Topic: Shadow World Timeline

[craggles]

Through determination. luck and amazing good fortune (Yes - you know I'm talking about you), I now have the entire canon Shadow World series.

A lot of these guys have been acquired at similar times so I've not read a module through entirely before going to the next one and now I have a backlog to go through.

I have the Master Atlas 1, 3 and 4, Emer Box Set (including the Atlas Addendum 1), Emer 1 and 2, Jaiman (Land of twilight), Eidolon ...you get the picture. Now all of those have the Timeline in them - with more and more items added to them.

My question is whether I need to read all their timelines or would the Master Atlas 4 include all the previous events from Emer 1 & 2, Jaiman, Eidolon etc? Page count wise, it certainly appears large enough. The Atlas 1, 3 and Emer Box Set (Adendum) would obviously be repeated in the Atlas 4 - it's the timelines in the more specific locations that I'm after.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the Player's Guide.

[Nders]

The master atlas III and IV have the most complete timelines. If you read all the time lines seperately you are likely to get confused as they do not agree entirely on what happens when.

[vroomfogle]

Craig - you can use the sidebar filters at the nomikos website to look at timeline for just Jaiman, just Emer, or just Rhakhaan, etc.    But I would suggest reading through the entire timeline through once first (don't worry, it will seem overwhelming), then select smaller regions you are interested in and read through those.    This will give you at least a feeling for the overall events and then you can focus on smaller regions.

BTW, thanks to BillyJoeJive all of the entries from Xa-ar have been added to Nomikos...been meaning to post that.

[craggles]

Hi Matt

I'll jump into the Nomikos site in that case.

Does the Atlas 4 miss some of the more regional items (as well as Xa-ar as it was written after the Atlas 4) or did it include everything to date?

[vroomfogle]

No, the Atlas IV is not a complete timeline, nor is Xa-ar.

But, it does include all the major points, and as it is shorter, you could also start with that version, then move up to Nomikos.

Or, you could even start with the Atlas I or II timeline as they are quite short, but will give you the general history before you delve into all of the entries.

[craggles]

Oh yes - I've read and re-read the timeline in the Atlas 1 and Emer Boxset many times over as these were the first proper Shadow World books I purchased (possibly 1 or 2 years ago now) so I'm all general backgrounded up.

It's all the new stuff I've gained over the last few months (Atlas 3, 4, Emer 1&2, Jaiman etc) that are overwhelming as I'd need to read through the entire timelines on each one to pick out the new bits from each region.

But as Nomikos has it all in it's entirety (from all the books combined) - I'll jump into that and use it as my master timeline.

Is there an entire timeline available (or planning to be) in an easily printable PDF format?

[vroomfogle]

No PDF format, although I would certainly like to see such at some point.   I've thought about how to best present such a large timeline into smaller chunks, or perhaps more visual.   It will have to wait until after I've done the guides.

You can just print from the website, but some very long entries aren't displayed in their entirety until you click on them so only the first parts of those will print.   However, there's no more than a couple of those in the actual timeline.   Most of the time that is used for the "Other Texts".

[egdcltd]

No PDF format, although I would certainly like to see such at some point.   I've thought about how to best present such a large timeline into smaller chunks, or perhaps more visual.   It will have to wait until after I've done the guides.

Well, a basic pdf is easy enough to do, if all you wanted was everything on the "All Timeline Entries" page.

[Kurgath]

Craggles - I'll echo Vroomfoggles comment that you will initially find the timeline overwelming.

The timelines that are in 'modules' rather than the atlases all include pretty specific information pertinent to the area that module covers. i.e. Haalkitaine talks a lot about Rhakhaan nobles and wars with Urulan, Xa-ar tell you a lot about that specific region, etc.

So Atlas IV or Vroom's library (filtered) is a good place to start.

Personally what I did was paste the entire timeline into a spreadsheet and organise it in a way that is meaningful for me.

The three left-most columns are year/season/week

Then I have about 20 columns that are each themed, such as the following:

• World events

• Rhakhaan

• Dragonlords

• Arnak

• Frelik

.........you get the idea......some of tghe columns focus on very powerful individuals, who I won't mention here to avoid spoilers.

And then I moved every timeline item into the column that matches it best. This might sound like a lot of work, but it was certainly a good way to learn and get familar with the timeline as a whole, and because I tend to think in 'building blocks' it is also really useful for me visually - I can scan down the spreadsheet and quickly see where there has been a concentration of events in each theme.

For planning purposes it is invaluable to me as a GM

I have a column called "PCs" where I write in what the PCs do as they do it so it gives me a ready-reckoner of what has happened, but more importantly I write notes in the boxes in the future (in a different colour) to 'script' upcoming campaign events, which makes it really easy to co-ordinate campaign activities with world/local events that are upcoming in the timeline.

Occasionally it shows-up the need to move 'canon' timeline events to better suit how the campaign is evolving as well!

Then each time a new module comes out (like Xa-ar) I work through the new timeline and copy the new bits into my spreadsheet - again a really good way to get familar with the timeline in each new book.

Final note - you will I'm sure have noticed a rather unique feature with Terry's world is that with each new module/book the timeline is detailed a little bit further into the future, and each module also tends to be set at a slightly different period in the timeline! As I say, it's kind of unique and it means we all learn a little more about the future with each new publication, and it also keeps the whole thing very live and dynamic.

[craggles]

and it also keeps the whole thing very live and dynamic.

Oh yes - that's just one of the umpteen reasons why I love the Shadow World so much!!

Another reason is the incredibly detailed history!

I'm not finding the timeline itself daunting (and as I said previously, I'd gone through the Atlas 1 and Atlas Addendum many times over to familiarise myself to it). My problem was that I fell so much in love with it, I started getting as many cannon modules & Atlases as I could in a very short time - all before I had time to read the previous one and the one before that etc.

If the Atlas 4 includes all past module's regional specific elements, then it's an easy read for me and I'll just read the newer modules since then - which I think is only Xa-ar.

The daunting task would be to sift through the separate modules which also have the common timeline too just to get those regional specific elements. But as the Atlas 4 is complete, I'll stick with that.

If I'd have bought these on their release (spread over the many years), reading though the timeline of the module (including the world timeline) would be a great refresher. I wonder if, in the future, the new timeline additions in a module could have an asterix, different font or something that would easily point out the additions - which would also make your life easier to updating your Excel timeline.

Speaking of an incredibly detailed, and useful Excel timeline (and if it's allowed), have you thought of adding it as a Vault download?

[Kurgath]

Having the new items highlighted somehow in new modules is a nice idea - got that one Terry?

As for putting my spreadsheet in the Vault I would have to check it to make sure it is 100% complete, as I've only done it for myself up to now.....plus the problem is that I have moved some things around a little to suit my campaign so it is no longer 100% canon.

I'm happy to send it to you though - look out for it in your email!

K

[Guillaume]

The PDF thingie made me post. 

As it seems that nobody here remember how Nomikos Library ( Vroom's site ) started...

Anyway, the complete timeline problem is... a problem.

Once upon a time it had been handled by several people through a word document.
Personnally, and as one of the several people, I really prefer Nomikos Library. True if you want to read the whole stuff a word document is better, but if you just want a reference on an event at a specific location the Library is way better and faster.

[Kurgath]

I agree Guillaume

If anybody wants a copy of the spreadsheet I compiled I'm happy to email them to it (you should have it now Craggles) but I wouldn't want to post it for fear it would conflict with Nomikos Library.

Far better to have the Library as the single source I think

K