KISMET'S DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CAMPAIGN

  The Faerunian Calendar 

The City of Thandell - The Faerunian Calendar
House Rules - A Cast List of NPCs - A Portion of the Story
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Setting Up My Version of the Harptos Calendar

      When I first started my campaign the Faerunian calendar did not seem to be that important.  I dragged my feet when it came to looking it over and I only learned what I needed to know at the time.  This continued until the events in our game were of such obvious importance that I knew the days would need to be marked.  Our campaign journal couldn't be accurate without an accepted calendar.  On top of that, my players expressed a definite interests in keeping track of birthdays for their characters and NPCs, holy days (since there was a cleric and two paladins), the day their group was formed, and eventually wedding anniversaries and new births.  At the time I couldn't find an easy-to-use, printable version of the Faerunian calendar so I went about making my own, and it is the one we use to this day. 

      I did not want to vary considerably from the calendar of Harptos as it was described in the campaign setting book.  The book made it very clear that there were 365 days arranged in 12 months, just like the Gregorian calendar.  Each month has it's own name, a title, and is made up of three weeks.  There are ten days in each week, and the book says that five extra days are set aside for seasonal festivals, and these days "fall between the months.  " But that description didn't tell me if the extra days were added to the end of particular months or the beginning.  For the purpose of my rendition of the Harptos calendar, I added those days at the end of Hammer, Tarsakh, Flamerule, Eleint, and Uktar.  (The Forgotten Realms calendar later hosted at WotC appears to do the same thing.  ) 

      I designed our calendar as much for my players as myself.  I made it rather like a normal calendar, bound at the top with wide enough date entries to add limited information.  We put it in the binder with our campaign journal and it has remained something that the players can easily see at any time.  With its help, they have faithfully celebrated all sorts of birthdays, the anniversary of their group's formation, and so on.  My players have done this without any prompting on my part, and I've been very glad to see it.  The simple and subtle idea that their characters have birthdays seems to add a realistic touch that they like. 

Further Information on the Harptos Calendar

      The folk of Faerun do not generally have clocks to keep time so they arrange meetings by the time of day (early morning, noon, dusk).  They also do not have names for days of the week.  Since each week is made up of ten days, they simply refer to the days by their numbers.  Often people will talk about tendays in groups: "It'll take two tendays to get there.  "  When writing records and correspondence the peoples of Faerun do not always give exact dates; instead, they use the month and the title of the year.  Two noted seers, Alaundo and Augathra, wrote down short titles for thousands of years.  These titles are supposed to represent major events for the year, so they are spread and used regularly.

      The years of Faerun are divided up into categories like our B.C.  and A.D.  ; the Dalereckoning marked the year of a truce between the elves of Cormanthyr and human settlers in the Dales.  Thus, all the years after 1 DR are listed as being DR, or Dalereckoning years.  There does not appear to be an equivalent to our B.C.  term.  In any case, not all cultures and nations use Dalereckoning years to record their history, and a DM should keep this in mind.  A culture might begin the recording of their history from some other important date can be identified with on a local level like the end of a war, the beginning of a township, or the birth of a particular prestigious person.  

      A Shieldmeet year - or, as we know it, a leap year - occurs once every four years, adding an extra day that follows the Midsumer festival.  Thus, the Shieldmeet years of the most recent century are as follows: 1300, 1304, 1308, 1312, 1316, 1320, 1324, 1328, 1332, 1336, 1340, 1344, 1348, 1352, 1356, 1360, 1364, 1368, 1372 (official opening year of the FR 3rd edition campaign book), 1376, 1380, 1384, 1388, 1392, 1396, and 1400. 

Some Noted Holy Days

      Given the sheer number of gods involved in Faerun, there are bound to be a great number of celebration days.  Lesser celebrations can be held at any time but certain high holy days occur on specially designated days that remain constant; I have listed some of these below.  Players who are portraying clerics or paladins should definitely know the appropriate holy days.  Since everyone has to choose a patron deity in the Forgotten Realms, DMs might want to keep track of holy days for all player characters.  Who knows what might happen?  DMs might also want to introduce player characters to the high festival days of gods they're unfamiliar with.  Traveling characters are likely to wander into towns during celebrations or encounter sacred hunts out in the forests. 

      The small collection below only references permanent, major holy days for a few pantheons.  In order to get specifics and much more information overall, buy Faiths and Pantheons.  I only include celebrations based on the phases of the moon if they are high holy days and/or named.  If you're wondering about the moon phases of each month, you can find them in WotC's Forgotten Realms calendar.  

Major Gods

Lesser Gods

Drow Gods

Dwarf Gods

Elven Gods

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Download: Blank Calendar PDF - Holiday Calendar PDF