Downtime

Between events your character can do things to help their exploits in the next event.

Downtime can be used to do one of:

• Gather rumours.
• Gather specific information (spying and investigation).
• Engineer an uptime encounter to happen.
• Gather resources or items (or investigate where they can be obtained).
• Codify an improvised ritual.
• Take part in an opportunity offered in uptime.
• Untrain one skill.

Downtime cannot directly affect the world. All events that actually affect the world will happen in uptime (possibly in encounters arranged in downtime).

There may be opportunities to take part in events during the week, which will be arranged in uptime. You can take part in these, in which case you will experience those events (and therefore get information about them), and people will probably notice your association with those events. Your personal participation won’t significantly affect the outcome.

You can feel free to narrate minor actions, which can have personal significance, but can have no effect on the wider world. You cannot send letters to or have conversations with world NPCs; if you wish to do this, use the uptime skills to send a message or arrange an uptime meeting. You can however narrate sending letters and having conversations with personal NPCs, such as characters in your backstory or your Connections. Having a think about upcoming projects and experiments you’d like to do are excellent minor actions (you may not come to any great realisations, but letting refs know what you’d like to do means they can can make better calls when you do it).

If no downtime is submitted, you can choose to gather ducatto or rumours at the start of next interactive. For up to two missed weeks in a row you will still gather ducatto or rumours (this is to allow people with intermittent attendance to come back with resources and plot to catch up with). If you monstered the linear or monstered in the interactive for 30 minutes or more, you can also gather ducatto or rumours. If you qualify for more than one of the above, you can only gather rumours once per interactive you attend (but the ducatto stacks).