Time of Troubles (Forgotten Realms)

The Time of Troubles was a cataclysmic time period in the chronology of the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Taking place during the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, the Time of Troubles was a period during which the gods of Faerûn were forced to walk the earth in their mortal avatar forms.

The Time of Troubles was precipitated by an attempt by the gods Bane and Myrkul to steal the Tablets of Fate from the overdeity Ao. Angry at the gods for their habitual pursuit of power and negligence toward their mortal faithful, Lord Ao relegated every god (except for the guardian god Helm, selected to protect the gates to the heavens) to walk among their followers on the earth. The immediate effects of this edict were threefold. First, divine magic (spells granted to clerics by their patron deities) ceased to function altogether. Second, arcane magic (a force channeled from The Weave by wizards and sorcerors) ceased to be regulated by its eternal steward, Mystra, and became dangeously unpredictable.