Making Downtime Fun: How to Handle Player Activities Between Adventures
Making Downtime Fun: How to Handle Player Activities Between Adventures
Downtime in a role-playing game (RPG) campaign often gets overlooked as a gap between adventures or battles, where players perform mundane tasks while waiting for the next big story event. However, downtime can become a valuable and exciting part of the game, adding depth to characters and providing opportunities for personal growth, story development, and worldbuilding. When managed well, it can be just as engaging as combat or exploration, giving players the chance to advance their goals and make meaningful choices that impact the campaign. Here’s how to make downtime fun and valuable for both the players and the GM.
1. Set Clear Goals for Downtime Activities
One of the most effective ways to make downtime feel meaningful is to give players clear goals and outcomes for their activities. Instead of merely resting, healing, or repairing equipment, encourage players to pursue personal or group goals. This could involve crafting, training, networking with NPCs, or advancing their characters' backstories.
Examples of Downtime Goals:
Crafting: Players can use downtime to craft magical items, potions, or weapons. Set up a system where materials need to be gathered, time needs to be invested, and skill checks determine the success of the crafting process.
Training: Characters may want to learn new skills, master additional languages, or train in different weapons. Use downtime to allow characters to study or practice under an NPC mentor or take on specialized training tasks.
Personal Projects: Allow players to pursue personal projects such as building a stronghold, starting a business, or establishing a thieves’ guild. These projects can grow over time and have long-term benefits.
Encouraging players to set goals for their downtime adds weight to these activities, making them feel like they are accomplishing something significant, even when they aren’t in the heat of battle.
2. Incorporate Character Development
Downtime offers an excellent opportunity for character development. Use this time to delve into backstories, explore personal motivations, or advance character arcs. GMs can engage players by introducing personal challenges, NPCs from their past, or quests that tie directly into their backstory. When downtime is used to deepen character connections and reveal secrets, it becomes a powerful narrative tool.
Examples of Character Development:
Backstory Exploration: Introduce an NPC from a character’s past who offers a personal quest or seeks assistance, pushing the character to confront unresolved issues.
Relationships and Bonds: Allow players to develop relationships with other characters or NPCs. These interactions can build trust, reveal hidden motives, or even set the stage for future drama.
By tying downtime to character development, you give players the chance to reflect on who their characters are and what they stand for, making the game more immersive.
3. Engage the World’s Economy and Politics
Downtime can serve as an excellent opportunity for players to engage with the economy, politics, and power structures in your world. Let them interact with merchants, invest in businesses, or navigate the political landscape by forging alliances, blackmailing rivals, or seeking favors from influential figures.
Ways to Engage the Economy and Politics:
Business Ventures: Characters could establish shops, guilds, or trade routes, providing a way to earn income or gain influence. Track their investments and let them see the results over time.
Political Intrigue: Players can use downtime to engage in politics, either by attending court, gathering intelligence, or negotiating with political figures. This is especially important in intrigue-heavy campaigns where relationships and reputation are crucial.
Downtime activities that engage with the world’s economy and politics offer players a way to affect the game’s larger narrative outside of combat and exploration.
4. Reward Meaningful Choices
The key to making downtime engaging is to ensure that player choices during this time have real consequences. Whether it’s succeeding in crafting a powerful weapon or making an enemy out of a rival noble, players should feel that what they do in downtime matters to the world and to the future of the campaign.
Consequences and Outcomes:
Risk vs. Reward: Introduce risk in certain downtime activities. For example, a failed attempt at crafting may result in lost materials, or pushing too hard to expand a business might result in unwanted attention from criminals.
Impact on Future Events: Make sure that downtime choices have an impact on the larger story. If a player spends time spreading rumors, those rumors might shape public opinion or affect future encounters.
Meaningful consequences keep downtime from feeling like filler and instead make it a critical part of the campaign.
5. Use Mini-Adventures and Side Quests
Sometimes, downtime doesn’t need to be limited to crafting or talking to NPCs. Short, focused mini-adventures can add excitement to downtime. These might include small heists, dangerous expeditions, or intrigue-laden side quests that can be completed in a session or two. Mini-adventures are great for when players have specific short-term goals they want to achieve during downtime.
Ideas for Mini-Adventures:
Heists and Stealth Missions: A quick mission to steal a valuable artifact or break into a rival’s stronghold.
Diplomatic Missions: Sending players on a negotiation trip or diplomatic mission can lead to tense, roleplay-heavy encounters.
Local Troubles: Small-scale, low-stakes quests like stopping a local crime spree or dealing with a minor magical disturbance can add flavor without distracting from the main story.
Mini-adventures during downtime give players the action they crave while still allowing for meaningful progression and world interaction.
Conclusion
Downtime doesn’t have to be a dull gap between epic battles and high-stakes quests. With thoughtful planning, you can turn downtime into an engaging, fun, and meaningful part of your RPG campaign. By giving players clear goals, opportunities for character development, and ways to interact with the game world’s economy and politics, downtime becomes a valuable narrative tool that enhances the depth and complexity of your game. The key is making sure that player choices matter and that downtime feels like a critical part of the story, rather than just filler.