I invite you to come up with a general idea for a potential holiday/celebration. I'm extremely un-creative a need some content that my players will enjoy! Come up with literally anything. I will pick my favorites, and adapt them to my homebrew setting! I'm excited to see what you invent!
What's the target rating? Y7? PG? PEGI18? Banned in 8 countries?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Autumn blaze After a local (or national hero) stoped a threat via fire a festival was declared on that day
the festival has traditional activities such as a retelling to the story (in which each storyteller try’s to out do each other), a bonfire, wearing cloth of orange or red, dances and eating hot drinks and spicy food
if on a national scale then stories are told in front of statues of the hero and the story’s stay more consistent, torches may be used instead of a bonfire and some area may have different drinks and foods.
happens during the harvest season in their equivalent of October
Three Fools' Day celebrates the three jester brothers who, legend has it, saved the kingdom many years ago. Everyone dresses in fools' motley, pranks are encouraged, and three contests are held, one representing each brother. Fol's contest is a great melee in which contestants are armed only with a fool's wand. Rol's contest is a test of wit in which contestants trade jibes and taunts in a kind of medieval rap battle. And Pigstone's contest, the most prestigious of all, is held at midnight. It releases contestants into an obstacle-filled maze in a search for a greased pig. The winner, according to local tradition, is blessed with Pigstone's own bravery, along with a more tangible reward: a jesters' cap that can cast Alter Self at will on its wearer, but cannot change its own appearance. One final celebration is perhaps most important: everyone gives gifts to their siblings (real or sometimes figurative) to commemorate the Three Fools' friendship.
Mac's Day. So called after the renowned gnomish explorer, Mac Felder. He would send letters back to his nephew of his discoveries and exploits. The holiday involves eating lots of sugary foods and a sort of exploration day for the kids. Like a treasure hunt, but they have to explore the area around the town and "discover something new" to put into their letters and send home to family.
The common 8 holidays fall on seasonal events: Solstice, equinox, and halfway between each when the seasonal changes' effects are definitely affecting.
How they're celebrated depends on what the locals do. Sex liberally distributed was a common theme for certain "time to plant crops" holidays. The double entendre is deliberate.
Legendary (even mythical) events lend themselves to holidays. The aging of history often takes one holiday and turns it into another where the origins are all but forgotten and new traditions are simply not questioned and are assumed as just "always been this way". Political tides can have immense effects upon traditions, too.
So, let's see what we can invent by following a progression.
A scandal.
A Lord's husband partakes in a just-before-Spring planting festival with many a townswoman.
The Lord bans the festival out of jealousy.
The regional King overrules.
The Lord attempts to secede with her lands...
...and executes her own husband as a statement to the King, making an unwilling martyr.
The people of the lordship rebel against the Lord...
...and the King is all too happy to assist though his assistance is unnecessary.
The now-lordless people, seeing their own power, decide that a King or Lord is unnecessary to them.
Everyone is already forgetting that this all started from one person's indiscretions.
The Kind, without heir, dies of an illness...
...and the Queen starts a campaign to regain control of the Lordless lordship vying for its independence.
The lordship knowing a bad bet surrenders without a fight and sends one charismatic person to negotiate.
The Queen and the emissary hit it off romantically though never marry.
The Queen appoints the emissary as Lord of the lordless lordship.
The people rebel against the "betrayer".
The people execute the former-emissary-now-Lord as a statement to the Queen.
The Queen, now with child, personally comes to the town. (Local tradition forbids actions against expecting parents.)
The Queen demands satisfaction for her loss.
The people relent and offer a new husband for the Queen.
The next year, the Queen unsatisfied with the unwilling husband sends him back and demands another.
Over the ages, this weirdness has been transformed by time, interpretation, and whims of those of influence into a tradition of various contests to see which person (of any gender) will get to spend a year as the crown heir's consort. It is a ranked contest with various towns in the region having their own structured contests to eventually compete in a grand kingdom competition.
The winner was known as "the betrayer" and was assumed to be the betrayer of the crown's heir with varying stories to accompany the tradition - none of them correct. This happens just before Spring but the relationship to the original offense is coincidental.
Moving even further in time: These contests brought many people from outside the kingdom to compete. Soon, only outsiders to the kingdom competed to be the "betrayer" with local sponsor reaping monetary gains and notoriety. The story of the "betrayer" changed to be an outsider - even more untrue than before.
More time passes: In a strange twist, local sponsors began to resort to shanghai methods of acquiring champions for the tradition and the "winner" would serve unwillingly. The tradition, to encourage eager contest, became a bloodsport. Outsiders captured would go into gladatorial competitions and the prize was living a year in luxury before being exiled. The "betrayer" story changed even further with many, many variations and none of them true. Locals would sometimes employ headhunters and bid for various champions for their "sponsorship". Such eventually became the standard with very few ever relying on voluntary invitation for sponsorship.
So... annual bloodsport of near the end of Winter of mostly auction-purchased people so one person can be a servant, the "Betrayer", to the crown heir for a year before being cast out of the kingdom, earning fame and fortune for the victorious competitor's sponsor. The servitude often includes sexual servitude.
People are weird.
I initially see two hooks: A group of slavers capture an adventuring party and auction them off to various locals for competing in the Festival of the Betrayer - the party should try to escape (but no guarantees they'll do that - people are weird); A person was kidnapped from another place and an adventuring party is tasked to recover the person who is being forced to participate in the Festival of the Betrayer.
Likely more possible hooks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I invite you to come up with a general idea for a potential holiday/celebration. I'm extremely un-creative a need some content that my players will enjoy! Come up with literally anything. I will pick my favorites, and adapt them to my homebrew setting! I'm excited to see what you invent!
I have no personality.
What's the target rating? Y7? PG? PEGI18? Banned in 8 countries?
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Autumn blaze After a local (or national hero) stoped a threat via fire a festival was declared on that day
the festival has traditional activities such as a retelling to the story (in which each storyteller try’s to out do each other), a bonfire, wearing cloth of orange or red, dances and eating hot drinks and spicy food
if on a national scale then stories are told in front of statues of the hero and the story’s stay more consistent, torches may be used instead of a bonfire and some area may have different drinks and foods.
happens during the harvest season in their equivalent of October
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
Well, let's start with the basics:
Planting Festival - right before or right after the normal planting season so it doesn't interfere with planting
Harvest festival - right after harvest so you can show off your 20 pound pumpkin
Winter Solstice - You got to have something to do in winter
Summer Solstice - and between planting and harvest farmers have some free time
Scarboro Fair - so you can sing Simon and Garfunkel tunes
Lent, Easter, All Souls Day, All Hallows Eve, or various religious festivals and holy days
The Baron's Games - a festival with jousting and fighting by knights attempting to become noticed
Archer's Games - a local challenge for the peasants to demonstrate their skill with the long and short bow
The (Steeple) Chase - A notable horse race in the area, something like the precursor to the Kentucky Derby
Firmenter's Festival - A fair where the locals are encouraged to share a barrel of their best beer, lager, mead or wine (popular near monasteries)
The King's (or local noble's) Birthday - Long live the King! ('cause the next one might be even worse)
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Three Fools' Day celebrates the three jester brothers who, legend has it, saved the kingdom many years ago. Everyone dresses in fools' motley, pranks are encouraged, and three contests are held, one representing each brother. Fol's contest is a great melee in which contestants are armed only with a fool's wand. Rol's contest is a test of wit in which contestants trade jibes and taunts in a kind of medieval rap battle. And Pigstone's contest, the most prestigious of all, is held at midnight. It releases contestants into an obstacle-filled maze in a search for a greased pig. The winner, according to local tradition, is blessed with Pigstone's own bravery, along with a more tangible reward: a jesters' cap that can cast Alter Self at will on its wearer, but cannot change its own appearance. One final celebration is perhaps most important: everyone gives gifts to their siblings (real or sometimes figurative) to commemorate the Three Fools' friendship.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Mac's Day. So called after the renowned gnomish explorer, Mac Felder. He would send letters back to his nephew of his discoveries and exploits.
The holiday involves eating lots of sugary foods and a sort of exploration day for the kids. Like a treasure hunt, but they have to explore the area around the town and "discover something new" to put into their letters and send home to family.
The common 8 holidays fall on seasonal events: Solstice, equinox, and halfway between each when the seasonal changes' effects are definitely affecting.
How they're celebrated depends on what the locals do. Sex liberally distributed was a common theme for certain "time to plant crops" holidays. The double entendre is deliberate.
Legendary (even mythical) events lend themselves to holidays. The aging of history often takes one holiday and turns it into another where the origins are all but forgotten and new traditions are simply not questioned and are assumed as just "always been this way". Political tides can have immense effects upon traditions, too.
So, let's see what we can invent by following a progression.
A scandal.
Everyone is already forgetting that this all started from one person's indiscretions.
Over the ages, this weirdness has been transformed by time, interpretation, and whims of those of influence into a tradition of various contests to see which person (of any gender) will get to spend a year as the crown heir's consort. It is a ranked contest with various towns in the region having their own structured contests to eventually compete in a grand kingdom competition.
The winner was known as "the betrayer" and was assumed to be the betrayer of the crown's heir with varying stories to accompany the tradition - none of them correct. This happens just before Spring but the relationship to the original offense is coincidental.
Moving even further in time:
These contests brought many people from outside the kingdom to compete. Soon, only outsiders to the kingdom competed to be the "betrayer" with local sponsor reaping monetary gains and notoriety. The story of the "betrayer" changed to be an outsider - even more untrue than before.
More time passes:
In a strange twist, local sponsors began to resort to shanghai methods of acquiring champions for the tradition and the "winner" would serve unwillingly. The tradition, to encourage eager contest, became a bloodsport. Outsiders captured would go into gladatorial competitions and the prize was living a year in luxury before being exiled. The "betrayer" story changed even further with many, many variations and none of them true. Locals would sometimes employ headhunters and bid for various champions for their "sponsorship". Such eventually became the standard with very few ever relying on voluntary invitation for sponsorship.
So... annual bloodsport of near the end of Winter of mostly auction-purchased people so one person can be a servant, the "Betrayer", to the crown heir for a year before being cast out of the kingdom, earning fame and fortune for the victorious competitor's sponsor. The servitude often includes sexual servitude.
People are weird.
I initially see two hooks: A group of slavers capture an adventuring party and auction them off to various locals for competing in the Festival of the Betrayer - the party should try to escape (but no guarantees they'll do that - people are weird); A person was kidnapped from another place and an adventuring party is tasked to recover the person who is being forced to participate in the Festival of the Betrayer.
Likely more possible hooks.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.