101 (maybe) Holidays for Campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

101 (maybe) Holidays for Campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
JackSnape
07-15-07, 05:56 PM I've been trying to work some new holidays into a new campaign and could use ideas, I also thought this might be a fun thread.
My stand-bys:

#1 Pelor's Feast
On the summer solstice: a sort of thanksgiving feast with fast quantities of meat and ale comsumed. Heavy clouds or rain on this day are portents of a bad year to come.

#2 Bonfire festival
On the winter solstace: communities gather through the long night to light huge bonfires and share in prayers and noicemaking to keep evil spirits away and commune with ancestors. Some cultures make sacrifices on this day. Think day of the dead in mexico mixed with american haloween.

#3 Feast of St Cuthbert
On the aniversery of a great battle: On this day the guilty are executed publicly

#4 The King's Birthday
Pick a day: Nobles come from far and wide to lay gifts at His feet. Bards are forbiden from taking money for thier performances and everyone is treated to a feast by the King. Prisoners may be pardoned on this day.
damixmastermike
07-15-07, 07:05 PM 5: Butter Festival: Held every year in a Dwarven Populated town. At the end of spring, more butter was produced by local farmers so there was an influx of butter, so they figured out more things to make with it and kindof celebrated this excess of product (like Thanksgiving or a Harvest Festival)

6: Music Festival: held evey 5 years in a city somewhere in the cosmology, city of brass, popular material plane city, etc. Bards from everywhere congregate and compete. The whole festival is populated with these special orbs (much like scrying orbs) that visibly glow when a nearby bard is using her bardic music ability, there for being incapable of fasinating the judges. Bards are then required to fasinate their audience out of pure unadulterated skill.
Kaos_Shadow
07-23-07, 02:43 PM 7. The Day of Blood: On this day the dictator of a repressed city come around and has soldiers take somebody from every family, say the oldest or youngest, and bleeds them, so that the devil who he is in debt to will be appeased for another year. (Not to be used if the man (or woman) in charge is of good alignment)

Yeah, its a little morrbid, but it might help you come up with a story of rebellion and such. Its always fun to loot and riot :)
ryuspearhead
07-23-07, 04:49 PM 8) lolth's peace - a day of peace in lolths honor , no fightning unless pervoked by an outsider
Callista
07-23-07, 07:01 PM 9. The Last Day. A great seer prophesied that on this day of the year, the Prime Material plane would be destroyed. His followers spend the day in prayer and penance, hoping to be spared for another year.
Kaligrad
07-23-07, 07:21 PM 10.) Slaphappy Day: On this day, years ago, a wandering drunkard happened upon the town's (mayor, governor, king, etc) and slapped his face. Though quickly imprisoned for touching the bigwig in this manner, the populace quickly found the idea popular, and now every year everyone goes around and slaps anyone they feel deserving of it, without reprecussion. Shiny, ruddy cheeks abound.

Also, everytime you slap someone, you have to shout, "Happy Slaphappy!"
Callista
08-14-07, 02:18 PM 11. Fertility Festival: On the first day of spring, a great feast is held and ceremonies take place to ensure a good harvest, healthy children, and happy families. It is considered particularly lucky to be married on this day; so many weddings take place. In some locations, the feast tends to dissolve as couples look for places to be alone. This naturally results in the next year's Fertility Festival including marriages in which the couple has a three-month-old baby; these children are also considered lucky.
MacrossSD
08-14-07, 03:39 PM 12) The Day of the Great Peace: Many years ago, there was a great and terrible war against (a powerful wizard, or a draconic army, or an evil god come to the world), ending in a pyrrhic victory for the forces of good. On the day of the final victory, the people of the land spend the morning and afternoon of the day in their local cathedral, church or temple praying to whatever deity is in charge of fate or peace for another year without the menace returning. Then, they have a public feast of thanksgiving for the previous year's safety and in remembrance of those who fell in the titanic battle.

13) Luck day: A charmingly mis-named day that seems to be the unluckiest day of the year. Murphy (of the Law of the same name) seems to be working overtime, making sure that whatever can go wrong on that day will. Swords break, buckets tumble from scaffolds, etc. Most people celebrate by staying indoors, taking the day off. Some, who have no choice but to conduct business on this day, rub their foreheads with platinum or electrum coins, believing this will ward off the bad luck. They also leave a handful of gold at the temple of the god of ill-luck or trickery in the morning, and if nothing happens to them to them during the day, another handful to at the temple of the god of luck that evening once their business has concluded.

14) Goldfest: A mining town (or Dwarven city) commemorates a gigantic gold strike made years ago by giving every inhabitant and visitor a special medalion struck from the gold of the strike once a year. They also place new gold leaf on a statue of the god of mining in the town's church or pantheon. This is accompanied by lots of pomp and revelry and general merrymaking.

15) Songday: Many years ago, a large town was about to be attacked by a rampaging band of giants. However a teenage girl stopped the giants in their tracks by singing a simple love song. Some of the giants, fascinated by her singing, joined with the town to defend it and defeat their giant king with the help of the town's knights. They then settled down to become citizens instead of barbarians.
(Kudo points to anyone who guesses where the previous was cribbed from).
Every year since, in commemoration of the girl's bravery, the town calls travelling minstrels from all over to perform. The town becomes a riot of music, and there has grown up a large competition between musicians to see who can win the top performer to the year's festival.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JackSnape 07-15-07, 05:56 PM	I've been trying to work some new holidays into a new campaign and could use ideas, I also thought this might be a fun thread. My stand-bys: #1 Pelor's Feast On the summer solstice: a sort of thanksgiving feast with fast quantities of meat and ale comsumed. Heavy clouds or rain on this day are portents of a bad year to come. #2 Bonfire festival On the winter solstace: communities gather through the long night to light huge bonfires and share in prayers and noicemaking to keep evil spirits away and commune with ancestors. Some cultures make sacrifices on this day. Think day of the dead in mexico mixed with american haloween. #3 Feast of St Cuthbert On the aniversery of a great battle: On this day the guilty are executed publicly #4 The King's Birthday Pick a day: Nobles come from far and wide to lay gifts at His feet. Bards are forbiden from taking money for thier performances and everyone is treated to a feast by the King. Prisoners may be pardoned on this day.
damixmastermike 07-15-07, 07:05 PM	5: Butter Festival: Held every year in a Dwarven Populated town. At the end of spring, more butter was produced by local farmers so there was an influx of butter, so they figured out more things to make with it and kindof celebrated this excess of product (like Thanksgiving or a Harvest Festival) 6: Music Festival: held evey 5 years in a city somewhere in the cosmology, city of brass, popular material plane city, etc. Bards from everywhere congregate and compete. The whole festival is populated with these special orbs (much like scrying orbs) that visibly glow when a nearby bard is using her bardic music ability, there for being incapable of fasinating the judges. Bards are then required to fasinate their audience out of pure unadulterated skill.
Kaos_Shadow 07-23-07, 02:43 PM	7. The Day of Blood: On this day the dictator of a repressed city come around and has soldiers take somebody from every family, say the oldest or youngest, and bleeds them, so that the devil who he is in debt to will be appeased for another year. (Not to be used if the man (or woman) in charge is of good alignment) Yeah, its a little morrbid, but it might help you come up with a story of rebellion and such. Its always fun to loot and riot :)
ryuspearhead 07-23-07, 04:49 PM	8) lolth's peace - a day of peace in lolths honor , no fightning unless pervoked by an outsider
Callista 07-23-07, 07:01 PM	9. The Last Day. A great seer prophesied that on this day of the year, the Prime Material plane would be destroyed. His followers spend the day in prayer and penance, hoping to be spared for another year.
Kaligrad 07-23-07, 07:21 PM	10.) Slaphappy Day: On this day, years ago, a wandering drunkard happened upon the town's (mayor, governor, king, etc) and slapped his face. Though quickly imprisoned for touching the bigwig in this manner, the populace quickly found the idea popular, and now every year everyone goes around and slaps anyone they feel deserving of it, without reprecussion. Shiny, ruddy cheeks abound. Also, everytime you slap someone, you have to shout, "Happy Slaphappy!"
Callista 08-14-07, 02:18 PM	11. Fertility Festival: On the first day of spring, a great feast is held and ceremonies take place to ensure a good harvest, healthy children, and happy families. It is considered particularly lucky to be married on this day; so many weddings take place. In some locations, the feast tends to dissolve as couples look for places to be alone. This naturally results in the next year's Fertility Festival including marriages in which the couple has a three-month-old baby; these children are also considered lucky.
MacrossSD 08-14-07, 03:39 PM	12) The Day of the Great Peace: Many years ago, there was a great and terrible war against (a powerful wizard, or a draconic army, or an evil god come to the world), ending in a pyrrhic victory for the forces of good. On the day of the final victory, the people of the land spend the morning and afternoon of the day in their local cathedral, church or temple praying to whatever deity is in charge of fate or peace for another year without the menace returning. Then, they have a public feast of thanksgiving for the previous year's safety and in remembrance of those who fell in the titanic battle. 13) Luck day: A charmingly mis-named day that seems to be the unluckiest day of the year. Murphy (of the Law of the same name) seems to be working overtime, making sure that whatever can go wrong on that day will. Swords break, buckets tumble from scaffolds, etc. Most people celebrate by staying indoors, taking the day off. Some, who have no choice but to conduct business on this day, rub their foreheads with platinum or electrum coins, believing this will ward off the bad luck. They also leave a handful of gold at the temple of the god of ill-luck or trickery in the morning, and if nothing happens to them to them during the day, another handful to at the temple of the god of luck that evening once their business has concluded. 14) Goldfest: A mining town (or Dwarven city) commemorates a gigantic gold strike made years ago by giving every inhabitant and visitor a special medalion struck from the gold of the strike once a year. They also place new gold leaf on a statue of the god of mining in the town's church or pantheon. This is accompanied by lots of pomp and revelry and general merrymaking. 15) Songday: Many years ago, a large town was about to be attacked by a rampaging band of giants. However a teenage girl stopped the giants in their tracks by singing a simple love song. Some of the giants, fascinated by her singing, joined with the town to defend it and defeat their giant king with the help of the town's knights. They then settled down to become citizens instead of barbarians. (Kudo points to anyone who guesses where the previous was cribbed from). Every year since, in commemoration of the girl's bravery, the town calls travelling minstrels from all over to perform. The town becomes a riot of music, and there has grown up a large competition between musicians to see who can win the top performer to the year's festival.