The product in-game universe date vs. real life release date

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The Lesser Evil
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The product in-game universe date vs. real life release date

Post by The Lesser Evil »

In the Unofficial Ravenloft Timeline, there's a mention of a time progression inRravenloft that mirrors a progression of time in the real world. Excerpted:
Some products are dated on the basis of year of publication, which I use as the basis for references to events “thirteen years past” and so forth. When the product line started, 735 was considered the “present,” and at times (including now) the line has used an advancement system of one game year = one real year. For example, anything published in 1999 can be assumed to take place in the year 752, on the Barovian calendar. However, if any accessory dates itself or is later dated by any other canon source, I will always use the date provided over the year-of-publication baseline.

Is there an official source quote for the timeline advancement system mentioned above?

(Asking in reference to what needs to be labeled as speculation regarding dates for the Mistipedia.)
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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

I don't think it was ever said explicitly and officially, but it's been the fan consensus, and I think you'll find that the product that do reference in-game years match up pretty well with the pattern.
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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Joël of the FoS »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:I don't think it was ever said explicitly and officially, but it's been the fan consensus, and I think you'll find that the product that do reference in-game years match up pretty well with the pattern.
I think the designers said that they were moving the timeline accordingly to the number of real years that passed between editions. At least the Kargatane said so. And indeed as you say it is true if you compare products.

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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Nalfien »

This is very interesting to me. I didn't know there was a real world time tie in. So what was the year Strahd was cursed, and what country could Barovia be part of originally?
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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Nalfien wrote:This is very interesting to me. I didn't know there was a real world time tie in. So what was the year Strahd was cursed, and what country could Barovia be part of originally?
That's not what we're referring too. Barovia was never part of the real world, but all the products were written here. ;)

Domains of Dread was released in 1997, and the timeline there goes up to 750 BC (Barovian Calendar, not Before Christ)
Carnival was released in 1999, so that story takes place in 752 BC (2 years later)
Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends was released in 2005, so the stories in there are around 758 BC

Curse of Strahd is kind of a break away from the Ravenloft Setting, so you can't really fit it in this pattern. It's a remake of I6, but is set in 735.

If a new product were released today (2017) in the original Ravenloft setting continuity, and if it followed the pattern, it would be taking place in 770BC. (Hey, the TOUD is only 5 years away! We'd better make some plans! ;) )


EDIT:
Note that this wasn't established early on.
I6: Ravenloft was released in 1983, which would lead you (or the CoS authors) to believe the story takes place in 735 BC, but 735 is the end of the timeline in the Black Box (Realm of Terror) which wasn't released until 1990. In Domains of Dread, though, the same story (in its 2e House of Strahd version) is set at 528, long in the "past".
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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Nalfien »

Ah, very well then. Sorry to derail. Please indulge though. My Castlevania Ravenloft mash up is set in 1449 AD. A player has asked the NPCs what country Barovia was originally part of before Strahd conquerd it. Death Hose has books of history in the study. I'm tempted to give them a better answer in that no one remembers. It seems Curse of Strahd is about 300 years after Strahd was cursed.

Where would you suggest in the real world it was taken from and when? The events that made Mathias a vampire in Castlevania was in the 1100s.
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Re: The product in-game universe date vs. real life release

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Well, going just from the trappings, Barovia is very clearly "our" Transylvania. But you've got Dracula running around too, so you might want to make it somewhere in the neighborhood of Transylvania, but not exactly there. And the 3e RCS puts Barovia in the "Medieval 1200-1400AD" cultural level. So.. sometime in there. :) That's as close as you're going to get, I think.
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