World Calendars & Campaign Timelines

Do you create a world calendar and campaign timeline?

RPT GM Chris asks if this is common:

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Good day Johnn.

I was working on my game world history a bit today, and found myself wondering if things I do are common among many other DMs?

For instance, I always have a calendar for any world I make. I’ll list common events, festivals, holidays (Holy Days), tourneys, moon phases and other annual type occurrences.

My DM screen (check out the pic!) 🙂 has the calendar hanging on both sides, so players and I can reference it at a glance at the same time. They are in sheet protectors, so on my side I can use dry erase markers to make a quick note of any event that will occur in the near future (fighters new axe will be ready in 2 weeks, a return message from the next town should arrive in 4 days etc.).

SO much roleplaying and gameplay has come about from this concept over the years. Clerics, paladins and holy PCs make up their own ceremonies and traditions for their PCs to observe. PCs make time to visit a local event, or even get involved in it. They sponsor prizes for tourney contests, donate to churches and charities. Just so much happens with such a relatively simple concept.

Another effect this has on me as DM is to consider the passing of time.

What are the bad guys doing for the last 2 months while the PCs were off dealing with the undead scourge in the black swamp? Their plans and activities should be showing an effect in the world. (The goblins of the black rock have grown, and their raids are becoming more common, or the bandits that plague the trade road have become bolder, and better equipped to attack larger wagon trains and have begun to reduce trade between 2 baronies.)

Also, what do PCs do during winter? Adventuring in the wild should be nearly impossible if there’s winter snows. It’s simply too cold to realistically be out there for more than a few days (unless your high enough level for magic to offset the weather).

I usually gloss over the winter break and have PCs able to enjoy peaceful pursuits, training, research, crafting and such, as well as a few smaller city adventures to root out some minor nuisance, or uncover some city intrigue.

SO, am I in the minority, or is this a common DM tool?

Cheers!

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Great question, Chris. Thanks. And nice GM screen!

I can’t speak for every GM, but tracking events and game time is very important and is the primary reason we added the Timeline tag to Campaign Logger.

Here are three examples of why time tracking helps:

Past Events

I like to start my campaigns with a situation in medias res. Some kind of conflict as the first scene we can immediately sink our swords, skills, and spells into.

As part of prep for this I like to know the sequence of events that lead up to the current situation. 5-7 are usually enough.

These events form adventure anchors from which I derive NPCs, treasures, 5 Room Dungeons, and Missions or Quests.

The events also inspire world building as I can hang event details on cultures, settlements, and special calendar days.

I further mine these notable events to populate my Knowledge Table, which is my jargon for a special kind of rumours-meet-facts table. The Knowledge Table then spawns rumours, gossip, and clues throughout the campaign that hook the party into visiting various sandbox sites.

Recurring Events

Like you, I have special calendar days that occur each year or period. These events also inspire world building.

The typical GM trap I see made is tying these events to story beats. We don’t want to enforce a rigid timeline and plotline. That causes too much stress herding the cats so player choices sync up with a preset and likely public campaign calendar.

Instead, recurring events are like loot drops on the path you try to run over and pick up as you play.

I also try take advantage of the runways that special calendar days offer. A runway is the time leading up to the event. Perhaps there are special preparations like decorating and gift buying. Or maybe it’s a period of dread and no one leaves home at night.

While gameplay might hit or miss an event this time around, we’ve roleplayed the build-up, and mined the special event for lore and world building.

In addition, don’t forget the aftermath of events. That can be leveraged to colour encounters for a day or three afterwards. There’s clean-up, fallout from any conflicts, and probably vows by locals never to invite a paladin to a party again.

And the irony is, with a well-GM’d runway, players will want to attend the event or otherwise engage with the special thing you’ve created. No herding required.

One-Off Events

Events fully prepped down to their GPS coordinates represent GM pit traps. Several conditions must be met for the event to play out as desired. The party probably needs to be at a certain place on a certain day or time, so they encounter something specific, so the adventure can progress.

Tracking the time of these is critical. They become GM deadlines.

Anything you can do to decrease dependencies of these events so you can improvise better the moment of triggering would help your future self out a lot.

But, at minimum, diarizing what’s coming up can help you remember to get things headed in that direction as best you can with each gaming moment.

If anyone is interested, I have a Loom video to demo my Basilica campaign calendar and events set-up in Campaign Logger. I don’t have future events added in yet, but I speak to that, as well.

Watch the demo video here.

If you do not yet use Campaign Logger, you can get a free lifetime account here.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
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