Splatbook*

Downtime

When you've played out all the scenes and situations that immediately follow the PCs' return, transition to downtime.

Take care of logistics. Update the steading playbook. Discuss what to do with loot. Reset Inventory. Prompt folks to Level Up, if they can. If anyone needs to Convalesce, deal with that now.

Establish goals and intentions. Figure out what the players want to see in play. Figure out what each PC intends to do during this stretch of downtime.

Play out scenes or situations as needed. Follow your gut, your prep, and the players' moves and interests. Establish a situation or frame a scene when…

  • ... you need to, in order to resolve a player's move or actions; or
  • ... you want to, in order to make a GM move or resolve the stakes of a threat; or
  • ... your players want to (unless they're hogging the spotlight or impeding someone else's fun).

Try to include multiple PCs in each scene or situation. Then play it out until its done, or until it snowballs—into another scene, situation, or adventure!

Describe time passing as you do all of this. Include details like how the weather changes, what other folks are getting up to, what traditions or celebrations folks are observing. Ask the PCs what this time looks like for them, too!

When enough time passes, have the Seasons Change (page 517).

After the scene with Blodwen and the other Initiates of Danu, we zoom out into downtime. Everyone resets their Inventory and their HP, and clears their debilities. The PCs all have enough XP to Level Up, so they do that now.

The PCs returned from the Green Lord's tomb with some sweet loot, which they divvy up like so:

  • Vahid takes the cracked flute (a minor arcanum)
  • Vahid also keeps the spool of uncut table (?) silk; he'll try to find something to do with it
  • The old bronze hatchets go to the smith, Taliesyn, for restoration; Caradoc, Rhianna, and Rhianna's crew will take them as personal possessions when they're ready
  • Rhianna hangs on to the sphere of silver filigree for now, but she thinks of it as a village asset

"Over the next few weeks," I say, "you all settle back in to daily life. The days are hot and muggy, with showers that just make it muggier. Cerys and her kids are sad, of course, but getting by. So… what does life look like for each of you now? How's it different from before?"

Caradoc says that he and Morwenna are openly courting now: holding hands, walks in the evenings, smooching, etc.

Rhianna continues the readiness drills she started in early summer. Her crew are back out hunting, alert for signs of crinwin. But they're also taking turns, helping Cerys and the kids with chores and food and whatnot.

Blodwen hasn't moved out, but she's avoiding her mother: grazing her goats, meals with Gwendyl or Seren, etc.

Vahid helps in the fields most days, and has dinner with the widow Maire every few nights. "But most nights, I head out to the Old Wall to work on mastering this flute!"

The "cracked flute" minor arcanum has a special move, "when you spend a few days practicing..." Vahid's already told us how and where he's doing that, so I tell him to roll +CHA (per the move). He gets a 10, so he marks progress (he needs 3). I ask him what it looks like, and he gives us a quick scene of him playing in the moonlight and on the last night, he swears he can see the wind in the grass, dancing to his tune.

"That only took a few days," says Vahid, "Can I try again?" I don't see why not, but I ask if there's anything that anyone else wants to get up to in the meantime.

Rhianna says she wants to try and trade the silver sphere for something useful, like spare wagon parts or a donkey. That triggers Trade & Barter, on which she gets a 7 ("you can sell it now, but won't get it's full worth"). I frame a scene with Ulna, a merchant in town on her way to Gordin's Delve. Rhianna fails to haggle her up, and she opts against the trade. "Maybe we'll head up to Gordin's Delve ourselves," she says. "But not now."

I ask what the other two PCs are up to. Caradoc is content to spend time with Morwenna, and Blodwen just wants to avoid her mother. Okay!

We go back to Vahid. He spends another few nights practicing the flute, and this time he rolls an 8. That means he makes progress but summons an irate zephyr spirit. We have a delightful scene where the spirit and Vahid interrupt Caradoc and Morwenna on a moonlit "walk."

Vahid tries one more time, to finish unlocking the arcanum. He wisely asks Blodwen to help, as she can speak with spirits. She Aids him, and sure enough, they get an 11. Vahid can now summon a zephyr spirit, an andalau, and we have a joyful scene where Blodwen dances with the wind under the stars.

We zoom out and I say that the days are getting shorter and cooler, the fields are heavy with crops. Summer is drawing to a close. Vahid asks if he can work on one more of his arcana, the richly woven rug. It would involve him getting badly burnt, then spending weeks in study. That's doable in the fiction, but the other players are getting antsy and we're nearing the end of the session. I push back. "Let's hold off. That deserves some on-screen time and it's getting late. Besides, you've got chores and scribing to do and you're helping in fields, you can't just go maiming yourself on a lark, y'know?" Vahid relents, for now.

No one else has anything they want to do this summer, so we do the Seasons Change move. Vahid strikes us all as the most determined, so he rolls. He gets an 8, which means a seasonal gain and a threat. I plan to start the next session introducing that threat, and setting up the next adventure.