Chronological time lines for campaigns
- Thread starter crabclaw
- Start date
jgsugden
Legend
This is a peripheral area to a game that adds depth and flavor, but often results in more confusion than it is worth.
Keep it simple.
I use a 12 month calendar with 30 days in each month. Each month is broken down into six weeks of 5 days each. The lunar cycle follows the cycle of the months, so there are always full moons on the night of the 29th, 30th and 1st and no moon on the night of the 15th.
The 5 days of the week are all named for things you find int he sky: Sun Day, Moon Day, Cloud Day, Star Day, Dark Day.
Each months is named in relation to the seasons. Early Spring, Full Spring, Late Spring, Early Summer, Full Summer, Later Summer, Early Fall, etc ....
As for years, many campaigns end up with a few dozen sets of dates. That is more of a hassle than it is worth. Pick a rather *huge* number and add two letters after it. For instance, "34,010 DT". When people ask what the DT stands for, say that nobody has any idea. I'd suggest keeping the last 3 digits as a low 3 digit number so that it is easier to rememeber for the players.
As for naming ages, that is really a product of your campaign history. Name them for Empires, technological (or magical) evolutions, etc ... In my High School Campaign (the last campaign where I used ages), I had the Dark Age, the Stone Ages, the Soft Metal Age, the Hard Metal Age, the Divine Age (when Divine beings started to meddle int he affairs of mankind), the Magic Age (when man mastered arcane magic), the Blood Age (when the BLood War spilled out onto the PMP and the world was left in ruins), the Ice Age (when a great freeze drove the demons and devils out) and the current age of that campaign - the Pheonix Age (when the ice had pulled back and the goodly races had restored new empires - about 1300 years old at the time of the campaign).
Keep it simple.
I use a 12 month calendar with 30 days in each month. Each month is broken down into six weeks of 5 days each. The lunar cycle follows the cycle of the months, so there are always full moons on the night of the 29th, 30th and 1st and no moon on the night of the 15th.
The 5 days of the week are all named for things you find int he sky: Sun Day, Moon Day, Cloud Day, Star Day, Dark Day.
Each months is named in relation to the seasons. Early Spring, Full Spring, Late Spring, Early Summer, Full Summer, Later Summer, Early Fall, etc ....
As for years, many campaigns end up with a few dozen sets of dates. That is more of a hassle than it is worth. Pick a rather *huge* number and add two letters after it. For instance, "34,010 DT". When people ask what the DT stands for, say that nobody has any idea. I'd suggest keeping the last 3 digits as a low 3 digit number so that it is easier to rememeber for the players.
As for naming ages, that is really a product of your campaign history. Name them for Empires, technological (or magical) evolutions, etc ... In my High School Campaign (the last campaign where I used ages), I had the Dark Age, the Stone Ages, the Soft Metal Age, the Hard Metal Age, the Divine Age (when Divine beings started to meddle int he affairs of mankind), the Magic Age (when man mastered arcane magic), the Blood Age (when the BLood War spilled out onto the PMP and the world was left in ruins), the Ice Age (when a great freeze drove the demons and devils out) and the current age of that campaign - the Pheonix Age (when the ice had pulled back and the goodly races had restored new empires - about 1300 years old at the time of the campaign).
Draw it out defining your timeline. Break your timeline into seasons, then add events.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Check this for an example from my setting: http://www.matantisi.com/aquerra/history.htm
Felikeries
First Post
The debate for a varitable stream of difference for a campaign is merrited
Personaly there may be a history for the current era,but any more than that
tampers with the RPG system,or what is being played through
For example for the Final Fantasy system i've created there is a history of
how the 'black magic' era was made,and the Empires that fell within it,including the names of the class's and their associated element with this
When taking on an idea that plays with seperate interests,rather than make a new age find a portal 'dimension' or some similar way to add the new place that doesn't effect real time
Furthermore a narrated history can imply hints that the players wish they remembered at the appropriate instance,say a form of a race's dislikes,or an icon that makes certain reactions in magic or NPC's that the players will encounter.Of course this should'nt be every time you start a new campaign becuase the players will be looking for it,but there may always be some abaiting hint that lays within the story
For example:within the history(which was narrated at beginning)of a place that the player's now arrive at trying to find a certain weapon,it was devasted by ice,and the player's use ice spells,and make a spectacle of
the advancing snow storm,this plys badly with the interactions they make,and therefore makes their quest to get the weapon far more difficult
(-5 any checks with villagers,and -1 each ice spell after 1d6,for breaking a ward that gaurds a cavern,that may have the weapons)
Personaly there may be a history for the current era,but any more than that
tampers with the RPG system,or what is being played through
For example for the Final Fantasy system i've created there is a history of
how the 'black magic' era was made,and the Empires that fell within it,including the names of the class's and their associated element with this
When taking on an idea that plays with seperate interests,rather than make a new age find a portal 'dimension' or some similar way to add the new place that doesn't effect real time
Furthermore a narrated history can imply hints that the players wish they remembered at the appropriate instance,say a form of a race's dislikes,or an icon that makes certain reactions in magic or NPC's that the players will encounter.Of course this should'nt be every time you start a new campaign becuase the players will be looking for it,but there may always be some abaiting hint that lays within the story
For example:within the history(which was narrated at beginning)of a place that the player's now arrive at trying to find a certain weapon,it was devasted by ice,and the player's use ice spells,and make a spectacle of
the advancing snow storm,this plys badly with the interactions they make,and therefore makes their quest to get the weapon far more difficult
(-5 any checks with villagers,and -1 each ice spell after 1d6,for breaking a ward that gaurds a cavern,that may have the weapons)
BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
My big gripe: timelines where a thousand or more years pass with nothing happening. This really drives me nuts.
EXAMPLE
-20,000 all-important powers vital to the campaign get their groove on
0 - Human Empire founded
1,234 - Elf-Dwarf war
8,000 - evil wizard does stuff
8,001 - orcs jump up and down
8,003 - elves and dwarves renew hostilities
8,004 - orcs invade human empire whose bounderies have not changed in eight thousand years
What's really shocking is that I see more of this stuff than not in campaign settings.
EXAMPLE
-20,000 all-important powers vital to the campaign get their groove on
0 - Human Empire founded
1,234 - Elf-Dwarf war
8,000 - evil wizard does stuff
8,001 - orcs jump up and down
8,003 - elves and dwarves renew hostilities
8,004 - orcs invade human empire whose bounderies have not changed in eight thousand years
What's really shocking is that I see more of this stuff than not in campaign settings.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
BiggusGeekus said:
Two possibilities: Nothing of particular note happened in that time as far as "modern" historians of the setting consider it (i.e. it could be political)
OR
the GM leaves gaps to allow him/her to plug in events that are background to an adventure or character history w/o having to tweak existing things too much.
