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- This topic has 33 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 6 months ago by frootsnax.
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- April 1, 2014 at 4:15 pm #261378AnonymousInactive
Tell you what… Let’s give PCI a little bit more time to notice this thread. And if we don’t hear from them within a few more days, contact me. I’ll add you as a contributor to the timeline and you can help fill it in with any freely available information. Sound good?
Scott
April 1, 2014 at 5:03 pm #261381drafitParticipantHello Scott,
What exactly is it that you’d like me to respond to?
April 1, 2014 at 5:47 pm #261382AnonymousInactiveOh. Just that as a result of this thread and a similar thought I’d had for a while, I started this wiki timeline: http://arcanistimeline.wikidot.com/
My intention is to only have in it things that are “common knowledge” or things that are listed in the Codex Arcanis (which is a free download.) The last thing I want is for this to become any kind of substitute for purchasing a printed product (or a container for spoilers), so I intend to exclude anything that comes from one of those products. But since this is all copyrighted PCI material, I wanted to give you time to see the thread and the timeline tell me if you’d prefer that such a thing remain exclusive to the Codex Arcanis. (Which is where all of the current content is from. Roughly page 15 and 213 or so.)
In a nutshell, I wanted to know if I should close the timeline down or if it’s okay to proceed.
Thanks,
ScottApril 1, 2014 at 6:24 pm #261383drafitParticipantHello Scott,
In a nutshell, I wanted to know if I should close the timeline down or if it’s okay to proceed.
This seems alright. However, like most of the Codex, it’s written with inherit biases and errors, so keep in mind that the data therein is not written in stone.
Have fun!
April 1, 2014 at 8:23 pm #261390AnonymousInactiveThis seems alright. However, like most of the Codex, it’s written with inherit biases and errors, so keep in mind that the data therein is not written in stone.
I can’t begin to say how much I love the fact that Henry writes in this style. Yes, it is not concrete and causes confusion, but that is what I enjoy shifting through. Although I do not have the steel-trap memory of others (*cough* Cody), I have been into Arcanis for a long time and I still get surprised by new “facts” all the time.
April 2, 2014 at 12:51 pm #261409AnonymousInactiveI agree with Matt completely and I look forward to the times where I’ll have to change one or more of the “facts” on the timeline.
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ScottApril 2, 2014 at 2:09 pm #261413AnonymousInactivehey before this gets to far down the road, would it be possible to get page references added to those where applicable (even it its just pointing to the printed timeline)
April 2, 2014 at 3:29 pm #261416AnonymousInactiveOkay, so all of the timeline on page 15 has been added. And the stuff from the appendix 1: timeline of modern events is still only partially added. But I color-coded the dates to indicate the source.
Also, I have a new client that I’m starting on next week. I expect to be extremely busy for a while. (As opposed to this week where I have more free time than usual.) So… Who wants to be an editor and help fill out the timeline?
Scott
April 2, 2014 at 5:05 pm #261422AnonymousInactiveWhat are the rules on the timeline? Any chance that information from the previous campaign could be put there? Battles fought, Valinor (claimed) met, hints given, etc? As a newbie who only gets to hear about those stories in disjointed bits and pieces, something codifying what people believe they learned (not assuming accurate of course) is on my wishlist…
April 2, 2014 at 5:51 pm #261424AnonymousInactiveSo here are my thoughts on that. In the free .pdf version of the Codex Arcanis, there is an appendix (Appendix 1: Timeline of current events) that has brief summaries of things that occurred in the original living campaign. As an example:
1028
* A group of adventurers, led by archaeologist Beloc val’Virdan, discover artifacts of a lost legion known as the Pride of Chendo in the Blessed Lands. The adventurers discover a series of subterranean caverns beneath the mountains, stretching for days in all directions, known as the Lavender Way. The Imperial Standard of the Pride of Chendo is eventually recovered and given to King Osric IV. Osric, in hopes of forging better ties with General Menisis, awards the standard to the former Defender of the Empire.I don’t foresee any problems including any of this. It’s already freely available from PCI. But I’d be a little worried about including stuff that’s more specific than that. It’s not easy to generalize what should or should not be included. But the Codex Arcanis does a good job of summarizing the events or the original campaign.
I also see being able to include the contents of the old forum discussions, since those were things that the fans publicly discussed. However, those things are less “fact” and more theory or speculations, and as such, probably don’t belong on a timeline. But again, we’ll have to take each on an individual basis.
Scott
April 2, 2014 at 6:45 pm #261427AnonymousInactiveThose end before the campaign did though, right?
April 2, 2014 at 9:23 pm #261432AnonymousInactiveYes. If my math is correct, that timeline ends after the 4th year of the campaign. Whereas I think the campaign went 6 years. (I’m not 100% certain of this, but I believe that the original campaign went for six story years, ending in 1031 IC.)
Scott
April 2, 2014 at 10:18 pm #261435AnonymousInactiveScott you are right the old campaign went from 1025 to 1031. But you can’t take the Second Codex time line with 100% accuracy especially the end of it. Some of the events listed occurred in 1030, even though they are listed under 1029.
April 3, 2014 at 1:47 am #261437AnonymousInactiveI don’t take any of it with 100% accuracy. That’s not the point. The point is to take the things we think we know and plot them out on the timeline. Use this as a tool to help put the puzzle pieces together and to centralize knowledge. Plus it makes a great visual tool for new players and people like me who are more visually oriented. And hopefully it can be used to help generate more interest in the campaign.
Scott
April 3, 2014 at 9:13 pm #261457AnonymousInactiveSome people want objective truth, but once it is printed there is no way for the Chronicler to use it for surprise. If one is running a game at home, just decide what is true and work from there. If you are in the campaign, we can mess around with it ourselves. I much prefer the “student of history” style of the Arcanis background. There are literally hundreds of settings that just spell it out for you. Some of them do so in positively pedantic detail.
Frankly, I could not give a rat’s ass how many levels or what magic items Elminster has. He is a plot point, a motivator or information source. He is not an adversary to fight, nor an ally to fight beside you. To me, that is a useless item of information, and punchline to the joke “who has a higher CR, Elminster or Cthulhu?”
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