Post by Valen Storyteller on Feb 26, 2016 1:19:07 GMT
Why does this House Rule exist?
Several characters are involved with running business, nation politics or actual leadership of factions and polities. This is by design, and is something that is expected to remain a large part of role-play. These actions, however, occur over long lengths of in-game time, and players should be able to enjoy this aspect of the game without waiting entire real-life months.
Additionally, it is helpful for there to be a default in-game timezone, to remove conflicts concerning what time it is when role-play is taking place in the chat room.
The Passage of Time: Synopsis
There are three scales of time which are relevant, and the current time at each scale can be understood this way:
Current Time of Year in Eos: Will be outlined in the Newsfeed at the top of the forum. Each RL month is understood to be roughly an In-game season.
Long-Term plots: Each RL week is understood to be equal to roughly an In-game month;[/ul]
Every week on Sunday, every Nation will advance one Kingdom Turn (equivalent to a month), while Organisations advance thirty turns (similarly equivalent to thirty days). Additionally, every active character gains some passive experience at this same time.
For the purpose of this House Rule, what constitutes an Active Character (or how active they are) must be understood to be completely arbitrary, and based on admin or moderator fiat, as well as the ability to perceive activity. A good way to ensure you will be seen as active is to send at least one PM or make one forum post every week.
Chat Room time
When starting new scenes in the room, unless there is a specific need otherwise (and this is indicated in one of the early posts for the scene), the current time at UTC is used as the in-character time for the role-play.
Example: If no one has mentioned a specific time upon the start of a scene, and it is currently midnight in UTC, it can be assumed to be late at night in-game, indeed some time around midnight.
Time of Year in Eos
No specific calendar is used, and Eos can be assumed to have months and years of a different length than Earth’s, as necessary. The Forum’s newsfeed will always have the up-to-date information indicating the current season, and how far along that season it currently is. In general, a Month of Real-Life time equates to a season in-game.
As an example, the Newsfeed may indicate that it currently is Mid-Summer in Valen. This will also mean it is Mid-Winter in Eos’ southern hemisphere. The passage of seasons will be updated weekly, and information in the Newsfeed supersedes real-life seasons.
Long-Term Games
Every week, on Sunday, events and game systems that require the passage of time will advance as if a month has passed. This does not mean that every role-play scene (or series of scenes) needs to obey this timing, it is perfectly acceptable to define the current time for your scene (and the passage of time between scenes) in any way you want. However, as concerns long-term events and plots, this is the general rate at which time passes, and this will be used for large-scale role-play such as rulership over nations, management of businesses and long-distance travel.
Example: Two players run a series of scenes between their characters, over the span of a real-life week. Those scenes are set to take place over two days, in-character. This ruling does no affect that role-play in any way, players are free to time their role-play out any way they want. Later on, when these characters get involved in another event, it is generally assumed that a month will have passed between the earlier set of scenes, and the new ones.
Every Sunday, active characters will have their profiles updated with the proceeds of a month’s worth of time passing. This means that characters who have jobs will receive their pay, characters who own businesses will receive Capital and other gains from running that business, and leaders of factions and nations will advance one Kingdom Turn.
Some of these updates can benefit from player decisions (for example: the player of a Monarch might decide what to build this turn, or pronounce new edicts for their nation). In these cases, the players have until the first hour of Sunday, UTC time, to send a Personal Message on the forum indicating their character’s actions and decisions. Preferably, these should be talked out and planned with an admin or moderator over the course of the week.
Passive Gains
Every Sunday, characters who were active during this week will receive some benefit, usually meaning experience. Typically, this gain in experience will be equivalent to defeating one monster of Challenge Rating equal to the character’s current level. In some cases, this experience may be increased or decreased depending on the amount and type of activity that occurred during the week. In general, active characters who do not participate in any event or adventure should still level up once every two months.
Players may choose to waive this gain in experience in exchange for another benefit, such as Gold Pieces for their characters, Capital for their business or faction, or Build Points for their nation. Be sure to communicate if you want to have one of the non-standard benefits.
Several characters are involved with running business, nation politics or actual leadership of factions and polities. This is by design, and is something that is expected to remain a large part of role-play. These actions, however, occur over long lengths of in-game time, and players should be able to enjoy this aspect of the game without waiting entire real-life months.
Additionally, it is helpful for there to be a default in-game timezone, to remove conflicts concerning what time it is when role-play is taking place in the chat room.
The Passage of Time: Synopsis
There are three scales of time which are relevant, and the current time at each scale can be understood this way:
Current Time of Year in Eos: Will be outlined in the Newsfeed at the top of the forum. Each RL month is understood to be roughly an In-game season.
Long-Term plots: Each RL week is understood to be equal to roughly an In-game month;[/ul]
Every week on Sunday, every Nation will advance one Kingdom Turn (equivalent to a month), while Organisations advance thirty turns (similarly equivalent to thirty days). Additionally, every active character gains some passive experience at this same time.
For the purpose of this House Rule, what constitutes an Active Character (or how active they are) must be understood to be completely arbitrary, and based on admin or moderator fiat, as well as the ability to perceive activity. A good way to ensure you will be seen as active is to send at least one PM or make one forum post every week.
Chat Room time
When starting new scenes in the room, unless there is a specific need otherwise (and this is indicated in one of the early posts for the scene), the current time at UTC is used as the in-character time for the role-play.
Example: If no one has mentioned a specific time upon the start of a scene, and it is currently midnight in UTC, it can be assumed to be late at night in-game, indeed some time around midnight.
Time of Year in Eos
No specific calendar is used, and Eos can be assumed to have months and years of a different length than Earth’s, as necessary. The Forum’s newsfeed will always have the up-to-date information indicating the current season, and how far along that season it currently is. In general, a Month of Real-Life time equates to a season in-game.
As an example, the Newsfeed may indicate that it currently is Mid-Summer in Valen. This will also mean it is Mid-Winter in Eos’ southern hemisphere. The passage of seasons will be updated weekly, and information in the Newsfeed supersedes real-life seasons.
Long-Term Games
Every week, on Sunday, events and game systems that require the passage of time will advance as if a month has passed. This does not mean that every role-play scene (or series of scenes) needs to obey this timing, it is perfectly acceptable to define the current time for your scene (and the passage of time between scenes) in any way you want. However, as concerns long-term events and plots, this is the general rate at which time passes, and this will be used for large-scale role-play such as rulership over nations, management of businesses and long-distance travel.
Example: Two players run a series of scenes between their characters, over the span of a real-life week. Those scenes are set to take place over two days, in-character. This ruling does no affect that role-play in any way, players are free to time their role-play out any way they want. Later on, when these characters get involved in another event, it is generally assumed that a month will have passed between the earlier set of scenes, and the new ones.
Every Sunday, active characters will have their profiles updated with the proceeds of a month’s worth of time passing. This means that characters who have jobs will receive their pay, characters who own businesses will receive Capital and other gains from running that business, and leaders of factions and nations will advance one Kingdom Turn.
Some of these updates can benefit from player decisions (for example: the player of a Monarch might decide what to build this turn, or pronounce new edicts for their nation). In these cases, the players have until the first hour of Sunday, UTC time, to send a Personal Message on the forum indicating their character’s actions and decisions. Preferably, these should be talked out and planned with an admin or moderator over the course of the week.
Passive Gains
Every Sunday, characters who were active during this week will receive some benefit, usually meaning experience. Typically, this gain in experience will be equivalent to defeating one monster of Challenge Rating equal to the character’s current level. In some cases, this experience may be increased or decreased depending on the amount and type of activity that occurred during the week. In general, active characters who do not participate in any event or adventure should still level up once every two months.
Players may choose to waive this gain in experience in exchange for another benefit, such as Gold Pieces for their characters, Capital for their business or faction, or Build Points for their nation. Be sure to communicate if you want to have one of the non-standard benefits.