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All right, here's a question for all you Fantasy guru's. By what names do the citizens of the Palladium Fantasy world (what I'll call it from now on, until somebody tells me what it's actually called), refer to the days of the week and the months of the year? And how many are there? I believe I read somewhere that their days are twenty-four hours long, but I don't believe I've ever seen anything about what they call their calender days and months.

I actually deal with this in Mysteries of Magic.

Basically, everyone has different ways of setting up the calendar. Some prefer 5 day weeks, others like 7 or 8 day weeks. Some have a 2 day market at the end of the week, others a 1 day market (longer weeks usually meaning a longer market period). Some measure months from the new moon, some from the full.

Years are about 365 days long, and there's a single moon. But there's not much else to say.

Mark Hall wrote:I actually deal with this in Mysteries of Magic.

Basically, everyone has different ways of setting up the calendar. Some prefer 5 day weeks, others like 7 or 8 day weeks. Some have a 2 day market at the end of the week, others a 1 day market (longer weeks usually meaning a longer market period). Some measure months from the new moon, some from the full.

Years are about 365 days long, and there's a single moon. But there's not much else to say.

Damn you and those damnable spoilers! We want this book!

But seriously, it's good to hear that the subject is delt with. But what? No names of the days of week, or months? They certainly don't call them Monay through Sunday, or January through December. Do they?

Northern Ranger wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:I actually deal with this in Mysteries of Magic.

Basically, everyone has different ways of setting up the calendar. Some prefer 5 day weeks, others like 7 or 8 day weeks. Some have a 2 day market at the end of the week, others a 1 day market (longer weeks usually meaning a longer market period). Some measure months from the new moon, some from the full.

Years are about 365 days long, and there's a single moon. But there's not much else to say.

Damn you and those damnable spoilers! We want this book!

But seriously, it's good to hear that the subject is delt with. But what? No names of the days of week, or months? They certainly don't call them Monay through Sunday, or January through December. Do they?

Nope.

Different cultures call them different things; I didn't bother to get specific. The Dwarves had a thriving culture before they met the elves... this is going to mean a calendar. The elves had their calendar. Why would they necessarily have the same calendar basis? Dwarves tend to work incredibly long weeks, whereas elves are more likely to interrupt. Elves, being surface people, are far more tied to seasons and lunar cycles than the semi-surface dwarves, which is going to reflect in both of their calendars.

Good points, all. But it still doesn't help me with what to call the days of the week. Or what the names of their months are. (I like the thought of the different races calling them different things, because that makes sense. But what do they call them?) If Mark hasn't got this info, maybe I should go straight to the source. Kevin might have some ideas.

I am looking forward to reading what you do have in that book, though, Mark. Sounds better and better the more I hear about it.

The reason this is important to me is that there have been several instances, both in gaming and writing, where I've had characters say they were going to meet someone at a certain time or date. Not knowing what the days of the week are called, or the months, means you have to get very generic with what you say.

"I'll meet you in three days, two hours after dusk."

or

"The ship will make dock in two months, on the fourteenth day of that month."

See my problem?

It is easiest to model the planet after Earth and the solar system it is in after our own. An over-sized hard-to-explain Moon and a planet just far enough way from the Sun... is going to lead to time being tracked the same way. A tilt on its rotational axis like Earth's results in similar seasons.

For us the South Winds is basically equatorial. That leaves a lot of unexplored areas, and even more area outside the wall or whatever it is. We spent a lot of time at sea and came across our own island at the edge of the world. It was to explore; its size and isolation meant evolution (and powerful magic) did weird things...

The timing and naming of these events and places should be left to the GM, in my opinion.

Northern Ranger wrote:Damn you and those damnable spoilers! We want this book!

Be patient. Eventually we'll get enough spoilers to piece together the book before it comes out.

I actually found this a while ago, and sudenly remembered it with this post of yours:

http://www.editors-wastebasket.org/Down ... lendar.pdf

it may help you a bit, but I am sure Mark Hall's will be better detailed for the variety of lands, as this one is Timero only (IIRC).

Although I am not sure who it is done by, it semi resembles a chinese calendar. Enjoy.

It's by Thoth, the guy who does my web hosting. He was my GM and player in college.

Thanks Entiago, once again you come through! I'm at work right now, so I'll save that to my computer at home later. It should come in handy though. Thanks much.

no problem. always happy to help a fellow gamer

In my games...there are 13 months. 28 days, with the extra day in the same month as the winter solstice. Though the names of the months do vary from place to place. Oh, and new years is celebrated on the winter solstice. And on said leap day, almost everyone takes the day off to meditate, remember, or reflect on the events of their lives in the past 4 years.

Greetings and Salutations. And while I agree different lands have different calendars (as is proven with things like the timeline stating 1,782 years ago the Royal Timiro Calendar was established, and the Western Empire book refers to the various years of various kings, I believe, it's been a while and I'm too lazy to get my book). As for seeking something written within a book, here is a reference for you ... ... ... Northern Hinterlands. Do you have it? If so, open it up to page 8 (the very first section of the book) called A Stranger's Tale. They mention a lot of months in there. And you know what? They're the same as the ones we use (just from a quick scan I've seen January and April mentioned, nearly positive I remember October too, but too lazy to read it and see which ones are mentioned by name). That shows that at least somewhere out there, somebody uses the same months as us.

Personally, I wasn't very fond of that fact. I felt the world should have been more unique, but there you go. Now, with that said, I will say I had done personally done these a long time ago. I don't remember the math I had to it to make it comparable to our world but different (because I can't seem to get it to add up again), but I won't worry about it anymore. I got too lazy (and forgetful, I have a horrible memory) to actually use it in my games though.

http://www.prysus.com/calendar_elven.htm

http://www.prysus.com/calendar_royal_timiro.htm

http://www.prysus.com/calendar_wolfen_tribal.htm

Use them, ignore them, alter them as you please if you want. Just thought to throw out another idea since I was making a post anyways (regarding the references in Northern Hinterlands). Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys.

Thank you Prysus, those will be very handy too. Once again I am impressed. I didn't even know you had your own web page, but there's some very good stuff on there. Thank you for sharing.

(Note to self: Must make web page one day.)

I made up my own calendar for it it was just one of those things I wanted to do as a GM. Like ours it is named after gods. I just named them after those of the Church of Light and Dark. For now its for Timiro. I assume the wolfen would have a lunar calendar and have wolfy names for stuff.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=63021&p=1227735#p1227735 for details

Very cool, and highly useful.