Downtime during actual downtime
Has anyone tried doing downtime actions during actual downtime between sessions, via email/forum/discord/twitter or something? My group plays for only 2 hours every 2 weeks, and downtime can typically take a session all by itself. If it doesn’t, it definitely doesn’t leave time for a full score, so we end up really only doing a score a month, and I think handling downtime between sessions would work, kind of like a love letter mechanic thing. Just wondering if anyone else has had experience with that and if there are any tips or pitfalls to look for?
I run an AP game that tends to take longer than I want (3.5-4 hours) so we handle Downtime off-air. The only problem we’ve encountered is that I wish that stuff were recorded to include in the videos I put on YouTube.
Do you still play it out real-time (hangout/audio), though?
We usually handle it via text. The players let me know what they want to do, we roll and determine the results, and then the next time we video chat we review and discuss before we start recording. It means we miss out on opportunities to roleplay scenes but I’ve found the Downtime is the most board-gamey part of BitD anyway. Skipping over the RP of Downtime doesn’t feel like a massive loss.
Lean in to downtime and use it for fun! Incorporate “free play” RP into downtime and RP better with downtime activities. I think losing the RP of your characters’ vices, friends, projects, etc is a pretty big loss.
We do downtime by email for an online game i run. Only half the players are interested in playing it out. The other half prefer the action of the score. We’ve also aim to finish a score each session, to maximise our flexibility when people can’t make sessions.
They mainly just ignore the detail of downtime and just pick actions. Every four scores or so, we play through a downtime at the table, to get into the detail. That seems to suit everyone fine.
Personally, I like to go slow through downtime, detail and explore their life and times, and make a whole session of it. But some of my players have different expectations and tastes for the game, so we compromised.
I may try this!
What Jason Eley said. Some of the best character development and story reveals in our campaign came from Downtime/Free Play stuff.
What I do is decide if something interesting is going to happen during someone’s downtime action, then it’s: “Alright, so you work on your project to research that ritual. Here’s what that looks like: while you’re poring over the stacks in that little used book store you found in Nightmarket, you are approached by a tall, well-dressed gentleman with fiery red hair who says, ‘You’re never going to get anywhere looking through that sorry excuse for information. I’ve got a proposition for you…’ What do you do?”
Ben Morgan I like to weave in personal scenes for PCs during downtime too. It’s like Blades as a TV series- you gotta spend time with your PCs as people and see what they’re up to.