D&D and Time Travel

Although the opening monologue of so many Star Trek episodes may suggest space as the final frontier, in truth, there is another final stage of adventure many have yet to discover, Time.

The urge to explore and discover is inherent in the adventurer. New worlds! New creatures! However, no matter what the adventurer may find, they can only truly experience it in the present.

With time travel, we can transcend this limitation, providing a new layer of adventure that goes beyond the boundaries of our existence. It not only allows us to discover new worlds and creatures but also provides a means to better understand ourselves, right wrongs, and even change the future.

Time travel has long played a part in the world of Dragonlance. In the second trilogy for the series, the Legends trilogy, we follow the main character, Raistlin Majere, and his brother Caramon along with the kender Tasslehoff, as they travel back in time before the Cataclysm, a catastrophic event that reshaped the world of Krynn. Raistlin intention to travel back in time was to study with the long dead dark wizard Fistandantilus and gain power lost to time. His ultimate goal was to challenge Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, and take her place among the gods of Krynn. By going back to the time just before the Cataclysm, Raistlin aimed to acquire the knowledge and abilities of Fistandantilus, whom he saw as a means to increase his own magical prowess. This journey to the past was a crucial step in Raistlin's ambitious plan to achieve godhood.

Even Dungeons & Dragons' Forgotten Realms is not without its time travel stories, particularly revolving around the Netheril and the novels of Clayton Emery. “Swords of Eveningstar” sees an adventurer travel back to the Netherese city of Xinlenal to retrieve a powerful magic artifact. In “Swords of the Iron Legion”, we follow a group of adventurers back through time to the height of the Netherese empire as they attempt to stop an evil mage from altering history and taking over the world. And in “Swords of Dragonfire”, time travel is used to bring back a powerful dragon to aid in fighting a great war.

In all of these cases, time travel is used not only as a means of solving a problem in the present but also to share greater insight into the history of their worlds. Whether accomplished by magical artifacts, spells, or good old science, time travel is all about learning the truth but, more importantly, dealing with the consequences.

Sure, but how do you use it at the table?!

Adding time travel to your campaign can be an exciting prospect, but it is important to consider the problems it can create. There’s no question that the ability to manipulate time is the greatest power in the cosmos. Time travel allows adventurers to visit and potentially alter events that shape the campaign's history. However, without the consequences of those actions, time travel loses its impact. Paradoxes and alternate timelines are common issues when incorporating time travel, and players should be prepared to deal with the potential complications, as should you.

If you plan to add time travel to your campaign, here’s some key advice from Chronomancer’s Guide to the Future:

1. Establish the rules. How time travel works in your campaign is key. Is it linear? Meaning you can only go back and forth in your world’s history? Is it a Multiverse? Meaning you can traverse timelines like you would planes of existence? Or is it more “timey-wimey”? Meaning nothing matters and you can ultimately do anything you want? Deciding on how time works, what its limitations are, and what the consequences will be is essential.

   
   

2. Map your timeline. Much like how you’d map out a dungeon, you map your campaign’s history. However, instead of Rooms and Corridors, your campaign’s timeline includes Events and Branches. Each room becomes a major historical event, and each corridor becomes a branch connecting it to the next room. Think of it like a tree or flowchart that you can continue to build off using the players' actions. When these actions conflict with your established timeline, you know you’ve got a paradox and can offer consequences to either the players or their world.

   
   

3. Consistency is key. Though you might decide to do a form of time travel that could mean anything can happen, consistency is the thread that binds your campaign. Doing so should be a reflex. After all, you’re already consistent in applying the game’s rules, so being consistent in applying your time travel rules should be no different.

   
   

4. Time travel is supposed to be hard. Discovering information, and circumventing consequences, with the addition of time travel, many things get easy. It is truly a powerful form of magic and/or technology. For this reason, time travel should be hard. Just because your campaign may revolve around time travel, it doesn’t mean using it should ever be easy. Whether it costs too much to access, is heavily guarded or just rife with potentially negative psychic or physical ramifications, time travel usage should always provide a negative consequence that dissuades players from using it too much.