Time is hard to fathom and difficult to pin down. And, just like you wouldn’t use a stopwatch to measure years or a calendar to count seconds, you need different tools to present different scales of time.
On World Anvil, we have Standard Timelines (which include Timescale and List modes) and Chronicles, Advanced Timelines. Not sure which is the best format for you? Use this guide to find out!
Standard Timelines
If you want to display the history of your world in a flexible format, Standard Timelines are for you! Standard Timelines have two different formats:
Timescale mode
Timescale mode is great for true worldbuilding timelines: sweeping world histories, or the grand history of a nation over centuries.
They show time as distance on the timeline; the longer the event duration, the longer it will appear as a line on a timeline. They also support up to 250,000 years of events and allow you to display parallel events to see how different things have affected each other through history!
List mode
If you’re making timelines to track events that happen in a matter of days and weeks (like your RPG Sessions or your novel plot) then the List Mode is what you need.
As the name suggests, this lists events one after another, regardless of how long they are in duration, or how long the duration of the gaps between them.
You can switch between timeline modes at any time, so you can change your mind later!
Check the Guide to Timelines for more information about Standard Timelines!
Chronicles (Advanced Timelines)
Chronicle let you create your events in both time and space: the timeline is displayed under a map, and as you click the various events in it, the map will focus on different locations.
Chronicles also give you granular time, meaning that its timeline can go century by century or day by day!
If you want to create a fully interactive world history, Advanced Timelines is the tool you’re looking for.
Check the community Guide to Chronicles for more information about Chronicles!
