A Question of Time

[Jeremy16]

I have a simple question, with maybe a not so simple answer – what time is the “present” in Ravenloft?

I always believed time passed equally in Ravenloft and the real world, i.e. since the Realm of Terror / Black Box states the year as 735 BC then 1990 (the year it was released in our world) is the starting point of the timeline in Ravenloft (at least in regards for adventures to begin taking place).

Anyone confused yet? Basically what I'm trying to say is 735 BC = 1990. So if we assume time passes equally (one year for one year) then the new present day in Ravenloft is 769 BC (1990 + 34 years = 2024). At least, this is the standard I use when creating NPCs and try to fit them into the campaign setting*.

However, if you go by the in-game timeline, the last official datel I am aware of (if anyone knows better, please correct me) is from the Doomsday Gazetteers that were published between 2002 and 2004. “S” states in the introduction to the first one that it has been 5 years since the Requiem in Darkon, an event that took place in 750 BC.

That blows up my equal increments theory because 2002 should equal 747 BC. But, let's just say that the cataclysmic event that precipitated the changeover form 2nd to 3rd edition shifted the timeline forward just to save our collective brains from exploding...

So, this newly reset starting date of 2002 (the year the first Gazetteer was published in our world) would equal 755 BC in Ravenloft. Following my equal increments rule, that would make 2024 = 777 BC. If we go by that accounting, the time of Unparalleled Darkness has already come to pass!

So which year is correct?

(And the first person to respond “time is relative” gets slapped with rotten fish!)

* I'm talking about 3rd edition Ravenloft, not the 5th edition since time is basically meaningless in the new version.

[IanFordam]

I assume that the timeline stopped advancing in step with the real world after Gaz V was published. I use 760BC as the modern day just to give myself a couple of years' wiggle room.

Also, time is relative.

*ducks rotten fish slaps*

[Jeremy16]

I assume that the timeline stopped advancing in step with the real world after Gaz V was published. I use 760BC as the modern day just to give myself a couple of years' wiggle room.

Also, time is relative.

*ducks rotten fish slaps*

Alright, you asked for it... THWAAACCKKKKK!

[Pizza]

So two things:

About 20 years ago I read a good argument that Spider-Man was about 27 even though he had been around 50 real world years, and while the guy had some good arguments based on when Peter graduated high school, college, and dropped out of grad school, to a large degree it came down to he feels older than this and younger than this.

Second, there’s a comic strip called Blondie in which someone pointed out the neighbor kid who was around 13 or so when Dagwood started dating Blondie is still 13 or so even though Dagwood and Blondie’s kids are now adults. He doesn’t age because his purpose is to be the neighbor kid. Or you know how everyone on The Simpsons has never aged, and when some canonical event dividing things into a before and after happen it sort of feels weird because while a tertiary character long time viewers care enough to want there to always be a Maude Flanders because that role now establishes needs to be filled.

All of which is not to say time is relative. It is to say time passes as it needs to for the sake of the story. If the happened or was averted the time should be after it. It is also equally valid to have it still be a future event with the present day being earlier. In either case the “present day” is what it is because that is when it needs to be.

[alhoon]

For some decades, under TSR, one real-time year was two years in Ravenloft. Which eventually ended wth many NPCs growing too old too quick.

[Jeremy16]

So two things:

About 20 years ago I read a good argument that Spider-Man was about 27 even though he had been around 50 real world years, and while the guy had some good arguments based on when Peter graduated high school, college, and dropped out of grad school, to a large degree it came down to he feels older than this and younger than this.

Second, there’s a comic strip called Blondie in which someone pointed out the neighbor kid who was around 13 or so when Dagwood started dating Blondie is still 13 or so even though Dagwood and Blondie’s kids are now adults. He doesn’t age because his purpose is to be the neighbor kid. Or you know how everyone on The Simpsons has never aged, and when some canonical event dividing things into a before and after happen it sort of feels weird because while a tertiary character long time viewers care enough to want there to always be a Maude Flanders because that role now establishes needs to be filled.

All of which is not to say time is relative. It is to say time passes as it needs to for the sake of the story. If the happened or was averted the time should be after it. It is also equally valid to have it still be a future event with the present day being earlier. In either case the “present day” is what it is because that is when it needs to be.

Don't even get me started on "Marvel Time"! It's pretty clear if you read the early 60s stories by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko that time in the Marvel Universe moved forward at the same rate as in the real world. Basically, that meant events from previous issues (precluding the rare multi-part storyline) took place approximatley a month before. It was only after the whole thing got too big for Stan Lee to manage on his own that it started to get wonky.

But I digress...

I agree with your general argument. I may have been a little unclear on what I was asking for. I don't really expect to nail down an "official" date for whatever passes for "the present" in Ravenloft these days. I just wanted to see what range of years other people set their characters and adventures in.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I use 760 BC as the present too.

[Mistmaster]

I use various Calendars but the most used one is the Barovian one. In the Barovian Calendar we are currently in 524 post Terg. The calendar starts its count after the decisive battle of Teufeldorf, and the crowning of Count Strahd von Zarovich as Count-King of Barovia.

[Speedwagon]

760 BC tends to be my default as well, and it's when I set all of my current campaigns. Given that my campaigns meet infrequently and I like to play out every leg of exploration and journeying from one place to another with my own personal scale of distance, none of my games have made it to January 1st of 761 BC yet (they're in the late October/November range, with each game having started on September 10th of the in-game calendar I'm using)!

[alhoon]

I usually start a little after Il Aluk went kaboom or a bit earlier. But I play it loose with the years and events.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

Officially, according to page 20 of the Ravenloft PHB, the current year is 758. According to the timeline on Mistipedia, S met the Gentleman Caller in Tepest in 758, so the published Gazetteers haven't pushed the timeline further. The Fraternity netbooks have gone into the early 760s.

[alhoon]

Officially, according to page 20 of the Ravenloft PHB, the current year is 758. According to the timeline on Mistipedia, S met the Gentleman Caller in Tepest in 758, so the published Gazetteers haven't pushed the timeline further. The Fraternity netbooks have gone into the early 760s.

At what year do we expect the ToUD?

[Jeremy16]

Officially, according to page 20 of the Ravenloft PHB, the current year is 758. According to the timeline on Mistipedia, S met the Gentleman Caller in Tepest in 758, so the published Gazetteers haven't pushed the timeline further. The Fraternity netbooks have gone into the early 760s.

At what year do we expect the ToUD?

I was gonna broach that subject with a new thread eventually, because that was what originally started me down this line of thinking!

[alhoon]

And the answer of your preliminary search / decision is... ?

[Mephisto of the FoS]

At what year do we expect the ToUD?

I believe it was supposed to begin in 780BC, I remember reading it somewhere but I don't remember where.

I had a theory of having 5e being the ToUD but then it should actually be Time of Parallel Darkness