Downtime

During the week your character can do things to help their exploits in the next event.

Downtime can be used to do one of:

• Keep an ear to the ground and see what you hear about.
• Investigate a group or topic.
• Engineer an encounter to happen next interactive.
• Acquire an extra income.
• Take part in an opportunity offered in uptime.
• Untrain one skill.

Downtime happens between the linear and the next interactive, except for the Untrain action which can be done before the linear. Outside of Opportunities, downtime cannot directly affect the world. What you can do is use your downtime to engineer an uptime encounter, and then that can change the world.

There may be opportunities to take part in events during the week. This is for actions that can't be done in uptime, such as visiting the headquarters of a company. Opportunities will always be arranged in uptime first; NPCs will generally drop the word 'opportunity' quite clearly to indicate one is available, and you always can ask the Refs if you have correctly understood whether an opportunity exists.

When you untrain a skill, it must not be a prerequisite for any other skills you know. When you untrain a skill you can also change your Career Root skill, provided you don't know any skills that you can only have with your current starting career. Skills can be learned freely any time between events. Feel free to tell us about this in your downtime, or in person before an interactive or linear.

In addition, unlimited Minor Actions can be submitted, which can be flavour, or sending messages to NPCs. If you have any upcoming plans or crafting ideas, ruminating on them as a minor action might be a good idea. Messages sent to world NPCs will not be secure unless you have the appropriate skill, and conversing with or sending messages to NPCs as minor actions is not guaranteed to have any particular effect (use Engineer An Encounter if you definitely want something to happen). If your character has not recently had an Incipience, you can ask as a minor action whether you qualify.

If you don't submit a downtime, you will automatically take the Acquire action.

Writing a Downtime

You submit your downtime by putting it in your discord player channel, or emailing the Refs. Downtimes should be submitted by monday afternoon.

Downtime is designed to create opportunities to do things in uptime, rather than as a tool to solve problems itself.

• Help, I have no plot and want some! -> Ear to the ground.

This will get you a hook to something that's going on. Chances are you'll hear about something brewing, or get information relevant to another player right now, and offering it to them might get you involved in what they're doing.

• I have a line on some plot, but don't know what to do with it -> Investigate.

Investigating a topic you already have some information about might give you more information and let you formulate a plan, or make you better prepared for it if it appears in uptime on its own.

• I know what what I want to do, and want to meet some specific NPCs to make it happen -> Engineer an encounter.

If you have a specific idea in mind, this is how to progress that idea. If you want to persuade some people of a course of action, set up a meeting with them. If you want to set two groups on each other, invite them both and see if you can engineer an incident between them. If you want to kill someone, invite them to a "parley", along with some assassins... The encounter isn't guaranteed to take the form you intend, but it's certain that something will happen as a result of your efforts.

• I know what I want to do, but need specific items to do it -> Engineer an encounter.

If it's just components, herbs or money then you can Acquire those, but if you want to find something rarer, engineer an encounter with a trader of such things. Then negotiate for the item you need, or steal it.

• I know what I want to do and want to go do it right now! -> probably Engineer an encounter.

Unfortunately unless you have an Opportunity you can't directly achieve your goals in downtime. If you think you have everything in place but still don't know how to achieve a goal - for example because it can only be done at a remote location - talk to the refs and we'll work out a way to provide uptime content that will let you achieve it, either directly or by presenting an Opportunity for next downtime.

• I don't have any ideas for what to do in downtime.

Then you don't need to submit one! Downtime is optional, and if you don't submit a downtime you get the default outcome of some extra income, which can come in useful for many things that might come up.

Example

Downtime:

I've heard of a new technology that will help guide Wardens during Astral Projection. I will use a minor action to inform my friend in MI-13 that I am willing to make a deal with them to share it if I get my hands on it.

In the near future, I want to look into ways that I can track Incursions before they happen. I plan to speak to Paemon, Archduke of Hell, as to whether he is willing to help me investigate this.

Learn Smuggler with my spare skill slot.

Response:

Your friend at MI-13 is highly intrigued by the possibility of guiding Astral Projection - they are coming to meet with you at the next meeting to discuss what you know, and how they can help you find it. If possible, they’ll make a deal with you so share the information.

(Sending messages to world NPCs does nothing in itself, so this instead engineered an encounter.)

Thanks for letting us know your plans, we look forward to you getting in contact with Paemon to discuss what you can do for each other.

You are now trained in Smuggler.