The Blood Path - Kosan Time Units and Magic

Something I have been working on, and which I have included as part of The Blood Path, my forthcoming adventure for the Mongoose Legend fantasy roleplaying game, is establishing some basic standards of things such as times, dates, weights and measures to use within the setting.

One of the things I have been working on was the concept of how the people of the setting measure and divide the passage of time. Frankly, I wanted to get away from two things we take for granted - the Babylonian sexagesimal base-60 counting convention (which is where we get our "60 minutes to an hour, 60 seconds to a minute") and the 24-hour day, which is based on the ancient Egyptian duodecimal base-12 convention (article here).

The following was written for "The Greentown Gazetteer," a section of The Blood Path:-

---

Time

The year length is 360 days. The days turn at the same pace as ours. A standard clock in Kosa would record a full 24 hours from midnight to midnight. However, Kosans divide time into different units.

Kosan time unit	Plural	Measures	Notes	Standard Time Equivalent
diu	diurni	day	20 ori = 1 diu	24 hours
oru	ori	hour	50 minni = 1 oru	1.2 hours (72 minutes)
mino	minni	minute	100 diminni = 1 mino	86.4 seconds
dimino	diminni	second	-	0.864 seconds

The Kosan calendar and timekeeping systems are accepted as standard throughout the region.

---

This next bit does not feature in The Blood Path ...

So how does this affect the casting of magic in the setting? Well, for one thing, any Common Magic whose duration is measured in minutes actually has its duration lasting for the equivalent in minni instead: a 5 minute Common Magic spell would last 5 minni (432 standard seconds, as compared to 300 seconds, or about 86 combat rounds as compared to 60 combat rounds).

Likewise, the durations of Kosan Sorcery are measured in minni, ori and diurni:-

Kosan Sorcery Duration Manipulation Table

Game World Time	Abstract	Manipulation Factors
10 minni	POW minni	0
20 minni	POW x3 minni	1
1 oru	POW x 5 minni	2
2 ori	POW x 10 minni	3
Until sunset / sunrise	POW ori	4
1 diu	POW x 2 ori	5
1 week (10 diurni)	POW x 1 diurni	6
1 month (30 diurni)	POW x 3 diurni	7
2 months	POW x 5 diurni	8
1 season	POW x 10 diurni	9
1 Year (360 diurni)	POW x 1 months	10
+1 Year	+POW x 1 months	+1

That means Kosan spells last longer than the standard durations listed in Legend.

Oh, by the way, as regards using time units such as Combat Rounds ... Games Masters, you can still use Combat Rounds as written in Legend, leaving the movement rates and amount of Combat Actions available unchanged.

Reason? When you are conducting combat, you are using internal game time units. 1 combat round is the same in the Greentown setting as here, and the characters won't know how long a combat round is or even think of a combat in those terms.

"Toss me my sword!"

"Sorry, mate, my movement and CA quota are all out for this round!"