Example of Keeping Players in Synchronicity
For this example, Synchronicity is set twice per real month, on the 1st and the 15th of each month. Each Synchronicity sets the passage of one game month.
Moreover, let's say that each game month has 30 days. Let's take three groups: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. All three groups are on the same Land run by the same Creator. We'll run the three groups from June 1, 2000, to June 15, 2000, covering the the game month of Kelgad.
Best Case Scenario
On June 1 -- with all on Kelgad 1, Alpha is engaging in scholarly research in the Librarium at Rondleberry, Beta is exploring a haunted house outside Bergville, and Gamma is bringing trade goods from Hamlintown to Bergville to Rondleberry.
On June 4 -- Alpha is done researching on Kelgad 20, having learned that Pixies live in the South. Beta is still talking to a ghost on Kelgad 2. And Gamma has arrived in Bergville on Kelgad 5 and is trading goods.
On June 7 -- Alpha wanders south looking for Pixies and arrives in what he thinks is their home swamp on Kelgad 25. Beta is fighting ghouls on Kelgad 3. Gamma is halfway to Rondelberry by Kelgad 10 and stops to talk with a group on a pilgrimage.
On June 11 -- Alpha spends days through Kelgad 29 avoiding quicksand and looking for Pixies, with no success. On Kelgad 4, Beta seals the Tomb of Hell, exorcising the Spirit Horde, but Beta is sorely wounded. And Gamma has traveled by Kelgad 15 to Rondelberry and trades for goods.
On June 15 -- The day on which all parties are supposed to reach Kelgad 30, Alpha concludes that his theory is in error, and resolves to do more research. Gamma spends a couple weeks in Rondleberry, relaxing and preparing for the next merchant trip. Beta limps back to Bergville on Kelgad 5, and spends the next three weeks resting and recovering from wounds.
In this best case scenario, things worked out. But they might not have ...
Worst Case Scenario
On June 1 -- with all on Kelgad 1, Alpha is engaging in scholarly research in the Librarium at Rondleberry, Beta is exploring a haunted house outside Bergville, and Gamma is bringing trade goods (including a Tome Alpha ordered last month) from Hamlintown to Bergville to Rondleberry.
On June 4 -- Alpha is done researching on Kelgad 20, having learned that Pixies live in the South. Beta is still talking to a ghost on Kelgad 2. And Gamma has arrived in Bergville on Kelgad 5 and is trading goods.
On June 7 -- Alpha wanders south looking for Pixies and arrives in what he thinks is their home swamp on Kelgad 25. Beta is fighting ghouls on Kelgad 3. Gamma is halfway to Rondelberry by Kelgad 10 and stops to talk with a group on a pilgrimage.
On June 11 -- Alpha spends days through Kelgad 30 avoiding quicksand and looking for Pixies. No, not alligators, Pixies! On Kelgad 4, Beta opens the Tomb of Hell, releasing the Spirit Horde, which flies to Bergville and kills every person there. And Gamma has traveled by Kelgad 15 to Rondelberry and wants to deliver the Tome to Alpha (by the way, the Tome offers compelling proof that Pixies live in the North, not the South).
On June 15 -- on which all parties are supposed to reach Kelgad 30, Alpha has had nothing to do because Kelgad 30 happened four days ago, and Alpha has had to wait. Gamma, now at the Librarium, wonders why Alpha pretends he isn't even there when he deilvers the Tome, as if Gamma were invisible. Beta limps back to Bergville on Kelgad 5, amazed to see Gamma trading with imaginary people amid the corpses and loading imaginary goods into his wagon. Beta concludes that the carnage has driven Gamma mad. It sure is driving the Creator mad!
Fudging makes it work
Now, the Creator could have fixed these problems before they happened. Knowing that these groups of players might interact, the Creator should have had the Spirit Horde attack AFTER Gamma left town. And the Creator could have drawn out the playing time of Alpha's research (with puzzles or interruptions), keeping Alpha and Gamma in closer sync.