Thieves’ Guild

This is yet another installation in my Downtime Activities series. Previously, I wrote about a Mage Guild and a Warrior Arena. I wasn’t clear before, but with the exception of the tables for the activity of the guild, these Rank or Renown tables, the Complications table, and the Rivals and Allies all come from D&D’s 5e Dungeon Master Guide Chapters 1 and 6, and the Xanther’s Guide to Everything chapter on Downtime Activities. The idea is that these tables provide some structure and inspiration to guide both DM’s and players during any downtime between adventures.

So, for instance, for the Thieves Guild, a PC might say they are going to hang out at the Guild for a couple of months, and attempt two jobs. They might gain a renown point for just hanging out at the Guild (suggested renown awards for hanging out at a guild is Current Renown X 10 = 1 Renown), but they would also roll on the Jobs Table to see if they successfully pulled off a thieving job. The DM would also roll for a 10% chance for each job, plus however many times s/he thinks is necessary for the PC’s time spent hanging out at the guild. If a Complication occurs, then the DM would roll on the complication table. The DM might also simply mention things the PC sees while at the Guild, such as mentioning something the PC sees a rival or ally doing.

And without further ado, here are the tables and rivals/allies:

Renown/Rank Table

Rank	Renown + Prereq	Privileges  (each level includes all privileges of the lower ranks)
Cut Purse	1 + reference	Know thieves’ guild password, access to guild’s fence
Sticky (Fingers)	3 + A Successful Job	Trusted accomplices for small heists, small cut of profit, access to safe houses
Handy (Man/Gal)	10 + Successful heist involving traps	Trusted accomplices for large heists, good cut of profit
Shadow	25 + Successful heist involving infiltration	Trusted with all jobs, large cut of profit,
King/Queen	50 + Opportunity	Leadership of Guild

Jobs Table

Job Type (player’s choice)→ Outcome (d100) ↓	Mild Risk	Moderate Risk	High Risk
You fail (1-5)	You make no money	You get sent to jail for d6 days, property confiscated*, lose 1 renown	You are sentenced to death, property confiscated*, lose 3 renown
You barely pull it off (6-15)	You make 1 gold	You retrieve 10% of the loot	You retrieve only 10% of the loot + useful item
You do okay (16-35)	You make 4 gold	You retrieve 25% of the loot	You retrieve 25% of the loot + useful information
You do an average job (36-65)	You make 10 gold	You retrieve 50% of the loot	You retrieve 50% of the loot + common magical item
You did great  (66-85)	You make 20 gold	You retrieve 75% of the loot	You retrieve 75% of the loot + valuable information
Total success! (86 – 95)	You make 25 gold	You retrieve 100% of the loot	You retrieve 100% of the loot + uncommon magical item
Jackpot! (96-100)	You make 35 gold	You gain 1 renown  and 125% of the loot	You gain 3 renown, 150% of the loot, and learn a closely guarded secret

* If your property is confiscated, any contraband is destroyed and you have a 20% chance that something else is missing upon receiving it back.

Complications Table

(roll for 10% chance anytime DM believes appropriate, such as anytime player attempts a heist or for every 10 days they hang out at the guild)

d6	Complication
1	You realize during a heist that the people you’re stealing from are good people
2	Some piece of loot (e.g. an oil lamp) is housing a monster (genie/ghost/elemental).
3*	You receive an ominous message (e.g. a black coin or a broken clock)
4*	You were crossed!
5	Some piece of loot has a mysterious stamp/map on it.
6	The guards raid the guild

Possible Rivals or Allies

• Okuz (thug/m/half-orc/27 years old/Sticky) has been with the Guild for ten years, but has never advanced to Handy since he always manages to set off traps. However, he’s well-liked for his fun-loving nature and serves as an imposing figure when the Guild goes to collect on its debts. Okuz, therefore, has a lot of influence in the Guild, and can be ally to anyone he takes a shine to. However, he hates anyone who doesn’t like fun or disapproves of his debt-collecting methods.
  • Goal: To finally pull off a real heist.
  • Assets: Always seems to “know a guy.” He lives in a single-bedroom apartment in the seedy part of town with his long-term girlfriend, Obecay.
  • Actions: Okuz always challenges new Guild members to a drinking contest. He doesn’t care so much if he wins or loses as long as he has a good time with the new person. Anyone he deems a party-pooper he will start to bully and turn other guild members against. Anyone who he has a good time with, he’ll mostly leave alone. If he has a really good time, he’ll take them under his wing.
• Sunny Icelake (assassin/f/half-elf/60/Shadow) is one of the Guild’s elite thieves, well-known for her excellent assassin skills. Her reputation is so well-known that she makes a significant income from wealthy nobles who pay her to ignore any job offers she gets to assassinate them. Rumors say that she made a pact with dark forces which allow her to turn into a wind at will, but she dismisses such rumors as envy.
  • Goal:  To make enough money that she can disappear.
  • Assets: Sunny lives in a beautiful townhouse in the city’s trendiest district. She also may or may not have connections with dark forces which she may or may not be willing to share with the right person (or turn against someone who makes her an enemy)
  • Actions: Sunny is always on the look out for new weapons and poisons to use in her assassinations, and will pay handsomely for such. However, she will not look kindly of someone who tries to compete with her.
•  Jay Cap (assassin/m/human/40/Shadow) is a skilled thief with a soft heart. He is a beautiful man, with almond eyes and long, dark hair he wears in a bun. His archery skills know no match. His charismatic personality wins him many friends, even among those he steals from. He gives most of his loot to charity.
  • Goal: To become the guild’s King and turn the guild from merely a bunch of thieves to thieves with a noble purpose – to take from the rich and give to the poor.
  • Assets: Jay lives out of town in a caravan with about a dozen of his loyal supporters. He is also good friends with the high priests of the local temple and has the king’s unofficial approval (the king figures he’d rather someone like Jay Cap running the thieves’ guild than someone more brutal). The head of the guard, though, hates Jay.
  • Actions: Jay asks any new members if they would voluntarily give some of their profits to the poor, and although he won’t begrudge those who chose not to, he will look more favorably on those who do. He could be willing to be a co-ruler with a person who he deems generous and good-hearted, but will oppose the rise of someone he sees as cruel or petty, or someone unwilling to share the crown with him.
• Night Rose (thief/f/human/22/handygal) is a fast-talking, master-of-disguise. She can infiltrate any event from exclusive balls to illegal backroom betting rooms. She steals not for money, but for fun. Sometimes she gives her loot to Jay for charity, but more often, she spends it on frivolous things like a dress made out of butterfly wings. Once, she even took all the money from a heist and burned it. When asked why she was doing so, she replied that thieving wasn’t any fun if she was rich.
  • Goal: To pull off the ultimate heist, one that will go down in the history books.
  • Assets: Night Rose owns a modest townhouse where she displays some of the more notable items she has stolen or purchased with stolen money. However, she cannot usually be found there since she is more often than not undercover. She also owns a farmhouse outside of town which she bought for her parents and siblings, and sends them money. Most people do not know about her family as she works to keep them secret for fear both that other theives’ would see her as soft and to protect them danger, but they are the only people she truly cares about.
  • Actions: If Night Rose thinks the player character could help her with an undercover mission, she will approach them. She may also ask them along after a successful heist to help spend her cut of the shares. She can help the PC make good contacts and learn how to do good disguises. However, if the PC tries to lecture her on her frivolous ways or is a downer, they will have made an enemy.

Warrior Arena: Rivals and Allies

And for the final post in my Warrior Arena downtime activities, suggested rivals and allies.

Possible Rivals

• Simon the Lucky (Lvl 10 rogue/m/human/24 years old/Veteran) is light on his feet and quick with a knife, but rumors haunt him that he doesn’t exactly fight fair.
  • Goal: To win by any means necessary.
  • Assets: Simon owns a few (unsanctioned) items he uses to give himself an edge in fights, including a poisoned dagger and boots with hidden blades.
  • Actions: Simon doesn’t like risk, and so he makes his own luck. He will cheat in the ring (and out of it) to win. Nothing is too low for him, from bribing judges to slipping weakening potions into opponent’s drinks.
• Ginnie Goldflower (Lvl 3 cleric/f/human/19/unranked) is Mama Martha’s pacifist daughter. She is morally opposed to fighting and blood sports, and often sits outside protesting the event. Sometimes she is alone, sometimes others join her.
  • Goal: To shut down the arena
  • Assets:  Lots of time.
  • Actions:  In addition to protesting fights, Ginnie tries to take down advertising posters and hounds the more well-known fighters in the taverns.

Possible Allies

• Mama Martha (noble/f/human/60/unranked) owns and runs the Arena. Despite being 5 foot nothing and all skin and bones, she commands respect.
  • Goal: To run the best, most profitable Fighting Arena in the country
  • Assets: The arena, and all the wealth she’s accumulated from running it for decades.
  • Actions: Martha won’t take much notice of a player character until they start to climb up the ranks, and then she will pay attention to them if she thinks they will draw a bigger audience. She doesn’t care if people come to watch a charismatic fighter win or watch a hated fighter lose, she just wants butts in the seats.

• Bonebreaker the Ugly (knight/m/half-orc/20/Warrior) is an unusually large, unusually ugly half-orc who has found his niche in the Arena. He loves the roar of the crowd and finally feels accepted.
  • Goal: To become the public face of the Fighting Arena
  •  Assets: Muscle and a devoted fan base, but underneath it all, a soft heart.
  • Actions: Bonebreaker will initially see the player character as another rival to beat, but if the player puts on a good show for the crowds, Bonebreaker will try to win their favor. Conversely, something might happen which causes him to want to take the player under his wing. Either way, Bonebreaker will likely want to work with the player character to win more fans – perhaps though a faux rivalry in the arena, a gimmick, or some other method.

Warrior Arena: Fight and Complication Table

Post two in my downtime activities, Warrior Arena series. This table is for players to roll on to see how well their character did in the fights for a DM-determined amount of time. I’ve also added complications that can be rolled for whenever the DM feels is a good time. Complications can be used to add a bit more variety and fun to downtime activities, but without taking too much extra table time, or you can use them as a jump off for a full adventure:

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Warrior Arena Fight Table

Size of Crowds (d6)→ Fights Won (d100) ↓	Small (1)	Medium (2-3)	Large (4-5)	Gigantic (6)
None (1-5)	0	0	0	0
Handful (6-15)	1	2	3	4
Fair Amount (16-35)	4	8	12	16
Half (36 – 65)	10	20	30	40
Most (66 – 85)	15	30	45	60
Almost all (86 – 95)	20	40	60	80
All (96 – 100)	25	50	75	100

* Note: Sum of rolls over 100 grants 1 instant renown

Multiple earnings by level (Example, level 5 character would earn 500 gold for winning all fights in front of a gigantic crowd). Gold earned represents one week of participating in arena shows everyday.

Complications

(roll for 10% chance anytime DM believes appropriate, such as anytime player rolls on the fight table or for every 10 days they hang out at the arena)

D6	Complication
1*	You are accused of cheating. You can decide if you actually did or not.
2*	You’re asked to take a fall for a price
3*	A rival fighter vows to take revenge on you
4	A fan becomes obsessed with you
5*	You discover someone is taking an unfair cut of the winnings
6	A noble approaches you with an offer to hire you as bodyguard for himself or as muscle at an event.

* May involve a rival or ally

Warrior Arena: Rank Table

This is another post in my downtime activities series. Previously, I had done a series of post on a mages’ guild (here, here, and here). This time, I offer Warrior Arena. Post one here is the Rank Table.

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Warrior Arena Rank Table

Rank	Renown	Privileges
Fresh Meat	1 Renown, 14 Strength or Dexterity, and 12 Constitution	Fight in the pre-shows
Green Horn	3	Fight in the main arena
Warrior	10	X2 multiplier on winnings, and you will start to be recognized outside the ring, occasionally strangers will offer to pay your tab, or give you nominal gifts
Veteran	25 + 1,000 gold bond (for resurrection)	X3 multiplier on winnings, you have a special arena name and audience cheer, and you have a fan base who will send you regular gifts or offers.
Champion	50	X4 multiplier on winnings, and you are always the main event, you can barely walk down the street without fans asking for autographs, inns might give you free lodging or food just so they can say you were there, don’t be surprised if weapon makers approach you to be the poster-child for their newest weapons.

 

Downtime Activities: Mage Guild Ranks

Today is my third (and final) post in the Mage Guild Downtime Activities series, although not my last for downtime activities in general.  These are two tables, one which shows the different ranks and privileges of the Mage’s Guild (and how to advance), and a second table for random outcomes for a mage participating in research when not on adventures.

If you are unfamiliar with renown as a downtime activity, it can be found in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. 

Links to Previous Mage Guild Downtime Activities:

Downtime Activities: Mage Guild Allies

Downtime Activities: Mage Guild Rivals

Rank Advancement Table

Rank	Renown + Prereq	Privileges (each level includes all privileges of the lower ranks)
Member	1 + 50 gold + Able to cast 1st level spells	Access to common areas of the Mage Guild’s tower, including the Members’ Lounge, coffee shop, and common library (all 1st level spells available for copying). Materials to copy 4 spells for free each month.
Senior	3 + 500 gold + Able to cast 3rd spells	Access to Senior Members’ Lounge and West wing of the library (up to level 3rd level spells available for copying), wizard gaming hall
Raven	10 + 3,000 gold + vote of confidence	Access to the Raven Lounge, the floating gardens, vote for those seeking raven level. Access to East wing of library (10% chance library has any spell between levels 4-5, and 10% chance any book on non-magical subject of Material Plane is available).
Owl	25 + 6,000 gold + vote	Access to the Owl Lounge, restaurant, vote for approval of those seeking raven and owl level. Access to upper level of library (10% chance library has any spell between levels 6-7, 10% chance any book on a magical subject of the Material Plane is available)
Eagle	50 + 10,000 gold + vote	Acces to Eagle pocket dimension, Eagle’s spa, vote in making rules, vote in advancement of members for all levels. Access to Forbidden wing of library (5% chance every month that any specific Tome is available, 25% chance any book on another plane is available, 1% chance library holds any spell levels 8-9).

Research Table

Importance of Research (player’s choice)→ Outcome (d100) ↓	Minor	Moderate (Senior and up)	Great (Raven and up)
You fail (1-5)	You discovery nothing and make no money	You make a mistake with minor repercussions (DM’s choice. Examples: lose 1 renown, make a minor enemey, destroy something replaceable, summon a low-level monster)	You madea  BIG mistake with repercussions (DM’s choice. Examples, lose 3 renown, make a great enemy, destroy something priceless, open a portal)
You make a little progress (6-35)	A patron or collegeu notices your efforts, and gives you a ‘grant’ of 10 gold.	Your efforts are rewarded with a 40 gold grant	Your efforts are rewarded with a gold 70 gold grant.
You did great  (36-85)	You make great progress, but not enough to publish. You receive a grant of 20 gold to continue to your work.	Your efforts are rewared with a 80 gold grant.	Your efforts are rewarded with a 140 gold grant.
You make a great contribution (86 – 95)	You learn something and get to hold a lecture for fellow mages. 25 gold	You learn something and gain advantage an intelligence check (player’s choice).  You may hold a lecture for fellow mages. 100 gold.	You learn something interesting, and you gain a +1 to a specific skill or knowledge (example: +1 to history). You may become a lecturer on the subject. 180 gold.
You have found The Answer (96-100)	You learn something and your work is added to the library’s  permanent collection. Collect 35 gold.	You make a discovery with noteable benefits. You may add it to the library’s permanent collection. 140 gold. Examples of rewards: Gain 1 renown, learn a new spell, make a new friend.	You make a major breakthrough in your studies. Other Mages may recognize you forever more (if you tell them). 250 gold Examples of rewards: Gain 3 renown, invent a new spell, permanently memorize a known spell, create an artifact.

Downtime Activities: Mage Guild Allies

This is the second in my series of Downtime Activities. Today I feature allies for a Mage Guild. Check out suggested Mage Guild rivals here

• The janitor Jon Greenlake (commoner/m/human/55 years old/unranked). Jon has been the mage guild’s janitor for 10 years, a position given to him by the head mage after Jon lost his left arm and right-hand fingers in an accident that may have been the result of poorly packed shipment of alchemy fire headed to the guild. Jon may take a an interest in a character who is kind to him.

Assets: Keys to every single room, including any sort of ‘forbidden’ areas.  Not only can he offer access to any part of the guild to a friend, he can also retrieve items. In addition, he has overheard a fair share of gossip and ‘secret’ meetings during his cleaning duties.

• Erwel Fenwick (cult leader, but with any good alliance (change the spells as you see fit)/f/half-elf/70 years old/Owl). Erwel mainly hangs out in the Owl Restaurant scarfing down oysters while flipping through library books. However, she also loves tea and cookies and can be found in the coffee shop in the morning and mid-afternoons. She doesn’t enjoy traveling herself, but loves to hear adventuring stories.

Assets: As an Owl, Erwel can help her friends move up the rungs quickly. She often will ask younger guild members to help with her research by verifying information she reads in her books, or provide her with the ingredients for spells. She is on good terms with Gweneth Fireiron, and can use her influence to soften any animosity Gweneth may hold against a fellow guild member.

Downtime Activities: Mage Guild Rivals

This is the start of a new series of posts I plan to do which focus on downtime activities. First up is suggested rivals for a Mage Guild:

• The head librarian Gweneth Fireiron (archmage/f/dwarf/300 years old/eagle) has been head librarian for the past 150 years, and part of the Mage’s Guild for the past 250 years, and doesn’t like new mages who think they can rise through the ranks quickly. It took her 75 years to reach eagle status, so she doesn’t see why anyone else has to be in such a rush.
  • Goal: To keep things the way they have always been.
  • Assets: As a voting Eagle and head librarian, Fireiron has great influence on who gets promoted to higher levels and who has access to the library (yes, a member’s rank entitles them to access, but sometimes certain areas might need cleaning or Gweneth might be out to lunch).
  • Actions: Fireiron doesn’t have any kind of master plan, but she will oppose any PC who tries to rise too quickly and will need persuading to vote for them. If the PC annoys her, she may limit their access to the library or get other mages to vote against them.

• Gavin Frostfields (acolyte/m/human/17 years old/member) joined the Guild a few months ago as its youngest ever member. He’s always been good at everything he’s done, so he doesn’t know what it’s like to fail. He instantly resents anyone who criticizes him or gets in his way. If it weren’t for the fact he’s so good at magic, he would probably be kicked out. He’s determined to make it to Eagle in record time, and resents anyone who ‘shows him up.’
  • Goal: To be the darling of the Guild
  • Assets: Although only a Member, his grandfather, Harold Frostfields, owns a very profitable liquor wholesaler and is sponsoring him. His grandfather has also bought a small Inn in town, The Lonely Pelican, which he lets Gavin ‘run’ (in reality, Harold’s employee runs it). The Inn is very popular and well-run, making Gavin very popular.
  • Actions: If Gavin thinks someone is getting more attention than him, he will try to sabotage them. Perhaps by buying off people who would otherwise help that person or sending bandits to make things difficult for the rival.

Review: Tales from the Yawning Portal

It’s out! Tales from the Yawning Portal, D&D’s newest adventure supplement was released on March 24 in game shops and will be released on April 4th in other locations. As promised, the book consists of seven classic dungeons updated for 5e ranging from Against the Giants released in 1978 to Dead in Thay released in 2014. The dungeons can be run separately or strung together to form one long campaign. I’ve had a chance to thumb through it this weekend.

The supplement starts off with a nice overview and history of the seven dungeons. Here, we also learn where the book gets its title: The Yawning Portal is the name of an inn suggested as the headquarters for the players to rest between adventures and get their next dungeon quest. The inn itself sits on top of, and serves as an entrance to, a massive dungeon which, sadly, is not featured in the book.

The dungeons follow and each chapter has more or less the same structure: an overview of the adventure, suggested plot hooks and settings, and then room-by-room descriptions. Information is not repeated. Usually, I find this format cumbersome for open-world games, but it works well for dungeon crawls.  The maps are highly detailed and nicely drawn. However, many of them are quite small and there are no poster inserts included. Given their level of detail, DMs will want to pre-draw them. As a bonus, each chapter includes a nice blurb on the history of the publication.

The Sunless Citadel is the first dungeon and advances characters from first to third level. It’s billed as a great introduction to D&D for new players and DMs alike. The adventure has players exploring a subterranean fortress looking for a mysterious and magical fruit. There is a lot of variety and fun encounters, but like all the dungeons in this book, it is very much a kick-down-the-door and take the loot, with the overall plot being very loose.

The Forge of Fury brings characters third to fifth level. Sticking again to classic tropes, this adventure explores a multi-level ancient Dwarven dungeon reminiscent of Tolkien’s work. Don’t ask too many questions about why the monsters on each level don’t interact.

The Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan is designed for 5th level characters. Although originally published in 1980, its setting is still unique for D&D and has players exploring a ruined temple influenced by Aztec/Mayan/Toltec mythology and society. Each room is packed with information and some descriptions go on for multiple pages.

White Plume Mountain is one of the most famous D&D adventures and has been modified here for 8th level players. Players make their way through a volcano dungeon to find three magical weapons. Filled with lots of challenges that basically amount to “roll above X number or take massive damage” and nonsensical monsters (you might even find the pitiful vampire that inspired the creation of the sinister Strahd), this adventure is more about nostalgia and kicking-in doors than anything else.

Dead in Thay is the newest dungeon in the book and takes players from 9th to 11th level. Players explore the Doomvault, a massive menagerie and laboratory run by evil wizards. The map for this one is gigantic and all squeezed onto one page. There are some bigger views of each sector, but you will probably still need a magnifying glass to see the detail.

Against the Giants is actually three mini-adventures which advance players from 11th to 14th level. There is kind of a three little pigs influence as any undefeated giants from one section will run to the next and DMs will have to do more legwork to change the dungeons to fit the players’ actions.

Tomb of Horrors caps the supplement. No suggested level is given except that parties should be large and well-prepared. The dangers here aren’t so much high-level monsters as tricky puzzles that will force players to use their own brains more than their characters’. Although this is one of the oldest adventures in D&D, this style of play will not suit everyone as there is little room for role-playing or even combat.

After all the dungeons, the book has two extensive appendixes of magic items and monsters. Thankfully, unlike other D&D adventure supplements, these are mainly stat blocks instead of descriptions, so DMs won’t find they’ve missed a crucial piece of lore when they flip to the appendix.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a fun supplement, especially if you are looking to replay, or play for the first time, classic dungeon crawls in 5e without having to do the conversion yourself. As is common with D&D adventure publications, there is a ton of information packed into prose-style paragraphs that can be hard to navigate as a DM. Information is not repeated and if you want to really absorb everything, you will need to read it closely. However, since each dungeon is self-contained, DMs can run these adventures with minimum prep. Tales of the Yawning Portal works well as either a supplement for a larger campaign, as mini-campaigns, or to run for a more casual group where players cannot make every session. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary.

 

Random Vistanis

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been busy preparing for a Curse of Strahd campaign so I haven’t been posting here as much. Then I realized I should be sharing the resources I made! So here are some random Vistanis. They are grouped into family units/wagons. The point of these NPCs is to allow diversity without getting bogged down in details. Vistani tend to be Chaotic Neutral.

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The Dalcas. Wagon is painted purple with green flowers.

• Stanimir: 50 year old man with beard and light blue eyes. Father of Damia and Ratka. He works with Madam Eva to bring adventurers into Barovia, hoping they will somehow lift the Curse.
• Damia: 18 year old woman with feathers braided in her hair. She does not know if she believes her father that one day adventurers will break the Curse. She is fond of birds and can sing to them. She and her brother don’t get along.
• Ratka: 18 year old man and Damia’s twin. He has a pierced nose and dark, curly hair. He and his sister got along well until she told him she doesn’t believe the Curse can be lifted. He believes this to be blasphemy.
• Rosa: 50 year old wife to Stanimir. Good cook. Daughter of Pyotr Sala. Recently, she’s been riding in her father’s wagon as he is very old and needs more help.

The Funars. Wagon is painted in dark pink and yellow stripes.

• Bela: 26 year old woman. She is fat and loves jewelry. She even specializes in trading jewelry for the trope – usually setting up a small table when they are in lands outside Barovia. She and Lee got married at age 16 and have been in love ever since. They quickly (some say too quickly) had a baby.
• Lee: 28 year old man. He is very skinny, hates exercise, and doesn’t even like wine. He is very kind, though, and attentive to his children. Sometimes other Vistanti secretly refer to this couple as “The Prats,” but neither Bela nor Lee know this.
• Baby Karol: 6 month old boy, constantly drooling.
• Tara: 10 year old girl. She doesn’t show much interest in jewelry making and instead plays the flute. She’s unusually good and often warms up crowds with her sweet music.

Lunar Calendar

I was recently looking for a Lunar Calendar for use in a Curse of Strahd campaign I’m going to run soon, but couldn’t find any that suited the needs of a fantasy campaign. Most real lunar calendars either do not truly follow the phases of the moon or are difficult to use as the a lunar cycle is not consistent. I have tried to solve those problems with the following calendar. There are 12 months with 28 days each. There are no need for weeks since the moon’s half, full and new phases serve as natural holidays and the gibbous and crescent phases serve as workdays. As I was making this for Barovia where the first the month is the Full Moon, unlike most real lunar calendars which have months starting on the New Moon, the First Quarter would occur last and vice-versa. So, I’ve renamed the First and Last Quarter the Right and Left Halves. The suggested season and month names are also meant for Barovia, but feel free to change them.

Corresponding Real Month	Fantasy Lunar Moon	Season
April	Pink Moon	Spring
May	Flower Moon	Spring
June	Dragon Moon	Summer
July	Bat Moon	Summer
August	Wine Moon	Summer
September	Harvest Moon	Autumn
October	Hunter’s Moon	Autumn
November	Ghost Moon	Winter
December	Cold Moon	Winter
January	Wolf Moon	Winter
February	Snow Moon	Winter
March	Raven Moon	Winter/Spring

Day of Month	Moon Phase	% Illuminated
1	Full	100%
2	Waning Gibbous	93%
3	Waning Gibbous	86%
4	Waning Gibbous	79%
5	Waning Gibbous	72%
6	Waning Gibbous	65%
7	Waning Gibbous	58%
8	Left Half	50%
9	Waning Crescent	43%
10	Waning Crescent	36%
11	Waning Crescent	29%
12	Waning Crescent	22%
13	Waning Crescent	15%
14	Waning Crescent	1 – 7%
15	New	0%
16	Waxing Crescent	7%
17	Waxing Crescent	14%
18	Waxing Crescent	21%
19	Waxing Crescent	28%
20	Waxing Crescent	35%
21	Waxing Crescent	42%
22	Right Half	50%
23	Waxing Gibbous	57%
24	Waxing Gibbous	64%
25	Waxing Gibbous	71%
26	Waxing Gibbous	78%
27	Waxing Gibbous	85%
28	Waxing Gibbous	92%