No matter what day it is, it’s always a normal day. Roleplaying tends to take place mostly in environments where there’s nothing unusual going on… except for the horrible trauma. What I mean is that we rarely take into account the calendar in our games. One way of adding depth and life to your world is to use special days, seasons, and weekends. This week, we’re taking a look at what the calendar can offer to our games.
What does the calendar do for you?
People tend to make plans based around the numbers on their calendars. We look forward to holidays, and save our energy for the awful push leading up to it. Or we schedule our vacations and live for them. Maybe we mark birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar, so we remember to celebrate. These remembrances can uplift us during difficult times.
People rely on measuring the passage of time in order to make sense of their lives, and to maintain sanity while adhering to a routine. We use holidays and birthdays as excuses to gather and strengthen our family bonds. We remember fallen comrades and family members on the anniversaries of their deaths, or on their birthdays. We use weddings to combine families and grow our support networks. All of these things get marked down on the calendar, or remembered by those in our society responsible for keeping track.
Using a calendar in your game means that the players are drawn into a world that feels more lifelike. When was the last time your characters celebrated a birthday, attended an anniversary party, or engaged in a holiday that didn’t involve just the marketplace?
Seasons matter! We can use seasons to make the world seem less static. Harvest time, planting time, freezing time, all of these are important parts of the cycle of life. And it makes a difference to the town what season it is when the adventurers come asking for troops, or a guide into the mountains.
Holidays and special occasions give characters a chance to grow closer, display their personality, and become attached to the cultures and people they find themselves surrounded by.
How do I use these days?
Characters are born, but we never celebrate their birthdays. Imagine someone in the party getting a letter from the fighter’s mother that his birthday is coming up, and that she wants him to come home for a surprise party. Or if one character needs to head home for their oldest child’s 16th birthday, the day they become an adult.
Sure, characters can arrive on the King’s birthday, or on market day. But when was the last time you celebrated a non-violent, non-purchasing holiday? Have your characters ever settled into a long dinner with family and friends, or participated in non-competitive decorating?
Imagine asking your characters to pick the perfect gifts for each of their party members. A gift says a lot about a person, but it also says a lot about what you think of that person. What happens when the tinkerer gnome gives the stuffy paladin a steam-powered action figure of the paladin’s deity, now with kung fu grip?
Is it Orphan Day again? The characters just arrived in town, and people are happy to do business with them. But then, the merchants notice that the party aren’t wearing “I contributed” pins, and give them disapproving looks. Turns out everyone in the city is expected to do something to help the plight of the orphans in the city. The size of the contribution directly impacts the extravagance of the pin, and the pin is dated and good for one year.
Seeing a city at peace is a rarity in roleplaying. Having the party sit down to a community meal with the town, and be welcomed in despite being strangers, can be a novelty. It also helps get the characters invested in the people without risking lives or coming off as railroading their feelings.
There are of course royal birthdays, which lead to nation-wide celebrations. There are also market days. Add to this religious holidays of every sort, cultural festivals, fertility festivals (not only the sort you’re thinking of), harvest celebrations, days of remembrance for deceased party members, days celebrating parents or children or romantic love or the founding of a nation.
Not for every session
Obviously, you don’t want to make every session about a birthday or holiday. Games are about adventures, and these holidays are best as interludes to lower the tension between story arcs. On the other hand, these make great interludes to lower the tension between story arcs! Use them sparingly, perhaps only once or twice per campaign. If it’s an exceptionally long campaign, or lasts for years in game time, maybe each party member can get a birthday. Or, maybe you gloss over them a bit and ask the players to fill in what their characters would do for the party member’s birthday.
Let us know in the comments below what interesting holidays you’ve used, or seen used in games.