pdzoch
Explorer
I made a time tracker to help keep track of turns, minutes, hours, and daylight in my D&D game. The design also allows me to keep track of when spell effects end.
Features:
The outer track keeps track of the rounds in combat. I use a miniature to mark the combat round. I also use colored rings (or other marker) to indicate the ending of spells effects. As I move the miniature into the combat round, the spell effects markers are policed up and spells effects end in game.
The middle track keeps track of the minutes in an hour. I use cribbage pegs to indicate the minutes passed.
The inner track keeps track of the hours in a day. I use cribbage pegs to indicate the hour of the day.
The center disk is divided into day and night to indicate daylight of the hours. The dawn and dusk hours are aligned with 6 o’clock, while high noon and midnight are aligned with 12 o’clock.
How to build:
Purchased a round disk wooden disk, the kind usually premade for a craft made clock, from a local crafts store. The one I used is a 7” diameter wooden disk.
Establish a reference line which will be your line between rounds 1 and 10, the 60 minute mark, and the 12 noon mark. These points will align under each other.
Using a protractor, measure off 10 rounds along the edge, every 36 degrees from your reference line. (360 degrees of a circle divided by 10 rounds makes 36 degrees per round along the circle. D&D uses 10 rounds per minute. If your game uses another system, just divide 360 by the number of rounds it takes to make a minute in your game). I made my round track 1” wide to make room for my miniature base.
To make the minute track, I used a compass to draw a reference circle 1 ½” from the edge. Use the protractor to mark off the minutes every 6 degrees from the reference line along your minute reference circle.
To make the hour track, use a compass to make a reference circle 2” from the edge (1/2” from your minute circle). Use a protractor to mark off the hours every 15 degrees from the reference line along your hour circle. This will make holes for the 24 hours.
Cribbage peg holes are 1/8” in diameter. Using a drill or Dremmel, drill 1/8” holes at each minute and hour mark.
Number and Decorate:
Paint and decorate to taste. Paint the daylight disk as desired. Numbering the rounds is not necessary. Numbering all the minutes will clutter the dial, so I recommend labeling the minutes by fives. Remember to begin numbering from your reference line, which is 12 on the hour track, and 60 on the minute track. 1 will be the next hole clockwise. I used freehand and paint markers to number the timer, but decals would have made a much cleaner look. However, if you opt to use decals or other fixture, adjust your spacing between the tracks to allow for room for the decals.
I hand painted mine as shown, which makes for less than perfect circles. I think a wood stain would have also looked very nice, but I wanted to add some color. Protect paint with a coating of clear coat or varnish.
Features:
The outer track keeps track of the rounds in combat. I use a miniature to mark the combat round. I also use colored rings (or other marker) to indicate the ending of spells effects. As I move the miniature into the combat round, the spell effects markers are policed up and spells effects end in game.
The middle track keeps track of the minutes in an hour. I use cribbage pegs to indicate the minutes passed.
The inner track keeps track of the hours in a day. I use cribbage pegs to indicate the hour of the day.
The center disk is divided into day and night to indicate daylight of the hours. The dawn and dusk hours are aligned with 6 o’clock, while high noon and midnight are aligned with 12 o’clock.
How to build:
Purchased a round disk wooden disk, the kind usually premade for a craft made clock, from a local crafts store. The one I used is a 7” diameter wooden disk.
Establish a reference line which will be your line between rounds 1 and 10, the 60 minute mark, and the 12 noon mark. These points will align under each other.
Using a protractor, measure off 10 rounds along the edge, every 36 degrees from your reference line. (360 degrees of a circle divided by 10 rounds makes 36 degrees per round along the circle. D&D uses 10 rounds per minute. If your game uses another system, just divide 360 by the number of rounds it takes to make a minute in your game). I made my round track 1” wide to make room for my miniature base.
To make the minute track, I used a compass to draw a reference circle 1 ½” from the edge. Use the protractor to mark off the minutes every 6 degrees from the reference line along your minute reference circle.
To make the hour track, use a compass to make a reference circle 2” from the edge (1/2” from your minute circle). Use a protractor to mark off the hours every 15 degrees from the reference line along your hour circle. This will make holes for the 24 hours.
Cribbage peg holes are 1/8” in diameter. Using a drill or Dremmel, drill 1/8” holes at each minute and hour mark.
Number and Decorate:
Paint and decorate to taste. Paint the daylight disk as desired. Numbering the rounds is not necessary. Numbering all the minutes will clutter the dial, so I recommend labeling the minutes by fives. Remember to begin numbering from your reference line, which is 12 on the hour track, and 60 on the minute track. 1 will be the next hole clockwise. I used freehand and paint markers to number the timer, but decals would have made a much cleaner look. However, if you opt to use decals or other fixture, adjust your spacing between the tracks to allow for room for the decals.
I hand painted mine as shown, which makes for less than perfect circles. I think a wood stain would have also looked very nice, but I wanted to add some color. Protect paint with a coating of clear coat or varnish.
