Saving the world on a Sunday afternoon
The following only applies to the Shifters campaign (unless other GMs decide to borrow it).
Downtime should be submitted via email to shiftersplot@gmail.com with a subject of “Downtime: <character>”. Please note that there are only 2 GMs, and we both have quite busy lives. As such any downtime received after Friday evening will be ignored unless it can be responded to quickly, and we may not get around to all of everyone’s actions in a given week (but will attempt to get at least the first action of everyone done).
Downtime actions are limited to 5 days per week to allow for travel to/from patrol locations (so if you ask for 5.5 days worth of downtime in a week the 0.5 days’ extra action will be ignored or deferred to the next week). If you’re doing something that you think your skills will help with, make sure you include those skills in the action (e.g. Research Stones in ToF library using R/W Water Runes) – this includes other people that may be helping. Likewise, if you’re after something in particular, give us details.
Assuming that ‘normal duty’ (training and doing your day job or whatever you need to survive) takes up most of a day:
1 If you want to talk to an NPC, we will try to grab you in person where possible, with a time limit of 20 minutes per conversation. If we cannot talk in person conversations will be limited to three email replies per action.
2 Metalworking (metal armour/shields/weapons) requires the use of a forge. Leatherworking requires the use of a tannery. Herbworking requires a herbalist’s workroom. Any base item above Ubiquitous for Enchanting/Consecrating needs to be bought from Carlin Howham or made in a workshop or found through Investigation.
3 Using a permanent facility counts as a one time-period reduction (down to a minimum of one time period) for all aspects of crafting due to available people and tools.
Travelling by road is safe. Travelling cross-country may have random side-effects. Travel times given are one-way only and from the digsite. If you’re travelling to somewhere to do something, remember to add on the time taken to do something as well (so a round trip to Carlin Howham from the dig to research at the local Temple of Freedom will take you 3 days total).
Crafting brews is a downtime activity, similar to enchanting items. The crafter will require 1 day in the herbalist’s workshop to create 1 level 0 brew from 3 herbs, or 2 days to create a level 1 brew from 4 herbs. All brews count as Natural effects, but the usual stacking rules still apply.
Recipes can be researched, learnt from friendly NPCs, stolen from unfriendly NPCs, or discovered by trial and error.
Herbs can be acquired from foraging or gathering (see below) or by trading with NPCs.
Associated Skills
Foraging is an uptime activity requiring 15 minutes of roleplay. If your character wishes to forage, you will need to ask a ref first, as the outcome will be randomly selected from the Bag of Foraging. If successful, you will be given the selection of herbs you have foraged at the end of the fifteen minutes. You can only forage once per game.
As foraging is an uptime activity, it can be as lethal or unproductive as any other uptime activity…
Associated Skills
Gathering is a downtime action similar to foraging and using the same skillsets; however, as there is no danger of death, the results will never be as fruitful.
Gathering at a location takes 1 day, please list any relevant skills (Rec Creature etc) in the action.
Traps, when they happen, will be simulated with thread and bells or snap traps as appropriate – they will be made more or less visible as needed. There will be a monster around to provide descriptions of what happens if you find it or set it off.
If you find a trap, whether you set it off or not, you can use Evaluate to find out more about it, such as how to disarm it or the easiest way to free your fellow patrollees from it.
Tracking will be carried out on an ad hoc basis and based off Rec Creature/Rec Smell skills – GMs or camera/trap monsters can be asked for information when present.