Current date in the Forgotten Realms? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Current date in the Forgotten Realms? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
420
08-24-06, 02:43 PM Whoops, looks like I posted to the "old" D&D forums, so I'll quote my post here in the new goodness!

I seem to remember the Forgotten Realms page having a "Current Date in the Realms" display but now I can't find it. Can anyone tell me how to calculate the current date in the Forgotten Realms Campaign world?

At the time Lost Empire of Faerūn was published, the current year in the Realms was 1374 The Year of Lightning Storms. I'm looking for a specific day/month/year or a way to calculate it based on the real day/month/year.

I can't find it now, but I believe the FRCS mentioned something about how time passed in the Realms compared to real time, like 2 months real time was a week in the Realms or something like that.

Thanks,
420
primemover003
08-24-06, 03:20 PM I just finished reading Blackstaff and it was shortly after the Feast of the Moon 1374DR by the end.
Pystian
08-24-06, 10:50 PM I'm not sure of the exact time, but I think it was a 2:5 ratio. As in, 2 months in Faerun won't pass until 5 months in the "real world" do.
Undying_Councillor
08-25-06, 05:11 AM Page 260 of the FRCS has a side-bar entitled "Advancing the years". It calculates five months "real-world" to every Faerun two months, so a 2:5 ratio is correct.
Faraer
08-25-06, 06:59 AM And although at one point Rich Baker said that scheme had been abandoned, in practice it seems to have been kept to (2001–6: 1372–4).
Demetrios
08-25-06, 02:12 PM And although at one point Rich Baker said that scheme had been abandoned, in practice it seems to have been kept to (2001–6: 1372–4).

The 2:5 ratio has been abandoned in its most strict form, but it's still a reasonable guideline, aparently...
Dexter_Blacktyde
08-28-06, 03:41 PM Shame, though. Time positively crawls in the Realms, forcing the players to set their campaign's starting date in the far past. You just can't start around the official current date because after a few sessions you'd be way ahead of the official timeline, thereby risking to contradict what might be released later on. Many of you seem to play like this. How do you manage to not stop and wait for the official timeline to catch up? (Of course all this goes only for those loyal to the party line.)

I prefer how DSA, a german RPG, handles this: Time flies twice as fast in the setting, giving gamers much needed leeway and enabling them to keep up to date.

DB
420
08-28-06, 07:49 PM Page 260 of the FRCS has a side-bar entitled "Advancing the years". It calculates five months "real-world" to every Faerun two months, so a 2:5 ratio is correct.
Ah thank you, that is the information I remember seeing. For some crazy reason I expected to find it on page 76 under "Time and Seasons"... go figure.

I'll use the 2:5 ratio even though it isn't necessarily used now. This is for a Neverwinter Nights persistant world server and I just needed an easy calculation to display the current date in the realms base on the current real-world date (instead of always being 1372 after a server restart).

-420
Zargain
08-29-06, 01:59 AM You just can't start around the official current date because after a few sessions you'd be way ahead of the official timeline, thereby risking to contradict what might be released later on. Many of you seem to play like this. How do you manage to not stop and wait for the official timeline to catch up? (Of course all this goes only for those loyal to the party line.)
It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world.

The problem with running a game that starts before the "official start date" is that anyone with the same books knows what is going to happen, or worse, they might do something that ruins a point in the timeline. (Like perhaps somehow destroying Iyachtu Xvim before Bane is reborn... that would realy mess with things... and you can't just take away their accomplishment either since then you're cheating the players out of something they worked hard for.)
420
08-29-06, 02:16 AM It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world.
Good point, it doesn't seem like time should pass in your PnP campaign if your group took some time off or played for virtual months/years. Which is probably the reason the strict timekeeping method was abandoned.

-420
Dexter_Blacktyde
08-29-06, 12:46 PM It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world.
That goes without saying. I've changed pretty much anyway, and I will keep changing what I don't like. But what I don't care for is hurrying ahead of the timeline, watching WotC release a fluff book and realizing that they've come up with a great idea - that I'm already contradicting. I mean, if nobody cared enough about canon and left the timeline behind, there'd be no canon anymore, right? ;)

The problem with running a game that starts before the "official start date" is that anyone with the same books knows what is going to happen
Fortunately I'm blessed with a group in which I'm the only one with access to the lore. (The group wouldn't want it any other way: Nothing beats getting surprised by a most unexpected turn of events.) We started the current campaign at 1365 DR in 2001. Now in 2006, the campaign year is 1370 DR. So in five years of playing roughly five years of campaign time have passed, and that's only because we had some lengthy dry spells because of one of us becoming a father, one of us working in a foreign country, and so on. Considering our usual style of play, under ideal circumstances we easily could have reached 1374 DR by now.

In comparison, the timeline of the RPG I mentioned earlier would have been advanced ten years, giving the DM an ample selection of events from which to choose the ones he wants to address in detail. Knowing about an event way ahead of time allows you to prepare your campaign, foreshadow and build up said event. The more you know about where you're heading, the more complexity you can invest your campaign with.

It doesn't help that all the time threads pop up in which the OP has to ask what the current year is and the others quote novels which take place in this or that year and reason the current year must be 13xx. A "current clack" section on the WotC site which shows the current point in the timeline and lists recent events would be greatly appreciated, but I guess WotC fears this could hurt the sales of the novels. Many read them just to catch up on what's happening anyway. Oh well...

DB
420
08-30-06, 12:13 PM A "current clack" section on the WotC site which shows the current point in the timeline and lists recent events would be greatly appreciated, but I guess WotC fears this could hurt the sales of the novels.
Actually, WotC used to have a "Today's Date in the Realms" display on their Forgotten Realms page. It disappeared a few years back.

-420
The Ubbergeek
09-02-06, 07:28 PM Note, it's not just D&D... Time pass in Shadowrun, by example... Current edition; 2070 (if I remember well), and the last books of the edition before stopped at 2064, or so.
Dexter_Blacktyde
09-03-06, 11:19 AM Yes, but before the leap to 2070, SR time roughly corresponded to real time. One year in real time meant more or less one year in SR.

DB

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
420 08-24-06, 02:43 PM	Whoops, looks like I posted to the "old" D&D forums, so I'll quote my post here in the new goodness! I seem to remember the Forgotten Realms page having a "Current Date in the Realms" display but now I can't find it. Can anyone tell me how to calculate the current date in the Forgotten Realms Campaign world? At the time Lost Empire of Faerūn was published, the current year in the Realms was 1374 The Year of Lightning Storms. I'm looking for a specific day/month/year or a way to calculate it based on the real day/month/year. I can't find it now, but I believe the FRCS mentioned something about how time passed in the Realms compared to real time, like 2 months real time was a week in the Realms or something like that. Thanks, 420
primemover003 08-24-06, 03:20 PM	I just finished reading Blackstaff and it was shortly after the Feast of the Moon 1374DR by the end.
Pystian 08-24-06, 10:50 PM	I'm not sure of the exact time, but I think it was a 2:5 ratio. As in, 2 months in Faerun won't pass until 5 months in the "real world" do.
Undying_Councillor 08-25-06, 05:11 AM	Page 260 of the FRCS has a side-bar entitled "Advancing the years". It calculates five months "real-world" to every Faerun two months, so a 2:5 ratio is correct.
Faraer 08-25-06, 06:59 AM	And although at one point Rich Baker said that scheme had been abandoned, in practice it seems to have been kept to (2001–6: 1372–4).
Demetrios 08-25-06, 02:12 PM	And although at one point Rich Baker said that scheme had been abandoned, in practice it seems to have been kept to (2001–6: 1372–4). The 2:5 ratio has been abandoned in its most strict form, but it's still a reasonable guideline, aparently...
Dexter_Blacktyde 08-28-06, 03:41 PM	Shame, though. Time positively crawls in the Realms, forcing the players to set their campaign's starting date in the far past. You just can't start around the official current date because after a few sessions you'd be way ahead of the official timeline, thereby risking to contradict what might be released later on. Many of you seem to play like this. How do you manage to not stop and wait for the official timeline to catch up? (Of course all this goes only for those loyal to the party line.) I prefer how DSA, a german RPG, handles this: Time flies twice as fast in the setting, giving gamers much needed leeway and enabling them to keep up to date. DB
420 08-28-06, 07:49 PM	Page 260 of the FRCS has a side-bar entitled "Advancing the years". It calculates five months "real-world" to every Faerun two months, so a 2:5 ratio is correct. Ah thank you, that is the information I remember seeing. For some crazy reason I expected to find it on page 76 under "Time and Seasons"... go figure. I'll use the 2:5 ratio even though it isn't necessarily used now. This is for a Neverwinter Nights persistant world server and I just needed an easy calculation to display the current date in the realms base on the current real-world date (instead of always being 1372 after a server restart). -420
Zargain 08-29-06, 01:59 AM	You just can't start around the official current date because after a few sessions you'd be way ahead of the official timeline, thereby risking to contradict what might be released later on. Many of you seem to play like this. How do you manage to not stop and wait for the official timeline to catch up? (Of course all this goes only for those loyal to the party line.) It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world. The problem with running a game that starts before the "official start date" is that anyone with the same books knows what is going to happen, or worse, they might do something that ruins a point in the timeline. (Like perhaps somehow destroying Iyachtu Xvim before Bane is reborn... that would realy mess with things... and you can't just take away their accomplishment either since then you're cheating the players out of something they worked hard for.)
420 08-29-06, 02:16 AM	It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world. Good point, it doesn't seem like time should pass in your PnP campaign if your group took some time off or played for virtual months/years. Which is probably the reason the strict timekeeping method was abandoned. -420
Dexter_Blacktyde 08-29-06, 12:46 PM	It's your realms, have whatever you want to happen just happen. No one said you have to follow official cannon completely, especially when you're already in the midst of the campaign and some new material comes out with events that would have already happened in the campaign world. That goes without saying. I've changed pretty much anyway, and I will keep changing what I don't like. But what I don't care for is hurrying ahead of the timeline, watching WotC release a fluff book and realizing that they've come up with a great idea - that I'm already contradicting. I mean, if nobody cared enough about canon and left the timeline behind, there'd be no canon anymore, right? ;) The problem with running a game that starts before the "official start date" is that anyone with the same books knows what is going to happen Fortunately I'm blessed with a group in which I'm the only one with access to the lore. (The group wouldn't want it any other way: Nothing beats getting surprised by a most unexpected turn of events.) We started the current campaign at 1365 DR in 2001. Now in 2006, the campaign year is 1370 DR. So in five years of playing roughly five years of campaign time have passed, and that's only because we had some lengthy dry spells because of one of us becoming a father, one of us working in a foreign country, and so on. Considering our usual style of play, under ideal circumstances we easily could have reached 1374 DR by now. In comparison, the timeline of the RPG I mentioned earlier would have been advanced ten years, giving the DM an ample selection of events from which to choose the ones he wants to address in detail. Knowing about an event way ahead of time allows you to prepare your campaign, foreshadow and build up said event. The more you know about where you're heading, the more complexity you can invest your campaign with. It doesn't help that all the time threads pop up in which the OP has to ask what the current year is and the others quote novels which take place in this or that year and reason the current year must be 13xx. A "current clack" section on the WotC site which shows the current point in the timeline and lists recent events would be greatly appreciated, but I guess WotC fears this could hurt the sales of the novels. Many read them just to catch up on what's happening anyway. Oh well... DB
420 08-30-06, 12:13 PM	A "current clack" section on the WotC site which shows the current point in the timeline and lists recent events would be greatly appreciated, but I guess WotC fears this could hurt the sales of the novels. Actually, WotC used to have a "Today's Date in the Realms" display on their Forgotten Realms page. It disappeared a few years back. -420
The Ubbergeek 09-02-06, 07:28 PM	Note, it's not just D&D... Time pass in Shadowrun, by example... Current edition; 2070 (if I remember well), and the last books of the edition before stopped at 2064, or so.
Dexter_Blacktyde 09-03-06, 11:19 AM	Yes, but before the leap to 2070, SR time roughly corresponded to real time. One year in real time meant more or less one year in SR. DB