In working on our Knights of the Old Republic campaign, I was surprised to find that the Star Wars universe doesn’t really have a formal calendar. What it does have is gleaned, not from the movies or TV series, but rather the Extended Universe.

Wookipedia has a write-up of the Galactic Standard Calendar that serves as the basis of our own campaign calendar. By and large we’re not hyper obsessed with dates in the campaign, but the calendar does serve to help us keep track of where we are in the larger KOTOR Timeline.

Record Keeping in the Old Republic

A few notable facts:

• Counting Years: Years in Star Wars are measured in terms of years before or after the Battle of Yavin in Episode IV: A New Hope, in which the first Death Star is destroyed by the rebels. By this reconning, our campaign takes place approximately 4000 years Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY).
• The Calendar: The Galactic Standard Calendar is very different from our own; there are five days per week, seven weeks per month, and a total of 10 months per year. However, there are also three festival weeks and three holidays (each taking a full day). In this, it’s somewhat similar to the Greyhawk calendar we used for years in our World of Greyhawk campaign.

Reprinted from Wookipedia:

By the Tapani Sector’s domestic calendar, which is Galactic Standard with local names, the year flows as follows:

• Month 1: Elona
• Month 2: Kelona
• Holiday 1: Tapani Day
• Month 3: Selona
• Festival Week 1: Expansion Week
• Month 4: Telona
• Month 5: Nelona
• Holiday 2: Productivity Day
• Month 6: Helona
• Festival Week 2: Shelova Week
• Month 7: Melona
• Month 8: Yelona
• Holiday 3: Harvest Day
• Month 9: Relona (The Freeworlds Region of the Tapani Sector also recognizes Relona 10 – 15 as Independence Week.)
• Month 10: Welona
• Festival Week 3: Winter Fete

Knights of the Old Republic Timeline

This timeline is taken from the Knights of the Old Republic Source Book by Wizards of the Coast. The Star Wars Extended Universe may conflict with this somewhat, but these dates are canon for our campaign:

• The Great Sith War (4,000-3,995 BBY)
• The Restoration Period (3,995-3966 BBY)
• The Mandalorian Wars (3,965-3,960 BBY)
• The Jedi Civil War (3,959-3955 BBY)
• The Dark Wars (3,955-3951 BBY)

The Jedi Civil War is chronicled in the original Knights of the Old Republic video game. The Dark Wars are covered in the sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which also touches on the events of the Mandalorian Wars).

Our sagas begin in the waning years of the Restoration Era, about five years before the Mandalorian Wars (3,971 BBY).