TEXT: EN World EN5idEr | Another Year Passed
   
  writing Michael McCarthy
   color art Tamara Cvetkovic
   
  editing James J. Haeck
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  N
  o matter how fantas-
  tic the hero, nobody can 
  stop the endless march of time. 
  Not even the ageless wizard or 
  undying monster can prevent 
  the changing of the seasons. So 
  instead, people celebrate this 
  great constant—the passing of 
  time, and the marking of the 
  years. For every year, things 
  grow and change—and noth-
  ing grows and changes more 
  than people and the cultures in 
  which they live. Yet at the same 
  time, nothing stays more the 
  same.
  another
  year
  passed
  
  Another Year Passed | EN World EN5idEr
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  in this article is designated Open Game Content. All other 
  material in this article, including maps and illustrations 
  (including illustrations in the public domain), in-character 
  and out-of-character narrative and descriptive text, 
  character and place names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,” 
  “EN World,” “EN5ider,” EN Publishing product 
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  logos, are designated Product Identity.
  New Year Celebrations
  The arrival of the New Year is among the largest 
  celebrations any culture has. It marks the progress 
  it has made, promises the renewal of spring, and 
  gives its people hope for a better, brighter year.
  Despite the omnipresence of the New Year fes-
  tival, not every culture celebrates it at the same 
  time. One culture might follow a solar calendar, 
  while another might use a lunar one. Other cul-
  tures might measure their years on a distant star, 
  enchanted hourglass, or great magical beast. Even 
  within the same calendar, different nations might 
  celebrate their New Year at a different time—one 
  culture might celebrate the New Year at the winter 
  solstice, while another might celebrate it on the first 
  of spring, or on a day dictated by a powerful entity 
  thousands of years ago.
  Yet where cultures truly begin to differ is in their 
  celebrations of the New Year itself. Even within a 
  single culture there are often wide variations on 
  how particular rituals are practiced depending on 
  the family or individual practicing them. To deter-
  mine how a particular village, family or individual 
  celebrates the New Year, roll or choose from the list 
  below.
  EN
  EN
  Publishing
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  ™
  New Year’s Traditions
  1d6 Tradition
  1
  The changing of the years is a grand celebration, 
  often one that lasts from dusk until dawn. Good 
  food, good drink, and fine entertainment all 
  around!
  2
  Every year marks a new beginning of something 
  new, and the end of something old. Bad 
  memories are gathered up—these can be 
  actual unlucky objects linked to bad memories 
  or simply written representations of bad 
  memories—and they are burned in a cleansing 
  fire.
  3
  New Year’s Eve is a solemn, silent day. It is a time 
  to quietly sit and reflect on times past and what 
  the year ahead might hold.
  4
  The New Year is a powerful, mystical time. 
  Costumes and masks are worn to hide from or 
  scare away malevolent spirits that might bring 
  bad luck. Similarly, treats are left on windowsills, 
  on doorframes, and in pantries to appease fey 
  tricksters.
  5
  As thanks for the passing year, and for luck in 
  the year to come, a pyre is lit on New Year’s Day. 
  This pyre burns offerings to gods, ancestors and 
  spirits—anyone who might be worthy of thanks 
  for the past year, or have influence on the year to 
  come.
  6
  The New Year arrives with the need to peacefully 
  reflect upon the years gone by. It is a time for a 
  community to come together and share stories 
  and memories between families and across 
  generations—familiar stories are re-shared, and 
  new stories are added. 
  
  EN World EN5idEr | Another Year Passed
  Birthday Celebrations
  Everyone handles aging differently. Some people 
  celebrate it with lavish parties, while others would 
  rather forget that they’re not as young as they used 
  to be. Despite this, birthday celebrations are pres-
  ent in nearly every culture. Even in magical or truly 
  alien cultures, age is one of the simplest measures 
  of a creature’s status, and measuring (if not cel-
  ebrating) its passing is important to maintain the 
  status quo. Perhaps an exception is a culture that 
  celebrates nothing at all, or a hive-mind culture 
  with no sense of individuality.
  Most birthday celebrations are personal affairs, 
  but they almost always draw strongly from the 
  culture in which the person was raised. Sometimes 
  this means replicating that tradition no matter how 
  far away from home they are, while other times it 
  means rejecting anything that has to do with their 
  home’s traditions. To determine the way that in-
  dividual prefers to celebrate their birthday, roll or 
  choose from the list below.
  Personal Birthday Traditions
  1d6 Tradition
  1
  You celebrate your birthday by giving gifts 
  to those you love. These gifts reflect your 
  relationship with that person, particularly over 
  the past year. You often combine these gifts with 
  an elaborate meal where you and your friends 
  celebrate together with your favorite foods.
  2
  Your birthday is all about you. While you 
  sometimes have to arrange it yourself, you 
  usually expect your close friends and family to 
  throw you a party, where you have your favorite 
  meals, do your favorite things, and usually ends 
  with everyone giving you a present.
  3
  The anniversary of your birth is a sacred time for 
  you. Depending on how your year has gone, you 
  might pray, anoint yourself, read scripture, or 
  seek out blessings from other members of your 
  faith.
  1d6 Tradition
  4
  Every year, on the minute of your birth, you have 
  a prophetic vision. This vision gives you a glimpse 
  of where you will be the next year at this exact 
  same time. The vision lasts exactly 1 minute, 
  and while it isn’t always perfectly clear, what 
  little you can remember from year to year it is 
  uncannily accurate.
  5
  When you were young, by chance or design, you 
  had a meeting with a powerful outsider. They 
  promised to protect you and bring you luck every 
  year, so long as you give them an appropriate 
  offerings each year. Each year, instead of a 
  traditional party, you hold a celebration for this 
  outsider, instead, as lavish as you can manage.
  6
  When you were very young, you stumbled into 
  a fey realm. While there, you did something that 
  happened to please them. In return, on your 
  birthday each year they provide you an elaborate 
  party—although it is often thrown at a time and 
  place you aren’t prepared for.
  
  Another Year Passed | EN World EN5idEr
  Growing Old
  Every character gets older. Sometimes it’s simply 
  because many years have passed, but adventures 
  aren’t always so lucky. After experiencing a ghost’s 
  Horrifying Visage, being struck by a necromancer’s 
  curse or after being present during a surge of wild 
  magic they might find themselves aged by years or 
  decades—or more.
  Characters gain a great deal of experience over 
  the course of their lives, but years of physical trau-
  ma and the creep of old age eventually take their 
  toll, and aging characters begin to experience the 
  effects of old age. The typical adventurer begins 
  their career as an adult or a young adult, with no 
  penalties or bonuses due to their age. The age cat-
  egories are: Young Adult/Adult, Middle Age, Old, 
  Elderly, Ancient. A character that advances past 
  Ancient age passes away. 
  A character advances to a new age category when 
  they reach twice the age their race considers adult, 
  and another at every interval thereafter. Characters 
  aged by a spell or another magical effect are at risk 
  of advancing by one or more age categories as well. 
  Aging Effects
  While individual age categories have no specific 
  traits, you must roll on the table below whenever 
  your character advances to Middle Age and again 
  on every subsequent age category. If you roll the 
  same result more than once, its static numerical ef-
  fects are cumulative.
  Effects of Aging
  1d6 Effect
  1
  You don’t feel as rested when you wake up, and 
  you’re tired all of the time. Completing a long rest 
  cannot reduce your level of exhaustion below 
  half the number of age categories you have 
  advanced past adulthood (rounded up).
  2
  You’ve begun to ache, particularly your joints. 
  You have disadvantage on Strength and 
  Dexterity saves, and a penalty on all Strength 
  and Dexterity checks equal to the number of age 
  categories you have advanced past adulthood.
  3
  You have had to start really watching what 
  you eat. You must eat meals that cost twice as 
  much as normal, or else you gain the poisoned 
  condition for 2d20 minutes afterwards, plus one 
  minute per age category you have advanced past 
  adulthood. Additionally you have disadvantage 
  on saves against gaining the poisoned effect.
  4
  Forgetfulness is becoming a serious problem for 
  you. Retrieving an item from a pack, drawing a 
  weapon, or otherwise readying an item is always 
  an action. Remembering where any item not in 
  your pack is takes a number of actions equal to 
  the number of age categories you have advanced 
  past adulthood. 
  5
  It’s getting harder and harder to focus on the 
  world around you. You have disadvantage on 
  Wisdom checks, and a penalty on initiative 
  checks equal to the number of age categories 
  you have advanced past adulthood.
  6
  People keep telling you that your attitude has 
  turned for the worse. You gain advantage on 
  ability checks and saving throws made against 
  becoming charmed, but also gain a penalty on 
  Charisma checks equal to the number of age 
  categories you have advanced past adulthood.
  Advancing Age Categories
  A dragonborn, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, human, 
  or tiefling reaches Middle Age at 40 years old and 
  advances another age category every 20 years 
  afterwards.
  Dwarves and gnomes reach Middle Age at 100 
  years old and advance another age category every 50 
  years afterwards.
  An elf reaches Middle Age at 200 years old, and 
  advances another age category every 100 years 
  afterwards.
  
  EN World EN5idEr | Another Year Passed
  New Year, New You
  Although the focus of any campaign is on the PCs, 
  it’s common for characters in the background of the 
  story to grow and change while the party is out 
  having adventures. These changes might have been 
  long in coming, or they might be as much of a sur-
  prise to the character they happen to as they are to 
  the players the next time they meet. Whatever their 
  cause, all of them are likely to change how that 
  character will interact with the party in the future.
  These changes are likely to have a significant 
  impact on the NPC, and in an extreme case might 
  lead to that character leaving a campaign entirely. 
  In general, these sort of significant changes should 
  be reserved to no more than one per adventure.
  NPC Changes
  1d6 NPC Changes
  1
  The character’s family has expanded. This 
  might mean that they’ve found love, gotten 
  married or had a child—or it might mean that 
  they’ve rekindled connections with a long lost 
  or estranged family member. The character is 
  in an excellent mood for weeks or even months, 
  although they will likely have less time for the 
  party as a result.
  2
  A tragedy has struck. The character may have 
  lost someone close to them through illness 
  or injury, or perhaps they’ve fallen ill or been 
  seriously injured themselves. The character’s 
  mood has fallen, and perhaps they will ask 
  the player characters to help them out of their 
  current malady through magic or a quest for a 
  rare cure.
  3
  There’s been a dark omen recently, and the 
  character is at the center of it. They might 
  not even be aware of the omen itself, but a 
  growing sense of dread has been following them 
  everywhere. The omen might foretell something 
  personal, or it might be a symptom of a larger 
  problem in the future with them at the center.
  1d6 NPC Changes
  4
  The character has begun to follow their dreams 
  once more. Whether by choice, a stroke of 
  fortune or a lack of other options, the character 
  has undergone a dramatic change in lifestyle. 
  They’ve taken back up with a craft, dream, or 
  goal that they had once abandoned. Whatever 
  their reasons for this change in their life, it’s 
  working out well for them so far!
  5
  The character has undergone a visible, physical 
  change. They might have gained or lost a 
  significant amount of weight, gained a visible 
  new scar, gotten a large tattoo, or lost a limb. 
  Despite the change, this doesn’t affect them too 
  badly—the scar isn’t disfiguring, or they have a 
  prosthetic to make up for their amputation—but 
  it sure is noticeable.
  6
  The character has made an enemy or ally of 
  some sort of supernatural creature. They might 
  not be willing to speak of it openly, but everyone 
  around them treats them differently as a result. 
  This might be an imp or an angel that gives 
  them advice, a shadow that does their bidding, 
  or a hag who creeps into town at night to make 
  demands.  e
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 191 - Another Year Passed.pdf