Downtime

During the week your character can do things to help their exploits in the next event.

Downtime can be used to do one of:

• Keep an ear to the ground.
• Investigate a group or topic.
• Engineer an encounter to happen next interactive.
• Acquire resources.
• Take part in an opportunity offered in uptime.
• Untrain one skill.

Downtime happens between the linear and the next interactive, except for the Untrain action which can be done before the linear. Outside of Opportunities, downtime cannot directly affect the world. What you can do is use your downtime to engineer an uptime encounter, and then that can change the world.

There may be opportunities to take part in events during the week. This is for actions that can't be done in uptime, such as visiting the headquarters of a company. Opportunities will always be arranged in uptime first; NPCs will generally drop the word 'opportunity' quite clearly to indicate one is available, and you always can ask the Refs if you have correctly understood whether an opportunity exists.

When you untrain a skill, it must not be a prerequisite for any other skills you know. When you untrain a skill you can also change your Starting Discpline, provided you don't know any skills that you can only have with your current starting discipline. Skills can be learned freely any time between events. Feel free to tell us about this in your downtime, or in person before an interactive or linear.

In addition, unlimited Minor Actions can be submitted, which can be flavour, or sending messages to NPCs. If you have any upcoming plans or crafting ideas, ruminating on them as a minor action might be a good idea. Messages sent to world NPCs will not be secure unless you’re a cryptographer, and conversing with or sending messages to NPCs as minor actions is not guaranteed to have any particular effect (use Engineer An Encounter if you definitely want something to happen). If your character has not recently had an Incipience, you can ask as a minor action whether you qualify.

If you don't submit a downtime, you will automaticall take the Acquire action.

If you play multiple characters you are only guaranteed a full downtime for one character. You may be given full downtimes for multiple characters at ref discretion.

Writing a Downtime

Downtime is designed to create opportunities to do things in uptime, rather than as a tool to solve problems itself.

• Help, I have no plot and want some! -> Ear to the ground.

This will get you a hook to something that's going on. Chances are you'll hear about something brewing, or get information relevant to another player right now, and offering it to them might get you involved in what they're doing.

• I have a line on some plot, but don't know what to do with it -> Investigate.

Investigating a topic you already have some information about might give you more information and let you formulate a plan, or make you better prepared for it if it appears in uptime on its own.

• I know what what I want to do, and want to meet some specific NPCs to make it happen -> Engineer an encounter.

If you have a specific idea in mind, this is how to progress that idea. If you want to persuade some people of a course of action, set up a meeting with them. If you want to set two groups on each other, invite them both and see if you can engineer an incident between them. If you want to kill someone, invite them to a "parley", along with some assassins... The encounter isn't guaranteed to take the form you intend, but it's certain that something will happen as a result of your efforts.

• I know what I want to do, but need something specific to do it -> Engineer an encounter.

If you want to find something rare, engineer an encounter with a trader of such artifacts. This will provide an opportunity to negotiate for the item you need, or steal it.

• I'm entirely happy and don't need to do anything in downtime.

Then you don't need to submit one! Downtime is optional, and if you don't submit a downtime you get the default outcome of some extra income, which can come in useful for many things that might come up.

Example

Downtime:
I've heard of a new criminal group moving in to Cambridge. Send a message to the Rustwrights warning them of this.

I had a lovely chat with Bob the AI last linear. I plan to summon Bob and talk more about what we can do for each other. I'm considering offering to sacrifice the ability to use an umbrella on Tuesdays for Infinite Cosmic Power.

Learn Investigate with my spare skill slot.

Response:
The Rustwrights are interested and would like to talk about this new group and what you can do together to counter them. They'll send a representative to you at the next meeting.
Sending messages to world NPCs does nothing in itself, so this instead engineered an uptime encounter.

Thanks for letting us know your plans, we look forward to you summoning Bob and wish you luck trying this very ambitious bargain.

You are now trained in Investigation.