Shifts & Shift Balance
An event is divided into blocks of play called shifts. Each shift is a stretch of active game: the world is "on," stories are running, and combat and other rules are in effect. Outside of shifts the game pauses: you sleep, eat, and socialize out-of-game until the next one begins.
Shifts
The game is divided into four shifts, each running five hours:
- 1st shift — 9pm Friday to 2am Saturday
- 2nd shift — 10am to 3pm Saturday
- 3rd shift — 3pm to 8pm Saturday
- 4th shift — 8pm Saturday to 1am Sunday
Each shift is run by a different group of Game Masters, who tell stories unique to their shift. Logistics assigns players to shifts so that, over the course of the year, everyone gets to see those stories unfold. While a shift is running, food is available to all players at the Inn.
Between Shifts
Role-play can happen outside shift hours, but combat and anything else requiring rules cannot. Any encounter not finished by the end of 1st shift (2am Saturday) or 4th shift (1am Sunday) is effectively over, unless those involved want to keep role-playing dialogue afterward. NPCs are welcome to end an encounter whenever they like after those times (for instance, if they're ready for bed or to head out-of-game). Some players also get up early Saturday for a little extra role-play.
Items can be exchanged between shifts, as long as it isn't done to keep those items out of play.
Shift Balance
For every shift you NPC, you may play your PC for one shift. This one-to-one trade is called Shift Balance, and it keeps each shift from having too many PCs or too few NPCs.
New players begin by NPCing their first and second shifts, then may play their PC for the rest of the event if they'd like. NPCing your entire first event is recommended; it's the best way to learn how the game runs. After that, contact Logistics to be assigned regular shifts.
Assigning Shifts
Shift Balance is set once a year. A preference survey goes out around November or December, and the new assignments are announced at Feb Feast.
A few things factor into how assignments are made:
- Groups get preference so they can play together on the same shifts.
- Daylight is shared out; 2nd and 3rd are the only daytime shifts, so anyone who wants a daylight shift gets at least one of them.
- Assignments rotate yearly. Each winter, Shift Balance is redone so players interact with different people and nobody's stuck in a combination they don't want.
- Costuming Intensity: Players whose characters require intense makeup (Snow Goblins, Drakes, and Verdurans) are given preference for back-to-back shifts, since reapplying it is time-consuming.
Some shifts are simply more popular than others. The 2&3 pairing — two back-to-back daytime shifts with minimal costume changes — is the most requested and hardest to get as a result. At the other end, 1st shift is the hardest to fill: it runs Friday night when people are still arriving and tired, and it's followed by the weekend's only long break (2am to 10am), so players often prefer to bank their PC time on a longer continuous stretch. Anyone willing to take 1st shift is always appreciated.