Right before the holidays in December 2012, the Gassy Gnoll bemoaned the lack of campaign holidays and I said I’d post a round-up of some of the ideas that were suggested and several other links and suggestions that came up in discussions on the topic. And I actually had a few folks chime in with some great ideas, so thank you to those of you who did!
Gassy Gnoll
Mike Monaco (Swords & Dorkery) commented directly on the post and suggested that Scott’s Old “Huge Ruined Pile” blog (not the new one) which offered a list of the names of the holidays in his campaign. Mike liked “Ultima Yule” and adopted it for use in his own campaign, as well as creating fun holidays like “Oester Feaster” and “Ragnarok Practice.” He also suggested a good campaign idea for when a paladin or cleric character is absent for a session. He makes up holidays (or distorts whatever real-world holiday might have just occurred or be around the corner) to offer a reason they are missing. “Oh, so-and-so is off celebrating Oester Feaster… He’ll be back eventually.”
Over at Google+ we had a pretty lively conversation going for a bit…
Rob Lang commented that most PCs he knows are workaholics and always looking for a good fight, which folks at celebrations typically disapprove of… Unless it’s a wedding. Or as he put it – “Some weddings might not apply.”
Justin Steele suggested we take a look at the calendar from the old D&D 2e Forgotten Realms boxed set.
And Deborah Teramis Christian (who runs the excellent World Building Academy) pointed out that “Socio Tip 4″ in the mailing-list based course has plenty of suggestions on using holidays to immerse PCs and readers in your world. She also suggested that Johnn Four’s book GM Mastery: Holiday Essentials offers tips on developing holidays and integrating them into a campaign.
But I didn’t want to leave it there, so I did a little research and found a few links you can use to help create your own holidays:
- tetsubo57 on YouTube pondered my very same question back in December 2011 and had some cool ideas to share.
- Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter had a great issue about holidays back in 2006 and offered all sorts of great resources.
- Martin Ralya @ Gnome Stew (back in 2006) offered a list of a few products with pre-designed details on holidays you can include in your campaigns.
- And Callin @ The Big Ball of No Fun back in 2009 offered some great suggestions for different holidays you could include in your world.
I’m sure there are others I haven’t yet found, but I think there are several options to explore here to get you started!
Again, thanks to everyone who contributed to the conversation through blog comments or on Google+ and I hope you all had a very happy holidays! Even though they’re over, now I’m pondering how to incorporate a few more into my worlds!
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