Hello, and welcome to the website for CHRONOS, the Trinity term 2019 Oxford University Roleplaying Games Society Game. If you've never played any sort of roleplaying game before, never fear! Here's a quick introduction. If you're a seasoned roleplayer, feel free to check out the quick guide to sections of the site at the bottom of this page.

One important thing to be aware of first: You don't need to read this entire website!

There's a lot of material here, and you certainly don't need to know all of it to start playing (although if you do want to that's great!). Read only what interests you and what's relevant to a character you might like to play! You will find a guide to sections of the website and what they tell you below.

Any questions, concerns and character concepts should be e-mailed to the The GM Team.

There are a few acronyms used throughout the website which might be a little confusing if you've never played before. Don't worry—help is at hand! And if you're confused by anything, feel free to email us to ask questions!

• OOC or OC: Out of Character. Events and circumstances in the real world. For example, CHRONOS sessions take place OOC every Tuesday in term.
• IC: In Character. Events and people in the world of CHRONOS. For example, the sessions of CHRONOS occur IC once a month, on a space station in neutral territory!
• GM: Game Master or Game Moderator. Us! The team of people who write, run and maintain the game for your playing pleasure. The first place to turn if you have a question.
• PC: Player Character. You! The characters that CHRONOS players create and represent in the fictional world. You will usually play the same PC every week through the course of the game, though you may switch or retire a character if you get bored or your character dies. Retired characters cannot be brought back if you change your mind.
• NPC: Non-Player Character. Us again! Other characters in the CHRONOS setting, who may appear at session (played by a GM), or just in turnsheets. NPCs present in the session may vary slightly week-to-week, and GMs will often play several NPCs during a game session. If there is a specific NPC you want to talk to in a game session, then ask a GM (it helps if you know which GM is playing that NPC). Sidenote - if an NPC is from the past, they are unlikely to turn up in session!
• PvE and PvP: Terms to describe the nature of the fight your characters face, 'Player vs Environment' (i.e. the world¹⁾ is out to kill you) or 'Player vs Player' (i.e. everyone else is out to kill you). CHRONOS will be mostly PvE.
• Phys-rep: “Physical representation”, an object, makeup, or costume used to represent something in the game—a plastic blade representing a real blade, makeup representing a scar or recent wound.

A roleplaying game is somewhere between amateur dramatics and collaborative storytelling. You turn up, create a character to play, and play them! There are no scripts or lines, no set outcomes to what will happen—just a setting, a bunch of other characters to interact with, and some GMs to make sure it all runs smoothly.

CHRONOS is broadly a freeform ²⁾ live roleplaying game, which means that instead of narrating your character's actions during game sessions, you actually perform them: every week you show up, walk around and talk to other characters. You can plan, gossip, trade news, form connections, diplome, eavesdrop or orate. This doesn't mean you need to be a great public speaker, or even a particularly good actor—just be able to speak as your character would!

These sessions take place in the hall of a space station controlled by the CHRONOS organisation. Weapons are confiscated from characters on arrival, and it is understood that any physical violence will lead to them being escorted out of the meeting, and possibly also an airlock, before they can act. In general, sessions are reserved for talking to other player characters and NPCs, and for planning the big, timeline-changing actions you're going to take in turnsheets (more on this shortly!)

Most importantly: roleplaying is about having fun and creating stories with other players. Absolutely no experience is required to play the Society Game (indeed, it's designed to offer an easy route in for new roleplayers!), and there will be plenty of supportive people on-hand to help you out if you're confused about any aspect of the game. Turn up and enjoy yourself!

Every Tuesday during termtime, players meet in a room. In character, these meetings are being hosted by the CHRONOS organisation in order to plan their trips back in time and work out what to do with the information garnered on previous trips. During these meetings, players will get to consult with each other and with various scientists and experts. They will also have to work out how to deal with a number of threats in the present day - not everyone is happy with the idea of turning back the clock! The GMs will be on hand to offer help, advice and information and to keep the game running smoothly, as well as playing various NPCs every week.

The time between meetings is one month of IC time and the time between sessions is one week of OC time. During this period, characters will also have the opportunity to travel back in time within the game universe, and come back to the present. The time between sessions is the period when your character has the most freedom to act - they can explore the galaxy, learn new skills, diplome, or try to prevent impending doom.

During this time, your character will also have the option of going back in time, to a point decided by the playerbase as a whole. They will be able to spend up to a day on the Ananke, finding out more information about what happened or trying to shift the course of history. Each week, we ask that players send in a summary of what they want their character to be doing in that two month period, known as a 'Turnsheet'; the GMs will then judge the results of your actions and report back to you on how everything went.

There is a system for these turnsheet actions, detailed here—but don't feel you need to memorise it all; we're more than happy to help you out if you're having trouble working out what you want to do in the early weeks!

We'd suggest starting in the following places:

• The Setting pages: Your character can be aware of everything in this section. Every page has a bullet point summary written at the top if you just want to skim through! You'll probably want to look at The Seven Systems to get an overview of the planets, and CHRONOS to know a little more about the organisation who have called your characters here.
• Intro to the Wiki System: If you are new to Society Games, and want to be brought up to speed on how the wiki works.
• Character Creation: When you want to start putting together your character for the game.
• Style and Tone: To get some initial idea about the feel of the game, without reading through every page on the wiki.
• Turnsheeting: This will get you up to speed on how turnsheets work, if you don't yet know.