My most recent D&D session was unusual: no combat, just role-playing and exploration. And staying in town…

Adam asked me before the session if his bard could create a number of (uncommon) magic items and learn a ritual. I’m moving towards restricting which magic items are available in my games, but I’m willing to let PCs create the items they really want. However, there’s got to be a cost: in this case, it’s time.

My basic rule of thumb for how Adam could discover (research) the items & rituals was this: one week per level of the item needed to be spent on research (along with a certain sum of money). At the end of that time, a skill check needed to be made (Hard+ DC), with failure meaning that the research was unsuccessful, and more time was needed: a week. Each week, the check is made again until finally successful.

So, that accounted for six week’s of Adam’s time last session. What did the other players do? Well, Rich trained soldiers of his paladin’s order, Martin helped run his grove, and Nate… left university. Not so exciting.

I’ve recently been looking over the old Runequest 2 rulebook, one of my favourite games I’ve never really gotten to play. One of the most fascinating things about the game is that training during downtime is a major part of the game. In fact, a lot of the game progresses through this downtime training: “How long is a game week in real time? A time scale of 1 real week per game week makes the game drag unless one is running a campaign by mail. The authors recommend a scale of 1 real day equals 1 game week.” So, if we were playing using our regular schedule, we’d meet every 14 weeks in game time… with plenty of time for training in between. Why do you adventure? To gain the money to train and improve your skills and attributes! 🙂

This scheme doesn’t quite work in D&D 4E, for one thing, characters can’t “train” for real gain in D&D. (I’ve never found training for levels to work that well). However, what if you could gain XP in downtime? What if you could instead work and gain gold?

Hmm. There are interesting possibilities there.

So, let’s consider the following activities for D&D Downtime:

• Research – rituals and martial practices. (1 week/level of ritual/practice).
• Working – gain certain amount of gold per week depending on type of work, level, etc.
• Training – gain certain (small) amount of XP per week – with expenses incurred, of course!

“Working” moves into some interesting areas once dominion management comes into it. What happens when the PCs become rulers of land? I’d be tempted to allow such characters to gain the benefits of both Working and Training thereby; likewise the establishment of a Wizard’s Tower, Academy or other institution give dual bonuses. (or being named Court Mage, High Priest, etc.)

It’s obvious that any reward from such activities pale in comparison to the rewards gained through adventuring, but likewise they are not insignificant. Nor should any of the rewards be automatic: skill checks in appropriate skills are needed to receive the full reward from each practice; lesser rewards for poorer rolls. Rolling 20 times for 20 weeks of downtime seems somewhat excessive, so perhaps per month…

From this bare framework, the seeds are also laid for the necessity of henchmen. Not primarily for adventuring with the party, but instead for adventuring instead of the main characters of the PCs. An adventure opportunity arises whilst Max is in the middle of research? Well, Max can’t come, but he sends a trusted companion in his place…