Post by thogrimur on Mar 17, 2005 6:13:01 GMT -5
Roleplaying Time
I was just doing an extensive search of the forums, as I know that this issue has been discussed in other areas…I just couldn’t find it. But it got me to thinking that even though the information is there, it is going to take an extensive search for folks to locate it…so I thought I would create a thread as an easy reference for the viewing public.
Given the fact that people don’t always have extensive periods of RL time to dedicate, and the parameters of the game mechanics itself, it is understood that a certain amount of disbelief be allowed in Role-playing the passing of time.
Also, I know that one of the prior posts on this subject was from a DM. I cannot find the post so I cannot quote…but it was mentioned that for now the server is still in a state of groundhog day syndrome, where time was not yet officially moving forward, but that this would be happening in the near future…<br>
My thoughts on this matter simply discuss the way that I have been trying to keep track of the time and are in no way meant to be taken as directives that this is how YOU should be playing.
I am simply curious how the community at large is handling the role-playing of time.
Role-playing Time In Game –
I am lucky in that I usually have larger blocks of time to be on. I usually try to make sure I have at least two hours. In game time passes at 1 hour per 10 minutes of RL time, so this gives me 12 hours of time in game. Again, a certain amount of disbelief must be allowed, but I find myself trying to keep as true to this as possible.
Traveling from Redmist to Eveningstar, performing a(n) (un)successful raid on the crypts, and then returning back to Isinhold to sell the loot, all in the span of twelve hours time. I admit that I have been and am guilty of this. I am at this point trying to avoid it, as it does cross my belief suspension threshold when I really think about it.
I often forgo my share of the loot for days (RL) as my character, tired from the crypt raid (from example given above) will simply take a room at the Inn in Eveningstar…a small circle of close companions also enjoy this behavior and will stay with me to Role-play the remainder of the session, having a meal, discussions and finally retiring to rest, or eventually (usually 20-30 minutes) deciding that enough is enough and moving on to the next item at hand. (And if they don’t enjoy it they at least seem to tolerate it well!)
When alone along the road at night I will often rest, setting up a campsite and a fire and I'll just rest there. People often come by, some will stop and RP along...often until the break of dawn, at which point we break camp and usually go seperate ways. If no one comes along, I admit I usually break the camp after 20-30 minutes and move on. I use this time to keep my journal up to date!
One time my character was on for an extended duration and had adventured through two full days. On the second night when we arrived back in Isinhold, my character simply passed out from exhaustion, while my companion sat in deep discussion. Whenever someone new arrived at the campfire, my character would emote an indication of her fatigue, be it a level of her snoring to one point when she bolted up and babbled a bit of nonesense before laying back down and falling right back to sleep. Finally, after the sun began to rise someone kicked me in the foot to wake me up and we moved on.
Role-Playing Time Outside the Game –
Say I haven’t been able to log in to the server for a few days, or that I haven’t encountered another character for a few days. I tend to keep pretty good notes using the journal feature of the game about who I meet and when I met them and/or last traveled with them. I then can do a quick calculation at 1 RL day = 6 game days and determine how long it has been since I had last seen them.
Usually there is no extraordinary reaction to this, but on occasion, when the calculation puts the time between meetings over 30 game days, I will often make a remark about the length of time that has passed.
On one occasion this was the cause of a twilight zone encounter with another character who OOC insisted that a day is a day, and that it had only been a few days since we had met IC (although I believe it was actually 10, thus 6 tendays had passed for me in game!) They went on to insist that by my scale their character would already be of old age. I let the matter drop, assuming that perhaps this character had suffered a head wound of some kind...but later I did a quick check regarding this.
My character was generated and introduced to the Game on Jan 30th. She was just 18 at the time of Creation (as I consider the 30th of Deepwinter to be her birthdate) (Take the 30th + 28 days Feb + 17 days of Mar = 47 days RL = 282 game days – approximately three quarters of a year has passed for my character already. If I were to estimate that she lived to a ripe old age of 50 she would have to role-play for 5.33 RL years to get there! 60 RL days = 1 yr in game. (approx)
Again, I am merely stating how I have been interpreting the issue of time passing, and am not saying that this is how everybody needs to be playing. It is hard to stay as rigid regarding the passing of time when you only have an hour to log on at a time.
I was just looking for the communties thoughts on how they role-play the passing of time.
And if it this is an issue that, once the time clock does begin to officially move will not be an issue at all, then that make the whole topic that much simpler to resolve!
Modified due to my own bad math.
I was just doing an extensive search of the forums, as I know that this issue has been discussed in other areas…I just couldn’t find it. But it got me to thinking that even though the information is there, it is going to take an extensive search for folks to locate it…so I thought I would create a thread as an easy reference for the viewing public.
Given the fact that people don’t always have extensive periods of RL time to dedicate, and the parameters of the game mechanics itself, it is understood that a certain amount of disbelief be allowed in Role-playing the passing of time.
Also, I know that one of the prior posts on this subject was from a DM. I cannot find the post so I cannot quote…but it was mentioned that for now the server is still in a state of groundhog day syndrome, where time was not yet officially moving forward, but that this would be happening in the near future…<br>
My thoughts on this matter simply discuss the way that I have been trying to keep track of the time and are in no way meant to be taken as directives that this is how YOU should be playing.
I am simply curious how the community at large is handling the role-playing of time.
Role-playing Time In Game –
I am lucky in that I usually have larger blocks of time to be on. I usually try to make sure I have at least two hours. In game time passes at 1 hour per 10 minutes of RL time, so this gives me 12 hours of time in game. Again, a certain amount of disbelief must be allowed, but I find myself trying to keep as true to this as possible.
Traveling from Redmist to Eveningstar, performing a(n) (un)successful raid on the crypts, and then returning back to Isinhold to sell the loot, all in the span of twelve hours time. I admit that I have been and am guilty of this. I am at this point trying to avoid it, as it does cross my belief suspension threshold when I really think about it.
I often forgo my share of the loot for days (RL) as my character, tired from the crypt raid (from example given above) will simply take a room at the Inn in Eveningstar…a small circle of close companions also enjoy this behavior and will stay with me to Role-play the remainder of the session, having a meal, discussions and finally retiring to rest, or eventually (usually 20-30 minutes) deciding that enough is enough and moving on to the next item at hand. (And if they don’t enjoy it they at least seem to tolerate it well!)
When alone along the road at night I will often rest, setting up a campsite and a fire and I'll just rest there. People often come by, some will stop and RP along...often until the break of dawn, at which point we break camp and usually go seperate ways. If no one comes along, I admit I usually break the camp after 20-30 minutes and move on. I use this time to keep my journal up to date!
One time my character was on for an extended duration and had adventured through two full days. On the second night when we arrived back in Isinhold, my character simply passed out from exhaustion, while my companion sat in deep discussion. Whenever someone new arrived at the campfire, my character would emote an indication of her fatigue, be it a level of her snoring to one point when she bolted up and babbled a bit of nonesense before laying back down and falling right back to sleep. Finally, after the sun began to rise someone kicked me in the foot to wake me up and we moved on.
Role-Playing Time Outside the Game –
Say I haven’t been able to log in to the server for a few days, or that I haven’t encountered another character for a few days. I tend to keep pretty good notes using the journal feature of the game about who I meet and when I met them and/or last traveled with them. I then can do a quick calculation at 1 RL day = 6 game days and determine how long it has been since I had last seen them.
Usually there is no extraordinary reaction to this, but on occasion, when the calculation puts the time between meetings over 30 game days, I will often make a remark about the length of time that has passed.
On one occasion this was the cause of a twilight zone encounter with another character who OOC insisted that a day is a day, and that it had only been a few days since we had met IC (although I believe it was actually 10, thus 6 tendays had passed for me in game!) They went on to insist that by my scale their character would already be of old age. I let the matter drop, assuming that perhaps this character had suffered a head wound of some kind...but later I did a quick check regarding this.
My character was generated and introduced to the Game on Jan 30th. She was just 18 at the time of Creation (as I consider the 30th of Deepwinter to be her birthdate) (Take the 30th + 28 days Feb + 17 days of Mar = 47 days RL = 282 game days – approximately three quarters of a year has passed for my character already. If I were to estimate that she lived to a ripe old age of 50 she would have to role-play for 5.33 RL years to get there! 60 RL days = 1 yr in game. (approx)
Again, I am merely stating how I have been interpreting the issue of time passing, and am not saying that this is how everybody needs to be playing. It is hard to stay as rigid regarding the passing of time when you only have an hour to log on at a time.
I was just looking for the communties thoughts on how they role-play the passing of time.
And if it this is an issue that, once the time clock does begin to officially move will not be an issue at all, then that make the whole topic that much simpler to resolve!
Modified due to my own bad math.