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[Tiruin]

For me, I guess time should not be relative (No track of time unless there is a very special event covering a wide area) as many players are separated by Timezones.

[thatkid]

I'd just continue to treat time as normal.

I mean, just avoid calendars and clocks and stuff from a narrative perspective.

That could potentially mess with things quite a bit itself.

In what ways?
I mean, if we're talking travel times...maybe utilize a quasi-calendar system? YaK has 4 seasons, and each person is able to move a certain amount during each season. Once everyone's gotten one or two major events in during a season, or is just ready for a change, the next season begins. Maybe something like that would work?
If someone has to be inactive for a long period of time, their character just goes into hiding or something for that quarter.

[Lillipad]

Well, I typically have larger actions take up turns to keep everyone at roughly the same time, with smaller actions being treated as a separate thing.

I already do that with some things in Medieval, but with Modieval, traveling, even by vehicle would just be insanely monotonous if you had to travel somewhere far away. The world is around 5,000,000 km²

And what if one person has to go inactive for a while? They'll come back and possibly be (ingame) weeks behind

I'd just continue to treat time as normal.

I mean, just avoid calendars and clocks and stuff from a narrative perspective.

That could potentially mess with things quite a bit itself.

I probably should have clarified that a full turn isn't accomplished until everyone else has contributed. And my excuse for inactive players is that they go into a coma until they come back.

[Aninimouse]

I'd just continue to treat time as normal.

I mean, just avoid calendars and clocks and stuff from a narrative perspective.

That could potentially mess with things quite a bit itself.

In what ways?
I mean, if we're talking travel times...maybe utilize a quasi-calendar system? YaK has 4 seasons, and each person is able to move a certain amount during each season. Once everyone's gotten one or two major events in during a season, or is just ready for a change, the next season begins. Maybe something like that would work?
If someone has to be inactive for a long period of time, their character just goes into hiding or something for that quarter.

I was thinking of something like that, on more of a monthly basis.

If someone has to be inactive for a long period of time, their character just goes into hiding or something for that quarter.

When they return they're phased out of everyone else's time for a short period so they can finish whatever they were doing, before they go into hiding to catch up with everyone else maybe?

I suppose the only problems with that system would be that leader/conqueror type players would probably end up burning through their time relatively quickly if they aren't careful. Traveling would also burn through your playing time as well.


I might go with this though.

[thatkid]

The only real "time" you have to burn through is travel time. So long as it isn't movement from one city to another, you've basically got unlimited turns. Time is incredibly fluid, though, and someone will often hold a meeting with two characters in the same post, both being ICly weeks apart.

As for inactive characters: When they come back, they begin taking actions in the current season. They don't get any special "pocket-time" to catch up, because it's assumed there character was up to something the entire time (though that something is probably, like, wenching and drinking at the local tavern or otherwise resting and not doing anything important/useful).

[Lillipad]

If even just traveling eats away at available play time, then it needs refinement. We could go Game of Thrones with the seasons, though. Winter is coming and all that jazz.

[thatkid]

If even just traveling eats away at available play time, then it needs refinement. We could go Game of Thrones with the seasons, though. Winter is coming and all that jazz.

No, no.
It's like...you can only travel so much in a season. Once you run out of travel time, you simply can't travel anymore until the next season. You can continue to act, though.

E: Unless it turns out that you're, like, doing way more than everyone else this season. If it gets to the point where you're the only one acting, a season change even when you're not ready is probably gonna happen for the sake of everyone's enjoyment.

[Lillipad]

That would be fine if it were an RTS, but only being able to travel so much is a big inconvenience when playing a scenario where you can't stay in one town for very long. It'd get fairly taxing later on.

[thatkid]

Yes, that's why I think it should probably be modified for the modieval game.

But then, if someone has to move frequently, maybe the seasons just change faster?

[Lillipad]

Which is why I suggested Game of Thrones seasons. They allegedly last for years, so movement could be made less restrictive.

[thatkid]

The actual length of a season doesn't really matter much in this sort of system. It's an abstraction to keep the timeline linear.

[Aninimouse]

As for inactive characters: When they come back, they begin taking actions in the current season. They don't get any special "pocket-time" to catch up, because it's assumed there character was up to something the entire time (though that something is probably, like, wenching and drinking at the local tavern or otherwise resting and not doing anything important/useful).

I probably wouldn't do that simply because: What if they were in the middle of combat? Or maybe in the middle of some important dialogue? I'd let people finish with that, then skip ahead.

No, no.
It's like...you can only travel so much in a season. Once you run out of travel time, you simply can't travel anymore until the next season. You can continue to act, though.

Well, acting would take time too, but of course, not nearly as much as traveling. So you could continue acting for a good while, in case you are ahead of everyone else. But you would still hit the "Wall" in time Eventually.

Perhaps month changing could be based on votes as well, so once the majority of players want to move on, those behind have to skip ahead.

If you do have to skip ahead though, I guess that actually would be a good excuse for some traveling, so you actually use that potentially lost time.

Which is why I suggested Game of Thrones seasons. They allegedly last for years, so movement could be made less restrictive.

Could you explain this a little more in depth? How exactly would that work out?

[Lillipad]

A season-by-season system to keep time linear without everything being updated at once would only work out by restricting players. Longer seasons lead to lighter restrictions on movement and orchestrating events.
Of course, I'd rather not use a season system at all since it makes things less stat-based-RPG and more action-driven-RTS.

[Aninimouse]

A season-by-season system to keep time linear without everything being updated at once would only work out by restricting players. Longer seasons lead to lighter restrictions on movement and orchestrating events.
Of course, I'd rather not use a season system at all since it makes things less stat-based-RPG and more action-driven-RTS.

Medieval is already an Action-Driven-RTS for those who want it to be. Medieval is about freedom in what you want to do with your character. You character could be an explorer, or a soldier, going by the Stat-based-RPG side. But then you could be a leader/conquerer, leaning more towards the action-driven-RTS side. Hell, if you really wanted it to be, Medieval could be a text-based carriage driver simulation.

Bah, this is such a complicated problem. That's why I needed your help. XD

[Lillipad]

The current system allows for switching between either mode thanks to time being absolutely worthless, but the SS takes out that ambiguity. You need to manage your time well, and try to accomplish as much as possible in a small area in a small amount of time. Those kinds of restrictions are bad for those who don't care about leading or conquering and just want to travel around or explore new areas fighting crap.