Timestamping
From Mizahar Lore
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This article is about a rule of the game. |
Timestamping is the practice of noting in each and every IC thread what date that thread occurs on in order to keep track of where that thread falls in a characters timeline. Timestamping on Mizahar is required for all threads. All timestamps should include the year, season, and day. Rarely a Storyteller may mark a thread with year and season only, leaving it up to the player characters to decide on what exact date the thread takes place on.
Because Timestamping and tracking your threads can be 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).
- Spring - March April May - Green Watchstone
- Summer - June July August - Yellow Watchstone
- Fall - Sept Oct Nov - Red Watchstone
- Winter - Dec Jan Feb - Blue Watchstone
The Current Timestamp for Mizahar could be seen on a box in the left side of the forum's Home Page under "Roleplay Timeline". Please read the Calendar page for more details.
Example Timestamping and Keeping A Thread List
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.
For example, lets take Character Bob and track his movements! Bob the small village bakers son. He lives 10 days outside of Avanthal in Taldera. Bob 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 (because his family lived about 10 days away from the city remember, despite all his adventures) Once in the city, Bob 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 can't, for example, be in Taldera one day and then in Eyktol ten days later. You need to allow for travel time, but you don't always have to roleplay your travel. So don't be afraid to be at multiple times at multiple places... that is 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 agree to go. The new thread is then started, the 45th marked as its timestamp, and added to his list.