# Sessions

> Polls, startups, boosts, planned sessions and shutdowns, posted for your players, with numbers for every session you ran.

A **session** is a stretch of roleplay on your ER:LC server. Jellyn posts each step of it in your Discord, pings the roles you pick, and counts how it went.

## Running a session

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open a poll (optional)">
    `/session poll` asks who will join. Players vote with a button; when enough have voted, start the session. `votes:` changes how many are needed this time.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Start it">
    `/session start` posts the startup and pings your session roles. Startup, boost and full-server posts have a **Join the server** button with the join code.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Boost it">
    `/session boost` asks for more players while it runs, at most every 10 minutes.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Shut it down">
    `/session shutdown` ends it, or cancels the open poll. It can end everyone's shifts and shut the game down too, if you set it up that way.
  </Step>
</Steps>

`/session status` shows the current session, and `/session schedule in:2h note:Training night` plans one ahead: Jellyn posts when it will be, in each reader's own time zone.

The same buttons are on the **Sessions** page of the dashboard.

## The Sessions page

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Overview">
    For all staff:

    - **The session right now** (closed, poll open or live) with its numbers and buttons: open a poll, start now (with another area of play), boost, shut down (press twice).
    - **Coming up**: sessions planned ahead, a form to plan one, and a way to cancel each. A planned session is a minute to 30 days ahead, 10 at a time.
    - **Analytics**: tiles with a small line of each number over time.
    - **Past sessions**: open one for its players, the most at once, the average, mod calls, commands, players over time, and what happened when.
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Settings">
    For the **Session settings** permission, saved together:

    - Where Jellyn posts, and who startups, polls and boosts ping (roles, and @here or @everyone).
    - Pinging everyone who voted, and the votes needed.
    - Posting once the server is full.
    - Ending shifts at shutdown.
    - **Ending the session once the server stays empty** (on by default: only after people played, once nobody was in game for 3 minutes).
    - **Shutting the game down too**: a `:m` message, then `:kick all` 10 seconds later.
    - Kicking players who aren't moderators while no session runs.
    - The usual **area of play**, and what happens outside it (see [Automations](/erlc/automations#area-of-play)).
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Channel locks

Up to 5 text or forum channels can be **locked** while no session runs: hidden, or read-only, and opened again when a session starts. Jellyn keeps how each channel was and puts it back exactly.

<Warning>
  Jellyn needs **Manage Roles** to lock channels. It only ever changes channels of your own server.
</Warning>

## Your own posts <Badge color="grape">Jellyn+</Badge>

Write your own startup, poll, planned session, full server, shutdown and boost posts: each a title, text, small print, colour and picture, with a preview. Messages when a channel locks or opens are Jellyn+ too.

Words in braces are filled in when Jellyn posts:

| Word | Becomes |
| --- | --- |
| `{user}` | Who ran it |
| `{players}`, `{maxplayers}`, `{queue}` | Players in game, the most it takes, the queue |
| `{servername}`, `{code}`, `{joinlink}` | The server's name, its join code, and a link to join |
| `{aop}` | The area of play |
| `{votes}`, `{votesrequired}` | Votes so far, and votes needed |
| `{time}` | Now, as a Discord timestamp |
| `{scheduledtime}` | When a planned session starts |

`{time}` and `{scheduledtime}` take a Discord timestamp style after them: `t`, `T`, `d`, `D`, `f`, `F` or `R` (relative, like *in 2 hours*). See all of Jellyn's words on [Placeholders](/developers/placeholders).