<p>One of the things any well-developed fantasy world needs is its own calendar. Don’t think this hasn’t occurred to me, and to other T & T players some time in the past, but the first and only person to ever do anything about it (to my knowledge) was Liz Danforth who created this calendrical system for New World’s one and only Tunnels & Trolls computer game–Crusaders of Khazan. For your edification, and for my own use in the khazangame I’m currently running, I reprint the calendar used in the Empire of Khazan. I have also made some minor additions to her original calendar description.
–Ken
Calendar
Time, being reckoned in terms of months, days, and years, is a very important factor in our world. Long ago, before even the Wizard’s War, the simple folk discovered that the changes of season affected the g rowth of crops. Thus, calendars became instrumental tools in the trades of the earh and plow, but also to the priests, for scheduling of festivals and celebrations.
The year consists of 12 months which each have 30 days. Both months and days of the week bear names, and often they bear some special significance for those of us who populate the Dragon Continent.
Often the approach of a new season is celebrated in various festivals, held throughout the world. The Year’s End Celebration, more commonly known as Unraeth, is a very good example of such an occasion. (The year is actually 365.25 days long. Five days are left over at the end of the year. These days are considered to be outside of time itself, but they are numbered concurrently with the year that just ended. Thus, the current khazangame is set in the year 1212 A.K. and the last Unraeth was Unraeth 1211). Other notable holidays include The Longest Day which is always the 21st day of Greenling, and the Longest Night which is always the 22nd night of Stormlight. Once every four years an extra day is inserted into the calendar at the end of Summer. This day is also considered to be outside of Time itself, and has various names. In the Common Tongue it is called Emergence Day, and is said to honor the first appearance of various Kindreds on Trollworld–kindreds such as Dragons, Elves, and Humans, as none of these peoples are believed to be native to this planet.
Months
Spring (March) Windmon
(April) Gunther
(May) Sweetbriar
Summer (June) Greenling
(July) Frogsong
(August) Sunmon
Autumn (September) Southflight
(October) Harvestmon
(November) Ghostmoon
Winter (December) Stormlight
(January) Mistmon
(February) Brittleice
The Year’s End (5 days) The Unraeth
Days of the Week
Onesday
Twosday
Frogday
Hawksday
Feastday
Marketday
Fastday
The hours of the day have different names in different parts of the continent, Among humans the day is divided into ten periods or “hours”, 5 of daylight and 5 of darkness. As there is more daylight in Summer and more darkness in Winter, the first hour of daylight and darkness can have a great deal of the other quality in it during various parts of the year. In Khazan the hours are simply numbered, first through tenth, thus no kindred is favored by using their names for the hours. The Hour of the Frog for Goblins might be called the Hour of the Cat by Humans, and much confusion is avoided by simply calling it the 7th hour.
Clocks are almost unknown on Trollworld, and no one carries a watch. It is said that the Dwarves and Kobolds have created clocks for the regulation of working hours below ground where the sun cannot be seen. Wizards also sell a common Timecharm which when activated by thumb pressure will squeak out a number. Timecharms are small (perhaps the size of a child’s finger), inexpensive (5 silver pieces), easily lost or broken. They tend to quit working in about a month (or 100 uses) if the charm is not renewed.
end
P.S. The play by email T & T game currently being run at http://khazangame.wordpress.com has a current date of Sweetbriar 1, 1212 A.K. (After Khazan).
Saving...