I have been using my downtime system, published in Downtime in Zyan and originally presented across my blog Mazirian’s Garden, for my face to face dreamlands campaign. This is a game with a stable group of 4 players rather than a bigger open table game. Over this campaign and my previous one, which also have shrunk to a 4 or 5 person group of stable players at the higher levels, I've discovered a tendency that undermines the use of downtime over time. I think it's a tendency that arises in games where the initial default at low levels is short jaunts to perilous adventuring locations--getting into and out of a dungeon in one or two sessions. In that context downtime as I've designed it works very well.
Could you give some examples of what free-form options you provide? I am always afraid I will be insinuating a skill or objective is Important by presenting it to a player without them first broaching it but I feel my players are left without an idea of what projects to ask for. They know learn new languages, practice with a new weapon but the larger political or social aspects don’t come up.
Certainly. If you follow the link in the newsletter towards the beginning, it will take you to blogposts where I lay out a whole bunch of different downtime actions. They include: building an institution, cultivating a relationship, researching a topic, crafting splendid items, gathering intelligence, engaging in a spiritual exercise, training at arms, and so on.
It's very freeform because a lot of the actions ask the player to propose something. Like in building an institution they have to tell you what institution they want to found, e.g. get a shrine set up for their god, open an antiques store, or whatever it might be. Here's the post about that one in particuliar which kicked off the whole project for me. https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2020/03/downtime-activities-building-institution.html
I love this. In my games, we often embark on these kinds of projects freeform. I like the idea of having a system for it, particularly as having a system seems to be a great reminder that something is important and deserves a bit of our time and attention.
Could you give some examples of what free-form options you provide? I am always afraid I will be insinuating a skill or objective is Important by presenting it to a player without them first broaching it but I feel my players are left without an idea of what projects to ask for. They know learn new languages, practice with a new weapon but the larger political or social aspects don’t come up.
Certainly. If you follow the link in the newsletter towards the beginning, it will take you to blogposts where I lay out a whole bunch of different downtime actions. They include: building an institution, cultivating a relationship, researching a topic, crafting splendid items, gathering intelligence, engaging in a spiritual exercise, training at arms, and so on.
It's very freeform because a lot of the actions ask the player to propose something. Like in building an institution they have to tell you what institution they want to found, e.g. get a shrine set up for their god, open an antiques store, or whatever it might be. Here's the post about that one in particuliar which kicked off the whole project for me. https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2020/03/downtime-activities-building-institution.html
I love this. In my games, we often embark on these kinds of projects freeform. I like the idea of having a system for it, particularly as having a system seems to be a great reminder that something is important and deserves a bit of our time and attention.