Custom Calendars
I have run a couple campaigns where I decided to design a custom calendar, I find it quite rewarding to develop a list of names for days and months that gives a flavour to the world.
The Southlands of Blackmarsh
Back in 2025 I was running a Shadowdark campaign set in Rob Conley's Blackmarsh
Days of the Weeks
I quickly decided I wanted a standard 7 days and I did not want to stray too far from the typical days of the week.
- Moonday (Monday), the name for Monday originally came from the Moon so this seemed appropriate
- Toilday (Tueday), I decided this was going to be a workday and toil means to work
- Wealthday (Wednesday), finding a name similar to Wednes was not easy, Wealth is similar sounding and fits the fantasy genre
- Truceday (Thursday), another tough one and I was never fully happy with this one but was the best I came up with at the time.
- Fairday (Friday), the day of the markets on the last day of the week.
- Starday (Saturday), as we already had Sun and Moon days having a Starday seemed to fit in with the theme
- Sunday (Sun), the day of the sun
Months
Each mont lasts 30 days exactly, no variance, no leap years and no intercalary days giving us 360 days a year.
Spring
- Rainmoot (Jan) : the rainy season and a moot is a meeting so seemed apt
- Meadowrain (Feb) : the rains are now turning the grasses green and increasing growth
- Blossomrain (Mar) : flowers start to bloom
Summer
- Sunmoot (Apr) : beginning of the Summer and each season start is a moot
- Highsun (May) : midsummer as the weather is at its hottest and the longest day
- Lowsun (Jun) : as summer starts to wane and the temperature begins to drop
Autumn
- Fallmoot (Jul) : as autumn arrives (and Americans call Autumn, Fall)
- Leafall (Aug) : continuing the leaves falling theme
- Frostfall (Sept) : the first frosts of the year start
Winter
- Snowmoot (Oct) : the first snows of the year
- Thinsnow (Nov) : as winter progresses the snow deepens
- Deepsnow (Dec) : finally the heaviest snow of the year
Moon cycles
I cribbed a typical moon cycle here in Earth with a 32 day cycle:
- New Moon (1 day)
- Waxing Crescent (7 days) right 1/4
- First Quarter (1 day) 1/2
- Waxing Gibbous (7 days) right 3/4
- Full Moon (1 day)
- Waning Gibbous (7 days) left 3/4
- Last Quarter (1 day) left 1/2
- Waning Crescent (7 days) left 1/4
The Wild North
Early in 2026 I decided to run another campaign in the Majestic Realm setting moving from the Southlands to The Wild North. As these were wild inhospitable places on the frontier with tribes and outposts across the region I decided to go back and look at changing my previous calendar.
Days of the Week
The only change I made was changing Truceday (Thu) to Oathday, it sounded a lot more plausible for people in the Region taking Oaths to each other.
Months
I stuck with 30 days a month as it makes it easier. But as the Region was further North and similar in climate to Finland and seasons are different length I reworked the previous month list. Sunrise and sunsets are in brackets.
Spring (05:00 - 19:00)
- Plough-Tide (Apr) : farmers plough the fields and plant seeds
- Leaf-Time (May) : plants and crops start to grow
Summer (03:00 - 22:00)
- Pale-Sun (Jun) : the temperature rises as the bad weather subsides
- High-Sun (Jul) : peak of summer this was the only month that was carried over from the previous list
- Last-Harvest (Aug) : when the farmers harvest their crops
Autumn (06:00 - 18:00)
- Red-Leaf (Sept) : the beginning of Autumn as leaves change colour on the trees
- Wolf-Song (Oct) : the wolves come down from the mountains ready for the winter, hunting for food
Winter (09:00 - 15:00)
- Fell-Night (Nov) : the days draw in as the days shorten considerably
- Frost-Creep (Dec) : the first frost of winter
- Snow-Blind (Jan) : the heaviest snow falls
- Deep-Frost (Feb) : the coldest month of the year
- Frost-Wane (Mar) : the last frosts of winter
Moon Cycles
I dropped the moon cycles from 32 days to 30 so they would match the days of the month. It also means that the New Moon is always on the first day of the month and the full moon is on the 16th, which it makes it easier to work out the moon phases (which is handy on a Virtual Table Top for lighting)
- 01: New Moon (1 day) 🌑
- 02-07: Waxing Crescent (6 days) 🌒
- 08: First Quarter (1 day) 🌓
- 09-15: Waxing Gibbous (7 days) 🌔
- 16: Full Moon (1 day) 🌕
- 17-23: Waning Gibbous (7 days) 🌖
- 24: Last Quarter (1 day) 🌗
- 25-30: Waning Crescent (6 days) 🌘
Conclusion
This was a ton of fun to do, but was the time spent on it appreciated by the players. In all honesty, no. The players couldn't care less what the name of the days and month were but I gained alot of satisfaction from the time I spent on it. I still think it gives flavour to the setting but also it grounds the world in details that makes it feel more alive.