Add Variety to Your Fantasy Calendar - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 tzor Jul 08, 2003 17:35:10	Variety, it is said, is the spice of life. In any event, one of the key elements in any good fantasy scenario is variety. Some variety, some difference from the norm is good, but too much can cause a headache for the players and with the DM. With that in mind, I’ve decided to spend some time writing up one simple way to spice up your campaign world; through the Calendar. The Roman Calendar: We all take for granted the notion of years, months, and days. While we may think that the simple notation of month, day and year is as old as the Romans, it is not. Although the Romans did not have the notion of the week, they did have the month divided. The month was divided based on three important days, the Kalendae fell on the first of the month, the Nonae fell on the ninth day of the month, and the Idus fell on the thirteenth of the month, except for March, May, July and October where it fell on the fifteenth. So far so good right? But now the Romans went backwards. Instead of counting forward from these points, they counted backwards. So while March 1 was “Kalendas Martius” the next day, March 2 was “Ante Diem VII Nonas Martius.” The day before was known as “Pridie” so March 8 was “Pridie Nonas Martius.” Weird huh? The Aztec Calendar: But wait, there’s more! We are all used to the notion of wheels within wheels, 60 minutes pass, and we change the hour; 24 hours pass and we change the day; and so forth. But what if the days and weeks both moved at the same time? What if the day after 01/01 was 02/02? This was the system used by the Aztecs for their sacred calendar. http://www.azteccalendar.com/ The system of the tonalpohualli can be best understood by imagining two wheels that are connected to each other. One wheel has the numbers "one" to "thirteen" written on it. The second wheel has twenty symbols on it. In the initial situation, number "one" combines with the first symbol. This is the first day of the tonalpohualli. Now the wheels start moving and number "two" combines with the second glyph. This is the second day. After fourteen days, an Aztec week (trecenas in Spanish) of thirteen days has passed. The wheel with the numbers shows number "one" again. The other wheel now shows the fourteenth symbol. After 260 days, the two wheels have returned to their initial position. The tonalpohualli starts all over again.
#2 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2003 0:16:14	Could you give us an example of how you used this in your campaign?
#3 the_final_dream Aug 20, 2003 20:58:07	Any tips on helping your PCs remember the thing?

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

tzor

Jul 08, 2003 17:35:10

Variety, it is said, is the spice of life. In any event, one of the key elements in any good fantasy scenario is variety. Some variety, some difference from the norm is good, but too much can cause a headache for the players and with the DM. With that in mind, I’ve decided to spend some time writing up one simple way to spice up your campaign world; through the Calendar.

The Roman Calendar:

We all take for granted the notion of years, months, and days. While we may think that the simple notation of month, day and year is as old as the Romans, it is not.

Although the Romans did not have the notion of the week, they did have the month divided. The month was divided based on three important days, the Kalendae fell on the first of the month, the Nonae fell on the ninth day of the month, and the Idus fell on the thirteenth of the month, except for March, May, July and October where it fell on the fifteenth.

So far so good right? But now the Romans went backwards. Instead of counting forward from these points, they counted backwards. So while March 1 was “Kalendas Martius” the next day, March 2 was “Ante Diem VII Nonas Martius.” The day before was known as “Pridie” so March 8 was “Pridie Nonas Martius.”

Weird huh?

The Aztec Calendar:

But wait, there’s more! We are all used to the notion of wheels within wheels, 60 minutes pass, and we change the hour; 24 hours pass and we change the day; and so forth. But what if the days and weeks both moved at the same time? What if the day after 01/01 was 02/02? This was the system used by the Aztecs for their sacred calendar.

http://www.azteccalendar.com/

The system of the tonalpohualli can be best understood by imagining two wheels that are connected to each other. One wheel has the numbers "one" to "thirteen" written on it. The second wheel has twenty symbols on it. In the initial situation, number "one" combines with the first symbol. This is the first day of the tonalpohualli. Now the wheels start moving and number "two" combines with the second glyph. This is the second day. After fourteen days, an Aztec week (trecenas in Spanish) of thirteen days has passed. The wheel with the numbers shows number "one" again. The other wheel now shows the fourteenth symbol. After 260 days, the two wheels have returned to their initial position. The tonalpohualli starts all over again.

zombiegleemax

Jul 30, 2003 0:16:14

Could you give us an example of how you used this in your campaign?

the_final_dream

Aug 20, 2003 20:58:07

Any tips on helping your PCs remember the thing?