Downtime

Downtime are special scenes that allow characters to take a break from adventuring to rest, recover, and engage in character development activities.

Groups should discuss when to engage in downtime, but the host has the final authority. Downtime requires a suitably safe environment free from immediate conflict and that provides characters the opportunity to rest or perform light duties. If the group is not in a suitable location, the host can deny a request for downtime.

Action Points

Based on the intended rest interval and the quality of the group's environment during downtime, the host is responsible for allocating downtime action points. Action points are used to represent the narrative time used for downtime and provide appropriate constraints on how much players can accomplish during a specific downtime period.

The following table provides an example of allocating activity points for downtime scenarios.

SCENARIO	ACTIVITY POINTS
SHORT REST - the group is resting for a short period (3-8 hours) while engaged in a situation with limited access to external support resources.	3
EXTENDED REST - the group is taking an extended rest (1-5 days) resting between situations in a developed area (like a village, town or city). with at least some access to external support resources.	7
LONG REST - the group is taking a long rest (5+ days) in a well-resourced location with good access to external support resources.	12

Downtime Activities

Players can use their action points to perform relevant downtime activities. Downtime activities include the following:

RESOLVE BANES: Players can use downtime activities to treat wounds, repair damaged relationships, mitigate reputation and other identity issues, etc.

ADD BOONS: Players can pursue personal goals with the goal of building potential advantages when they return to adventuring. This can include forging new beneficial relationships, gathering intelligence, acquiring raw materials and supplies, side hustles like crafting or gambling to bolster financial resources, etc.

Similar to performing other actions, when a player wants to perform a downtime activity they describe their intentions to the host. If the activity is straight-forward and easily accomplished within the downtime environment, no roll is required, and the player can proceed to make a change to their character's conditions.

If the stated downtime activity is challenging with a risk of failure, the host can request the play to perform a Quick Encounter. The outcome of a quick encounter is a simple success or failure. If the outcome is a success, the player can proceed to make the appropriate change to their character's conditions. If the outcome is a failure, no change is permitted. The player is required to spend their action point regardless of the outcome.

CHARACTER PROGRESSION

For campaigns that provide for experience-based character progression, downtime can also be used to allow players to spend experience points to add or improve assets or add new features to their character.

To support character progression during downtime, in addition to action points, hosts should consider rewarding players with experience points based on individual or group achievements and/or play time duration. For more information, see Rewards.