Merchant’s Calendar Readme: Lore Unlooked For

The great thing about 2nd edition was that there was a great focus on the lore of the campaign worlds. So much so that some supplements were completely dedicated to it. J.R.R. Tolkien explained this phenomenon best in “Unfinished Tales”:

It is, I suppose, a tribute to the curious effect that a story has, when based on very elaborate and detailed workings, of geography, chronology, and language, that so many should clamour for sheer “information,” or “lore.”

And so we find the likes of The Ivory Triangle, Veiled Alliance, and Elves of Athas describing the world in so much detail there few rules to be found in them. The Ivory Triangle especially expounded on a specific region of Athas in enough detail that it came in boxed set form. Of particular interest in Ivory Triangle was the description of how Athasians measure time using the Merchant’s Calendar.

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Titular

I always liked Dragon Magazine 197’s cover. It’s a Brom painting that doesn’t seem to fit with the D&D of that time, nor is it exactly a Dark Sun image. It also uses quite a unique color palette where Brom is concerned. Beyond the unique look, the title is worth a mention.
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