Downtime

Many table-top roleplaying games suffer from the ‘murder-hobo’ syndrome, where all the characters do in the game is kill things and take their stuff. Their personalities can become one-note because of this, and so less interesting to play. One way around this problem is for the character’s to pursue some downtime activities. Here I discuss what downtime is, and how you can make some downtime activities that are more interesting and more useful for your game.

What is downtime?

The game of D&D (or any other table-top roleplaying game) normally concerns itself with simple actions, which play out relatively quickly. A fight, a conversation, a meal, a short rest or even a long rest, and then you go onto the next thing. So most activities are things that happen “on screen”, but in the case of uneventful rests the DM will “skip to the end”.

Downtime is different. Downtime is the period away from the adventure, when the characters are not in mortal peril, and are free to pursue side-projects. Your character is not always adventuring, but may have a home-base such as stronghold or wizard’s tower, or even just a friendly local bar where everybody knows their name. This period of non-adventuring may not be inactive though, and can involve activities that benefit them when they are back in the dungeon.

What are some downtime activities?

The D&D players handbook and dungeons masters guide lists some downtime activities. They include

• Crafting – making magical and non-magical items
• Practising a profession – to earn money, to keep up your responsibilities, or simply to help people
• Recuperating – to recover from the effects of injury, disease or poison
• Researching – to find new places to explore, to learn more about a mystery
• Training – to learn a new language or proficiency with a set of tools
• Building a stronghold – to have somewhere to call your home
• Carousing – to have a good time, and reduce the stress of facing near death constantly
• Performing sacred rite – to maintain your connection to your deity or patron
• Running a business – to earn money etc
• Sowing rumours – to influence public opinion about a person or organisation

But this is not an exhaustive list, of course. Any thing the players want to do when not engaged in adventuring can be considered a downtime activity. Even travelling might be considered a downtime activity, if it was through relatively safe territory and did not involve any major narrative progression.

These activities do not need to be role-played in detail, and can be discussed and resolved quickly (perhaps through a montage).

How to make them more interesting and useful

Generally downtime actions can be a bit bland. They can add some colour to a character, but may not add that much, or do much to progress the story.

Of course, that doesn’t have to be the case. Firstly, the downtime activities can be directly related to the story. Perhaps the characters realise that they are hopefully outclassed by the big bad, and need to train more and craft powerful magic items to help defeat them.

Secondly, these ‘side-quests’ may not be completely bland and uncontested. There might be some complications. This Unearthed Arcana article suggests the idea of ‘foils’, enemies that work against the players during their downtime activities, creating ‘complications’. These complications can make for fun story beats, even though they’re not resolved in the classic D&D style.

Examples from fiction

What are some example of downtime activities in fiction that you can use to inspire your game’s downtime?

• Beach Episodes. In fact a good example of recuperation downtime would be ‘The Tales of Ba Sing Se’ from Avatar: the Last Airbender.
• The training montage, of which ‘Rocky‘ has become the archetypical example, but ‘The Matrix’ has a classic training montage (“I know Kung-Fu”) that also advances the story.
• The ‘Let it Go’ song from Frozen is a ‘Building a Stronghold’ montage. Elsa does it instantly with magical powers, but it’s still a downtime activity.
• There is a great scene in Frost/Nixon where the characters engage in in-depth research activity, to make David Frost ready for the final interview.

How to get more out of them

Here are some suggestions for making downtime more integral for the game, and fun for the players.

• Build the downtime activities in from character creation. It’s important to know what the character is doing when they’re not adventuring, and it can lead to a more developed character, with opportunities for growth. For example, maybe the halfling thief is also a waiter in their aunt’s struggling restaurant. Later on the campaign, the character’s need to get money together to buy the restaurant from the evil landlord.
• Make them memorable. Foils can make a downtime activity more story-like, as the activity becomes more difficult and challenging. But even smaller additions, such as memorable characters (the absent-minded librarian, the warm and amiable fencing instructor) or scenery can make a character enthusiastic about the story elements of downtime.
• Make them important to the characters. A long-term campaign with a end-goal may require long-term projects or activities such as crafting, researching or gaining popularity and support, and these cannot simply be achieved by killing things. Or if the characters are motivated to (for example) establish a new temple or expand the variety of bees in their apiary, the players will then see these things as just as important as the adventures they go on.

Narrative Mechanisms: Stunts and Momentum

As a follow-up to my discussion of Narrative Mechanisms in TTRPGs, I want to consider two specific roleplaying games: Exalted (and its spin off, Exalted Essence), and Ironsworn.

Exalted takes place in a high fantasy world, and is played on an epic scale. The heroes are meant to be larger than life, and are inspired by things like real-world mythology, as well as Japanese anime and Chinese wuxia series.

In contrast Ironsworn is very much played on a different scale. It is inspired by dark fantasy European stories, and while the quests may be perilous, the stakes are often smaller.

However, both games have narrative mechanisms, which help the story along, but do not simulate the world. (This aspect of new TTRPGs is the difference between simulations vs story-gaming, which I outlined before). These are ‘stunts’ in Exalted, and ‘momentum’ in Ironsworn.

1. Stunts

Old style D&D, and also the World of Darkness games that Exalted takes its original rule set from, are basically pure simulations games. No rule ‘breaks’ the immersion in the game, and everything is set up to be consistent with the world of that game. Even magic is still a consistent set of rules.

With Exalted though, this starts to change. Exalted has stunts, whereby a character can perform a stunt to make the action more ‘cool’, and gains a benefit for doing so.

Imagine in a game of D&D, if a player said they want to swing on a chandelier across the room, avoiding enemy archers, do a double-forward flip through the air and land by kicking their opponent down, followed by a rapier stab to the chest. This would be dramatic and cinematic, but difficult. There would be multiple rolls required (acrobatics, enemy attack rolls, and your own attack roll), and it would be more difficult to pull off successfully than a simple attack.

In Exalted, such an action would be considered a stunt, would require only a single roll, and would gain you extra dice to roll, making a positive outcome more likely. This is because it would ‘look’ great (in the theatre of the mind), and so tell a more exciting story. Exalted specifically says in the rules that such dramatic and cinematic stunts should have an increased chance of success. So they go beyond a simple medieval combat simulator, to give something that enhances the narrative flow.

Exalted Essence changes this up even further. When you do a stunt, you can use the extra dice immediately for your own roll. Or, you can bank these for other benefits: helping other players, restoring resources such as essence or willpower, dramatic editing, or instant training. Dramatic Editing is where you change the scene to your benefit. For example, a dramatic escape might end with you “Landing in the Saddle“, even though there was no horse established to be there beforehand. Effectively stunts are a mechanism for players to change reality to some extent, or at least change the reality as defined by the GM.

This has some small justification in the fiction of the universe. The Exalted are people that have been gifted some power of the gods, and so they are naturally favoured by the ‘source code’ of Creation. (This is especially true for the Sidereal Exalted). But it means that if you’re looking for a game with a rigid set of rules for things like combat etc, and even how the world works, Exalted (the game) might not be the choice of game for you.

But, if you are keen to play a more John Wick, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or DBZ-like game, Exalted shines.

2. Momentum

Ironsworn is very different. The Ironsworn rules are somewhat based on PbtA, so instead of taking actions, your players make moves. (The difference between actions and moves is more philosophical than anything else, so I’m going to gloss over it). There is no stunting built in, because it’s not built for creating that kind of over-the-top story.

But, it does have the momentum mechanism. To quote, momentum represents how your characters are faring in their quests. If the quest is going well, the momentum will be positive, but if things are starting to go wrong, it may go negative. Interestingly, the players can burn positive momentum, to remove a complication, turn a miss into a weak hit, or a strong hit into a decisive blow. This allows the players to move sail through situations that may otherwise have stalled them.

But, if the momentum is negative, it will make life more difficult for you, cancelling your action die if it rolls badly. When your momentum reaches the threshold of -6, the players face a setback, which might “reduce your health, spirit, or supply”, “or undermine your progress in a current quest, journey, or fight“. So negative momentum should be avoided, except so far as to make the story more interesting (tales of adversity are often more gripping).

3. Success vs failure

In D&D a success or a failure will have consequences for the characters. This result will have a knock-on effect for the story. But narrative mechanisms allow players and GMs to control the narrative more directly.

Exalted is a game about the consequences of success. And so the rules are there to help the players succeed, but in the most dramatic and narratively-interesting way possible. Stunts, therefore, heighten the drama, giving that cinematic feel to the game.

Ironsworn is a game about the consequences of failure. Momentum allows players to ‘kick the can’ of failure down the road, but it may still come back to hurt them later (as burning momentum early in the story may have bad repercussions). And when things start to go downhill, they can go downhill really fast. Of course, if the players manage to regroup, and pull success from the jaws of defeat at the last minute, the story can be equally satisfying.

Exalted: Why Play An Abyssal?

The tabletop roleplaying game ‘Exalted’ is set in an epic high fantasy world, based on non-Western fantasy and mythological sources. It is less ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and more ‘The Iliad’, ‘The Mahabharata’ or ‘Journey to the West’. In the base game, the players are expected to take on the roles of the Solar Exalted, Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, and the rightful rulers of creation (formerly deposed and hunted, but now returning in larger numbers).

But, this being a White Wolf game, there are plenty of other character options (splats), including Lunar Exalted (werwolf/shapeshifters), Dragon-Blooded Exalted (elemental-focused foot-soldiers) and the Sidereal Exalted (mysterious astrologers and wizards). These are all types of ‘good guys’, or at least relatively good, given the morally ambiguous nature of the setting.

So what are the Abyssal Exalted? They are the undead servants of the Deathlords. Corrupted versions of the Solar Exalted, they appeared recently in Creation, and serve their masters to usher/drag the whole world in to the Underworld, and through the gaping maw of oblivion. They basically want everybody dead. So, in a sense, they are much more obviously the ‘bad guys’.

And yet these are a character option for players.

Here I discuss why you might choose to play Exalted as a deathknight, what motivations such characters might have, and some suggestions from fiction of similar characters.

1. Why play as an Abyssal?

We play roleplaying games because creating a good story with your friends is fun. But, for this to be true, it has to be a story that you enjoy. Complex stories about morally ambiguous characters are often good. But simple stories about sociopaths killing a lot of people are generally not fun (unless you are, yourself, a sadist). So, to play an Abyssal and for it to be fun for everyone, it has to be a nuanced character who is not just a simple villain.

There are two obvious options here, then: redemption, or antihero.

The redemption arc is where the villain, who previously opposed the hero, sees the error of their previous course of actions, and decides on a new direction to redeem themselves. Darth Vader, Zuko, Loki, Spike, Draco Malfoy, Michael (from the Good Place), all of these characters stood against the hero, and then changed their allegiance to join the hero. An Abyssal would start opposing the Solar Exalted, and loyal to their Deathlord. But at some point, they broke away, and are trying to use their powers to help. If playing a redemptive character appeals to you, then the Abyssal Exalted would be a great option.

The antihero is someone who has villainous qualities, or at least lacks conventional heroic attributes, but ends up acting in a heroic manner. Riddick, Spawn, Crowley (from Supernatural), Arya Stark, Wolverine, the Punisher, Crowley (from Good Omens), Dexter Morgan, Harley Quinn (and all of the Suicide Squad), Arthur Morgan, all of these characters are pretty screwed up, killing not as a last resort to help people, but often simply to satisfy their bloodlust. They don’t want to redeemed, as they see their actions as justified. Yet, they end up defeating some greater evil, and becoming the ‘hero’.

(In fact, most if not all of the characters in Exalted are either antiheroes already, or become so later on).

So, if playing an antihero (with some kick-ass necromantic abilities) appeals to you, again Abyssal is a good choice.

2. Heroes of their own stories

All of the best villains are the heroes of their own stories. They have recognisable motivations, that explain (or justify to themselves) their actions. This allows us to emphasise with them, even if we despise what they do.

So, what are some of the motivations for Abyssals:

• The nihilist/anti-natalist: the world sucks and is full of pain, so killing people is a mercy
• Revenge: you were wronged in some way, and this an opportunity to have your vengeance
• Being alive again: Abyssals are recruited from dead people, and being dead is pretty awful. Even if you don’t agree with the plans of the Deathlords, the opportunity to be alive again is one that is hard to turn down.
• Fighting other Deathlords (aka the enemy of my enemy is my friend): The Deathlord’s main enemies are each other. Abyssals may be recruited to fight/scheme against other Deathlords.

3. Inspiration

What are some figures from fiction that can be used to inspire your Abyssal characters? Here is a list of four I have chosen specifically because they are very ‘Abyssal’, in that they have a patron or lord, who may also be responsible for their abilities, they have necromantic or Abyssal-like abilities, and they believe what they’re doing is right.

• Corvo Attano, from Dishonored: framed from a crime they didn’t commit, falsely imprisonned and tortured to confess, given supernatural abilities by a mysterious otherworldly figure, Corvo is very on-brand from the Abyssals.
• Szeth-son-son-Vallano from the Words of Radiance books: Szeth is an assassin who believes himself to be dammed (Truthless) and compelled to obey who ever holds the Oathstone. Since he is already in his own personal hell, nothing he does is his responsibility.
• Zagreus, from Hades: as described by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, Zagreus is attempting the ‘reverse Orpheus’, to break out of hell. Zagreus is rebelling against his Deathlord (Hades, his father), but he lives in the Underworld, and cares about the dead souls there, which is also an Abyssal thing.
• Hector and Isaac from the Castlevania animated series: these guys would be called ’necrotechs’ in Exalted. They create the horrific monsters that Dracula (their Deathlord) sends against the living world. This show also nicely shows the rivalry between different vampires, which happens in Exalted between the different Deathlords.

4. Be considerate

However, all of this comes with a warning. Just because you’re playing a monster in the game, doesn’t mean that you have to be one in real life. Be considerate of the other players. Establish some lines and veils. Some players may be ok with depictions of violence, but not sexual content. Or ok with some limited portrayal of sexual content, but not at all with sexual violence. Be aware of where the lines and veils are, don’t cross them. The X-card can be your friend.

Postscript: there is an Exalted podcast (Systematic Understanding of Everything) that has an episode discussing the Abyssal Exalted, and this also gives a very nice overview.

Character classes in D&D and Avatar Legends: the RPG

What is a character class?

Dungeons and Dragons started as a medieval fantasy combat simulator. The inventors had played a lot of medieval war-games, and wanted a new type of game where the players controlled a single unit, or ‘character.’ This is was obviously an attempt to model something like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ where we follow the members of the fellowship through their individual stories, and the big battles are merely backdrop.

So, in keeping with D&D in its roots as a medieval combat simulator, the character classes are just unit descriptors. In a war-game you may pick up a unit and ask ‘what is this?’ and be told ‘cavalry officer’ or ‘infantryman’ or ‘guy that puts big rocks in the trebuchet’. In the same way, in D&D you may pick up a mini representing a character to learn that it’s a fighter or a cleric or a wizard.

These classes exist so that you understand what special abilities each unit/character has. But they are very reductive. Why can’t I be a fighter who can sing really well? Or a wizard who also uses a sword? Many games that came after D&D did away with classes all together, allowing you to choose your skills and abilities in a more bespoke fashion.

What is a good fit for Avatar?

Imagine you’re an upcoming TTRPG designer, from the 1980s, and you’ve landed the job at Magpie games, writing the licensed RPG for one of the most popular TV series in the world: “Avatar: the Last Airbender.” Day one, and you walk into the office of the ViacomCBS head of brand management for the game. They ask you: “What’s your idea for character classes?”

“Well, I guess… air-bender, earth-bender, fire-bender and water-bender. Oh, and non-bender.”

Your boss looks at you for a long thirty seconds, to check if you’re joking.

“The door is over there. Please see yourself out.”

The idea of creating character classes on bending abilities (or the lack of) is an inherently bad idea, for two reasons.

1) No one will ever pick non-bender, and the game will be unbalanced. The ability to manipulate one of the four fundamental elements of that world will never be balanced in the rules with someone who cannot.

2) It goes against the ethos of the story. We don’t love the characters of those shows because they have kick-ass special abilities. We love them as people, because they have evocative stories.

As a side note: Avatar has been called the true successor of Star Wars for the current generation. This is because it, like Star Wars, achieves two things that are very difficult to do at the same time: incredible world building and evocative narratives. Everyone knows the story of the first Star Wars movie, because it’s so easy to follow (it’s the heroes journey), but also because we like those characters. We feel Luke’s yearning for adventure, but uncertainty in himself. We fear the tyrannical Darth Vader, and admire the self-confidence of Han Solo. The same is true for Avatar. We feel Aang’s uncertainty and desire to runaway from his problems. We understand Zuko’s desire for acceptance from his family. And we admire Katara’s compassion and faith in the Avatar in the face of overwhelming odds.

So, how do we create character classes for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game? We look at the roles of the character in the narrative.

Playbooks

I have written about the narrativist vs simulationist split in TTRPGs before. The designers for Avatar Legends decided to fall more on the narrativist side, and use Powered by the Apocalypse as the base. Apocalypse World, one of the first PbtA games, didn’t have character classes. Instead it had playbooks. Playbooks don’t just function as descriptions of your special abilities, they also function as descriptions of your role in the narrative.

Consider the Root RPG, also written by Magpie Games (which I did back when it was running on Kickstarter). In early released material, the Playbooks are

• The Champion
• The Chronicler
• The Exile
• The Envoy
• The Heretic
• The Pirate
• The Prince
• The Racounter
• The Raider
• The Seeker

These are very different from the standard D&D classes. By choosing a playbook, you are not just choosing special abilities and combat skills, you are choosing your drives, your connections, and maybe even things like your fashion aesthetic.

Of course, this may sound restrictive. But as they say themselves “A playbook is a particular archetype, a set of ideas bound together as a guideline for your character—but not a straitjacket.” There is still room for you to define your own uniqueness inside a particular playbook.

Avatar Legends: Playbooks

What are the playbooks for Avatar Legends? The Kickstarter website lists them as:

• The Adamant
• The Bold
• The Guardian
• The Hammer
• The Icon
• The Idealist
• The Pillar
• The Prodigy
• The Rogue
• The Successor

This may not be the definitive list, as other playbooks may appear in the final game.

Looking at this list, we can instantly assign characters from the A:tLA show to specific playbooks. Sokka is obviously the Pillar, Toph is the Hammer, Aang is the Icon, and Katara is the Idealist. The playbook may not list what abilities they have in terms of bending or non-bending, but instead provide details that define their role in the narrative.

Conclusion

There is not much else to say. I think the PbtA system is a great choice for something so narratively focussed as Avatar. If you love the show, and these kind of ideas remotely interest you, consider backing the Kickstarter. Then again, maybe you already have!