Downtime

[Emiricol]

I have, over the years, come to the conclusion that roleplaying shopping is not the most fun I've ever had. I'll make my group roleplay downtime only as a means to introduce plot hooks, clues and such, not as a trip to Wal-Mart. For that, they just tell me what they want and then I tell them what they can get. (Potent magic items being an exception of course - those they find, or contract someone for).

On the other hand, in my campaign the game advances one season every six real weeks, so after adventures is when they catch up to the timeline. The party has to come back with sheet updated for generic income and upkeep (using the DMG rules for upkeep), as well as an event they experienced and an NPC they encountered, during the downtime. Once they had six months of game downtime. It forces them to have lives outside the dungeon, gives me plot hooks and ideas, and makes the PCs seem more alive to the players.

But thats not the kind of downtime the thread starter is talking about

 

[Hjorimir]

"Downtime" sessions can be a blast depending on the role-playing desires of the players. Try to get them (and you?) out of the mentality that because you're not in the thick of melee doesn't mean you're missing the good stuff.

Then again, if your play style is more action minded (and that isn't necessarily a bad thing...play what is fun for you and yours) just skip role-playing with the merchants and tell them to buy out of the book (or give them a price as you see fit).

 

[Cbas10]

My group finds "downtime" (as you refer to it) as absolutely essential to the game. We tend to think that non-adventuring time provides for the best role-playing, character development, and exploration into the storylines. We rarely do the roleplaying of buying and selling standard stuff, but we ALWAYS focus a lot of detail on selling or buying magical items or valuable art/gems/jewelry. More often than not, such items are bartered or traded instead of sold. In that case, we do the roleplaying to figure out who to trade with and what they could offer.

I'd say that less than a third of our games are "adventuring" and killing monsters/exploring dungeons. That is certainly a fun part of the game, but rolling dice and marking down numbers only goes so far. To us, "downtime" is what is described as time that goes by in the gameworld while the DM takes a break from running the game for a couple of weeks.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Well, some possible things you could consider :

Work on character backgrounds. Do they go home, do they visit family, friends, employers? Have the players tell you , in detail what they are doing during downtime (not always easy, I know.) Is there a skill or spell one of them wants? Have them practice at it during this time. Reward them accordingly when that skill/spell comes up again.

Come up with a minor quest or mission the party could go on, something designed to be quick and keep them amused, such as retrieving a document, or some artifact from a minor (but not boring) enemy. Reward them with some extra XP & / or gold. Not to mention the good graces of whichever NPC hired them to do the mission.

Take some serious inventory. Are they carrying around tons of stuff? Does anyone keep track of it? Now might be a good time to go over notes of who's carrying what, and make sure everyone's on the same page. Does someone want a hard to find item, potion or scroll? This would be a good time for them to go searching for it. Along the way, have them meet a few NPCs who might foreshadow something that the attentive PC might take note of.

Just a few ideas.

Enjoy

 

[thullgrim]

I handle most downtime issues via email between sessions. This way come game day we can get right down to it. These emails usually take care of shopping, party wealth distribution, gather information checks, spell book updates, item creation, all the little things that take anywhere from an hour or two at the beginning of a session to a whole session. You still have to handle some downtime issues in person but not nearly as many. I like doing it this way for a couple of reasons (1)It lets use game day for more play (2)I write alot of it in character and encourage the pcs to do the same, that way we all get a better feel for the characters and the game word. I will also drop adventure hooks into these emails, many times spreading information out between them that they have to piece together. All in all it ha made my games much better.

Thullgrim

 

[jayaint]

It seems as though every fantasy/sci-fi knight has a town orphan, ruffian, kid, etc that runs up to them with an admiring gleam in their eye, each time the hero rides back into town. Or a barkeep that has to hear all the latest news and gossip. Or the town shaman/adept who breathlessly awaits the heroes' return so maybe he can glean some new spell seed or idea from them. These types of characters, force the party to have some "downtime" roleplay, but keep things moving, and are always available to drop new plot hooks. Never think of "downtime" as "off-time".

Also, the town can change while the party is away. One of my favorite parts of any long campaign is returning to a city or town after a decent amount of time has passed. Adventure seems around every corner, and while there are familiar places and faces (which puts the party at ease), there are plenty of new dark-shadowy corners and mischevious characters to investigate.

I am lucky, though. My DM basically guarantees a nice little block of XP just for sitting down at the table, so I can relax and have some fun, knowing that I am still inching up the XP-scale, even if it is a "downtime" scenario.


Just some ideas from my gaming group, and what's worked for us.

 

[Emiricol]

I do XP for my group the same way. I have a baseline amount based on the party's level, and I halve the XP or double it for particularly easy or challenging sessions, whether RP or combat-focused. This does in fact encourage PCs to accept downtime in the game (though there are of course other ways of doing it too).

We do a lot of downtime off-scenes, a moderate amount of downtime on-camera for character development mostly, and trips to Wal-Mart entirely off-scene (unless I want to introduce some plot element or adventure seed).

I don't always live by the above ratio, but I try...

 

[Bodah]

Accidently deleted my first reply *sigh*

Anyway thanks for the ideas guys. A few aspects of the game make it hard to implement some of them though. The players dont often visit the same city twice. They also rarely visit home/family. I like the idea of little side quest and adventures within the town. However my players have a mindset thats very focused on the major adventure of the campaign. Within that they roleplay well and enjoy interacting with the story. They just rarely seem to want explore anything towns have to offer in depth as much as they do the main adventure of the game.

I'd love to implement email into aspects of the game. Unfortunately 2 members of the group dont get around to using their ancient computers very much. So they'd be left out. While I could email the rest of the group to take care of town stuff and address private issues.. it would be unfair to the other two members. So I guess I will have to leave that out until something changes in the future.


I also give exp every session regardless of whether there was combat or not. Which is why I was so baffled about them still feeling like they have accomplished nothing when there are obvious rewards for their efforts, combat or not.

Thanks for all the tips guys!

 

[kigmatzomat]

Anyway thanks for the ideas guys. A few aspects of the game make it hard to implement some of them though. The players dont often visit the same city twice. They also rarely visit home/family. I like the idea of little side quest and adventures within the town. However my players have a mindset thats very focused on the major adventure of the campaign. Within that they roleplay well and enjoy interacting with the story. They just rarely seem to want explore anything towns have to offer in depth as much as they do the main adventure of the game.

Returning to the same towns has done wonders for the character development in my games. If you don't have it due to your plots, look at ways to create other recurring NPCs. Traveling merchants, bards, tinkers, or pilgrims are good suggestions. These familiar faces will ask how their adventures are going, become sources of information, and provide feedback on how the world in general views the party's actions.

Barring that, what are the characters that don't socialize often? Look at what hooks should exist for them.

Cleric/paladin: visit local church. If they don't, have them visited by the local clergy.

Rogues: suggest they contact the thieve's guild. You may need to do it as part of the plotline the first few times to get them in the habit but make it part of their routine to find the seedy bars, make the right comments, grease a few palms, and find out the "working laws" of the city.

monks: have small pockets of various monastic orders scattered across the region. The monk should visit to pay his respects to the master (it is tradition ==Lawful) and acquire some information, possibly about his home monastery.

bards: anyone playing a non-social bard needs to the thwapped by a clue-by-four.

druids: they may not be *in* town, but smaller settlements might have druid groves within a short distance, at least as the wildshaped eagle flies. Druids should take advantage of those rare days they can sit in a grove where nature's energy is strongest. And, of course, chat a bit with the locals.

Rangers: a little harder than druids, really. Best you can do is make it a plot point that if they check with the local guardsmen/huntsmen they can learn about the regions critters and beasties. Of course, this could become plot hooks as well.

wizards and sorcerors: there's no excuse for an arcane caster that doesn't seek out the locals to see if there are any local spells they can try and learn or at least get enough information about that they can puzzle out on their own later. If it comes with a (plot) hook....

Fighters: no specific hook to a fighter. Sorry, you'll have to rely on the personality of the character. Alternately make it a point for him to go with the weakest or most likely to be robbed party member. At least then he's not sitting in his private room in the inn.

 

[d20Dwarf]

I used EN World's downtime today to actually get some work done. Yay!

Oh, that's not what this thread is about...?