What are your favorite things to do in the Downtime system? What do your groups do?

[Coidzor]

Looking for a better grasp at its role in the wild.

I'm also very interested in experiences using it in Adventure Paths.

What questions do you find keep coming up or areas of oversight that the GM has to step in to adjudicate to make things work?

[Geddy2112]

I like the idea of downtime, and I use some of the scenarios presented in the downtime rules. However, I think it is too wonky and pedantic for any campaign not focused on a city building/political intrigue/kingmaker style.

In the current campaign I am running, the PC's are all based out of their country's capital city. Until the start of the campaign, they were townsfolk with day jobs, homes, routines etc etc. Now their adventures have them gone for days, weeks, even potentially months at a time. So far, their adventures have them coming back, and when they get back, there is always some time to rest and tend to their home lives. I normally set a week of downtime anytime the party returns.

My players use it to roleplay aspects about their characters, make some money, learn more about the world/plot, and advance their own personal quests.
-The party hunter was also a barmaid. She would hunt food for the inn in the morning, and work the afternoon/evening. She is now warden of the woods, and on the lookout for strange happenings there. At night, she likes to gather information from the patrons.
-The party slayer is the type to make people disappear, make it look like an accident, but started as a humble woodcutter. Logging is a dangerous profession where lots of "accidents" happen. In this city, there is indentured servitude and commuted sentences in the form of work. Several organizations and the government know well of this man's activities, and send him people to "cut logs". It is a very dangerous profession...
-The party warpriest/assassin and swashbuckler both work for the same temple, which tends to the dead, gathers information, and acts as a assassins guild. They keep their ears keen to the dealings of the undercity. They find new jobs for the party, and make sure that there are not bounties on their heads or the heads of their allies.
-The bard and shaman are outsiders from another land who sell kites. Their business has attracted the eye of the government, who has recently contracted them to build gliders for a tactical advantage in the potential upcoming war with a bordering nation.
-The brawler is a blacksmith and shipwright. In exchange for labor and goods, he has secured passage for the party on many ships, and is slowly working towards the party gaining their own ship.

As the DM, I get to use this time to feed plot hooks and player driven quests to the party. It is an easy way to figure out what the party wants and mix it in with the established setting. Normally I have players roll their craft/profession so I can throw some gold their way as they roleplay a week or so worth of their jobs, milling about, what have you. I always make sure that the players don't have to do any administration or logistical duties, that these are handled by a handwave, competent NPC, or quest giver with some authority in the government. I have found as both a player and DM these are best handwaved, and instead of having influence/resources you just make things cost X gold, or a quid pro quo quest(do this for the mayor, get land to build tavern kind of thing).

In other cities and civilized settings, the party tends to do these things on the scale of a day or so, instead of weeks.