| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Imrahil |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 15:11:46
I apologize in advance if this isn't the forum area for this question.
I was wondering if there was any place or anybody that had information or resources on "local time" in the realms.
What I mean is, for example, if it is noon in Ashabenford, what time is it in Loudwater. For lack of a better phrase, I'm looking for time zones. Its sort of nit-picky, but lately I've been reading about portals and realized that it could be important (maybe  ) |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Faraer |
Posted - 14 Jun 2006 : 19:18:23
Time zones are a modern invention that we can assume don't apply in the Realms. It would use solar time or mean solar time. |
| Imrahil |
Posted - 12 Jun 2006 : 01:29:14
All I wanted to know was what the relative difference in time between Ashabenford and Loudwater was... 
 j/k.
Thanks for all the information, chaps. It was just one of those things I was curious about, but you don't really think about it until it comes up in a campaign.
____
Player: Hey, I just passed through a portal from Hillsfar to Waterdeep. What time of day it is?
DM:  er...
____
Once again, thanks all.  |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 11 Jun 2006 : 13:27:55
Lol, then what we need to know now is this. Is the map of the realms we currently use a mercatur projection? I'm inclined to say no because we don't take in longitude and latitude when we measure distance. That being noted, then Faerun, the endless waste, and Karatur probably take up a large measure of the land mass that connects to the North Pole (unlike earth where both America and Asia have sizable links). |
| The Sage |
Posted - 11 Jun 2006 : 01:11:02
'Tis here:-
quote:
3.13. Does Toril have time zones?
From: Trent Raley
Toril
* Circumference = 23,400 approx
* 24 time zones
* Axial tilt is ~ 19-25 degrees
* Prime Meridian is Myth Drannor
* Other time zones are based on meridian lines of globe function in Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas (two per square).
* Time zones are 975 miles wide.
Nit-pick -- that is 975 miles wide at the equator of course. This will dwindle down to zero as you approach the poles.
And Bryon Wischstadt added:
You should have been a Luka's Bar during GenCon when we worked this out! (I took notes) :) Something Trent didn't mention (we're co-DMs) is that with gates transporting the user instantly (as ::ahem:: *most* do) we got to thinking about adding another bit of realism to the game. We wanted to know what time of day it was when the party arrived in their new destination halfway across Faerun. From the player's perspective, they step through a gate mid-morning and arrive at a place that is still dark... this is a nice cue to the players that they have moved quite a distance. (They don't know the destinations of the gates) As you can see it's quick and relatively simple--add 2 hrs per grid on the atlas--and you'll end up with something kinda cool from both the DM and players' perspectives. As Trent said "Hope this helps"... Enjoy!
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| Kaladorm |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 19:31:44
This was one of the first questions I ever asked on candlekeep (the scroll is probably around somewhere).
Someone gave me a link to the Candlekeep FAQ which has a mention of time in that respect |
| Kuje |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 17:57:19
Check the FR mailing list on the WOTC site..... a poster, awhile back, actually did the figures for time zones and posted them there. Or he still might be lurking here on Keep and he might notice this thread..... Or someone could go ask on the mailing list. I don't have a account there but I still read the threads.
To make it easy, here's the link to the mailing list.
http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/realms-l.html |
| The Sage |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 16:23:22
And here's a little from Ed on time keeping in the Realms -
"Time in the Realms is NEVER measured in “hours” or “minutes.” Short-term waits can be measured in “breaths” but in cities, temples, and monasteries, the equivalent of hours are so many “bells” (yes, a bell is rung) or “candles” (which do visibly burn down) from or to a measurable event, such as dawn/daybreak, dusk/nightfall, or noon (in the Realms, noon is “highsun”). Example: The tumult began three bells before nightfall.
“Midnight” is permissible usage, and “deepnight” is its ‘more Realmsian’ synonym.
When timing is important, Realms writers should work a reference to how many bells are struck in a day (“It was the task of Brother Blackhands to strike half of the twelve bells between dusk and dawn, with Sister Elphrana tolling the bells between—and another pair of the Devout handled the twelve bells of the bright hours.”) into the narrative to make it clear that a “bell” IS “an hour.”
In Tashluta and the Tashalar, Tharsult, and in some ports nearby, a “bell” (an hour) is called a “darmeth,” with the plural (hours) being “darmar.” As in: “It’ll be at least three darmar before he gets back.” or: “But that could take DARMAR, hrast it!” This usage seems to be spreading south.
In like manner, days in the realms are never referred to as “Monday,” “Tuesday,” or any real-world ‘weekday’ name. Most folk in the Realms refer to a particular day as thus far from “the first of Mirtul” or “the last of Eleint” or one of the annual festival days, or if they must be precise, will say something like “the first day of the first tenday of Ches.” If they were writing this date or speaking of it formally, it would become “1st Ches.”
Where we would say “a moment or two,” most humans in the Realms say “a breath or two”—and what we would call a minute is “a goodly breath or three.”
Dwarves tend to call the same span of time (actually, anything up to about three minutes) “but a little while,” whereas a halfling would call the same span of time “a long song.” To a halfling, a minute is “a tune,” and 10 minutes is “three long songs.” Most halflings tend to speak of longer time periods, within a day, in terms of how much the sun has progressed."
And a little more -
"And I may just take you up on that offer of running calculations! I must admit that in running the Realms, I’ve just used the “mental map” comparison of the continental United States silhouette Jeff Grubb put into the Old Gray Box versus the Sword Coast Heartlands, and applied the (politically distorted) time zone differential, because I “know without thinking” how many hours “behind” TSR in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and WotC in Renton, Washington, were from me in Ontario, Canada, and most of the portal jumps or teleports in the ‘home’ Realms have either been relatively short (from point to point within the Dales or within Cormyr, for instance), or between Cormyr or the Dales and Waterdeep or its immediate environs (often atop Maiden’s Tomb Tor)."
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| The Sage |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 16:20:27
Ed has said, in the past, that Toril's axis tilt and rotation is similar to that of Earth's. So time zone delineations in the Realms should be relatively similar.
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| Imrahil |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 15:45:05
quote:
Originally posted by Wandering_mage
I've run into that problem before too. Hmmm.... If I recall correctly I just kinda eyed the Map of the U.S. and the Map of Faerun and compared what I though might be logical. If any one has a more accurate answer I would be very interested in knowing the proper time charts and boundaries.
Yep, that's what I did, too. In my example of above, I kinda figured that Ashabenford was Eastern standard time and Loudwater was Mountain time, so two hours difference.
I don't know if its accurate, but it gave me something to work with. |
| Wandering_mage |
Posted - 10 Jun 2006 : 15:37:11
I've run into that problem before too. Hmmm.... If I recall correctly I just kinda eyed the Map of the U.S. and the Map of Faerun and compared what I though might be logical. If any one has a more accurate answer I would be very interested in knowing the proper time charts and boundaries. |
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