Campaign World calendar- Real world or Custom?

[silentspace]

A very easy calendar to remember is the Chinese calendar. Everything is numbered. January = 1st month. February = 2nd month. Days were also numbered, much as is done in the West. They use the seven-day Western week, but I don't know how recent that usage is.

 

[Psion]

If the calendar doesn't come into play often enough then you're not getting the benefit of having a fictional calendar either and the effort of creating one is wasted.

I made my calender up years ago. All I need to know is the months, their lengths, and festival days. That wasn't all that much work, and it provides a continual presence for flavor and continuity over years of play. Even if it comes up once a month or so, that's better returns than I have seen out of many stat block writeups, characters, spells, etc. that I have written up..

 

[MerakSpielman]

A very easy calendar to remember is the Chinese calendar. Everything is numbered. January = 1st month. February = 2nd month. Days were also numbered, much as is done in the West. They use the seven-day Western week, but I don't know how recent that usage is.

Very recent. They didn't worry too much about "weeks" for some time...

They used "moons" for months. The first month of the year was the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice. It was a good, simple system that served them well.

Many festivals orient on the solstices and equinoxes in many cultures. You might want to put some of those in your campaign.

 

[Gnarlo]

If the calendar doesn't come into play often enough then you're not getting the benefit of having a fictional calendar either and the effort of creating one is wasted.

That is, of course, assuming that the enjoyment of creating or using it isn't enough of a benefit on its own to keep it from being a waste. All the time we spend doing this thing of ours would be a waste if we didn't enjoy it (and many people are around that would tell you it is a waste regardless).

After all, none of my players have figured out yet that the odd braiding and shaving patterns of the different NPC gnome beards signifies what clan they belong to and their rank within it, but it isn't a waste as I had lots of fun making up the styles and their meanings.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Agree --> Gnarlo.

So I'm a D&D geek. I can't expect my players to be an into it as I am. They immerse themselves to the depth they wish. My job is to make the pool bottomless.

 

[Aeolius]

The World of Greyhawk has it's own calendar...makes things easy.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, it's a given that if you enjoy making calendars for its own sake then its not a waste.

 

[Shallown]

Mine is a mix of both. The months are named the same as real world the only difference is each is 30 days long. I used a real world calender to help me create holidays and then interspersed those with the God's high holy days (not all gods have them) Its a seven day week with sunday being the usual worship/rest day though since it is medieval still the rest day usually applies only to the wealth since no one else can afford it.

recently the players started to realize the holidays all have a basis in history and arose for a reason. The reason mostly has to do with the various races throwing off the slave yoke from the demons and devils that once ruled the world.

I also use a blank calender to track what is going on in the game and to help in keeping perspective. The blocks are also colored in varing shades of grey to indicate the brightness of the moon and the equinoxes and solisctices marked as well to remind me about sunset and sunrise.

Its a simple calender and the players don't get to confused since everything is mostly real world referenced.

later

 

[Silveras]

I use a calendar I think of as "simplified modern". 12 months of 30 days, 360 days to the year. The calendar was defined to count the seasons, to "midsummer" and other mid-seasons falls in the middle of the second month of each quarter. Each month has three 10-day weeks.

It was not too hard to get the players to use "tenday" instead of "week". I usually present both the flavor month name and the "real" equivalent. It works pretty well.