RPG Theory – Dwarf Celebrations

Like so many GMs, I’m prone to world building the little bits and pieces that my players may never actually care about but dang it, I remain proud of putting those details out there. The default world I’ve been adding to for several years now is a pastiche of historical periods with a fantasy overlay and some direct grafts from officials modules. I won’t lie – I grabbed several gods from Harn as well. I’m more lazy than proud …

The first campaign I ran in this world was set in a relatively new / re-established dwarf kingdom so dwarf culture was very present. For establishing celebrations / holidays I set them up on the home crafted calendar as being independent of astrological phenomenon as the night sky would not be a primary time keeping device for a largely underground culture. Using a printed off calendar from the donjon fantasy calendar creator, I counted off periods of 50, 100, 200, and 250 days from the start of the year (it worked better in some places than others). Then I set up a ten day celebration at the end of year.

Next I looked at what themes would be most important to this traditional dwarf society, with all the tropes like underground cities, personal and clan honor, master crafters, and the importance of family and ancestors. From there some brainstorming and further massaging produced three celebrations. Finally I could not do better than Terry Prachett’s Hogfather and every attempt I made still had that influence so I just surrendered to it’s influence and called it a tribute. If you haven’t read any of the Discworld books, I highly recommend them and there are plenty of blogs dedicated where to start in the series and the sets of story arcs.

For the names, it started with one language punched into Google Translate with a bit of misspelling. It’s not pretty but it gave a reasonable consistency to a fantasy language without having to invent an entirely new fictional language. That’s my hack.

If some of these spark ideas, then I’m happy. Take them and use them as you see fit. This is more a case study than an essay on holiday creation.

Eddergid (Oaths Given)

• From the 5th to the 10th of Bitterwind (Winter’s end / beginning of Spring)
• According ancient lore, the first of the dwarf kingdoms was founded on this day long ago.
• It is a time of renewing oaths, undertaking new projects, and cleaning house.
  

Huskar Forfen (Memories of Past)

• From the 16th to the 21st of Bluesky (midsummer)
• A five day celebration noted for offerings to the Maker, Paragons, honoring the ancestors, and drinking.
• Not just any drinking but brew that has been crafted for specifically for this day, usually an ancient family recipe dating back to the days of the first dwarf kingdom (at least that’s what everyone seems to claim).
• Clans gather to hear the litany of the ancestors, toasting each one in turn. There is a reason this takes five days.

Kriger Serma (Warrior’s Watch)

• Honored for five days, starting at sundown on the 4th of Hightree and lasting until the sunrise of the 9th (autumn)
• Warrior’s Rest is a sombre time of contemplation and focus.
• All armour, weapons, and tools are brought out and given extra care and maintainance.
• For the next five days, it is customary to carry at least one weapon and wear some manner of armor as a show of being war ready.
• Infants too young to carry sharps are instead given blunted weapons. It is considered good fortune to keep this weapon until you have children of your own so that you can pass it on to them.
• Bards share the tales of battles won and lost while families carve the names of family fallen in battle on stones that will be carried to a Hall of Rememberence after the fifth sunrise. The stones remain their until the Kraags grind them to dust for Memories Past.

Kalt Ugni (Forgefire)

• Forgefire starts on the 3rd of Hard Rime and lasts for five days (Start of winter).
• The feasts tend to be simple and heavy, consisting of dark bread, mutton, mushrooms, and thick ales.
• Smiths and other crafters labour hard to create something special for Forgefire in celebration of the dwarf god who first crafted. The creations are displayed in the Commons over the five days of Forgefire

Langbaren (Longbeard)

• Celebrated during the last ten days of the calendar year.
• A festival of gift giving and feasting.
• By tradition the King will give out bread to the poor on at least the first day of Langbaren.
• Stories abound of the Maker sending red cloaked Jolnir of the Longbeard to deliver toys and meat to the good little dwarfs and only a bag of bones to the bad. On the final day of Langbaren, the children rush to the family hearth to unwrap the sacks left by Jolnir.
• Kingdoms with strong ties to dwarf communities have started picking up Langbaren customs of gift giving and children waiting for the appearance of Papa Longbeard.