Version 0.12 · not yet playtested
Between expeditions the party holes up somewhere safe and spends time. The base rules already handle the short version: a safe night clears all stress and heals a step (see Running the Game). This rung is for the longer arc, when a haven and a stretch of days turn “you rest and resupply” into a turn with choices: heal deep wounds, train, make things, chase leads, and watch the world move while you do.
It adds no new dice. Downtime rolls read on the usual bands, and long work runs on the clocks the base engine already uses.
When the party reaches a safe haven with time to spare, run a downtime turn. A turn spans whatever the haven affords, a few days, a week, a season; the setting names the unit (and may tie it to a travel leg). In one turn, each character takes one downtime action (two at a generous haven, or when time is long).
Time is not free. A downtime turn advances a Distant campaign clock (see Running the Game): the world moves while you rest, and safety is paid for in the ground your enemies gain. When that Distant clock fills, the campaign’s Doom turns in its wake, exactly as Running the Game has it. This is the counterweight to the rest gate: resting is always available, and always costs time you may not have.
A safe night is the routine heal. A downtime turn does the deeper work:
Downtime spends three things: coin, materials, and time (turns). The setting names the coin; keep the rest loose. Most work costs “coin and a turn”; a big undertaking costs “coin and several turns,” which is a clock.
Earning. A character may spend a turn working, their old trade, a Voice’s contacts, honest labor, a mercenary job, to gain coin on a roll (Success a good purse, Partial a modest one at a cost, Failure nothing and a complication). This is how a party between hauls keeps the lights on.
A long undertaking is a project clock (4, 6, or 8 segments by scale; see Running the Game). Coin and materials gate the start. Each downtime turn, a character working it rolls the fitting action:
When the clock fills, the project is done. Common projects:
Rank is awarded on the trigger the starter sets (see Characters). A setting may route advancement through downtime: a character takes their rank pick (or a Playbook pick, if that rung is in use) only after a turn spent training at a haven that can teach it. Or advancement is milestone and automatic, and downtime is only for projects and recovery. The starter chooses; this rung simply offers the “train to advance” option for tables that want gains to cost time and a teacher.
Spend a turn and some coin to unwind, and pick up a lead: a rumor, a job, a whisper of where a foe is weak. You always get the lead. Then roll d6 for what the night also cost you:
| d6 | The morning after |
|---|---|
| 1 | Something’s missing: you wake short a purse or a small item. |
| 2 | You made an enemy; someone now carries a grudge (start a small clock). |
| 3 | A debt. You owe somebody, and they will come to collect. |
| 4 | A boast, made public. Now you have to live up to it. |
| 5 | Word got out. Someone dangerous knows you are here; tick the Distant campaign clock. |
| 6 | Genuinely a good night: a second lead, or a new contact made. |
One line, to hand a table: Recover · Heal a Hurt · Train (advance) · Craft or Commission · Research · Earn · Carouse (leads) · Curry Favor.
A setting fits this rung by naming the turn’s length, the coin, the havens that can heal / teach / build, and whether advancement routes through downtime. Put every long undertaking on a clock, keep the menu short, and remember the load-bearing rule: a downtime turn moves the Distant campaign clock, so resting is a choice with a price, not a free reset.