Basically this. Do you just sort of handwave it, gloss it over, or do something with it? It always felt somewhat extraneous to me, to be honest.
>>97674004Only in online text based games with a story focus, and only if one or more players has something they want to do with the scene.Downtime is a good chance for players to talk to each other about shit that should be handled in character, or to examine and play around with some weird item they found, or do an investigation into something they want to know more about, etc. But that only works with a particular kind of group and game style. If you try to do that level of narrative granularity at the game table, it will always be against the casual flow of the game that style of playing encourages.
>>97674004The world advances in real time when we aren't in session, it's important that they set tasks and goals for that time.
>>97674004Right now I'm trying something with the new DnD bastion turns, one of the characters is a noble and the other a Sorcerer (High Char) so their dowtime is often spent making trinkets or planning business, so far is going good! they like interacting with their servants and followers, while on a quest I make them scout the area and take care of their inventory so there is some downtime talk while traveling but it's much less important for them
>>97674004Try to give the players something to do so it isn't strictly a bunch of nerds pretending to shoot the shit with each other until I'm satisfied. I've had decent success with mechanical benefits for training, alongside crafting, schmoozing locals, buying shit, selling shit, and any minor objectives they can come up with. Hell, that last bit often allows me to stretch content as they blunder into another situation I can weave a couple of sessions out of.
>>97674004Downtime consists of deciding how 1-hour increments are spent; a cleric healing and the character being healed are devoted to as many hours as that takes. Characters who aren't healing or being healed can maintain their gear through hour-increments, and characters who aren't doing anything can make good use of time by repairing the gear of someone who is preoccupied, because each increment spent has a chance to increase the danger level of the world.These are the decisions a player can make for characters who aren't themselves during downtime.
>>97674004We extensively plan it out (see picrel), make some procedural rolls (eg: jobs, networking, etc...) and then we roleplay anything of pivotal interest that may happens in the meantime.
We play The Dark Eye. Sitting on a table to discuss something with NPCs is half the game.
>>97674004Making threads.Basically this. Do you just sort of handwave the responses, gloss them over, or do anything with them? It feels like you don't, to be honest.
