D&D 5E A Year of Downtime

[Reynard]

I am picking up my Avernus campaign a game year after the PCs saved Elturel. In that year some world building stuff has happened but I also want to let the players engage in some downtime type activities. But a year is a long time.

How would you handle a year of downtime? Would you let PCs retrain, buy and sell items, make fortunes, etc?

Note that some of their time is eaten up by rebuilding Elturel and other, more personal activities.

 

[Oofta]

I am picking up my Avernus campaign a game year after the PCs saved Elturel. In that year some world building stuff has happened but I also want to let the players engage in some downtime type activities. But a year is a long time.

How would you handle a year of downtime? Would you let PCs retrain, buy and sell items, make fortunes, etc?

Note that some of their time is eaten up by rebuilding Elturel and other, more personal activities.

Buy and sell items? There's options in XGTE for that, and yes. Make fortunes that they can spend on adventuring gear? No. They aren't full time business people and making money at business takes many, many years and a fair amount of luck. Even if the business is successful the most I do is have them recover initial investments.

Different strokes for different folks of course.

 

[Reynard]

Buy and sell items? There's options in XGTE for that, and yes. Make fortunes that they can spend on adventuring gear? No. They aren't full time business people and making money at business takes many, many years and a fair amount of luck. Even if the business is successful the most I do is have them recover initial investments.

Different strokes for different folks of course.

I glanced at Xanathars and it looks like the max PCs can make above cost of living is 25 GP a week which amounts to 1300 gp. Hardly a fortune.

I am considering letting them "trade" items of equal value -- a rare for a rare, for example -- and have them roll on the buy or sell complications table just to add to the scenario.

 

[Quickleaf]

I am picking up my Avernus campaign a game year after the PCs saved Elturel. In that year some world building stuff has happened but I also want to let the players engage in some downtime type activities. But a year is a long time.

How would you handle a year of downtime? Would you let PCs retrain, buy and sell items, make fortunes, etc?

Note that some of their time is eaten up by rebuilding Elturel and other, more personal activities.

I'd be tempted to run it as a half-session to whole-session process, dividing up each downtime time segment into seasons of 12 weeks each. And I'd spin my narrative of rebuilding Elturel & foreshadowing what's coming next into each season (winter, spring, summer, fall). Also, a great time to incorporate any material from Tasha's Cauldron that you wish to allow.

 

[Reynard]

I'd be tempted to run it as a half-session to whole-session process, dividing up each downtime time segment into seasons of 12 weeks each. And I'd spin my narrative of rebuilding Elturel & foreshadowing what's coming next into each season (winter, spring, summer, fall). Also, a great time to incorporate any material from Tasha's Cauldron that you wish to allow.

We play weekly but our sessions are only 2.5 hours usually. I'd rather not burn session time on it.

 

[tommybahama]

They should be ruling Elturel like the Council of Four rules Baldur's Gate. Divide the city into a number of sections equal to the number of characters in the party that saved Elturel. Have them do a bunch of skill checks to see how the section that they ruled over has prospered over the past year:

Round 1 -- Survival: how many people survived over the past year in the section the character controls
Round 2-- Perception: how well the character has established law and order over their section
Round 3 -- Intuition: how well the economy has recovered
Round 4 -- Persuasion: How many new immigrants have been attracted

It would be just a fun mini game for the players to enjoy.

 

[Reynard]

They should be ruling Elturel like the Council of Four rules Baldur's Gate. Divide the city into a number of sections equal to the number of characters in the party that saved Elturel. Have them do a bunch of skill checks to see how the section that they ruled over has prospered over the past year:

Round 1 -- Survival: how many people survived over the past year in the section the character controls
Round 2-- Perception: how well the character has established law and order over their section
Round 3 -- Intuition: how well the economy has recovered
Round 4 -- Persuasion: How many new immigrants have been attracted

It would be just a fun mini game for the players to enjoy.

Their roles in Elturel are established already. I'm more interested in trying to figure out what mechanical benefits they can gain over the period

 

[Krachek]

A feat, a home brew boon, an improved classed feature, a selected magic item,
at bare minimum a skill or a tool proficiency.

 

[Quartz]

but I also want to let the players engage in some downtime type activities.

Do they want to engage in those activities?

If they are the rulers of Elturel then take a gander at the Aphonion Tales story hour, concentrating on the period after he becomes king.

 

[Reynard]

Do they want to engage in those activities?

If they are the rulers of Elturel then take a gander at the Aphonion Tales story hour, concentrating on the period after he becomes king.

They aren't the rulers of Elturel but they are its heroes.