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@@HairyHariyama It is 8 hours+ of sleep and light activity that includes a minimum of 4 hours of sleep... Except elves with the trance feature can just do the 4 hour trance to gain full benefit of the 8 hour long rest in just 4 hours. (5E rules) They can sleep longer if they want to... They can take a 12 hour long rest if they want to. I will occasionally impose a condition on a PC that requires up to week of recuperation. I do not do this often and either greater restoration or lesser restoration can reduce the time or remove the condition.
I think the mix takes the cake, ask if they'd consider something to prepare for the next adventure and see if it actually would affect it. Then ask for Other stuff and decide what is RP worthy, is fun or important to do now and communicate results if necessary prematurely and move stuff that doesn't conflict with the timeline out of session...
@@theDMLair just a silent jab at your average party. Although my party has a bugbear barbarian that tries to befriend everything that moves, and a hobgoblin cleric that wants to use guards as cannon fodder. (not complaining about my party though, it's a nice change of pace)
I remember in our PotA campaign when the DM wanted us to do two weeks of downtime in Red Larch, and the first player's downtime activity was to travel across the map and advance the plot :) I think that player kind of missed the point
Wow. That sounds like my Sword Coast Guard group. Lol I actually make them take downtime between each adventure/quest so they have the opportunity to do it. It usually only takes about 30 minutes to resolve downtime for everyone. I'm not sure that's enough meat for an entire session tbh.
The best way I have found to do downtime at the table to make sure that everyone is engaged is that 1) I keep the world moving. There may be a storm that washes through that affects anything people wanted to do outside or merchants that make their way into town. Keeping downtime active keeps people engaged. 2) I pre-plan events during downtime, both good and bad. Storm causes a sickness in town and everyone needs to roll a Con save. 3) Provide opportunities for players to find out information that they need for the next adventure. Making research both useful and upfront makes it an actual option for characters. Just my two cents.
I handle "downtime" depending on the game. In quick session of encounters to save the world, there is no downtime, because the adventures really follow each other so no time for this. I slower campaign, where adventures are coming to solve single problem once a while and between adventures characters live normal lives, I follow what was said in video. In Dragon Heist which I now Gm for second time, the game IS downtime. I track days and ask players what they do. Some of them spent most of time running the inn, other runs his shoe repairs, other helps in nearby blacksmith, other sleeps to run over roofs of Waterdeep every night, searching for other night dwellers. And I roll random dice and most of the downtime is solved in 5 seconds by "nothing special happened, all as usual", but sometimes it leads to interesting situation which usually leads to call for party to help. Or it leads to meeting with some new ally, or new information, or invitation for later. In conquest campaign I lead with other groups which are traveling through island looking to advance their dukedoms interest there is no downtime. It is more about assigning tasks to allies and cohorts to get something, research something, secure some place, ivestigate some rumor. And party travel around doing diplomacy, eliminating high level threats and investigating secrets. So there is much more about downtime and more ways to approach it.
I have my group do offline downtime, and I usually try to set it up like a one shot. It's a lot of fun to get 1 on 1 and see what the player is thinking for the characters future. Then everyone comes back to the next session and it's like getting the gang back together. Usually I use discord, and try to get a call going, but I've done play by post before.
Luke: "My video has cat hair now because of (name I can't quite make out)!" Me: "Well, yes, that tends to happen when you hold the cat. No matter how lovely of a cat that he may be."
I do not volunteer to do downtime single PC role play with individual players, but if they ask, I try to go with it. Anything that promotes PC personality and backstory development should be encouraged if practical.
I think the last time I used the downtime rules, it was one character going off to try to make a new shield (in the sacred forge of his deity, no less) while the others continued their business about town. Basically, I would cut to him now and then, offer a bit of description, have a few lines of dialogue or call for a die roll or something, then cut back to everyone else. Given that my current campaign involves a war between various deities, there haven't been many particularly long breaks.
That is one disadvantage to downtime: players often feel like they don't have time to do it because they are rushing from one adventure to another and the clock is ticking and they don't have time to take downtime. I actually impose a mandatory 1 week of downtime between adventures because otherwise players would never take it, even though they want to.
For the last couple of years, we've had exactly 1 optional week of "downtime". It was spent selling treasure and preparing for the next adventure. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. I just want something to give my character to come home to. I've been thinking about retiring my character, because it feels like what he would need to do. He's been fighting monsters nonstop for almost half a year ingame. Sorry for venting. Our dm is actually quite good, I guess it's just a matter of not having the extra time as you said.
Yeah, I actually give my players mandatory downtime. Between all of their major Adventures. This allows them to have the time to do things that they would want to do. Some players take advantage of it other players don't care a whole lot about it. But at least the opportunity is there. You might just talked to your dungeon master and ask him if he's willing to allow you guys to do that sort of thing in between Adventures. It doesn't have to take up that much time at the table either for to be meaningful for the players.
The sorcerer/paladin is gonna have to face some very interesting enemies it seems. My bets on saving throws, but I suppose I will check what Luke has in mind over at the second channel. Great video tho, lord knows downtime tends to be underused
I LOVE downtime! In fact I’m working on a homebrew “rest” system after HUGE adventure sessions that wouldn’t make sense for one nights sleep to make them 100%. It adds a “Full Rest” that would take more than just one day, BUT the main reason for this is I want to have downtime weave into the game regularly after extended adventures!
Cool. I actually use mandatory downtime (1 week) in my SCG group after each adventure. Otherwise they feel like the story wouldn't allow them to take a break.
I have always used downtime as a chatscyer development tool and since the players usually split up the others are permitted to go and take a break. Usually bathroom, if they smoke, refill snacks that kind of thing.
Loved the pros and cons list, because I’ve done both too, or even do a hybrid mix of the two. Brainstorm on downtime out of game, then come to the table for a “show and tell” which keeps the other players entertained! But the session timing has to fall into place for that one!
I like the CR way of how to do downtime. Matt had asked everyone away from the table to say what they wanted to accomplish with the time they had. Then they worked it out off screen. When the next session came around, everyone knew what they wanted to do and waited patiently and engaged in the story. Then again, we the common folk are not voice actors that have made careers out of acting. This way could work for some people, but do what is best for your table.
Yeah, it's really hard for me to do downtime away from the table. I just don't have time. If it doesn't happen at the table, it usually doesn't happen. 😢
It feels like CR does minor downtime, and major downtime. In the minor downtimes, where they're hanging around a city for a day or two, it all happens at the table and tends to be the minor research or pit fighting stuff and they often do it in groups. The major downtimes occur "offline" usually when there's a lull in the storyline and that's when the players get chance to do bigger things. It'll be interesting to see if and when the second campaign gets a major downtime. Also, I think you're right that the CR folks can probably find more time to do offline downtime stuff than most of the rest of us!
With all fairness, you don't need a ton of time to plan downtime activities. Just the ability to think about the game a little bit during lull periods of life and to just talk about it with your GM whenever you get the chance. I regularly do crafting, shopping and stuff away from the table whenever we hit a store, as unless the GM knows what kind of stuff we are looking for ahead of time it can be a massive pain in the backside and I don't keep massive PDF folders in a tablet so I know what's in the ruleset, I would rather parause in my own time and use dice rollers that keep a track of history for my extra caricular activities, or I will roll during the session and get back to them. Major and minor downtime sounds about right. Any timeskip I feel it's more or less mandatory to have some idea what your character would do in that period and, provided you and the GM communicate about it, it just kinda happens. You input your intentions and when you come around to the beginning of the next story arc, you get to find out how far your character has gone about achieving that goal. With minor downtime, well, there's no reason that downtime can't be it's own adventure, you just have to change the definations of success and failure and just go for it. Shopping? Want to woo that impressive Blacksmith? I find that the first campaign had the characters as kind of de-facto lords of a given area with a castle and some great deal of responsibility, thus it was easy for months to pass without them adventuring. The second group, as per ep 40 as I've not kept up with it (I find watching any DnD games a chore, so I really need to be in the mood to listen to it.) is a much leaner group that don't have any occupation beyond adventuring; and from what I understand they passed the captaincy on after their short stint as pirates, so I imagine it's a more day by day. Basically, the way I see it is if we have enough time to sit down and watch a 10/15 minute youtube video or 10, we've definitely got time for downtime. XD
@@HalBreden that sounds similar to what I do in my current campaign. (Not dnd, but GURPS space.) The players are bounty hunters who own a ship. Minor downtime usually happens when the ship is traveling between starsystems (average 3 days in my setting) while major downtime happens when the ship needs to be repaired or upgraded. (Month or two)
I find allowing my players to describe their tasks and what not allowing them to do the leg work as you figure out and have them roll the finer details. I let my players know several sessions ahead of time that downtime is coming. I remind them weekly till Downtime arrives. I have them write up all of what they want and b4 the DT session I talk to each of them and see what they expect/what i can deliver. I usually try to hash out some of these details as a requirement for the group. They get to choose how much and what not. I find letting them create a framework so to speak really engages them and helps me. This also keeps everyone fairly engaged during DT in general in my experience as it isn't bogged down by time requirements as much but still has a timeframe.
in my group, usually each player gets a ten-minute turn to do downtime. one of the most memorable was when the rogue broke into a house and was just about to be caught, but then the timer ran out, so he had to wait in suspense while one of us went shopping
On a related note one of my favorite episodes of avatar is "tales of ba sing se" it's just a episode focusing on the main characters free time so I say let your players have a day or two doing whatever they want and give them the opportunity to explore the city they're staying in.
I was scrolling through the comments and saw this. I appreciate that you said this because that is a great example for me since I am a DM and have been doing a campaign that features downtime heavily and this just reminded me what I had unintentionally based it on.
I’m a novice at DMing, but I’ll offer my process of resolving downtime activities: I do a mixture of offline and online. At the end of a session, I informed my players that they had a set number of days in which they could conduct downtime activities. I presented them with the options shown in the DMG and Xanathar’s, and then I asked them to send me their ideas on Discord as to what they want to do during said downtime. This gave them the opportunity to think about what they want to do and then gave me time to prepare for anything that was unusual. Then, at the next session, we engaged in the downtime activities on the board so that everyone could see. I believe this maximized the value of the downtime activity by giving everyone a spotlight and minimized the session time needed to play out the downtime activity. It also allowed other players to jump in and engage in a particular activity if they saw fit to do so.
I remember in my SKT campaign the party had arrived at waterdeep for the first time. I decided to run solo sessions for each players downtime activities over the next week. Worked out pretty well, especially when the cloud giant castle arrived at the end of everyone's solo session and they had to frantically regroup at the start of the group session to discuss a plan.
I feel a bit of both should be possible here. If you warn your players the session before there might be some downtime coming up and ask them to think about what their characters might want to do, this gets rid of some of the down sides of doing it online, such as speeding it up and giving players time to figure it out (incl. the rules for it). It also allows the rest of the party to take part in the story and tag along if they are one of the players that doesn't come up with something their character wants to do themselves. In a previous campaign I played in we did it like that and it led to some hilarious roleplaying and bonding moments between both characters and players alike. I recommend giving this a try. ;)
I think the Gritty Realism rules would make Downtime activities feel much more natural. I was thinking of an interesting house rule version of it, where a short rest is one night's sleeps, and a long rest is some number of days doing downtime activities in a settlement. You get back a hit die you spent during your adventures each day you spend resting, so if you only had a few encounters since you left the city you only need to spend another day in town before getting back up to full health. As for when abilities and spell slots recharge I'm not sure, but I think that wouldn't be too hard to work out.
Love your content! Lots of good stuff! I gotta say among all the TH-cam DM’s that I have watched you are in the top three that I would like to game with. You, Runehammer, and Professor Dungeon Master are my faves. Just sayin’
A couple tips as a long time DM whom tries to always have SOME downtime (camp time as i think of it) in a session, then does the bigger downtime (town time) offline usually when appropriate: 1. When giving out downtime decide what scale the downtime is; 1.a. hours/10 min (usually for camp time only or if a task they are working on during a longer downtime is this complex) 1.b. 4hour/quarter day/half day (usually for travel time, longer camp times, or fairly short town times like under a week) 1.c. Days (usually over a week but less than a month) 1.d. Weeks (over a month, less than a year, normally skip time) 1.e. Months/years (very very long story skipping time and such, rarely comes up) 2. Take your scale and give players a nice little sheet with the number of time slots they have, allow longer time increments to have more space to write in (usually for each step in time about double the amount of lines to write on). 3. If you incorporate smaller downtime chances (camp time) in game where people gain small benefits then they get more inclined to be in the mindset to work on bigger things when they get the chance. 4. Have all players at session zero make a “default downtime” schedule, this not only lets you know more about how a character works and what they would likely have one them and ready, but lets you have some fallback effects and stuff that they get if they dont have a special plan for that particular downtime. 5. Keep track of what players do in their downtime, save the sheets, not only does it help you watch out for “DM Killer” ideas and plots, but you can harken back to previous ventures when in need of plot hooks (hey, remember when you mugged that royal in the other town?) or to let a player gain small growth from experience (since you have made swords like this so many times before ill give you a lower DC, and since you tuned up your tools the price will be a bit better... however you bought that discount metal before, so watch out, you have more chance of a crit fail than usual) 6. As the players explore and such add in small items that can either be ignored or be used in plans, like finding some iron bars (saleable loot or new weapon shafts? You decide), running into poisonous vines (hazard to deal with, poison to prep with, or antitoxin to brew and sell?), or fools gold (shiny trinket, distraction, con prop, alchemical ingredient...???) you would be amazed at what players can do with oddities if they are given. 7. If you make resources rarer or more expensive/harder to get, and emphasize the dangers/drawbacks of things like lack of water&food, running out of ammo, storage items breaking, and the like then players will start to look at downtime as as important a managing and strategic resource as in battle abilities. Suddenly the mage with mending becomes hugely relied upon to keep gear from falling apart. The medic kit carrying druid would be helped to find herbs when charges run low, characters may pool resources and time to get ingredients or tools to make more reasonable potions and the like, the ranger can actually go hunt to help the party not deal with exhaustion or starvation... 8. Try to never say “no” to a proposed downtime, instead take a look at a reasonable alternative to it, decide how many steps of difficulty off it is from what they want, then ask them how much they would be willing to spend (resources[be it money, items, favors, or spell slots], time[additional downtime slots], or effort [rolls]) to get it, as long as they pay up it should be able to happen, if they decide to underpay in some way then you can add a twist/quirk/glitch/catch to the result for each step short changed. However should they offer more for something than required (pay extra, spent more time researching, went through hellish tests...) then you can reward them with a bonus, be it a better version of the result, a person whom owes a favor, a lead on something else they wanted, or who knows what else. 9. Be kind to yourself, if they are doing something that they can take 10 and pass then probably dont make them roll, if it is something that would be complete pocket change to them then dont sweat the exact amount, as the DM you can always add a little discount/price hike if needed. So long as it is not a largely game effecting thing then you should have no problem just saying yes to simple requests and remembering them later. 10. Any time you adjucate a downtime activity write what you replied and why, it will help when similar things come up later. 11. Dont be afraid to let players whom are willing to use their own time to do more with downtime to get more out of the game than players whose characters just “live a normal life” between things. 12. Make sure when people wish to interact with others for downtime that you get all such players together and discuss if they wish to use their time for that as well, and suggest that they later return the favor of their downtime. 13. If players have npcs of any kind that do their own thing or do the players bidding make sure to record what they do as well, it can help a lot when players want to sent their bat familiar off to pick up herbs from the apothecary. 14. If a player has been sick or similar downtime is a great way to sneak in one on one missions and events to help make up for lost time.
"I was thinking" ... seldom works out well, Haha! Excellent video and fantastic reference to Xanathar's Guide to everything. I've found it quite useful myself.
These videos are all very handy. I'm prepping to DM a game for the first time, and I'm eager to avoid common pit falls or fun killers, especially because one of the potential PCs is a long time DM, who has been eager at the opportunity to play the game for the first time in a long time. I wanted to use "online" downtime in increments of no longer than one in game week, as they await news or transportation, and then utilize offline downtime for in game durations of multiple weeks to a couple of months. I want to make effective use of downtime, because I feel that there is great opportunity there for some interesting roleplaying segments, and even the possibility to reward the players with tool proficiency or some of the more niche feats based on their use of downtime. An example I saw an older campaign a few years ago, was a player who had started taking cooking lesson's from the castle's head chef; the DM awarded this player with the Gourmand feat after doing it for awhile.
I like a highbred where at the end of an adventure I ask people to bring something interesting for their downtime next session. This gives them some time to be creative. It also seems like a good time to do a new session zero recapping the adventure and getting back in touch with each other before starting off on the new adventure. If it is something big they can run it by me but I find that most of the time it's I want to do training to learn X. I can deal with that in a text ... "cool, tell me what that looks like at the start of our next session".
The Current group I DM for do things at a slower pace then I would like so far out of 7 months of playing every Saturday they have never finished a quest in just 1 Session so there hasnt been the opportunity for downtime. Im not sure if thats on me for giving to large of a quest or if they really are that slow to progress. For instance I made a Halloween Event the Week before Halloween and they didnt finish until the Week after Christmas and it was only a 4 floor Monastery which I cut down to 3 floors when I seen how they were doing. Great Videos by the way. You do a awesome job explaining and are entertaining while you do it.
Thanks a lot! 😁 You could do downtime between every adventure, even if an adventure takes several sessions. Just do a week of downtime once an adventure is finished.
One of the things I use downtime for is for when 1-2 players are out so i use the time gap for "fun" side quests like but not limited to shopping sprees, town furthering, or expanding on basic downtime activities they picked
I gotta make my own d&d site. We got so many cool things we’ve picked up over the years for gameplay and home brew rules and removal of rules, from dungeon mags, dragon mags, supplements and other non TSR products, including instruction manuals from games like Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Wow and other Xbox/PS4 games incorporated into Ad&d rules. We also use video game soundtracks in our D&D playlist: like Dragon Age, Diablo & Diablo 2, Conan the barbarian movie soundtrack, Erdenstern, Midnight Syndicate, etc...just medieval background music. Hope some of that helps some groups.
- - - In my current campaign, my players have all changed characters a few times (and since I bring new characters in about a level or two below the current average, it helps keep my power scale from rising too fast). As a result of character changing, there are often characters doing what I have called "off-board" activities like training, studying, traveling with an NPC adventuring party, joining the army, etc. For these long-term off-board things, I give a paragraph or so of narrative points and get the players' feedback out-of-session to keep their timelines up to the main party. - - - Twice so far the party has decided to wait in a Grey Elf city for magical items to finish being made instead of going out and adventuring for a couple of weeks, so I had them pick an occupation of pastime that they wanted to focus on, and they convinced or paid an elf in the city to tutor them for the five weeks they were waiting, and at the end, I had them roll for their product (or in one case, disease resistances versus STD's) and if successful they gained half a level of xp. - - - Recently, the party spent a week of leisure time in a mountain city as they recruited to replace retired characters. They sent a few of their number off on various day quests in the area like slaying a mountain giant or recovering a magical ring from water elementals in the sewers, and they did shopping and selling. One character led himself on a wild goose chase for imaginary evil agents because he put two and two together and got five. Another character sat in a rented dining room at the inn and had buyers come to him to buy the last few months' worth of loot the party ad gathered and couldn't use. -This was all done at-the-table, and the key to fight player boredom was bouncing back and forth between different activities and arranging for some threads to "accidentally" cross and join.
Luke: At the table - online. Away from the table - offline. Me: At a regular table in a local bar, playing the main quests, phones only allowed for looking up rules - offline. In my room, in PJs, handling my players' downtime via usually one-on-one text messages - online. I handle downtime as an optional thing to do between sessions, or quickly sum up at the start of one. Human fighter: *\is exploring the surrounding towns, archives and local power systems in real time on his off days*\ Meanwhile: Elf Ranger: "Yeah, I make this potion, this potion, and three bottles of this potion. I will also spend some time with my pet fox." DM: "That'll be these itsems from your inventory, this much gold, write down your potions and here's a friendship token."
Tried it both ways before watching this. Totally agree. We moved it to Discord between adventures. Four out of five of my players are new, so this will take time no matter how we do it.
I do kind of a hybrid situation. Generally, I can predict a session or two in advance when downtime might come up, so i let my players know ahead of time to start thinking about what they'd like to do with it. That way when we get to the table to resolve it, it only takes about half an hour for 6 players, and no one gets unexpectedly put on the spot
I just tell em prior to the session starying that that if all goes well, have some downtime activities in mind for the end of the session. Then towards then end ill tell them "alright you got an in game 2 weeks of downtime. What do you wanna do?" Then i go around the table and ask what they want to acheive in that time and how do they do it. Then after everyone has talked i ask then to elaborate.
I kind of do a bit of offline and online downtime. I talk to my players seperately, and then based on what they choose I can either resolve it at the table or just with them privately.
My DM, for down time normally just let's us go about. We do it online over voice call, just fyi. And if characters have trouble finding stuff to do he will name some places, events happening, and just give ideas, then he give them time to think over while he deals with another player. And it never gets too boring, cause the small stuff goes by pretty fast and the longer, more fun stuff is enjoyable to listen to. We also have a chat just for people to list stuff they do over down time, such as if we end a session with them having time to do things or they had to leave the voice chat before they had their down time. So I'd really say a mix of those those online and offline styles is good.
I typically discuss with them what they would like to do, come up with some rolls to make for said activities, then run the rolls in-session. That way it's quick, efficient, stakes can be involved, but it doesn't intrude upon the game itself as it isn't too long before the tasks are finished, for ill or good.
I do downtime offline, but with my current group I will actually ask them what they want cause they don't seem too engaged while offline. Now, there is an aspect to downtime that I think it's important, as an immersive type of player, that you didn't mention: you can use it to "normalize" the time flow of the game. And get rid of weird stuff like "we've been playing this game for two years and it only passed a week in-game, as we level from 1 to 20" or "the wizard learned two new spells overnight!!". There are two simple house rules I use to normalize those weirdness: 1 - players can only level during downtime; 2 - downtime days are proportional to how many sessions it took me to run an adventure.
I did both offline and online. I asked what they’d like to accomplish and had them make a few rolls offline. Then I resolved those situations and prepared what they would be awarded. Online, we briefly went over what they did narratively and I told them their rewards/outcomes based on those previous rolls. Nice blend of both, not sure I’d do it the same next time but I was testing out a point system for spending their downtime.
I normally do downtime off line and to make sure everyone does it I will usually give a bonus, increase or item relevant to their down to encourage my players to take part.
My thought on downtime was that i will let players know when possible downtime is coming up. Give them until the next session to figure out what they want to do, at which point they give me something in writing at said session. Gives me time to get rules dug up & also gives me the chance to ask the players if they want to handle it at the table or away from it. I have yet to DM though, so we will have to see how my tune changes in a few weeks/months.
With my little brother, if someone can't make it to a session he can make up how the time was used. For example last session I purchased myself 3 rituals for my warlock (it was the only mage guild on the entire island), so when I wasn't able to make the session after that I simply spend it writing my spells into the book. Since I am a half elf I would be allowed to transcribe 1-2 spell levels per night, but not being able to come was pretty handy in that sense.
Our Dm uses down time as our way to level up. If we don't take it we don't level up, and we don't take it unless we are in our 'home town' so I feel we have ample time to think and plan, also it makes it feel more realistic in a way. Love our DM.
Why not a half-and-half approach? In the ending third of a session after an arc is over you declare a time period the players have of downtime. Then you spend that time talking things through and resolving them with the players immediately interested. End the session halfway through the downtime, and give the other players the "offline" time they need to figure out things and potentially work with them individually, then at the beginning of the next session tie up any loose ends and start the next adventure.
Just a few weeks ago I gave my players two weeks of downtime to get things sorted out. The plan was to go day by day offline and get things resolved, but some of my players would not respond to messages outside of game time, so we had to handle things one on one during the scheduled game session. One went on an adventure to kill a werewolf and succeeded, but was afflicted with lycanthropy in the process. One tried to visit her hometown while wild shaped as a squirrel, but rolled a natural 1 on stealth and was shot by one of the hunters trying to get a meal for himself. She fled into the night. The wizard spent time copying spells into his book and researching new ones. The paladin got a ship they found repaired, finished and crewed to act as passive income for their party.
I will admit that in certain pre-made campaigns it seems impossible for downtime at times. Like our current, Hoard of the Dragon Queen for example, is quite literally you constantly tracking cultists and barely having time to breathe. I managed to have some downtime done in Elturel with my own version of the city (crooked shopkeepers, a fishing trip and a *cough cough* brothel *cough cough*) but ever since then it’s been all about saving the world. There were the long trips in between cities, but for everyone’s sanities and due to a group decision we only had a few encounters with enemies. Traveling on the road for sessions can get boring fast anyway. Thanks for your video though. They gave me ideas and I’ll try to squeeze some downtime in using your methods.
To help with this sort of thing where the players feel like they don't have time to take down time. I often give them a mandatory downtime. That is after every major Adventure. They need to take one week off for downtime. I found it. If I don't make them do it, they won't because they feel like the story won't allow it. That way they all get to do things that interest them without feeling like I'm going to somehow punish them for taking time off from working on the main storyline. .
I'm currently in a game of that too and will admit you don't get access to downtime very easily. However, when it comes to crafting there is one means of getting some downtime. Play a elf. While everyone else is finishing their 8 hours of long rest, you have 4 hours of time to kill because of your trance. Make spellscrolls, potions, different knicknacks to sell, etc.
Actually gave my brothers downtime for their characters in my first time DMing, they took a week in game to do whatever they wanted. One brother was training his new goblinoids recruits, and the other was going get closure for his character, and taking the time to spend with his aunt.
Personally I have always found the concept of downtime to be integral to the players aspirations on advancing the character's worldly ambitions. Downtime was a major focus of the 1980's RPG 'Bushido' by FGU and I still use those game mechanics when it come to the players and the use of downtime in my games, be it group or individual study and training, working a job for extra coin or just making new contacts, or even making the time to oversee their personal estates or getting married and starting families.
With using "Professional Development" in your introduction, I get the sense that the DM Lair is an educator at a certain level. My D&D group of college professors will cringe when I share that introduction with them.
I'm about to run downtime for the first time after 5 sessions of ghosts of saltmarsh, they are about to beat the first adventure. I might start one characters activities do a few turns with him and say "while so and so is doing such, YOU begin to... " and have the next character start theirs. Trying to make it flow more, I'll see how that works.
Watching the magical item creation stream. Penguin engraved item but not a weapon how about an umbrella that when unfurled grants the holder the ability to simulate the effects of various wands like the Wand of Wonder but only maybe once per day but more uses of say Wand of Smiling or Scowling perhaps causes the target to laugh as per the spell? Cape of the Penguin able to swim like a penguin and grants resistance to cold whilst worn?
I try to get my characters to approach downtime with a similar mindset as during my games. 1st - tell me what you would like to do. 2nd - i tell you what and how many to roll. 3rd - i will tell you how much or how long it will take. this works with basically anything that can be skill based (BTW, I DM 3.5e) for things that are more story based, like having a family, or embarking on a quest alone, i will have them roll %'s and tell them successes or failures. or just respond with "OK" this allows for quick and easy downtime resolution and does not restrict players creativity. for example: when my wizard says i want to marry other-wizard-NPC, % or "ok". OR When my elven rogue is fighting to steal from the temple of Pelor a small amount of water from the 'fountain of youth' to save her aging human husband. during one downtime, she attempted to infiltrate and rolled a 68% (DC 90%) and gathered some intel on patrols but was unable to find a way into the sanctum. In another downtime got another player to help her, and they rolled 85% and 80% (+5% assist) which would pass the DC. they both got a vial. (and before you ask, all the water did was remove the negative aging effects like "timeless body" but left the final age the same.)
My rules with downtime was always as follows: Any time the party canonically has a break between adventures, I let my players tell me if they want to do anything with it. If not, I assume they were just vibing and we move on. When a situation happens that makes me plan for 30℅ or more of the session to be downtime, I tell my players ahead of time almost 3 or 4 days in advance so they can plan. When we get to the "table" (We're an online group) I let my players do whatever they want within the realm of possibility during that timeframe. If a player doesnt want to do downtime or gets done quickly, they are free to leave right there and then. This removes pretty much all the cons with the "at the table" downtime and ive come to find my players like it that way. (Though the leaving thing may not work at a physical table, bonus points of being an online DM i suppose)
Downtime will be needed in my campaign since there will be several dungeons that contain a magic item necessary to take out the BBEG; it'll be that big of a campaign.
I'm doing some kind of a compromise between the two. Like when we finished a dungeon and return to our home city I would end the session there - as it is a good ending point anyways - and I would tell my players that they will have some downtime in the city before their next adventure and if they have any ideas of what to do with that downtime, they should e-mail them to me. What I do with those E-Mails depends on their idea. If what they want to do is something supposed to be secret to the others we resolve that off the table on our own, also if it is something excessive that might be boring to the other players. But if it is something that is resolved quickly and/or would be interesting to other players we resolve that on the next session. This could also lead to cool results when one party member left the inn to do his secret business, then we move on to the next party visiting his girlfriend who is also running the mercenary guild they are getting their quests from and when he returns from there he finds their wizard (who is also an alchemist) with no eyebrows and very dusty cloths due to his alchemy roll offline being a nat 1,
My group I'm currently DMing for likes to interact with each other during downtime, so we do it live. Though last time most of the players just used the downtime for upgrading their gear, though our Swashbuckler did take time to earn an upgrade by spending the week working for the blacksmith making it.
Haste is a situationally op spell. Not just because it can be used on the players, but also because it can be used on the enemies. When combined with something like friends or charm person/monster, or even a bit of role-playing getting a creature willing to be buffed isn't too hard. Then dropping concentration forces that creature to lose its turn.
I usually do the down time activities during the game session. I find it difficult to get anyone to respond or do anything with it between sessions. Most of us have pretty busy lives, so it just works out better that way.
My old group used to have a Discord channel, just for downtime and scheduling. The DM can do 1-on-1 sessions, session 0, and downtime activities with players, while the players who aren't engaged don't have to sit through it. When we met up on the weekend, all the loose ends had been taken care of, and we were all ready to go back to saving the world.
My players tend to take downtime together. I go around the table and have everyone tell me what they would like to do, and then we go through all of it together. As sometimes downtime activities can effect what the other pcs are doing
I'll usually give my players a stretch of down time at the end of an arc or adventure session, let them have the week to figure it out and if they have something sneaky like say raise an army of dark young then we can handle it away from the table otherwise as our role-play warmup (or campfire stories) we handle downtime based on who is there earliest.
Third roll you gain swimming movement equal to your normal speed can once per day misty step through water and gain the ability to leap out of the water as per charge rules to land on dry land without penalty to this effort unless its part of an actual attack so they'd need to roll normally to attack.
Back in my 2E and 3E days i had players that were so involved in their characters that we would email what they were doing in between. This was prior to the formalization of downtime. However, my current group doesn't seem as interested and, if they are, do not take the time to consider their characters outside of the game. This makes downtime challenging for me because i like the character building it produces. Unfortunately, i can't seem to get that level of interaction with the players.
I do downtime offline unless it's super important to rp it out. When there is a lull and the PCs have downtime about 30 or so minutes before the game ends I ask them to think about downtime activities and then write it down on some paper and leave it with me. Then during the week I text them with results and follow up with them. If rolls are needed I trust my players to give an honest result. If it is super important to rp the downtime then I try to arrange a day during the week to briefly do it or ask the player to show up 30 or so minutes early so that we can take care of it.
Downtime is imho an important part of the roleplaying part of P&P. We are currently at level 17 (Pathfinder) and at the end of the campaign we won't just have rescued the world. We have participated in kindom building, becoming an archmage and whatever the rogue has done in the meantime... Downtime gives the characters a lot of flesh on their bones AND additional plothooks. Or you just adjust the planned events to the downtime events and make the entire campaign way more personal that way. The dragon hasn't just kidnapped the princess of the country, he has kidnapped your daughter!
Personally, I like to make downtime part of a session, letting the PCs interact with each other and the world while they're not killing things. Done right, it can be when most of the role-playing per se happens, and it's the antithesis of the _murder hobos versus killer GM_ mindset.
Our dm asks if anyone needs to do anything and those who have more priority go first. Start with the person who has the most to do, and once they reach a certain point. My dm switches to the next person. Yes it cuts off what the former person may have been doing and may be a pain for a dm to track of normally with all the back and forth, but that's how she does it. It gives everyone a chance to do their main thing without waiting too long and while they are waiting to do something else they can really plan out what they want and just wait. And she makes sure when all is said and done that everyone has done everything they wanted. Anything rp wise that will take a good length of time she will do after the game session. And if we go on the next adventure, if we have yet to engage in combat and we only just left wherever we were like a few hours ago, she let's us back track.
You seem to run downtime very differently to me and my table, we sometimes spend whole sessions just going day by day and describing what everyone’s doing and no one really gets bored (any more than they would outside downtime) because everyone’s enjoying showing what their characters would do in a situation where they’re acting as normal citizens. I don’t just give players a list of options (though they are free to use the options in the downtime sections of official books) but I rather ask my players what they would want to do in this town knowing that they can spend more time here (totally not a death curse you need to be stopping right now guys.)
My downtimes are done in small comity or solo, and online outside of main sessions. Allows players that want to play the most to get their d&d kick inbetween game sessions.
I think beefy downtime focus pairs well with the "gritty realism" rest system. Since I will allow regular downtime activities during the week-long "long rest" in that system. (Said rest system sort of soft-fixes the one a day encounter groups too) This also let's players with crafting skills the ability to actually use them. Anything not immediately relevant to the plot I even let them think about between sessions and I'll sort of do one on one roleplay... Not that kind, don't be weird.
I was running a West Marches game, which is basically "Downtime, the Game", and it was REALLY time consuming... like, all waking hours, basically... I can see why you'd say it is so
Have the players plan what they are going to do offline, and inform you so that you can create a mini-adventure for their downtime. Serve Food. While player #1 has their stuff resolved the rest of the party enjoys chow time. Then call the next and the next and the next until completed. Then recall the party to begin the intro to the next segment, everyone will be full and happy.
I've got a nautical game going on at the moment, And it's surprising how incredibly boring and difficult it is to make a multi week-long journey enjoyable. So to speed things up while also making my players feel invested in their ship and crew, I made it to where in 5 day intervals, they can choose something to train/focus on for that cycle aboard their ship. Each NPC crew-mate has some sort of mastery in a skill, and they can work with them on bettering that particular skill (which is covered in the DMG). The more crew they hire, the more skills open up for them to train in. At the end of the 5-day cycle we do some specific rolls I home-brewed to determine our encounter. After the encounter, rinse & repeat. When I started doing this, my players immediately felt invested in their ship and the world. They've told me that this system I made had them feeling as if they were in an real, dynamic, living world.
I love these style of games. Although one of the drawbacks of this is the logistics of keeping that ship running. (And the munchkin of the group will concern themselves with how much profit they can make carrying cargo.) A ship can passively generate money for the party, while sort of acting as a base of operations. All while being mobile, and capable of keeping the plot going.
I think I might let them describe the basis of their downtime and then throw in some conflict they might overcome if they are trying to achieve something, then let them describe their victory once they overcome it.
Okay rolling the cubes it grants movement, but draws unnecessary attention as a result however unless there are predators at least your size they will leave you well enough alone?
There is another option if you can fit it in. Sitting down with each player one on one in a mini game to do their down time. Of course this has to be done away from the main game time but I find this one is the best of both worlds. It give players some time to think and then you have their undivided attention for the down time.
I used to do it all "online" when I was dming, thinking that itnwould help engage a few players, group cohesion, etc. It was fine honestly. But I'm going to do it "offline" from now on. It came up in a saltmarsh campaign I was playing in. My downtime was basically skipped, and I thought about it on my own. The other players had brutally killed almost an entire crew of pirates after we killed their captain and they surrendered. My paladin wasn't ok with this. So he had an epiphany; they won't kill them if they're already "dead." He was going to go out and try to buy poison. Specifically one to incapacitate or make the target appear to be dead (yes, my neutral good paladin was pushed to poison to try and save the enemies lives from the party). Never got to play it through since the campaign was scrapped, but, that revelation stuck with me. I never would have thought of it at the table.
Personally I prefer a hybrid. So what I do is I let players know that they're likely to have some down time and to let ME know what they want to do/plan to do for it. This lets me both streamline the process ingame since I know what to expect, and get the generally more boring bs(rolling to acquire spells etc) out of the way out of the game ahead of time. Then, if a player has something they want to do that needs to be resolved out of game, I can....but if they don't, I can generally resolve down time in 5-15 minutes of game time per player; depending on if they push for more rp with npcs and what not.
How do you do downtime in your games?
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Could long rest just be downtime?
Long rest is defined as 4 hours of sleeping and 4 of light activity, so I'm not sure how one would do downtime then.
@@theDMLair I thought it was 6 hours of sleeping and 2 hours of light activity? Elves notwithstanding.
@@HairyHariyama It is 8 hours+ of sleep and light activity that includes a minimum of 4 hours of sleep... Except elves with the trance feature can just do the 4 hour trance to gain full benefit of the 8 hour long rest in just 4 hours. (5E rules)
They can sleep longer if they want to...
They can take a 12 hour long rest if they want to.
I will occasionally impose a condition on a PC that requires up to week of recuperation. I do not do this often and either greater restoration or lesser restoration can reduce the time or remove the condition.
I think the mix takes the cake, ask if they'd consider something to prepare for the next adventure and see if it actually would affect it. Then ask for Other stuff and decide what is RP worthy, is fun or important to do now and communicate results if necessary prematurely and move stuff that doesn't conflict with the timeline out of session...
In the intro the captions say “professional team of murderers” instead of adventuring party. Brilliant
Lol. Yeah I actually screwed my line up but didn't realize until I was editing and it was far too late at that point to fix it.
the DM Lair nah, you didn't screw up the lines, you just made it better.
the DM Lair This is what we call “failing up”.
@@theDMLair just a silent jab at your average party. Although my party has a bugbear barbarian that tries to befriend everything that moves, and a hobgoblin cleric that wants to use guards as cannon fodder. (not complaining about my party though, it's a nice change of pace)
I love when there is humour hidden in the closed captions.
Xanathar: crime is part of downtime
Rougue: *happiness noises*
It's easy to keep the rogue happy. 😂
@@theDMLair it's also easy to get him to insult everyone.
"Are you stupid!?"
-rouge
It's not crime if no one catches you
don't do the downcrime if you can't do the downtime
@@Pablo360able best comment ever!
I remember in our PotA campaign when the DM wanted us to do two weeks of downtime in Red Larch, and the first player's downtime activity was to travel across the map and advance the plot :) I think that player kind of missed the point
Yep, flew right over his head. What did the DM do?
We just continued the adventure :) It wasn't until we were too deep in this "downtime activity" that we realised it would end up advancing the plot
"If the paladin is watching, I have something planned."
Later : "my players should not be watching my channel"
I'm inconsistent and whimsical... What can I say? Lol
Bah! Real paladins don’t multiclass.
@@haveswordwilltravel only un Hexblade
just in time! I had next session scheduled as downtime because my party blizted through 5 quests camping only to regain spell slots.
Wow. That sounds like my Sword Coast Guard group. Lol I actually make them take downtime between each adventure/quest so they have the opportunity to do it. It usually only takes about 30 minutes to resolve downtime for everyone. I'm not sure that's enough meat for an entire session tbh.
The best way I have found to do downtime at the table to make sure that everyone is engaged is that 1) I keep the world moving. There may be a storm that washes through that affects anything people wanted to do outside or merchants that make their way into town. Keeping downtime active keeps people engaged. 2) I pre-plan events during downtime, both good and bad. Storm causes a sickness in town and everyone needs to roll a Con save. 3) Provide opportunities for players to find out information that they need for the next adventure. Making research both useful and upfront makes it an actual option for characters. Just my two cents.
Yeah, allowing PCs to research the enemies is huge. It also allows the DM to foreshadow and plant more hooks.
I handle "downtime" depending on the game.
In quick session of encounters to save the world, there is no downtime, because the adventures really follow each other so no time for this.
I slower campaign, where adventures are coming to solve single problem once a while and between adventures characters live normal lives, I follow what was said in video.
In Dragon Heist which I now Gm for second time, the game IS downtime. I track days and ask players what they do. Some of them spent most of time running the inn, other runs his shoe repairs, other helps in nearby blacksmith, other sleeps to run over roofs of Waterdeep every night, searching for other night dwellers. And I roll random dice and most of the downtime is solved in 5 seconds by "nothing special happened, all as usual", but sometimes it leads to interesting situation which usually leads to call for party to help. Or it leads to meeting with some new ally, or new information, or invitation for later.
In conquest campaign I lead with other groups which are traveling through island looking to advance their dukedoms interest there is no downtime. It is more about assigning tasks to allies and cohorts to get something, research something, secure some place, ivestigate some rumor. And party travel around doing diplomacy, eliminating high level threats and investigating secrets.
So there is much more about downtime and more ways to approach it.
I have my group do offline downtime, and I usually try to set it up like a one shot. It's a lot of fun to get 1 on 1 and see what the player is thinking for the characters future. Then everyone comes back to the next session and it's like getting the gang back together. Usually I use discord, and try to get a call going, but I've done play by post before.
Yeah one on one like that can be lots of fun, time permitting of course.
Luke: "My video has cat hair now because of (name I can't quite make out)!"
Me: "Well, yes, that tends to happen when you hold the cat. No matter how lovely of a cat that he may be."
Guoppo / Quoppo
"Guapo," if I heard it right. It means "handsome."
Yes, Guapo usually likes to be held, but not that time. lol
I do not volunteer to do downtime single PC role play with individual players, but if they ask, I try to go with it.
Anything that promotes PC personality and backstory development should be encouraged if practical.
I think the last time I used the downtime rules, it was one character going off to try to make a new shield (in the sacred forge of his deity, no less) while the others continued their business about town. Basically, I would cut to him now and then, offer a bit of description, have a few lines of dialogue or call for a die roll or something, then cut back to everyone else. Given that my current campaign involves a war between various deities, there haven't been many particularly long breaks.
That is one disadvantage to downtime: players often feel like they don't have time to do it because they are rushing from one adventure to another and the clock is ticking and they don't have time to take downtime.
I actually impose a mandatory 1 week of downtime between adventures because otherwise players would never take it, even though they want to.
"Unless my players are watching this video".... whistles innocently....
Lol don't tell Dalinor...
Oh my gosh is this Kevin? (Stefan...???)
For the last couple of years, we've had exactly 1 optional week of "downtime". It was spent selling treasure and preparing for the next adventure. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. I just want something to give my character to come home to. I've been thinking about retiring my character, because it feels like what he would need to do. He's been fighting monsters nonstop for almost half a year ingame.
Sorry for venting. Our dm is actually quite good, I guess it's just a matter of not having the extra time as you said.
Yeah, I actually give my players mandatory downtime. Between all of their major Adventures. This allows them to have the time to do things that they would want to do. Some players take advantage of it other players don't care a whole lot about it. But at least the opportunity is there. You might just talked to your dungeon master and ask him if he's willing to allow you guys to do that sort of thing in between Adventures. It doesn't have to take up that much time at the table either for to be meaningful for the players.
@@theDMLair It can be essential, especially if you need permission to multiclass in the campaign.
You need to get permission the multiclass?
Yes, but I knew that on starting the campaign. It had to be justified in the story.
The sorcerer/paladin is gonna have to face some very interesting enemies it seems. My bets on saving throws, but I suppose I will check what Luke has in mind over at the second channel.
Great video tho, lord knows downtime tends to be underused
Dalinor's saving throws are off the charts. Enemies that just do pure damage (and lots of it) work the best. :D
@@theDMLair Unleash a Marut against 'im!
Planar justice! Lol
I LOVE downtime! In fact I’m working on a homebrew “rest” system after HUGE adventure sessions that wouldn’t make sense for one nights sleep to make them 100%. It adds a “Full Rest” that would take more than just one day, BUT the main reason for this is I want to have downtime weave into the game regularly after extended adventures!
Cool. I actually use mandatory downtime (1 week) in my SCG group after each adventure. Otherwise they feel like the story wouldn't allow them to take a break.
Exactly! That’s what I’m talking about, good to know a fellow DM feels the same! Great video! (and thumbnail 😆)
I have always used downtime as a chatscyer development tool and since the players usually split up the others are permitted to go and take a break. Usually bathroom, if they smoke, refill snacks that kind of thing.
Yeah if downtime takes awhile per PC and doesn't involve the others, the other players should certainly be welcome to bug out briefly, I feel.
Loved the pros and cons list, because I’ve done both too, or even do a hybrid mix of the two. Brainstorm on downtime out of game, then come to the table for a “show and tell” which keeps the other players entertained!
But the session timing has to fall into place for that one!
I like the CR way of how to do downtime. Matt had asked everyone away from the table to say what they wanted to accomplish with the time they had. Then they worked it out off screen. When the next session came around, everyone knew what they wanted to do and waited patiently and engaged in the story.
Then again, we the common folk are not voice actors that have made careers out of acting. This way could work for some people, but do what is best for your table.
Yeah, it's really hard for me to do downtime away from the table. I just don't have time. If it doesn't happen at the table, it usually doesn't happen. 😢
It feels like CR does minor downtime, and major downtime. In the minor downtimes, where they're hanging around a city for a day or two, it all happens at the table and tends to be the minor research or pit fighting stuff and they often do it in groups. The major downtimes occur "offline" usually when there's a lull in the storyline and that's when the players get chance to do bigger things. It'll be interesting to see if and when the second campaign gets a major downtime.
Also, I think you're right that the CR folks can probably find more time to do offline downtime stuff than most of the rest of us!
With all fairness, you don't need a ton of time to plan downtime activities. Just the ability to think about the game a little bit during lull periods of life and to just talk about it with your GM whenever you get the chance.
I regularly do crafting, shopping and stuff away from the table whenever we hit a store, as unless the GM knows what kind of stuff we are looking for ahead of time it can be a massive pain in the backside and I don't keep massive PDF folders in a tablet so I know what's in the ruleset, I would rather parause in my own time and use dice rollers that keep a track of history for my extra caricular activities, or I will roll during the session and get back to them.
Major and minor downtime sounds about right. Any timeskip I feel it's more or less mandatory to have some idea what your character would do in that period and, provided you and the GM communicate about it, it just kinda happens. You input your intentions and when you come around to the beginning of the next story arc, you get to find out how far your character has gone about achieving that goal. With minor downtime, well, there's no reason that downtime can't be it's own adventure, you just have to change the definations of success and failure and just go for it. Shopping? Want to woo that impressive Blacksmith?
I find that the first campaign had the characters as kind of de-facto lords of a given area with a castle and some great deal of responsibility, thus it was easy for months to pass without them adventuring. The second group, as per ep 40 as I've not kept up with it (I find watching any DnD games a chore, so I really need to be in the mood to listen to it.) is a much leaner group that don't have any occupation beyond adventuring; and from what I understand they passed the captaincy on after their short stint as pirates, so I imagine it's a more day by day.
Basically, the way I see it is if we have enough time to sit down and watch a 10/15 minute youtube video or 10, we've definitely got time for downtime. XD
@@HalBreden that sounds similar to what I do in my current campaign. (Not dnd, but GURPS space.)
The players are bounty hunters who own a ship. Minor downtime usually happens when the ship is traveling between starsystems (average 3 days in my setting) while major downtime happens when the ship needs to be repaired or upgraded. (Month or two)
I find allowing my players to describe their tasks and what not allowing them to do the leg work as you figure out and have them roll the finer details. I let my players know several sessions ahead of time that downtime is coming. I remind them weekly till Downtime arrives. I have them write up all of what they want and b4 the DT session I talk to each of them and see what they expect/what i can deliver. I usually try to hash out some of these details as a requirement for the group. They get to choose how much and what not. I find letting them create a framework so to speak really engages them and helps me. This also keeps everyone fairly engaged during DT in general in my experience as it isn't bogged down by time requirements as much but still has a timeframe.
in my group, usually each player gets a ten-minute turn to do downtime. one of the most memorable was when the rogue broke into a house and was just about to be caught, but then the timer ran out, so he had to wait in suspense while one of us went shopping
On a related note one of my favorite episodes of avatar is "tales of ba sing se" it's just a episode focusing on the main characters free time so I say let your players have a day or two doing whatever they want and give them the opportunity to explore the city they're staying in.
I was scrolling through the comments and saw this. I appreciate that you said this because that is a great example for me since I am a DM and have been doing a campaign that features downtime heavily and this just reminded me what I had unintentionally based it on.
I’m a novice at DMing, but I’ll offer my process of resolving downtime activities: I do a mixture of offline and online. At the end of a session, I informed my players that they had a set number of days in which they could conduct downtime activities. I presented them with the options shown in the DMG and Xanathar’s, and then I asked them to send me their ideas on Discord as to what they want to do during said downtime. This gave them the opportunity to think about what they want to do and then gave me time to prepare for anything that was unusual.
Then, at the next session, we engaged in the downtime activities on the board so that everyone could see. I believe this maximized the value of the downtime activity by giving everyone a spotlight and minimized the session time needed to play out the downtime activity. It also allowed other players to jump in and engage in a particular activity if they saw fit to do so.
Thankyou for this, getting me excited to do downtime stuff with my players is motivation to do the wroting I need for next session
I remember in my SKT campaign the party had arrived at waterdeep for the first time. I decided to run solo sessions for each players downtime activities over the next week. Worked out pretty well, especially when the cloud giant castle arrived at the end of everyone's solo session and they had to frantically regroup at the start of the group session to discuss a plan.
I feel a bit of both should be possible here. If you warn your players the session before there might be some downtime coming up and ask them to think about what their characters might want to do, this gets rid of some of the down sides of doing it online, such as speeding it up and giving players time to figure it out (incl. the rules for it). It also allows the rest of the party to take part in the story and tag along if they are one of the players that doesn't come up with something their character wants to do themselves. In a previous campaign I played in we did it like that and it led to some hilarious roleplaying and bonding moments between both characters and players alike. I recommend giving this a try. ;)
I think the Gritty Realism rules would make Downtime activities feel much more natural. I was thinking of an interesting house rule version of it, where a short rest is one night's sleeps, and a long rest is some number of days doing downtime activities in a settlement. You get back a hit die you spent during your adventures each day you spend resting, so if you only had a few encounters since you left the city you only need to spend another day in town before getting back up to full health.
As for when abilities and spell slots recharge I'm not sure, but I think that wouldn't be too hard to work out.
Love your content! Lots of good stuff!
I gotta say among all the TH-cam DM’s that I have watched you are in the top three that I would like to game with. You, Runehammer, and Professor Dungeon Master are my faves.
Just sayin’
Thanks a lot! Maybe we can play at a con some day. 😁
A couple tips as a long time DM whom tries to always have SOME downtime (camp time as i think of it) in a session, then does the bigger downtime (town time) offline usually when appropriate:
1. When giving out downtime decide what scale the downtime is;
1.a. hours/10 min (usually for camp time only or if a task they are working on during a longer downtime is this complex)
1.b. 4hour/quarter day/half day (usually for travel time, longer camp times, or fairly short town times like under a week)
1.c. Days (usually over a week but less than a month)
1.d. Weeks (over a month, less than a year, normally skip time)
1.e. Months/years (very very long story skipping time and such, rarely comes up)
2. Take your scale and give players a nice little sheet with the number of time slots they have, allow longer time increments to have more space to write in (usually for each step in time about double the amount of lines to write on).
3. If you incorporate smaller downtime chances (camp time) in game where people gain small benefits then they get more inclined to be in the mindset to work on bigger things when they get the chance.
4. Have all players at session zero make a “default downtime” schedule, this not only lets you know more about how a character works and what they would likely have one them and ready, but lets you have some fallback effects and stuff that they get if they dont have a special plan for that particular downtime.
5. Keep track of what players do in their downtime, save the sheets, not only does it help you watch out for “DM Killer” ideas and plots, but you can harken back to previous ventures when in need of plot hooks (hey, remember when you mugged that royal in the other town?) or to let a player gain small growth from experience (since you have made swords like this so many times before ill give you a lower DC, and since you tuned up your tools the price will be a bit better... however you bought that discount metal before, so watch out, you have more chance of a crit fail than usual)
6. As the players explore and such add in small items that can either be ignored or be used in plans, like finding some iron bars (saleable loot or new weapon shafts? You decide), running into poisonous vines (hazard to deal with, poison to prep with, or antitoxin to brew and sell?), or fools gold (shiny trinket, distraction, con prop, alchemical ingredient...???) you would be amazed at what players can do with oddities if they are given.
7. If you make resources rarer or more expensive/harder to get, and emphasize the dangers/drawbacks of things like lack of water&food, running out of ammo, storage items breaking, and the like then players will start to look at downtime as as important a managing and strategic resource as in battle abilities. Suddenly the mage with mending becomes hugely relied upon to keep gear from falling apart. The medic kit carrying druid would be helped to find herbs when charges run low, characters may pool resources and time to get ingredients or tools to make more reasonable potions and the like, the ranger can actually go hunt to help the party not deal with exhaustion or starvation...
8. Try to never say “no” to a proposed downtime, instead take a look at a reasonable alternative to it, decide how many steps of difficulty off it is from what they want, then ask them how much they would be willing to spend (resources[be it money, items, favors, or spell slots], time[additional downtime slots], or effort [rolls]) to get it, as long as they pay up it should be able to happen, if they decide to underpay in some way then you can add a twist/quirk/glitch/catch to the result for each step short changed. However should they offer more for something than required (pay extra, spent more time researching, went through hellish tests...) then you can reward them with a bonus, be it a better version of the result, a person whom owes a favor, a lead on something else they wanted, or who knows what else.
9. Be kind to yourself, if they are doing something that they can take 10 and pass then probably dont make them roll, if it is something that would be complete pocket change to them then dont sweat the exact amount, as the DM you can always add a little discount/price hike if needed. So long as it is not a largely game effecting thing then you should have no problem just saying yes to simple requests and remembering them later.
10. Any time you adjucate a downtime activity write what you replied and why, it will help when similar things come up later.
11. Dont be afraid to let players whom are willing to use their own time to do more with downtime to get more out of the game than players whose characters just “live a normal life” between things.
12. Make sure when people wish to interact with others for downtime that you get all such players together and discuss if they wish to use their time for that as well, and suggest that they later return the favor of their downtime.
13. If players have npcs of any kind that do their own thing or do the players bidding make sure to record what they do as well, it can help a lot when players want to sent their bat familiar off to pick up herbs from the apothecary.
14. If a player has been sick or similar downtime is a great way to sneak in one on one missions and events to help make up for lost time.
"I was thinking" ... seldom works out well, Haha! Excellent video and fantastic reference to Xanathar's Guide to everything. I've found it quite useful myself.
These videos are all very handy. I'm prepping to DM a game for the first time, and I'm eager to avoid common pit falls or fun killers, especially because one of the potential PCs is a long time DM, who has been eager at the opportunity to play the game for the first time in a long time. I wanted to use "online" downtime in increments of no longer than one in game week, as they await news or transportation, and then utilize offline downtime for in game durations of multiple weeks to a couple of months. I want to make effective use of downtime, because I feel that there is great opportunity there for some interesting roleplaying segments, and even the possibility to reward the players with tool proficiency or some of the more niche feats based on their use of downtime. An example I saw an older campaign a few years ago, was a player who had started taking cooking lesson's from the castle's head chef; the DM awarded this player with the Gourmand feat after doing it for awhile.
I like a highbred where at the end of an adventure I ask people to bring something interesting for their downtime next session. This gives them some time to be creative. It also seems like a good time to do a new session zero recapping the adventure and getting back in touch with each other before starting off on the new adventure. If it is something big they can run it by me but I find that most of the time it's I want to do training to learn X. I can deal with that in a text ... "cool, tell me what that looks like at the start of our next session".
The Current group I DM for do things at a slower pace then I would like so far out of 7 months of playing every Saturday they have never finished a quest in just 1 Session so there hasnt been the opportunity for downtime. Im not sure if thats on me for giving to large of a quest or if they really are that slow to progress. For instance I made a Halloween Event the Week before Halloween and they didnt finish until the Week after Christmas and it was only a 4 floor Monastery which I cut down to 3 floors when I seen how they were doing. Great Videos by the way. You do a awesome job explaining and are entertaining while you do it.
Thanks a lot! 😁 You could do downtime between every adventure, even if an adventure takes several sessions. Just do a week of downtime once an adventure is finished.
One of the things I use downtime for is for when 1-2 players are out so i use the time gap for "fun" side quests like but not limited to shopping sprees, town furthering, or expanding on basic downtime activities they picked
My group just finished Lost Mines of Phandelver and I am thinking of using the Strongholds and Followers to refurbish the manor and helping the town.
I gotta make my own d&d site. We got so many cool things we’ve picked up over the years for gameplay and home brew rules and removal of rules, from dungeon mags, dragon mags, supplements and other non TSR products, including instruction manuals from games like Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Wow and other Xbox/PS4 games incorporated into Ad&d rules.
We also use video game soundtracks in our D&D playlist: like Dragon Age, Diablo & Diablo 2, Conan the barbarian movie soundtrack, Erdenstern, Midnight Syndicate, etc...just medieval background music.
Hope some of that helps some groups.
In my opinion this is one of the best and important videos on this channel
- - - In my current campaign, my players have all changed characters a few times (and since I bring new characters in about a level or two below the current average, it helps keep my power scale from rising too fast). As a result of character changing, there are often characters doing what I have called "off-board" activities like training, studying, traveling with an NPC adventuring party, joining the army, etc. For these long-term off-board things, I give a paragraph or so of narrative points and get the players' feedback out-of-session to keep their timelines up to the main party.
- - - Twice so far the party has decided to wait in a Grey Elf city for magical items to finish being made instead of going out and adventuring for a couple of weeks, so I had them pick an occupation of pastime that they wanted to focus on, and they convinced or paid an elf in the city to tutor them for the five weeks they were waiting, and at the end, I had them roll for their product (or in one case, disease resistances versus STD's) and if successful they gained half a level of xp.
- - - Recently, the party spent a week of leisure time in a mountain city as they recruited to replace retired characters. They sent a few of their number off on various day quests in the area like slaying a mountain giant or recovering a magical ring from water elementals in the sewers, and they did shopping and selling. One character led himself on a wild goose chase for imaginary evil agents because he put two and two together and got five. Another character sat in a rented dining room at the inn and had buyers come to him to buy the last few months' worth of loot the party ad gathered and couldn't use. -This was all done at-the-table, and the key to fight player boredom was bouncing back and forth between different activities and arranging for some threads to "accidentally" cross and join.
Luke:
At the table - online.
Away from the table - offline.
Me:
At a regular table in a local bar, playing the main quests, phones only allowed for looking up rules - offline.
In my room, in PJs, handling my players' downtime via usually one-on-one text messages - online.
I handle downtime as an optional thing to do between sessions, or quickly sum up at the start of one.
Human fighter: *\is exploring the surrounding towns, archives and local power systems in real time on his off days*\
Meanwhile:
Elf Ranger: "Yeah, I make this potion, this potion, and three bottles of this potion. I will also spend some time with my pet fox."
DM: "That'll be these itsems from your inventory, this much gold, write down your potions and here's a friendship token."
Lol. I'm probably stealing from corporate parlance when I define online and offline. 😂
Tried it both ways before watching this. Totally agree. We moved it to Discord between adventures. Four out of five of my players are new, so this will take time no matter how we do it.
I’m not even a DM, but I still listen for new info about DND. I’m in love with DND and I’ve only played one session, so yea. I like dnd.
I do kind of a hybrid situation. Generally, I can predict a session or two in advance when downtime might come up, so i let my players know ahead of time to start thinking about what they'd like to do with it. That way when we get to the table to resolve it, it only takes about half an hour for 6 players, and no one gets unexpectedly put on the spot
I always love it when a 🐈 shows up in a video .
I just tell em prior to the session starying that that if all goes well, have some downtime activities in mind for the end of the session.
Then towards then end ill tell them "alright you got an in game 2 weeks of downtime. What do you wanna do?"
Then i go around the table and ask what they want to acheive in that time and how do they do it. Then after everyone has talked i ask then to elaborate.
I kind of do a bit of offline and online downtime. I talk to my players seperately, and then based on what they choose I can either resolve it at the table or just with them privately.
My DM, for down time normally just let's us go about. We do it online over voice call, just fyi. And if characters have trouble finding stuff to do he will name some places, events happening, and just give ideas, then he give them time to think over while he deals with another player. And it never gets too boring, cause the small stuff goes by pretty fast and the longer, more fun stuff is enjoyable to listen to. We also have a chat just for people to list stuff they do over down time, such as if we end a session with them having time to do things or they had to leave the voice chat before they had their down time. So I'd really say a mix of those those online and offline styles is good.
I typically discuss with them what they would like to do, come up with some rolls to make for said activities, then run the rolls in-session. That way it's quick, efficient, stakes can be involved, but it doesn't intrude upon the game itself as it isn't too long before the tasks are finished, for ill or good.
I do downtime offline, but with my current group I will actually ask them what they want cause they don't seem too engaged while offline.
Now, there is an aspect to downtime that I think it's important, as an immersive type of player, that you didn't mention: you can use it to "normalize" the time flow of the game.
And get rid of weird stuff like "we've been playing this game for two years and it only passed a week in-game, as we level from 1 to 20" or "the wizard learned two new spells overnight!!".
There are two simple house rules I use to normalize those weirdness: 1 - players can only level during downtime; 2 - downtime days are proportional to how many sessions it took me to run an adventure.
@the DM Lair, if I were one if your players, I would be sad that I couldn’t watch your videos. They are very helpful and entertaining.
My players watch my videos. Well some of them do. 😁
I did both offline and online. I asked what they’d like to accomplish and had them make a few rolls offline. Then I resolved those situations and prepared what they would be awarded. Online, we briefly went over what they did narratively and I told them their rewards/outcomes based on those previous rolls. Nice blend of both, not sure I’d do it the same next time but I was testing out a point system for spending their downtime.
How does the point system work?
I normally do downtime off line and to make sure everyone does it I will usually give a bonus, increase or item relevant to their down to encourage my players to take part.
My thought on downtime was that i will let players know when possible downtime is coming up. Give them until the next session to figure out what they want to do, at which point they give me something in writing at said session. Gives me time to get rules dug up & also gives me the chance to ask the players if they want to handle it at the table or away from it.
I have yet to DM though, so we will have to see how my tune changes in a few weeks/months.
With my little brother, if someone can't make it to a session he can make up how the time was used. For example last session I purchased myself 3 rituals for my warlock (it was the only mage guild on the entire island), so when I wasn't able to make the session after that I simply spend it writing my spells into the book. Since I am a half elf I would be allowed to transcribe 1-2 spell levels per night, but not being able to come was pretty handy in that sense.
Our Dm uses down time as our way to level up. If we don't take it we don't level up, and we don't take it unless we are in our 'home town' so I feel we have ample time to think and plan, also it makes it feel more realistic in a way. Love our DM.
Why not a half-and-half approach? In the ending third of a session after an arc is over you declare a time period the players have of downtime. Then you spend that time talking things through and resolving them with the players immediately interested. End the session halfway through the downtime, and give the other players the "offline" time they need to figure out things and potentially work with them individually, then at the beginning of the next session tie up any loose ends and start the next adventure.
Pour Rogue... wait he didn't want to participate... hm... nevermind no pitty to the rogue.
Yeah, that rogue deserves some corporation-enforced downtime in teamwork and people skills.
the DM Lair are the characters in your skits based of your players?
@@theDMLair I as well am curious: Are they?
Just a few weeks ago I gave my players two weeks of downtime to get things sorted out. The plan was to go day by day offline and get things resolved, but some of my players would not respond to messages outside of game time, so we had to handle things one on one during the scheduled game session.
One went on an adventure to kill a werewolf and succeeded, but was afflicted with lycanthropy in the process. One tried to visit her hometown while wild shaped as a squirrel, but rolled a natural 1 on stealth and was shot by one of the hunters trying to get a meal for himself. She fled into the night. The wizard spent time copying spells into his book and researching new ones. The paladin got a ship they found repaired, finished and crewed to act as passive income for their party.
I will admit that in certain pre-made campaigns it seems impossible for downtime at times.
Like our current, Hoard of the Dragon Queen for example, is quite literally you constantly tracking cultists and barely having time to breathe. I managed to have some downtime done in Elturel with my own version of the city (crooked shopkeepers, a fishing trip and a *cough cough* brothel *cough cough*) but ever since then it’s been all about saving the world.
There were the long trips in between cities, but for everyone’s sanities and due to a group decision we only had a few encounters with enemies. Traveling on the road for sessions can get boring fast anyway.
Thanks for your video though. They gave me ideas and I’ll try to squeeze some downtime in using your methods.
To help with this sort of thing where the players feel like they don't have time to take down time. I often give them a mandatory downtime. That is after every major Adventure. They need to take one week off for downtime. I found it. If I don't make them do it, they won't because they feel like the story won't allow it. That way they all get to do things that interest them without feeling like I'm going to somehow punish them for taking time off from working on the main storyline. .
I'm currently in a game of that too and will admit you don't get access to downtime very easily. However, when it comes to crafting there is one means of getting some downtime. Play a elf. While everyone else is finishing their 8 hours of long rest, you have 4 hours of time to kill because of your trance. Make spellscrolls, potions, different knicknacks to sell, etc.
Actually gave my brothers downtime for their characters in my first time DMing, they took a week in game to do whatever they wanted. One brother was training his new goblinoids recruits, and the other was going get closure for his character, and taking the time to spend with his aunt.
Personally I have always found the concept of downtime to be integral to the players aspirations on advancing the character's worldly ambitions. Downtime was a major focus of the 1980's RPG 'Bushido' by FGU and I still use those game mechanics when it come to the players and the use of downtime in my games, be it group or individual study and training, working a job for extra coin or just making new contacts, or even making the time to oversee their personal estates or getting married and starting families.
With using "Professional Development" in your introduction, I get the sense that the DM Lair is an educator at a certain level. My D&D group of college professors will cringe when I share that introduction with them.
Everyone should cringe a little bit at my intros. Tell them I was a teacher for 4 years too for added impact.
PD? Sure, we can schedule that after the next wellness session. 😁
I've given my players their 1st downtime event and it's being handled offline. I think I will try the next one at the table to see which works best.
I'm about to run downtime for the first time after 5 sessions of ghosts of saltmarsh, they are about to beat the first adventure. I might start one characters activities do a few turns with him and say "while so and so is doing such, YOU begin to... " and have the next character start theirs. Trying to make it flow more, I'll see how that works.
I am working as a Black smith apprentice. Mainly because my Blackguard wishes to imbue my weapons with some interesting effects.
Watching the magical item creation stream.
Penguin engraved item but not a weapon how about an umbrella that when unfurled grants the holder the ability to simulate the effects of various wands like the Wand of Wonder but only maybe once per day but more uses of say Wand of Smiling or Scowling perhaps causes the target to laugh as per the spell?
Cape of the Penguin able to swim like a penguin and grants resistance to cold whilst worn?
I try to get my characters to approach downtime with a similar mindset as during my games.
1st - tell me what you would like to do.
2nd - i tell you what and how many to roll.
3rd - i will tell you how much or how long it will take.
this works with basically anything that can be skill based (BTW, I DM 3.5e)
for things that are more story based, like having a family, or embarking on a quest alone, i will have them roll %'s and tell them successes or failures. or just respond with "OK" this allows for quick and easy downtime resolution and does not restrict players creativity.
for example: when my wizard says i want to marry other-wizard-NPC, % or "ok".
OR
When my elven rogue is fighting to steal from the temple of Pelor a small amount of water from the 'fountain of youth' to save her aging human husband. during one downtime, she attempted to infiltrate and rolled a 68% (DC 90%) and gathered some intel on patrols but was unable to find a way into the sanctum. In another downtime got another player to help her, and they rolled 85% and 80% (+5% assist) which would pass the DC. they both got a vial.
(and before you ask, all the water did was remove the negative aging effects like "timeless body" but left the final age the same.)
My rules with downtime was always as follows:
Any time the party canonically has a break between adventures, I let my players tell me if they want to do anything with it. If not, I assume they were just vibing and we move on.
When a situation happens that makes me plan for 30℅ or more of the session to be downtime, I tell my players ahead of time almost 3 or 4 days in advance so they can plan. When we get to the "table" (We're an online group) I let my players do whatever they want within the realm of possibility during that timeframe. If a player doesnt want to do downtime or gets done quickly, they are free to leave right there and then. This removes pretty much all the cons with the "at the table" downtime and ive come to find my players like it that way. (Though the leaving thing may not work at a physical table, bonus points of being an online DM i suppose)
Downtime will be needed in my campaign since there will be several dungeons that contain a magic item necessary to take out the BBEG; it'll be that big of a campaign.
I'm doing some kind of a compromise between the two. Like when we finished a dungeon and return to our home city I would end the session there - as it is a good ending point anyways - and I would tell my players that they will have some downtime in the city before their next adventure and if they have any ideas of what to do with that downtime, they should e-mail them to me. What I do with those E-Mails depends on their idea. If what they want to do is something supposed to be secret to the others we resolve that off the table on our own, also if it is something excessive that might be boring to the other players. But if it is something that is resolved quickly and/or would be interesting to other players we resolve that on the next session. This could also lead to cool results when one party member left the inn to do his secret business, then we move on to the next party visiting his girlfriend who is also running the mercenary guild they are getting their quests from and when he returns from there he finds their wizard (who is also an alchemist) with no eyebrows and very dusty cloths due to his alchemy roll offline being a nat 1,
3rd option, a hybrid between the two.
Have players discuss all their downtime aspirations offline. Resolve them first thing at the table.
I need to know.... Where do you get your shirts? They are hilarious and my DM's Birthday is coming soon and a funny dnd shirt would be the best thing.
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My group I'm currently DMing for likes to interact with each other during downtime, so we do it live.
Though last time most of the players just used the downtime for upgrading their gear, though our Swashbuckler did take time to earn an upgrade by spending the week working for the blacksmith making it.
Haste is a situationally op spell. Not just because it can be used on the players, but also because it can be used on the enemies. When combined with something like friends or charm person/monster, or even a bit of role-playing getting a creature willing to be buffed isn't too hard. Then dropping concentration forces that creature to lose its turn.
I usually do the down time activities during the game session. I find it difficult to get anyone to respond or do anything with it between sessions. Most of us have pretty busy lives, so it just works out better that way.
Same here. Same here...
My old group used to have a Discord channel, just for downtime and scheduling. The DM can do 1-on-1 sessions, session 0, and downtime activities with players, while the players who aren't engaged don't have to sit through it. When we met up on the weekend, all the loose ends had been taken care of, and we were all ready to go back to saving the world.
My players tend to take downtime together. I go around the table and have everyone tell me what they would like to do, and then we go through all of it together. As sometimes downtime activities can effect what the other pcs are doing
I'll usually give my players a stretch of down time at the end of an arc or adventure session, let them have the week to figure it out and if they have something sneaky like say raise an army of dark young then we can handle it away from the table otherwise as our role-play warmup (or campfire stories) we handle downtime based on who is there earliest.
Thanks again always love the info you give and how many cats you have?
Third roll you gain swimming movement equal to your normal speed can once per day misty step through water and gain the ability to leap out of the water as per charge rules to land on dry land without penalty to this effort unless its part of an actual attack so they'd need to roll normally to attack.
Back in my 2E and 3E days i had players that were so involved in their characters that we would email what they were doing in between. This was prior to the formalization of downtime. However, my current group doesn't seem as interested and, if they are, do not take the time to consider their characters outside of the game. This makes downtime challenging for me because i like the character building it produces. Unfortunately, i can't seem to get that level of interaction with the players.
I do downtime offline unless it's super important to rp it out. When there is a lull and the PCs have downtime about 30 or so minutes before the game ends I ask them to think about downtime activities and then write it down on some paper and leave it with me. Then during the week I text them with results and follow up with them. If rolls are needed I trust my players to give an honest result.
If it is super important to rp the downtime then I try to arrange a day during the week to briefly do it or ask the player to show up 30 or so minutes early so that we can take care of it.
My parties downtime is mostly just sleeping and doing surgery on our paladins shattered leg. We haven’t had a long rest in 6 sessions
Plot Twist: In the opening skit Gary the Intern mind controlled everyone at the table except for the rogue.
Downtime is imho an important part of the roleplaying part of P&P. We are currently at level 17 (Pathfinder) and at the end of the campaign we won't just have rescued the world. We have participated in kindom building, becoming an archmage and whatever the rogue has done in the meantime...
Downtime gives the characters a lot of flesh on their bones AND additional plothooks. Or you just adjust the planned events to the downtime events and make the entire campaign way more personal that way.
The dragon hasn't just kidnapped the princess of the country, he has kidnapped your daughter!
Personally, I like to make downtime part of a session, letting the PCs interact with each other and the world while they're not killing things. Done right, it can be when most of the role-playing per se happens, and it's the antithesis of the _murder hobos versus killer GM_ mindset.
Our dm asks if anyone needs to do anything and those who have more priority go first. Start with the person who has the most to do, and once they reach a certain point. My dm switches to the next person. Yes it cuts off what the former person may have been doing and may be a pain for a dm to track of normally with all the back and forth, but that's how she does it. It gives everyone a chance to do their main thing without waiting too long and while they are waiting to do something else they can really plan out what they want and just wait. And she makes sure when all is said and done that everyone has done everything they wanted. Anything rp wise that will take a good length of time she will do after the game session. And if we go on the next adventure, if we have yet to engage in combat and we only just left wherever we were like a few hours ago, she let's us back track.
This is a awesome topic that doesn’t get utilized very much🤔💯
You seem to run downtime very differently to me and my table, we sometimes spend whole sessions just going day by day and describing what everyone’s doing and no one really gets bored (any more than they would outside downtime) because everyone’s enjoying showing what their characters would do in a situation where they’re acting as normal citizens. I don’t just give players a list of options (though they are free to use the options in the downtime sections of official books) but I rather ask my players what they would want to do in this town knowing that they can spend more time here (totally not a death curse you need to be stopping right now guys.)
I agree. You and your players run down time in a completely different way than I do. However if everyone is having fun and enjoying the game Rock on.
Plot twist: Gary the Intern managed to cast a mind control spell on everyone but the rogue.
My downtimes are done in small comity or solo, and online outside of main sessions. Allows players that want to play the most to get their d&d kick inbetween game sessions.
I think beefy downtime focus pairs well with the "gritty realism" rest system. Since I will allow regular downtime activities during the week-long "long rest" in that system. (Said rest system sort of soft-fixes the one a day encounter groups too)
This also let's players with crafting skills the ability to actually use them. Anything not immediately relevant to the plot I even let them think about between sessions and I'll sort of do one on one roleplay... Not that kind, don't be weird.
I was running a West Marches game, which is basically "Downtime, the Game", and it was REALLY time consuming... like, all waking hours, basically... I can see why you'd say it is so
Planning on having a wedding here soon in the campaign. This is gonna be fun.
Have the players plan what they are going to do offline, and inform you so that you can create a mini-adventure for their downtime.
Serve Food.
While player #1 has their stuff resolved the rest of the party enjoys chow time.
Then call the next and the next and the next until completed.
Then recall the party to begin the intro to the next segment, everyone will be full and happy.
I've got a nautical game going on at the moment, And it's surprising how incredibly boring and difficult it is to make a multi week-long journey enjoyable. So to speed things up while also making my players feel invested in their ship and crew, I made it to where in 5 day intervals, they can choose something to train/focus on for that cycle aboard their ship.
Each NPC crew-mate has some sort of mastery in a skill, and they can work with them on bettering that particular skill (which is covered in the DMG). The more crew they hire, the more skills open up for them to train in. At the end of the 5-day cycle we do some specific rolls I home-brewed to determine our encounter. After the encounter, rinse & repeat.
When I started doing this, my players immediately felt invested in their ship and the world. They've told me that this system I made had them feeling as if they were in an real, dynamic, living world.
That's awesome! You hit on something amazing then considering thats the feedback you got from your players. Well done! 😁
I love these style of games. Although one of the drawbacks of this is the logistics of keeping that ship running. (And the munchkin of the group will concern themselves with how much profit they can make carrying cargo.)
A ship can passively generate money for the party, while sort of acting as a base of operations. All while being mobile, and capable of keeping the plot going.
I think I might let them describe the basis of their downtime and then throw in some conflict they might overcome if they are trying to achieve something, then let them describe their victory once they overcome it.
Okay rolling the cubes it grants movement, but draws unnecessary attention as a result however unless there are predators at least your size they will leave you well enough alone?
There is another option if you can fit it in. Sitting down with each player one on one in a mini game to do their down time. Of course this has to be done away from the main game time but I find this one is the best of both worlds. It give players some time to think and then you have their undivided attention for the down time.
If thw DM and players have the time and desire for it, that could be tons of fun. I feel as with many things in dnd it may be group dependent.
I used to do it all "online" when I was dming, thinking that itnwould help engage a few players, group cohesion, etc. It was fine honestly.
But I'm going to do it "offline" from now on. It came up in a saltmarsh campaign I was playing in. My downtime was basically skipped, and I thought about it on my own. The other players had brutally killed almost an entire crew of pirates after we killed their captain and they surrendered. My paladin wasn't ok with this. So he had an epiphany; they won't kill them if they're already "dead." He was going to go out and try to buy poison. Specifically one to incapacitate or make the target appear to be dead (yes, my neutral good paladin was pushed to poison to try and save the enemies lives from the party).
Never got to play it through since the campaign was scrapped, but, that revelation stuck with me. I never would have thought of it at the table.
Personally I prefer a hybrid. So what I do is I let players know that they're likely to have some down time and to let ME know what they want to do/plan to do for it. This lets me both streamline the process ingame since I know what to expect, and get the generally more boring bs(rolling to acquire spells etc) out of the way out of the game ahead of time. Then, if a player has something they want to do that needs to be resolved out of game, I can....but if they don't, I can generally resolve down time in 5-15 minutes of game time per player; depending on if they push for more rp with npcs and what not.