Hey All-
I was requested to repost something to everyone so that some of the newer players will have some sort of clue on how to keep track of time on Mizahar. We are going to take an example PC, his activities, and track them throughout a season. First though, we need a few little reminders.
Because Timestamping and tracking your threads can be sort of confusing, we are trying to keep as close to real life as possible on the game. Thus, Mizahar has 365 days that are broken up into 4 seasons; Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. We skip weeks and months. Each Season is broken up into 91 days, except for Winter which has 92 (to make 365 days a year). A day has 24 hours, which are sometimes called Bells. There are 60 minutes in an hour which are sometimes called Chimes. The Sun rises around hour 7 and sets around hour 19 depending upon the season. If someone wants to meet you somewhere 45 chimes after the 10th bell, they want to meet you at 10:45. Also, you can only start new threads in the current season (Which helpfully follows real life time pretty well).
The Current Timestamp SeasonWinter - Dec Jan Feb - Blue Watchstone
Spring - March April May - Green Watchstone
Summer - June July August - Yellow Watchstone
Fall - Sept Oct Nov - Red Watchstone is: Winter 509 AV
Okay.. now for the fun stuff. How the heck do I post in multiple threads at different times and keep my threads straight? Your pc should never be limited to one thread at a time. Honestly, its easier to have them scattered all over, which is why we have Timestamping to keep track of things.
Here we go... lets take Character Bob (I know I'm really creative tonight!) for example and track his movements! Bob the small village bakers son who lives 10 days outside of Avanthal in Taldera decides to set out on his own away from his family Winter of 509.
He leaves his family Winter 1, 509 and makes a journey to the big city... planning on being there in 10 days. That thread is called Journey Away From Home. He fights monsters that try to eat him, meets a band of roving bandits, and is ultimately rescued by the Icewatch outside of Avanthal.
He gets to say Avanthal Winter 10, 509 (cause his family lived about 10 days away from the city remember, despite all his adventuers).... and once in the city, goes to see Queen Morwen. She lets him in to hear what he has to say... that thread is called Meeting The Queen.
He meets a fabulous group of PCs and they have a few social threads scattered across several months... Drinking in in the Black Reindeer Tavern (20th of Winter), Ice Crystals in the Mind (40th of Winter)..... then has a real date on the 30th of Winter in a thread called Dancing at the Winter Ball.... adopts a stray dog on the 50th in a thread called "Taking in a Stray" and decides to leave town on the 60th to look for lost treasure with his new friends in a thread called "The Golden City... Does it exist?"
All those threads can be going on at once! Seriously! Often threads stall because someone disappears or gets really busy with real life, so its good to have other threads going on at once. You just need to plan out your characters time and manage it so everything is feasible. You cant', for example, be in Taldera and then in Eyktol ten days later. You need to allow for travel time, but you don't always have to rp travel. So don't be afraid to be at multiple times at multiple places... thats what tracking your threads in your CS is all about... and why we call time 'fluid time'. It's fluid because you can be many places at different times during the same season. You know where you are at all times and when you have what we call 'Available fluid time' to participate in things that come up as they come up. Each time you join or start a new thread, add it to your list in the correct place.... like this..
Bob's CS Thread List - Winter 509
1st - Leaving Home
10th - Audience with the Queen
20th - Black Reindeer Drinking
30th - Winter Ball
4oth - Crystals in the Mind
50th - Taking in a Stray
60th - Golden City - Does it Exist?
This way, when Bob's buddy John says... Hey Bob.. can we go Ice Fishing on the 45th, Bob can check his fluid time, see hes not doing anything on the 45th and say sure... whallah.. new thread started and going on. Bob can be a very busy boy very quickly, so be sure you don't get TOO busy.