Conan Calendar Revisited

[rgrove0172]

After a search of some of the past threads here concerning a Hyborian Calendar Im wondering if there has been any progress in the area. What system are most of the GMs using out there. The Years from Road of Kings is obvious but what about months and such. The system one finds when doing a search seems to have received a lot of criticism. Is a calendar based on an equinox, phases of the moon etc. more universal and fitting to the setting? Is it just as easy to make some suitable sounding names for the months based on the culture and let it go?

Ive planned to use an old system scrounged from games of long ago wherein each month was simply named for the season, as in "Low Spring, Mid Spring and High Spring" each being determined by the fullness of the moon. A day is simply termed the "Nth" day of the month - as in "it is the 15th day of the 3rd moon of Spring (High Spring) - Then add in the Year as listed in The Road of Kings..


Thoughts?

 

[VincentDarlage]

Most of the sourcebooks include a calender for that kingdom. Stygia and Aquilonia did. I think it was edited out of Argos & Zingara. My idea was to include a calender for each nation.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

I think it was edited out of Argos & Zingara.

Grumble. Is that because it was a space-issue, or was it too similar to what was in Aquilonia? It's a shame.

Anyhow...I think the best is to keep it basic:

• Winter
  Summer
  Fall
  Spring

or for tropical places like Vendhya: Monsoon-Season.

Moon-Phases, Weather conditions, tilling, planting, harvest, threshing. I think Vincent brilliantly put great details already into Aquilonia.

It depends on the place. If its Cimmeria: FOG, FOG, FOG, C-C-C-Cooold, Brrr.

If its Shan-E-Sorkh: Sand-dunes as far as the eye can see. Wavy, mouth-watering mirages of curvy Shemite damsels bearing water amphorae. 8)

 

[rgrove0172]

Thanks for the input. Generally speaking I would want to use something universal so as to keep track of my characters regardless of where they wander. However, given the episodic nature of Conan, it seems more important that the calendar used in the current adventure add or at least match up with the setting. Those national calendars would have been great Vincent.

 

[slaughterj]

Different lands may well have different calendars (think Mayan, Egyptian, Chinese, etc. etc.), so it really depends on what you are looking to do - have one for metagame information, have several for the world, or what.

 

[FailedSpotCheck]

If it's a "civilized" country like Aquilonia, Nemedia, Corinthia, etc. I would use a Roman-inspired calendar. That is, the FIRST DAY of the month (Calends), and the day in the MIDDLE of the month (Ides), or reference a festival day in honour of a god or goddess. IIRC, I don't think the Romans had a concept for "week" (=septemdies???)

Exx.
"The day before the Calends."
"The Day after the Ides."
"The third day after the Revels of Derketo." (Be my valentine!)
"The Winter Solstice."
"Two days before the Calends."
"Merry Set-mas!" :lol:
"In the third year of the reign of His Majesty Ferdrugo."
"Day eight, Third Month, Thirteen Year in the glorious reign of Beloved-of-Set Nekht-er-netcheru."
*Looks up briefly* "Hmm. Full Moon"

 

[swinebread]

Off topic, but your thread made me think that I'd like a Conan Calender with great art that includes paintings from Mongoose's products.

 

[Evil_Trevor]

There are a number of useful moon calanders around they are summerised at moons lists