Tag: RPG

Making a homebrew setting can be rough. You give thought to empires, races, class restrictions, some unique things (cantrips for all, bonded companions). You start to layer on some histories (Lorebooks), maybe a secret society or two, some competing faiths as well. Eventually you think “this can run.”

Then your players ask you a question you can’t answer quickly. Sunday, that question was “What day is it?”

I thought I had the answer. “It’s seven days since you started your quest.”

“Actually, it’s nine. I wrote that down. I mean what day of the week is it? What month?”

“Oh, you want a calendar. I don’t have one. I’ll fix that. For now, consider it late Spring.”

Then the searching the internet started. Calendars need a few things answered. Are there moons and how many? Are the moons tidally locked? How fast do they orbit the planet? How many days does the planet to take to orbit its sun? Does the dominant culture mark its calendar by the moons or by sun?

So I started answering some of these, but not in a particular order. There were some things I wanted. The calendar where the characters were active would be a solar calendar that has no months, just seasons. Then I decided to cheat and make one of the moons have a cycle that matched the seasons. This is cheating. It lacks realism, but it can have verisimilitude. As long as this is kept consistent and reasonable, it creates a believable, though unreal, world.

Decisions to this point: solar calendar, four months that match the seasons

Would there be other moons? Yes. After a quick internet search I found an awesome resource for calendar creation and played with some ideas. At one point there were seven moons, but eventually I brought it down to four moons. Moon three guides the calendar of the lands of Telse, Kirtin and Daoud with an origin from one Qin was dominant in the South and West. It is roughly the size of our moon.

Moon four (The Dragon) is absurdly large, but also quite distant with a long orbit of just under 20 years. It is a generational moon. The calendar won’t be guided by this, but some holidays and story points can be. Maybe a culture considers its people as One Dragon (developing), Two Dragons (Young Adults), Three Dragons (Adults), Four Dragons (Aged), and Five Dragons (Ancients). Boom! More development right there. This makes a lot of sense for Crinth. They don’t celebrate years, but the passing of The Dragon and how many times someone remembers it being Full.

That’s moon three (Kin) and moon four (The Dragon). But what if I want some cultures to use a lunar calendar?

The answer is moon two (Glibbon). For ease of rules conversion this moon is at 31 days. Making a moon, or other satellite, that follows between 28-40 days should keep your DnD rule-set simple enough. Monthly spells/features/etc should maintain their power. Azsel and Mehmd would use this calendar system. Complicated conversions won’t be necessary as the game will run using the Qin Calendar as the Scholars and host city use it. But at times referencing the competing calendars can help make the World of the Everflow breathe life.

For fun I added a moon with a weekly cycle. The tiniest of the moons (Feylf) whips around the planet every seven days. Crinth’s druids use this moon quite a bit.

Decisions: Four Moons. Three competing calendar systems with one dominating the educated classes, two Kingdoms and a several fallen Kingdoms.

Another thing needs to happen. What is year zero? That changes. The common calendar on Earth starts in a year that is recognized as the birth of Christ. Prior to that is BC or BCE and after is AD or CE.

On Kin the most important event is simple – The Awakening. That’s the start of the Qin Calendar. It began 22 years ago. The current game, answering that player’s question, is now 71 Spring 22 P.A QC. That’s when The Five cashed their cheques from Mayor Kellamon upon returning to Telese.

This convention is common in the Western Wildes (Telse, Qin, Mira, Sheljar, etc) and through the Scholars. Kirtin and Daoud start with the conquest of Kirtin-on-the-Lake. On the Qin calendar that was on the 4th day of Autumn 792 BA. The two Hundred Years wars started in 543 BA and 291 BA.

But, the calendar also needs names for its days. I decided on seven day weeks for two reasons – we’re used to thinking like that and because any rules that reference weeks are pretty simple.

Decisions: Four moons, three calendars, seven days.

Naming the days would in some ways echo the real world.

1. Elmsday starts the week and honors Selley (Goddess of Birth, Life and Death) and Belsem (Goddess of the Untamed).
2. Bell’an’Aur is the second day of the week. It starts with a rejection of that which can’t be tamed and ends with a dinner celebrating Aur. Aur is the name of the planet. It hadn’t had a name until the calendar issue came up. In Kirtin and Crinth this is Feylfday and is the day when Feylf is full, shortly after sunset.
3. Quarsday is the third day. It celebrates Quar (God of Rivers, Mountains)
4. Day of Glight honors the Lord of Knowledge. In developed lands the afternoons are given to learning.
5. Torday honors Torq (Goddess of Sea and Storm).
6. Az and Sel is day six. This honors not a god within the Wildes/Kirtin/Daoud, but the man and dog that legend says discovered the bonding. Nik is also frequently honored on this day. Azsel recognizes Az and Sel as man and dog that raised to the gods.
7. Day of Oun is the end of the week. Oun and Obscon are not honored. The Lords of the End are respected in that all things end. They are feared.

There are a few other things that should be noted, and here I leaned on the players again. It’s a complex set of moons. When are they all full? That would be every 337,435 Auran years (they have 312 days), except that when the 20 year moon is full it stays full for several weeks. The Dragon is full to the human eye for over two years. So four full moons happens about every 17.5 years. Three full moons happen every 7.75 years. Every 217 days two of the moons are full at the same time.

To look at the Qin Calendar in the year when The Five are in action click here and enter the following on the data tab.

{“year_len”:312,”events”:1,”n_months”:4,”months”:[“Spring”,”Summer”,”Autumn”,”Winter”],”month_len”:{“Spring”:78,”Summer”:78,”Autumn”:78,”Winter”:78},”week_len”:7,”weekdays”:[“Elmsday”,”Bell’an’Aur”,”Quarsday”,”Day of Glight”,”Torday”,”Az and Sel”,”Day of Oun”],”n_moons”:4,”moons”:[“Feylf”,”Glibbon”,”Kin”,”The Dragon”],”lunar_cyc”:{“Feylf”:7,”Glibbon”:31,”Kin”:78,”The Dragon”:6220},”lunar_shf”:{“Feylf”:1,”Glibbon”:9,”Kin”:0,”The Dragon”:0},”year”:22,”first_day”:1}

All of this effort did not create just a calendar. For the most part when role-playing players will not refer to a custom calendar. It’s tedious and slow. But, you should know how many days are in a year and when you create your custom calendar you start to create festivals, celebrations and justifications as to how certain cultures think. Now, with a calendar there is life to the worldspace.

“What day is it?” asked Samul, a Barbarian from Mehmd who currently lives in Telse.

“It’s 71 Spring 22 P.A QC a Bell’an’Aur. Glibbon is full later this week when Ahid (the sun) hides Ounsday.”

Waking the morning after taking the Lorebook away from Cortez The Five rescue a half-dozen cattle. Starting on their way back to Telse they know that they will move slowly. Maurice heads off on his own to scout the road. There is some concern that the Western Tower of Telse may be held by non-friendly forces. The rest of The Five (now actually five) start the slow trudge through lands as a light fall of ash continues.

Around noon the ash stops falling. A few homesteads are out in this land, but it is mostly wild. A light forest is off to the North while the right side of the road is a rougher land of hill and rock. Off to that wooded side Saffron notices a mix of men and canines rushing from stand of trees to woods. She can’t make much more out than that, but does warn the group.

Onward they travel, a bit more wary and unworried. An hour or so later, Samul in lead position sees two canines and two men. They are then joined by a third wolf. Shonie stops the cattle. Samul walks steadily forward. This is too simple to be a trap.

Saffron recognizes one of the men from the Village of Nak. These are enemies. Behn and Saffron ready their crossbows. Samul readies his chain, slamming it into the ground as his left foot hits the ground. Aamar and his bear cub Bernie move through the cattle preparing to help.

Action is swift. The wolves fly forward with two rushing the barbarian and another targeting Saffron. Behn lets a bolt fly. It’s a miss. Everyone is rather surprised.

Samul enters a frenzy, whipping his chain at the two wolves. Both strike him as he misses. He shrugs off the wounds. Saffron utters dissonant whispers. The wolf charging her whelps turns 180 degrees and dashes off into the woods. The wolf rushes past the man that she recognized. The wolf and man can’t run away fast enough. The man’s fear is from recognition. The wolf’s fear from that spell.

Samul’s chain whips into wolf, this time ripping through the fur, tearing out flesh. It’s human companion cringes, as his bond leaves the living world. Aamar speaks the healing words of Quar and the minor wounds from the wolf bites are gone. The rival acolyte of Nak hit Aamar with his second scared flame. Aamar dodged the first.

The Bard speaks a quick rhythm, inspiring Samul to success as she charges the remaining battle. Samul takes out the acolyte. When Saffron reaches the conflict a single stab of her sword is all it takes. It’s over. A few seconds of fury and a clear signal that Nak’s followers weren’t entirely eliminated.

They march onward and camp prior to sunset. Overnight, on the final watch, Samul notices a herd of elk leaving the ashen lands of the northwest for more fertile lands around the Ferments.

By morning all are rested, healed. A ranch on the road’s right seems a good spot to offer the cattle. Aamar sells them at a below market rate, but the group takes in some gold for their efforts.

Maurice returns from his scouting trip, winded.

“Ahead, the Telse’s Western Tower, it’s no longer under the town’s control,” he spits out between heavy breathes.

“Who took it?” Aamar asks.

“Obscon’s followers. There are dozens. Some laborers still work for them.”

“All armed?”

“Not all, but most.”

“We should go around,” Aamar suggests.

“Why?” Samul’s thoughts are simple.

“To the North or South,” asks Saffron.

“Maybe we get closer and see what path would be easier?” Shonie questions. The group nods. That’s the plan now. Mo scribbles out a tiny map. If the approach makes it clear that they cannot risk trying to go through Obscon’s annihilationists they can head into the hills to the South.

That’s the path. A few days of construction and the fence towards the Sheljar Gate has made more progress. The rougher lands to the south will provide more cover. The group turns towards the Ferments giving space to Obscon’s faithful. Popping over a crest they notice a man and a female goliath hunched over at a bush.

The two don’t seem hostile. Their robes indicate that they are local circle of druids, plucking herbs.

“Ho!” calls out Aamar.

The great goliath gives greeting back. Her bird flutters about her shoulder. “You’re the group searching for the Book! Are you back?”

Aamar answers, “we’re on our way, but the tower was taken.”

“Yes, Obscon’s followers were forced away from the West Gate by Piyu and Allison. But, that group took the tower and the Guard isn’t enough to take it back.”

“Is the gate safe”

“Yes, we will return through the West Gate when we go back to our apothecary.”

“Thank you.”

The druids are left to their gathering of herbs. The Five (actually six) head towards Telse. They reach the gate with others who’ve had to go overland rather than along the road. Trade with the Western Wildes will be greatly diminished with Obscon’s people taking over the gate and a volcanic eruption. When they left the guard numbered four. Now there are eight from the Guard and eight militia as well.

Walking into the city along the Western Street the group passes the stables where those with larger bonds leave them under highly paid care. The streets bustle with dogs, cats and birds. Bernie gets some odd looks. Bear cubs are not typical companions. They pass houses and shops with Telse’s unique mix of halfling houses, human houses, goliath homes and those with entries that accommodate all. As they approach the Market and the Font of Two Paths (the Everflow) The Five pass Allison’s house and Barracks. The Mayor’s office and rooms are across the street along the edge of the market.

The Mayor’s is a multi-racial building with 14 foot stories and a sequence of doors and hatches for Kin and their bonds. Aamar knocks. Kellamon answers. The portly halfling asks them to enter. “I will write you a script that you can cash at the money changer. You will be paid. Take the Lorebook to Ollium. He knows the local scholars that can study it safely.”

Aamar, Saffron and Samul’s players were present for this session. The group is considering an attempt to convince Bishop Ollium that they should remain in control of the Lorebook. They’ve found that book, but they didn’t get answers, only more questions.

The remaining Nak cultists, wandering herd of elk and druid herbalists were all rolled random encounters. The group was about to charge through the Towers but the quickly sketched map started to sway them away from the simple action. Rather than take a wide path their narrower route did result in more random encounters, but the one that hit provided some story rather than violence. The elk were another such story device, that showed how the events in past sessions change current ones. Encountering more members of the Nak group gave the clue/reminder that not all of that faith were destroyed.