again, calendars aren't hard to make or follow.

 

[Crothian]

I track it all. I just keep track of it on paper, old school like.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I put together a calander many moons ago, which I always use. 13 months of four 7 day weeks each (364 days), with the four phases of the moon coming 'round each Moonday. Most holidays fall on the full or new moon. (I like to keep things simple.) Weather is generated by a chart I put together, which accounts for the seasons, although I don't always bother with it. And I assume that there will be little adventuring done during winter.

 

[Chris Knapp]

In my campaigns (usually Dragonlance) we track all 3, especially the moons as Wizards of High Sorcery have power fluctuations based upon the lunar cycles. And its not just 1 moon, but 3, and when they align extra benefits happen. Makes for messy housekeeping but its part of the setting we love.

Weather I also track since the players tend to like that kind of stuff and they take feats or skills that play towards that kind of environmental adventuring.

Time & dates we usually track, only because it seems we always have some kind of deadline looming.

 

[S'mon]

I follow Gygax's advice in the 1e DMG to track campaign time; this may involve tracking festival dates if I have a world calendar; at the least I'll typically have winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice and autumn equinox festivals. Weather by contrast is ad hoc/dramatic, not tracked/pregenerated, likewise for phases of the moon, unless the lunar month equates to a calendar month.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I print out a calendar, and write events into the dates.

My homebrew has a year of 13 months, with 13 signs to the zodiac. One day a year is given over to God, and does not count as part of the year. Some faiths celebrate that day as midsummer, others as midwinter. The older faiths celebrated it on the vernal equinox.

Weeks and months are determined by the moon, each month has 28 days, starting at the new moon.

Celebrations on the solstice, equinox, and the cross quarter points, though the dates have wandered a bit on the current calendar. Still around the same time of year, but not always on the original days.

The Auld Grump, and a few places still follow the old ways, remembering Perkun, Ashtar, or the like.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I used to had created whole calender for Glorantha. Well, there it felt more relevant.

I still track some seasonal festivals etc. but that's about it. And some timed event astronomical moments "where stars are right".

 

[haakon1]

I follow Gygax's advice in the 1e DMG to track campaign time; this may involve tracking festival dates if I have a world calendar; at the least I'll typically have winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice and autumn equinox festivals. Weather by contrast is ad hoc/dramatic, not tracked/pregenerated, likewise for phases of the moon, unless the lunar month equates to a calendar month.

I'm similar.

- Dates: I track the date and time, continuously. I use a normal Gregorian calendar for this, even though I play in Greyhawk. Just easier, I think.

- Weather: I track this whenever PC's are outdoor, by random determination for the day with 2d10's.

---- The first is the "stormometer" -- higher rolls means precipitation/storminess, lower rolls means blue skies.

---- The second is the temperature. Actual outcomes are related to the previous day's weather, the time of year, and the terrain.

---- So if it was overcast and windy on the previous day, and your in the mountains in Fall, and a I roll a 10 for storminess and 1 for temperature, oh boy, mountain blizzard! But if you were in a plain in the summer, the same dice results would be huge thunderstorm, spinning off some funnel clouds.

- Moon Phases: I don't track this, unless the plot involves lycanthropes, in which case -- whaddya know, the full moon is coming soon!

- Equinox, Solstice, and Time of Sunset/Sunrise: I make holidays of the equinoxes and solstices.

I make daylight much longer in the summer than in the winter (e.g., 4 am to 8 pm near the summer solstice, 8 am to 4 pm near winter solstice, semi-close to how it actually is in Seattle where I live, and simple to use -- with no Daylight Savings Time, of course.) The Daylight hours are important for travel and for clerics who regain spells at dawn (like clerics of Pelor).

 

[NiTessine]

I just keep track of the dates, using the Golarion calendar from the Inner Sea World Guide and note down the dates of each session on the session's page in our campaign wiki. It's occasionally relevant if the party's allies suddenly decide to have a religious festival or the monsoon season begins.

 

[Aramax]

I have trouble keeping track what YEAR it is let alone the day!
So I gotta say'Hell No!'