Calendar & Moon Phases

Last updated: 01.2025

The DSA5 system for Foundry VTT features a fully integrated Aventurian calendar. It manages not only the date and time but also calculates moon phases, holidays, and can even automatically control scene lighting.

On the user interface (by default at the top center), you’ll find the calendar widget. It provides a quick overview and basic controls.

Display: Shows the current date (e.g., “1st Praios 1040 BF”) and time
Moon Phase: An icon visualizes the current moon phase (e.g., full moon, new moon)
Time Controls:
- < / >: Jump one day back / forward
- << / >>: Jump one month back / forward
- Small arrows or clicking on the time allows finer adjustments
Automatic Lighting (Sun/Moon Icon): Clicking this icon enables or disables automatic scene brightness adjustment (see below)
Edit (Pencil/Gear): Opens the detailed calendar window

The Calendar Window

The main calendar window offers deeper insights and configuration options. It’s divided into several tabs:

1. Calendar

The classic month view.

Here you see all days of the current month
Moon phases are graphically displayed for each day
Clicking on a day sets the date to that day

2. Holidays (Events)

A list of all holidays stored in the system plus custom events.

Custom Events: You can add new events via the + symbol. These are technically stored as journal entries
Categories: Events can be categorized (e.g., Religious, Secular)

3. Dramatis Personae

This tool serves for managing important personalities (NPCs) in your campaign.

It allows creating profiles for important characters
You can add descriptions, notes (public), and GM notes (secret)
Relationships and contacts can be linked

4. Settings (Configuration)

Here the Game Master can adjust the calendar’s behavior.

Calendar Choice: Selection of the calendar system used (default: Aventurian Calendar)
Moon: Settings for the moon cycle

Automatic Lighting

One of the most powerful features is dynamic lighting (Auto Day Light).

How It Works

The system calculates the sun’s position based on the current time
Accordingly, the Darkness Level of the current scene is adjusted
Time of Day: There are smooth transitions between dawn, day, dusk, and night
Moonlight: In the settings, you can enable the moon to brighten the night (a full moon makes the night brighter than a new moon)

Note: For this to work, global illumination or appropriate light sources must be correctly configured in the scene settings for the Darkness Level to have a visible effect.

Integration with DSA5 Atlas

If the DSA5 Atlas module is installed and activated, the calendar becomes even more precise.

Sunrise and sunset times are then calculated based on the geographical position of the hero group on the Aventuria map
In the far north, days in winter are actually shorter than in the south

Tips

Session Management: Use the calendar to track campaign time
Weather Planning: Combine with weather effects for immersion
Event Reminders: Add important campaign events to the calendar
Player View: Players can see the current date but typically not all events

See also: