Birthdays and Celebrations

Since today's my birthday, and we're in the midst of the holidays, I offer up this way to spice up your campaigns. For each nation and culture, come up with a day or two per month that has extra significance for either national or cultural reasons. Examples include Saint days (St. Repan's Day, where the people tie wildflowers to their doors to honor the patron saint of wildflowers, etc.), Feast days, Fast days, Harvest days, New Years Day, Day of Moradin, etc.

To add extra flair, these days may increase or decrease skill check modifiers or have other effects. For instance, during the week around the summer solstice honoring Lux, the God of Light, hide and sneak checks are at a -5 penalty, whereas during the week around the winter solstice honoring Tenebrae, the god of Shadows, these checks are at a +5 bonus. This may correlate well with the crime sprees in a city, and may lead to the town guard being on high alert, a great way to introduce this bonus to the party.

Birthdays can also add bonuses to certain characters, which is why every character should have a birthday and a totem animal, so in February, the month of the Fox, a character celebrating a birthday receives bonuses befitting a fox.