Time, Events, and Session Continuity
Time is the connective tissue of an independent world. Keep the Campaign Clock's campaignMinute as the monotonically increasing source for fictional chronology. displayDate and displayTime are readable expressions of that same clock under the campaign's calendar convention; do not let them drift independently. A time advance should record both the elapsed amount and its reason. Do not move the clock for every exchange of dialogue, but do advance it for meaningful travel, research, recovery, waiting, and other extended actions.
Schedule events against absolute time
Give each consequential scheduled development a World Event record with an absolute due minute, current status, actors and agenda, intermediate steps, and what happens if no one intervenes. Write plans as causes and choices rather than guaranteed outcomes. The event's status should show whether it is active, resolved, delayed, prevented, or otherwise changed; preserve the reason for a change. When the clock reaches a due minute, resolve events in chronological order before establishing the next scene. The party's absence does not pause an event, though player actions can plausibly redirect it.
A clock advance is a procedure, not just a number change. Record how much time passed, update the clock, resolve due events, consider relevant NPC and faction agendas, check quest and other active timers, and update affected records before narration continues. Crossings such as a new day can trigger campaign procedures like the local weather roll. Avoid double-counting the same travel or downtime duration across multiple updates.
Preserve what happened
Session Logs are chronological evidence of play, not a substitute for current state. Record major scene outcomes, changes to character resources, items and money, new information, relationship developments, event consequences, deadlines, and important rolls. Include in-world time where it is known. A later session should be able to reconstruct the consequential sequence without depending on a previous conversation's prose.
A roll entry should record its purpose, notation, method, result, and consequence. If the real random mechanism provides a persistent stream identifier, sequence number, or state before and after, retain those values so the stream can be resumed. Do not invent a seed or claim a result was randomly generated when it was chosen. If no genuine mechanism is available, mark the roll unresolved and obtain a player roll or another verifiable method.
At the end of a meaningful scene, update the current date, time, location, party condition, character resources, money and inventory, relationship or information changes, triggered or missed events, and new deadlines. Preserve the distinction between current state and historical record: update the relevant live entry and append the outcome to the Session Log. If a type has no appropriate field, preserve the fact in the Campaign State or Session Log rather than silently dropping it or duplicating an invented field. After saving, check that linked records agree.