As creatures of the modern world, it is difficult for us to incorporate medieval thinking into a medieval/Renaissance RPG campaign. Things we take for granted, such as a wide variety of food, great nightlife and indoor heating (not many fireplaces), are often not realized in our ostensibly medieval surroundings.
Of course, indulging in the “fantasy” aspect can solve a lot of problems. Maybe medieval France didn’t have potatoes, but that’s not to say your Western European background didn’t have potatoes. Similarly, a city with extensive magic might have glowing orbs or magical ceilings that allow buildings and streets to be adequately lit at night. Maybe your fantasy medieval town really does look like a modern police force with a dedicated investigative unit.
A few months ago, in the waning days of 2023, I stumbled upon the concept of biphasic sleep while researching something online. After going down the rabbit hole for a while, I decided to incorporate biphasic sleep into my campaign.
What is Biphasic Sleep?
I don’t need to use a lot of scientific terms that I might misuse, biphasic sleep is a sleep pattern where you sleep during two parts of the day. In our modern society, this usually manifests as normal nighttime sleep and daytime naps (or naps).
However, in the past, it was believed that because artificial light was expensive or the smell of tallow candles was too strong, most people went to bed at sunset and rose at dawn. This is a fairly long period, especially in the winter, so people usually sleep for a few hours, get up for an hour or two in the middle of the night, and then sleep for a few more hours until dawn.
During the hour or so in between, I rarely stared at the ceiling. People would get up, have a snack, go to the bathroom, do chores (anything you can do in the moonlight), pray, or, in the case of a romantic partner, listen to a Barry White album (you know what I mean!).
Once artificial light became more common, sleep schedules shortened as people slept longer and woke earlier. Reduced sleep time means more people, most of them, sleep straight into the morning, or, if they do wake up, go back to sleep as quickly as possible.
Is this true? Maybe yes, maybe not, but it still gives me food for thought!
Thanks for the Talk, but What does This Mean for RPGs?
Most role-playing games assume that the player character must rest for 8 hours or else bad things will start to happen, whether it’s some form of fatigue check or a penalty to an action. I’ve never read any pre-industrial game rulebook that recommended 8 hours of sleep (i.e., a “long rest” in modern Dungeons & Dragons terms) divided into two sleep stages, with a semi-active stage in between.
That being said, I know you can easily interpret biphasic sleep as long periods of rest, as the definition of biphasic sleep includes light activity and 2 hours of viewing, but I’ve never played or run one A game in which the entire team will get up together in the middle of the night as a ritual. This seems strange because this is not how we sleep today.
To me, the idea of biphasic sleep lends itself well to my OSR activities, especially considering that Valtar, the main law god, is represented by the moon. It makes sense that Valtar’s worshipers would pray to him at midnight when the moon is at its highest (my game world is similar to Earth, with only one sun and one moon).
Note that in my campaigns, whether OSR or Modern, I generally ignore rules where interrupted night’s rest prohibits healing or spell memorization, as these only slow down the game. If the party is camping and they can’t heal or refresh their spells because a few goblins enter the camp and cause trouble, then they may camp for another night.
So what impact would implementing bipolar sleep have on my campaign?
Time is important
Typically, at the end of a race day, my team would set up camp, have dinner, and then hopefully get a good night’s sleep. At night, they set their watches, but everyone is stuck with what resources they have left because they don’t replenish them until the morning.
In my campaign, I divide the night into 5 phases. There are two “watches” of about 2 hours, then a time of about 1 hour when everyone gets up to eat, pray and study, and then two more “watches” before dawn.
As I prescribe, a 4 hour nap in the morning, then a nap in the evening, refueling everyone at midnight, and then a more important time to meet in the evening. When the player characters face monsters earlier in the night, their resources are reduced, but in the hours before dawn, their energy is full. Unfortunately, this also means that the resources they spend on pre-dawn skirmishes affect the rest of their day.
Even if you want to stay put and rest, biphasic sleep offers opportunities for role play. Wandering NPCs may wait until midnight to approach the camp, and everyone is alert at least for a while, not just the watchers.
Magical Adjustment
Having player characters refresh at midnight comes with a few tweaks. For example, when in a dangerous area, a character might choose to consume rations rather than cook, and risk a campfire attracting danger (unless, of course, the cold is a greater enemy).
Light source is another issue. One of the reasons for biphasic sleep is that candles and oils are precious and no one wants to waste them, but sleeping 10-12 hours a night is unrealistic (even though it sounds like heaven!) So, how can one regain the spell? Woolen cloth?
This is not a problem for divine spellcasters, as they are usually encouraged to use rote prayers or speak directly to their god; his abilities usually do not require precise readings, which do not change over time. Be remembered over time.
Arcane spellcasters are another story. If you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons, arcane spellcasters are “fire and forget” and require a good night’s sleep before learning. (In my current campaign, arcane spellcasters don’t forget, as they need to study star charts and fluctuating ley lines to ensure their spellcasting is effective on any given day).
My solution was to make the vision disappear. In my campaign, arcane text is a semi-magical type of braille. Any arcane spellcaster can read the symbols and decipher their magical meaning and power by simply touching the words with their finger (so non-arcane casters can learn to read “Xanish” (my god of magic is Xanadu), However, they still cannot cast spells or use magical properties).
Midnight Service
As I mentioned above, Valtar is a moon god, so my campaign follows the more modern convention of starting the day at midnight, rather than sunrise, sunset, or any other norm. Additionally, given Vartar’s status, midnight is considered the time when worshipers can best connect with their god, so most powers in my campaign encourage midnight prayer and worship regardless of alignment.
This means that in a community it is not uncommon for everyone to get up in the middle of the night to attend services. At this time, temples may be the only brightly lit buildings in the community (although some may worship privately or even secretly, depending on their god).
If the community were basically legal, everyone would be expected to attend, and the innkeepers would wake up their guests to make sure they arrive at the temple on time (and more importantly, make sure they don’t stay and blindly rob the inn!) The town guard The right to skip services to go on patrol, and any crime committed during this time will be severely punished (although it is not stated explicitly, guards are encouraged to root out secret chaotic meetings during this time, so these services are usually well hidden Well, and actual times and locations keep changing).
Finish
I hope you have noticed by now that the introduction of biphasic sleep has had a profound impact on my campaign world. Sleeping patterns change, the time of night matters, cryptic texts are affected, and even the daily calendar is a little different. I also hope I’ve encouraged you to give it a try. It may or may not be more real, but it certainly makes it seem more magical.
Have you tried biphasic sleep or an alternative to the traditional “sleep 8 hours then get ready for breakfast”? Let us know in the comments!