Am I wrong?

[SangoProduction]

Someone asked, "What is down time?" Only to be met with a derisive answer, and nothing else. So I gave my answer. Perhaps overcompensating, and wanting him to feel less bad about asking a simple question.


Basically, there's Action Time, which consists of generally battle, but can be switched up, such as a car chase or escaping a trap. Here, every action matters, and the time something takes is tracked to the [smallest unit of time in the system].

Then there's Narrative Time. Things are less tense, and there's much less pressure on the individual actions that are being taken. This includes the time between combats, such as when looting, but also things like walking through a forest or talking to the barmaid. Actions are much more general and broad, loaded with a bunch of assumptions to keep the narrative moving rather than bogging down with moving 30 feet to the bar stool...waiting...and moving the final 15 feet.

Then there's Down Time, which is basically "stuff happened off screen, here's the basic summary of what happened." Actions during this time are describe almost exclusively in the broadest strokes. Interactions with others are purely assumed for the down time, and in general...time just progresses with out much "of interest" going on.

Do note that down time can also be when you guys simply skip past the days of travel to the next town, and isn't exclusively between sessions or what have you.

It's basically a description of how detailed the actions taken during that time are.

Then I get met with quite the dog pile of things like "Well, there are optional downtime rules which ave resources associated with them," and "Downtime in quite useful to crafters," and such which...kinda miss the point that was being made.

You're not tracking every hammer blow when crafting your 3 gp pointy bit of steel. And you're not generally caring about the person who bought your pointy bit of steel. It all solidly fits in the Down Time section...and the down time rules agree. That's why it's called that.

But apparently explaining this just ticked some people off. And... Am I just completely off base? Obviously giving the absolute full context for everything would be space-intensive, and I don't really care about being proven to be "in the right," about the conversation. But I am legitimately wondering if this "Time" deal I had was just really not shared.

[Nifft]

I don't think anyone can answer why you got bad responses in that other thread, wherever it may be.

I do think "downtime actions" could benefit from more attention.



One example I've personally brought up elsewhere -- probably not in your thread, though -- was the idea that muggles might get some nice things through bonus downtime actions. For example, if a Wizard is supposed to be doing spell-research in order to get her 2 new spells next level, then perhaps she's going to be using most of her downtime to do that research. A Cleric might be spending time in prayer, or leading prayer services, or scribing a holy book, or just catching up on the latest gospels and epistles -- whatever it is, the Cleric is also busy. Those primary spellcasters might get one downtime action.

What if the Rogue and Fighter got three downtime actions?

Obviously this wouldn't fix the system, but it might be a way to plausibly give some nice things to characters who tend to lack nice things.

[SangoProduction]

I wasn't discussing the particulars of down time rules - only explaining what down time is. It's the time frame with the most abstracted actions.

[KillianHawkeye]

I suppose that is one way of looking at it. It's certainly true that you don't worry about specific round-to-round actions during downtime.

I would say that, narratively speaking, downtime is the time in which characters can pursue their individual interests in between action and story scenes. Sometimes downtime is only a few hours, sometimes it is days or weeks, but either way it is the time that the DM gives to the players to do with as they please without interruption from some external agency or story event.

Now obviously, a game such as D&D or Pathfinder might have specific rules for what you can do during downtime (I'm pretty sure Pathfinder does, at least), and there are probably some interesting things that can be done specifically by crafters or spellcasters or what have you. I think it's important, however, to give equal weight to everyone's downtime. Even someone who is spending their downtime doing R&R should have some opportunity to make some new relationships with some NPCs or to advance some existing ones. This isn't the easiest thing for a DM to come up with on the fly, so I'd suggest doing downtime between sessions in order to have time to consider things.

I would say that downtime is the time that the players actions should be the most equal, in one way or another.

[Zanos]

I guess it varies between different tables, but your general description is accurate for most games I've played. After finishing a major adventure we return to town, maybe clean up some narrative stuff. Then "The party takes a couple weeks off, the wizard scribes spells x,y,z, the fighter has his longsword upgraded with flaming burst, the cleric makes a donation to his church to have the parties diseases cured, blah blah blah." Some stuff that players have access to take awhile to do so there's usually a decent chunk of time between major outings.

I've never used discrete downtime 'rules' outside of how much various things cost and how long it takes to do them.

[Fizban]

Downtime is when you're not on mission- when the previous mission has been wrapped up and you haven't started a new one. What you do, what rules may or may not be involved, and in how much detail you describe it, are up to you (/DM/group/etc).

Perhaps the most definitive factor of downtime is that if you're properly in-combat, taking turns in initiative, rolling dice etc, then you're not in downtime anymore. Your character might fight something in their downtime, and the DM might even use some stats and ask for some rolls, but if you actually run a proper combat and can gain xp and/or treasure, than what you've really done is embark on a sidequest.

The definition of downtime is not significant to anything I'm aware of. The DM is encouraged to give the players "downtime" between calls to adventure so they can have their characters do stuff, but it doesn't really matter what you call it.

[Twurps]

Then there's Down Time, which is basically "stuff happened off screen, here's the basic summary of what happened." Actions during this time are describe almost exclusively in the broadest strokes. Interactions with others are purely assumed for the down time, and in general...time just progresses with out much "of interest" going on.

For the most part, I agree with your description of down time. If anything was going to trigger me, it's the bolded part. That could come across like players have no player agency/choices during downtime.
Assuming that's what triggered your players too, I can also see why they would counter with: 'there are (crafting) rules for downtime'. The important part of that statement has little to do with the rules themselves, rather were meant to demonstrate that d&d's designers meant for players to have choices in downtime too.
And making further assumptions: If they left that part out of their argument, I can also see how you would think they were missing the point.

All assumptions aside, the bolded part could probably do with an adjustment indicating players (can) do stuff too. Or could even be left out.

[SangoProduction]

That does make sense. I could have phrased it better.