What it Does
You can cause the passage of time in your campaign via this module. It will add Days for the campaign as well as aging all Active characters in it. It triggers time-sensitive checks for Disease Contraction, Shop buy/sell rate changes, weather conditions, accrues monthly character expenses, all at once and automatically. This saves the Dungeon Master oodles of time, rolling, referencing tables, and documentation.
Why to Use It
It is recommended that you use this module whenever possible, as opposed to simply editing the Day in the General Settings module. The latter will edit the Day but impact and trigger nothing else. It could potentially throw your certain time-dependent internal calendars out of sync.
Setting Up Camp
Firstly, the following results are highly recommended as they are bad-ass, but optional. You will likely use the Advance Time module nightly. Not only will it add a day to the campaign and engage all of the above (and more) triggers, but it will also give results for typical night-time activities for parties on the road. These are mechanics details in the Wilderness Survival Guide 1e supplement. Very cool conceptually but very difficult to employ with pencil and paper. Therefore, a no-brainer for AD&D Toolkit.
Natural Shelter
Shelter of some sort such as a tent will keep precipitation off of characters. This will increase their Personal Temperature, potentially saving them from adverse cold-weather effects and damage. In a pinch, characters may search the surrounding area for Natural Shelter. The chance to find such shelter in the form of a cave or thick, copse of trees, or a cliff-side overhang, are determined by the type of terrain, season, and chance. The first of the three is dictated by the active city engaged in your campaign manager. A new search can be conducted every 3 Turns and so the system tells you how long it takes to find shelter.
Find Firewood
Similar to shelter above, the chance to find fuel for a fire are determined by the type of terrain, season, and chance. Checks are made in intervals of 2 Turns.
Finding Water
Water can be found in all sorts of places. An overturned shield or helmet can collect past rainwater. Certain types of plant-life hold significant, potable water. An expanse of clay can form puddles. Etc. If found, there is still a chance the water is tainted. Fully boiling it for at least 15 minutes or some spells such as Purify Food and Water will make it safe to drink.
If the results come back as a 100% chance, that is because it was precipitating and assumed the party used collecting reservoirs. Freshly collected rainwater will not be tainted.
If there is a known large body of water nearby, the water check ought to be 100%. However, it is not guaranteed to be untainted and thus it is recommended you still use the tainted result. Checks are not made in intervals. Rather, it is an all-or-nothing endeavor.
How to Report Results to the Party
It is recommended that you offer results in intervals and each time ask the party do they wish to continue.
Eg., the results show that Firewood is found in 6 Turns. The DM ought to say, “you look for 2 Turns and find nothing. Do you wish to continue your search?”. Repeat three times until the 6th Turn in which you would report success.
Tainted and Spoiled Sustenance
Any character who consumes tainted or spoiled sustenance suffers a -1 penalty on all attack rolls and any saving throw related to dodging or maneuvering.
Food
After eating tainted food, a character must make a Constitution Check with a +4 modifier. Failure means that the character suffers nausea and stomach cramps within (1d10 + 10) minutes and the above penalties for the next 12 hours. After the 12 hours, subsequent checks at the rate of one per hour are required until the character is recovered. Tainted food still provides a normal amount of food value.
Eating spoiled food requires a Constitution Check with a + 10 modifier to the die roll. Penalties will last for at least 24 hours instead of 12. If eating the spoiled food does not cause illness, there is a 50% chance that the food still provides a normal amount of food value.
Water
The effects of drinking tainted water are the same as food. If the water is only mildly tainted, the penalties have a minimum duration of 6 hours instead of 12. If severely tainted, the effects last 18 hours instead of 24. Determination of mildly vs severely is DM discretion.
Time
As in most things in 1e, Time works against the party. The expenditure of time forces choices and potentially lays consequences upon players. This is a good thing. Time spent in the above endeavors should delay their rest and therefore potentially shorten their active time the following day.
“You cannot have a meaningful campaign if strict time records are not kept!” ~ Gary Gygax
