The Keeper of the Days - A Player Role

The Keeper of the Days - A Player Role

The Keeper of the Days, is one of four Player Roles that have Game Duties, in addition to the responsibility of playing a Character in the Campaign.  Simply put, the Keeper of the Days is responsible for keeping a written record of what happens during the Game.  This is done in the Campaign Journal to be provided by the DM, and is read prior to the start of each new game session.  They also Determine the weather, and are the wards of the calendar.

The Keeper of the Days will be awarded Player Character XP at the discretion of the DM. 

Campaign Journal entries will be according to the Calendar used by the player, usually a day count calendar as is common in the kingdom of King John.  A mage campaign may use an Elvish Long Count Calendar, but traveling with one is unlikely.

Journal entries in a Long Count Calendar may look like;

           Amber'ellor'bar'van, 34y7a.  -  Weather, Death and Gain predictions successful.  Failed to see night ambush, or sighting of a GN Dragon.  Tomorrow will bring another foggy morning, no blood shed, coins to a stranger and a parting of ways.  Possible change of plans, or toppling of leadership, not sure which.  Invocation will suffer for the next 8 days, healing will improve.  Party should seek to increase their numbers.   

The Same Journal entries in a Day Count Calendar may look like this;

           * 18th day from Wiccam Moot - by way of wild travel to the east - The moon is good for night travel.  Despite it, we lost Neem, one of the pack handles from Needles Bunk in a night ambush by clanned Kords when a fog rolled in.  White-Bone-Water clan - we killed seven, three fled.  Some of us are injured including me, nothing serious.  They carried a treasure, a glowing horn.  Iliwen our Scout sighted Akua midmorning, though we never encountered it.  Tomorrow we should reach the Delve of Mosshead and there part with Agum the Dwarf who has been accompanying us.  His is a good fighter and we will miss him.  

As you can imagine, the Long Count Calendar is more of an NPC or DM tool, and something a player could never write.  it is a great way to commune with the players as DM though, if such tricks seem enticing. 

         

       The Long Count Calendar of the Elves, is the Gold Standards for adventurers and many learn the Calendar as an NWP.  The calendar is a physical item in the game world and they are expensive.  There are books on reading the calendar and books on using it as a prediction tool.  It is hyper complicated, and in its most essential form is three books, and four large star charts.  The Players start with folded parchment and a journal.  The calendar is too complicated to produce in any practical sense for the Players, but the better Calendar that is possessed, the more is possible.  For instance, it can predict things, like weather, or meteorological events, it can predict conflict, and famine, as well as success and failure.  It’s like a cross between astrology, and an almanac.

            The Day Count of King John is very simple and not complicated and is how most travelers record their days.  Tt operates on a basic assumption of time moving forward.  There is little credence given to the past, or special days, but it is more a way to record the days as they pass.  Connection to notable events is the goal.  The calendar writer restarts the day count when it can be tied to a significant event that will be on more than one calendar.  ie, a boat sinks in a harbor killing several and losing its load to Sahuagin, would be a decent day to denote and begin a recount if you lived and worked in the harbor where it occurred.  A PC would restart their count after checking in with the sages guild at a town they stopped at, or being invited to dinner with a lord, etc, something that will likely be recorded be others also.  

            Weather Charts.  This is a chart the Keeper of the days has, that every morning, the Keeper rolls the weather for the game setting.  Things like, impenetrable fog, or hurricane force winds, or Freezing snow.  How long it lasts, all of it is the responsibility through rolls, of the Keeper of the days.

            For instance, the night watch passes on a clear night, the Keeper of the days rolls the weather, and there is fog in the morning, followed my cloudy but clear mid-day and rain in the afternoon.  It also rains all night making camping and a fire impossible.  Weather questions and weather descriptions are the sole province of the Keeper of the Days and not the DM's.

    Weather is fairly mild in the northern province and weather disruptions are rare but they do occur.