Proposed updated iconography

[Lxndr]

Thing is, there are THREE half-moons, right?  And thus three twilights.  Which makes waxing vs. waning (or morning vs. afternoon) kinda hard to do.  Day and Night come in pairs, so divide equally.  Noon and Midnight only need one apiece.  But three doesn't get easily divided by two.

Anyway, being a language nerd, I know already that twilight can refer to the period just before dawn, or just after dusk.  Which is why I like it - it's already a word that refers to BOTH sides of the coin.  It is "The diffused light from the sky during the early evening or early morning when the sun is below the horizon and its light is refracted by the earth's atmosphere."  That's why there is 'morning twilight' and 'evening twilight.'

So... all you need to do is call Nightfall "Nighttime".  No need to call Twilight two different things, 'cause you already got one word that means both.

[Mike Holmes]

(Why yes, Mike, this would be comparable to waxing and waning moon phases, wouldn't it?)

Are you saying it would be too close?

Consider that I'm still thinking in terms of my "pie" shapes. What's neat is that the one quarter dark circle could be read as 9AM, or 3PM, both "day". The three quarters dark circle could be read as 9PM, or 3AM, both "night."

Kinda neat, I think.

Mike

[GreatWolf]

(Why yes, Mike, this would be comparable to waxing and waning moon phases, wouldn't it?)

Are you saying it would be too close?

Actually I was laughing that, after all this time, I was finally starting to consider waning and waxing.  Although Alexander may have persuaded me otherwise.  I'll have to consider this some more.

Keep talking among yourselves.  I'm finding the conversation to be very helpful.

[M. J. Young]

Actually, Mike, I think that the reason your idea about shading has not received comment is that it was part of the suggestions on the parent thread.

Three and nine are going to be hard to tell apart, likely, unless you make the area "swept" by the minute hand shaded. Thus, three would be a quarter pie, and nine would be a three quarters pie. Then just unify the symbols so that six is a half circle. The other two will look like you've already proposed. This has the advantage that noon, the brightest time of day, will look it, and so on down the line, each getting darker and darker.

Was pretty much already covered in

[*]Full Moon becomes Noon and is symbolized by a white clock face with hands at 12:00
[*]Gibbous becomes Daylight and is symbolized by a white clock face with hands at 3:00, shading area swept by hour hand
[*]Half Moon becomes Twilight and is symbolized by a white clock face with hands at 6:00, shading area swept by hour hand
[*]Crescent becomes Nightfall and is symbolized by a white clock face with hands at 9:00, shading area swept by hour hand
[*]New Moon becomes Midnight and is symbolized by a black clock face with hands at 12:00
[*]Weeping Moon becomes Devil's Hour and is symbolized by a red hourglass[/list:u]

(bold italics mine).

I liked Westering; it was something of what I was seeking, and fits well with Nightfall. But I think Mike is right: Day and Night are the sides you want. Thus you have
Noon
Day
Twilight
Night
Midnight

or as easily

Midnight
Night
Twilight
Day
Noon

going both directions.

As to the Devil's Hour, I'm wondering whether you have to define it specifically. That is, as has been pointed out, a red clockface is easiest for people trying to do their own dice who can do color, but a black circle with a white hourglass is the best for those forced to work in black and white. Offering both as options is probably best; and in the text, I would use the hourglass version, because many people trying to print the PDF are going to wind up with black or gray circles for the Devil's Hour if you use color images. (Also, make sure the font is embedded in the PDF, or use embedded images instead of fonts--when I printed mine, I got really weird symbols for the dice faces in the rules.) If you tell people that in making their dice they can use either symbol, that will make it easier for everyone. Since I can print red circles, I'd do the one; but obviously some people will go with the black and white symbol--harder to draw, but doesn't require color printing.

--M. J. Young

[hix]

Just found this topic. Some thoughts:

Daylight - Slanting Sun
Twilight - Magic Hour (film term for either dusk or dawn when there's light but the sun isn't directly visible)
Night - Darkness, Starlight, Moonlight.

Cheers,
Steve.