Summer time here at Hogwarts.io is July-August, in line with the Hogwarts school summer holidays. In character, students are off school and would be at home with their families for the summer vacation. Since we have some different things happening around summer - such as a summer camp, different forward dating threads rules and sports for iNPCs - this thread will hopefully answer some of the questions that we often get.

Please note: that the guide is slightly vague because every year, the specifics of summer change. For instance, summer camp can be anytime during those months and the location of camp changes.

Contents:

• Forward Dating Threads & Summer Camp
• Official Sport Games & Stat Points

This section will explain how forward dating threads work during the months of July-August as they differ slightly from the usual rules.

Advice for First Years:
IC you start the journey in September, which is when you will be travelling to Hogwarts and getting sorted.

However, if you wish to, you can attend Summer Camp beforehand, if we have one.

For the students who have only joined us over the summer:
IC, you may assume that have received a letter from Hogwarts staff (unnamed/faceless staff. Please do not name a person or a role unless you have explicit permission to godmod them), in which we invite you to come and spend a few weeks in our company already. This is to prepare you for Hogwarts' regulations.

If you are attending summer camp, it's best to roleplay there first as though you have not been sorted yet. Your character will be unaware of the house they are going to be in, in character. They will be sorted in Sept, on their first day.

Summer Camp dates and locations differ every year. There will be an OOC announcement with details each year. OOC, these Camp threads will likely last for several months anyway so you should have things to do.

The camp will take place anytime between 1st July to 31st August (It is usually around 4 weeks IC). During the time when there is no camp, you may roleplay at home (if you wish to do solos with your character's family) or in Diagon Alley - where you can roleplay buying your school supplies prior to the school year starting. Diagon Alley is a good place to roleplay with other players as you can 'bump' into them whilst shopping and introduce yourself as someone starting in September.

If you are not attending summer camp, you will be able to roleplay your September threads from July 1st. Usually, we only allow forward dating for a maximum of one month but for First Years, summer might be a bit bland (as you would be limited to solos at home or school shopping in Diagon Alley) so you can forward to Sept (anytime between 1st-30th Sept). I would not recommend this if you are attending camp as there are events and friendships that might change how your character feels or what they do. School events can be hectic (violence, fire, drama etc) so it might affect your character.

But if you are not attending, you are free to start your journey any time after 1st July OOC. Just put a note at the top of the thread with the IC date (i.e. 5th September).

Of note --- we recommend that you avoid dating anything on 1st September until closer to the time, as there may be other events that arise. (If staff have time, there are sometimes threads that take place on the 1st of September - such as a thread where first years travel to the castle by boat, before the Sorting Ceremony or perhaps a welcome thread for your house etc).

For Second Years and above:
Regardless of whether or not you are attending Summer Camp, usual rules apply here and you can only forward date your threads up to a maximum of one month. Ideally, avoid doing it but if you do it, that's the maximum. If you are at Summer Camp, it is recommended that you finish those threads before as there may be things that happen that affect you.

To clarify, "up to a maximum of one month" means that if it's 15th July, you can future date to 15th August.

You cannot RP "September" threads from July, like the first years can because you can backdate your threads. This exception is only for first years to give them something to RP during these otherwise quiet months.

You are welcome to RP in Hogwarts backdating your threads to before 30th June.

Each summer, we try to hold a game for all our official sports (Quidditch, Duelling and Broom Racing).

For each sport, the PCs that play will usually be the house that has done the best in their respective sport throughout the year. They will represent 'Hogwarts' in the international tournaments (against iNPC schools). These games may differ each year in how they work in order as we are building up our community. During this period, teams may be combined with other school teams or there may be a different number of players than usual in a game.

We aim to have it so that a single person only participates in one summer game. So if your PC gets the opportunity to play a summer game, ideally your iNPC would be sitting out their sports game that summer (i.e. someone already participating in a summer game is the lowest priority during sign-ups for a second game). However, as we build up our iNPC population, summers may call for one player to be in two summer games (PC and iNPC).

How does this affect stat points?

A maximum of 4 stat points can be earned over the course of the year (not including the 5 gained during graduation). These opportunities come from the three sports games held during the school year and a summer sports game.

If you participated in two summer games, you are getting two chances at a single stat point - not two stat points.

To be clear: in the event that you win both of your summer games, you only get a single stat point.

However, you will get a house point for each game that you win.

How do we claim the stat point on a win?

Once the game has finished, the game moderator or an admin will make an "eligibility for rewards" post that clarifies who is eligible for a stat point. Please link to this in your updates. This stat point can be added to both your PC and your iNPC.

For your PC, update it via Index Trunk Updates as usual.
For your iNPC, you can add the stat point via the iNPC update thread when they reopen.

Note: again, if both your PC and your iNPC, you will only be eligible for one summer point overall.