Timeline

The Timeline shows a script’s preset narrative spine — the source novel divided into phases by story arc, each phase containing a set of anchors (key plot nodes). Timeline data is generated automatically from chapter facts; no LLM call is required and no tokens are consumed. Anchors serve as spawn points when starting a new game and drive the GM’s worldline convergence pressure during play.

Access: Script Management → select a script → detail panel → Timeline tab.

Key Concepts

Phase

A phase is a major segment of the script divided by story progression. Each phase contains:

Phase label (phase_label): The narrative theme for that segment, e.g. “Early Arc,” “Mid-Game Power Struggle”
Chapter range: Displayed to the right of the phase label, e.g. “Ch. 1–30”
Phase summary: A brief description of the overall direction of the segment (if generated)
Anchor list: The specific key moments belonging to this phase

Anchor

An anchor is a concrete plot node on the timeline — a key event that occurs within a specific chapter range in the source material. Each anchor contains:

Story moment label (story_time_label): A short name for the event, e.g. “First Entry to Court,” “First Escape”
Chapter range: The corresponding chapters in the source (chapter_min–chapter_max)
Event summary: A brief description of the plot moment

Anchor Status (In-Game)

Each anchor has a real-time status during play:

Pending: Not yet triggered in this session
Fatal / Must: The GM must arrange for this event to occur; it cannot be bypassed (highlighted in red)
Occurred: Triggered normally along the canonical story trajectory
Variant: Triggered in a form that diverges from the source
Superseded: Overtaken by later events; no longer tracked

Worldline Convergence Pressure

The completion rate of anchors in a phase and the drift value determine the narrative pressure that phase exerts on the GM. The more pending anchors there are and the further ahead the chapter progress, the higher the convergence pressure — and the more likely the GM is to steer plot events toward those anchors. The in-game Timeline panel shows the current convergence pressure percentage per phase.

Common Tasks

View the Script Timeline

Script Management → select a script → detail panel Timeline tab.

If the timeline has not yet been generated, the tab shows an empty state. Use the Overview tab to find the readiness status and rebuild buttons for each module, or trigger a full rebuild from the Extract tab.

Rebuild the Timeline Alone (No LLM Cost)

Script module rebuilds support a “Timeline Anchors Only” scope: in the script detail Extract tab → set Extraction Scope to “Rebuild Timeline Anchors Only” → click Start. This scope rebuilds directly from existing chapter fact data without calling an LLM, at zero cost.

Select a Spawn Point When Starting a New Game

Start a new game → Spawn Point step. Anchors are grouped by phase; expand a group and select the desired anchor. The selected anchor determines which chapter the game starts from, and the GM opens with the world state at that moment. If the script timeline has not yet been generated, the step shows an empty state and prompts you to complete script import first.

View Worldline Progress In-Game

In-game right panel → Timeline tab. The panel is divided into three sections:

Expected story line: All anchors for the current save’s script, highlighted by chapter progress as “passed / current / locked.” Click “Return to This Node” to the right of a passed anchor to reset progress to that point (requires confirmation).
Actual footprint: The phase records generated by this session, showing the start and end turns, scene labels, and key events for each segment (click to expand).
Worldline convergence · Anchors: Per-phase summary of anchor completion (occurred, variant, pending, superseded) and convergence pressure. The top shows the global drift average and the number of pending fatal anchors. Non-fatal pending anchors have a “Mark as Reached” button that records the player’s confirmation that the event occurred.

FAQ

The Timeline tab is blank with no phases? The script has not completed anchor construction. Go to the Extract tab and trigger a rebuild, or click Rebuild on the “Anchors” module card in the Overview tab. If the source chapter data (chunks) does not exist, complete a full import first.

The spawn point step is empty with nothing to select? Same as above — anchor data has not been generated. Complete script import and timeline rebuild; the spawn point list will populate automatically.

Some anchors in-game are highlighted red as “Must occur.” What does that mean? That anchor is marked fatal. The GM must arrange for it to happen in the story; it cannot be bypassed. The more unfulfilled fatal anchors there are, the higher the convergence pressure for the current phase.

What does the drift value mean? Drift measures the deviation between an anchor’s expected chapter and the chapter in which it actually triggered. A larger deviation means the event happened earlier or later than in the source, and convergence pressure adjusts accordingly.

Will manually clicking “Mark as Reached” affect the story? Yes — it changes the anchor’s status from pending to occurred and refreshes the convergence pressure statistics. This action cannot be undone; use it only after confirming the corresponding event actually took place in the story. Fatal anchors do not offer this button; they must be triggered by the GM in the course of play.