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Timelines

A timeline in Loreden is a visual, scrollable record of your campaign world's history. You can create as many timelines as you need — one for the world's full history, one for a character's personal backstory, one for the events of the current campaign, and so on.

Creating a timeline​

From the Worldbuilding section, open the Timelines tab and click New Timeline. Give it a name and a brief description, then start adding events.

Adding events​

Each event on a timeline records a specific moment in time. When you create or edit an event, you can set:

  • Title — the name of the event as it appears on the timeline
  • Date label — the human-readable date shown to your players, in whatever calendar system you're using (e.g. "The 14th of Harvesthome, 412 A.E.")
  • Sort date — a plain number used to order events chronologically. Loreden doesn't assume any calendar system, so the sort date is just what determines which event comes first
  • Description — the details of what happened, written in the rich text editor
  • Event type — a category like battle, discovery, birth, or death, which controls the icon shown on the timeline
  • Colour — a colour for the event marker, useful for grouping related events visually
  • Era — which era this event belongs to (see below)

Eras​

Eras are colour-coded time bands that group events into named periods — like The Age of Heroes or The Interregnum. They appear as a background strip behind the relevant section of the timeline.

To create an era, open the Eras panel and define a start and end sort date. Any events within that range will automatically be placed on the era's background band.

Character tagging​

You can tag characters on timeline events to note their involvement. This works in two ways:

  • Your own characters — tagging your own characters is immediate and always accepted
  • Other players' characters — tagging someone else's character sends them a notification. The event only appears on their timeline view if they accept the tag

This makes timelines a collaborative tool for shared campaign histories without anyone's character being added to events without their knowledge.

Sharing timelines​

Timelines can be shared with other Loreden users. When sharing, you choose whether each person can view the timeline or also edit it. Editors can add, change, and delete events, making it possible to maintain a campaign timeline together.

Tips for timeline organisation​

  • Use consistent sort dates — if your calendar has years, using the year as the sort date works well. For eras before year 0, negative numbers work fine
  • Use event types and colours to make different storylines visually distinct at a glance
  • Keep descriptions brief in the event itself and link to a worldbuilding entry for longer lore articles