Un-Bundling of XP and Downtime

[Marc (Admin)]

It doesn't make much sense to have XP and downtime conjoined in a single form and tied to a single deadline.  If you submit your downtime early, we're more likely to get back to you with answers, results, and progress prior to the next game.  And as long as your XP spending is submitted with enough lead-time before the next game, we can make sure it's processed completely and accurately.

To that end, we are officially un-bundling XP and downtime.  Additionally, we are doing away with the pre-defined formats for XP and downtime submissions.

You will notice that new and separate "DOWNTIME REPORT" and "EXPERIENCE SPENDING" threads have been added to your character area.  The existing "XP/DOWNTIME/RENOWN/POST-EVENT-COMMENTS" thread has been renamed as a prior archive and un-sticky'd.  If you had previously posted a downtime and/or XP spend in the old thread between April 5th (last game) and today, you need not do anything, as your most recent entry has already been copied to the new "EXPERIENCE SPENDING" thread.  For this month only, we'll expect your Downtime information in that post also, since it was posted prior to this change.

Beginning next month (or this month, if you've yet to post XP and Downtime), please use the new, separate threads.  These will work exactly as before, we only ask that you:

• Please submit your Downtime Report within one week post-game.
• Please submit your Experience Spending at least one week pre-game
• Please post only one reply (to each thread) per month and edit as necessary.  If your XP or Downtime are not "final," then please indicate this at the top of your reply in one way or another (i.e. "Draft").  This will ensure that no incomplete reports are processed before they're ready.

We think this will not only make things easier for everyone across the board, but that it will also help diminish the lull in forward progress between games.