Running Downtime

There's more to life than fighting aliens and getting rich. What happens when a PC wins a deed to a dance club in a game of chance using the infinity deck, crafts an item, launches a celebrity career, or pursues a relationship? All these goals and more are resolved by running downtime. Downtime is the space between adventures, where your PCs take a step back before the next chapter starts. In downtime, you can sum up the important events of a whole day with just one roll. Use this mode when the characters return home or otherwise aren't adventuring. Usually, downtime is a few minutes at the start of a session or a break between major chapters of an adventure. On rare occasions, you might have a whole session of downtime to play out a specific story. As with exploration, you might punctuate downtime with roleplaying or encounters when it's natural to do so. Stakes: None to low. Downtime is the counterpart to adventuring and covers low-risk activities. Time Scale: Downtime can last days, weeks, months, or years in the game world in just a few minutes of real time at your game table. Actions and Reactions: If you need to use actions and reactions, switch to exploration or encounter mode. A creature that can't act is unable to perform most downtime activities, but it can take longterm rest. GM Priorities Just because your PCs aren't exploring lost ruins or defeating villains during downtime mode doesn't mean it shouldn't be interesting or advance the story. The following tips might come in handy for running downtime mode. Demonstrate changes to the setting that result from the PCs' previous achievements, giving them time to breathe and appreciate what they've accomplished. Emphasize the PCs' planning and the fruit it bears. Avoid bogging the game down, even if a great deal of time passes. Keep the number of rolls small. Bring back compelling NPCs or plot threads established in previous downtime or adventures. Interject interesting events and scenes related to what the PCs do to make the world feel more alive. Switch to encounter or exploration mode as needed when actions spur a new scene or adventure.