Downtimes are a bit more complicated now that the new MET rules are in play. There has been some confusion regarding what types of actions there are available and how they can be used. Spending your actions wisely will become important as time goes on and resources become strained due to increasing demands on each character’s time. The following will hopefully help everyone get on the same page and understand how the new DTs work. Note that this is intended to be both a general explanation of how Downtime Actions work, as well as clarification on some of my policies as VST for Requiem. Ultimately the decision of what will cost a DT, or what may be handed off, is up to the VST for the venue.
Downtime actions (DTs) are things that a character does between games. They can give a PC information on a topic, raise skills, gain disciplines, etc. Additionally they can be used as role-playing scenes between PCs, NPCs, allies, retainers, and anybody else for whatever reason. Finally a downtime action can be used to describe what a character does when they are not at a game, giving them greater depth and making it easier for STs to design plot and enact them.
All of these are worth XP, up to a maximum of 3 per month in Requiem, or 4 per month in Forsaken.
There are 4 types of DT actions. Resolve Actions, Ally and Contact Actions, Retainer Actions, and Free Actions. I have named them simply for ease of explanation. They are not listed this way in the book. Each type of action has its own inherent costs and/or limitations that they must adhere to. They are based on who is doing what, and the appropriateness of their actions to the character’s skills and affiliation with the character. When posting a downtime, it is a statement of how somebody spends his/her available time for the benefit of a PC.
Once the action is made, whether successful or not, it cannot be undone. In other words if Bob writes a DT about buying a house, he may not come back later and say that Robby the retainer, is actually buying the house while he instead goes and works on his martial arts skills. It is very important to be clear on who is performing what activity in a downtime. Miscommunication can result in allies being wasted on actions they cannot succeed in, characters wasting precious resolve, while retainers go unused, etc.
Let’s talk about the different types of Downtime Actions.
This type of action represents things that your character is does between games. Many times this concerns activities that will raise or add dots to a character sheet, maintain the skills of a fighting style, or perform actions outside of their normal maintenance routine. Such actions include rituals, like a Theban Sorcery ritual, spying on a character, performing a recon on a territory, etc. There is a limit on the number of these actions they can do equal to the characters resolve. So if your character has a resolve of two, they may only perform two resolve downtime actions per month.
Other actions that could be considered a resolve action would be gaining allies, increasing an existing ally, purchasing equipment, training NPCs, making ghouls, hiding evidence, planting evidence…the list is literally endless.
One special addition to resolve actions involves fighting styles. Any PC with a fighting style (Boxing, Martial Arts, Two Weapon Fighting, etc) at level 3 or higher must spend at least one resolve action as practice to maintain their level of proficiency in the Requiem venue. This must be done each month so characters that have these skills must plan for this. Forgetting to practice a PC’s style for one month lowers the level that the character may use in the next month. Characters who forget to practice may not use more than the first two levels of a fighting style for the next month. Although I do not see this happening, repeated lack of practice is grounds to lose fighting style dots without an XP refund. Please take this into account if your Requiem PC has or wants to have a fighting style.
As a rule of thumb, any action that adds dots to a sheet, costs a resolve action to perform. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however. To start, the first monthly dot increase for a character is considered ‘free’ and does not reduce the number of resolve actions. A DT still must be filed though, to justify the experience spent. Afterwards the character will still have their full resolve pool to spend that month. The action must still be appropriate for what is being done, and ST staff must approve the expense per normal rules.
Secondly, buying multiple dots in specialty merits (like Haven, Allies, Resources, etc) only costs 1 resolve action. For example Bob buys a haven with 2 dots in Location, 3 in Security, and 2 in Size, only counts as a single resolve action spent. This represents that the character is buying a single residence that comes with the attributes he purchased. The same thing would occur if Bob wanted to buy his Resources or Allies (City Hall) up from 2 to 4 (assuming the ST approved such a large jump in a single month). This would not be the case if he wanted to raise his Strength from 3 to 5 or Two Weapon Fighting from 1 to 3. Each raise of a skill or attribute costs one resolve action, unless a special circumstance (ST discretion) would allow for more.
Finally a PC can have a minion, (Allies, Retainers, or amicable PCs) perform an action on their behalf that can result in adding dots to their sheet, but only in a very limited fashion, (buying a haven, selling items to raise resources, buying equipment etc).
And this leads us to….
One of the benefits of having allies or contacts is that they can be tasked to perform certain actions for the character’s benefit. They are more limited than what a PC could perform, but their actions do not cost resolve. This can be very valuable if used prudently and within the scope of their expertise.
Allies represent a person who has a certain amount of influence in a specific area. For example Allies (Crime) 1 might represent a pimp, drug dealer, fence, while a level 5 ally might represent the Capo of the city. This is important because it describes the range of actions they can perform for you. It is important to describe your ally, at least in some detail, with the downtime used to acquire the ally. This will explain the range of the ally’s influence, who they are, and what sort of favors they may ask of you in return.
For example, Rob and Bob are both using allies to look for each other. Bob has a single dot in Allies (Crime), who just happens to be a street pimp. He asks his ‘friend’ to keep an eye out for Rob. The pimp will do his best to find Rob, and will get his girls to keep watch as well. But if Rob stays out of the pimp’s area, he will not be seen. If he drives by the red light district, the pimp may see him (ST discretion) and if he does, he will report it.
Now Rob has five dots in Allies (Police), and is in very tight with the officers of the 4th precinct. With their help, he is able to get an APB out for that has every patrolman in the city on the lookout for Bob. Now if Bob stays inside places where the police are not prone to wander, like a private home, he is not likely to be found. If he goes out on the streets, however, an officer may see him and call it in. Again, this is decided with ST discretion.
Each ally on a character’s sheet may perform one action on
behalf of the PC. It does not matter how much influence the Ally has (how many
dots) they may still only perform one activity for the character as a downtime
action.
Now that we have talked about what actions an Ally can do, let’s talk about what they can’t. Allies are only able to perform actions within their area of influence, and even then only to a limited extent based on the relationship they have with the PC (ST discretion). Using Bob’s pimp as an example, the character may ask his ally to give him a little money, which might be possible, however asking them to do something out of their area, such as to burying a news story, is not. For purposes of downtimes, Allies do not have character sheets. They simply have the ability to perform actions on the PCs behalf within their area of expertise.
Allies also do not have the ability to perform actions that will result in dots on a character sheet. They may facilitate a situation where an XP spend could be justified, but a resolve DT must still be spent by the PC to add dots to their sheet.
For example Bob wants to use his ally to help him get a haven that is currently occupied. The pimp will have his street walkers try to lure a resident into a compromising situation for blackmail. Alternately he might rent the place next door and run his business out of it to drive down property values and force the target to leave. The possibilities are really only limited to the players’ imaginations and the ST’s discretion.
Contacts work in the same way save that they usually require payment up front for whatever aid they offer. For DTs they are treated the same as allies.
There is one exception to this rule. During actual games allies can be contacted and tasked separately from what has been done during DTs. In other words, if an issue occurs on a game night, the PC may then contact their ally for aid and it does not count as their DT action, (with ST discretion). Sustained actions, like reconnoitering a territory may not be used in this way.
Now on to the next with…
Retainers represent very special individuals who have made themselves available to the character in a full time capacity. They have stats just like any other character, and can use them in the same way. Just like PCs they have desires, goals, specialties, etc. A retainer can be a character’s bodyguard, driver, investigator, or mortal front man for all of a vampire’s financial assets. A retainer’s position, stats and connection to the character will decide how far they will go to please their ‘boss.’
These characters can perform any type of action that a PC can, limited only by their own abilities and wits. Like allies, they may perform one action on behalf of the character per month. The success of their action depends upon what they have been asked to do and what their skills are.
Retainers do not have to know a character’s true nature, but they do tend to be closer to the character then most other mortals. This makes it is easier to give them more complex instructions (depending on the intelligence of the retainer) and to perform extended actions for the PC. Because of this retainers can do things that no other NPCs can.
And Finally…
This category covers everything not covered by the above lists. All between game RP, whether it is online or in person is usually considered a free action. This fills in a lot of IC gaps, allowing characters to plot ICly but off game sites. In addition, it can be used to underline and explain a character’s feelings from a previous game. If the character is traveling a long distance to perform the RP, it may cost a DT at ST discretion.
For example Bob was caught by Rob’s police ally and had to escape. The embarrassment of his capture infuriates the vampire to no end, so he goes to a biker bar to ‘relieve some tension.’ The ensuing brawl lays out an entire gang of toughs. Such an act portrays a character’s actions far more dramatically than simply saying ‘Bob is mad.’ However if Bob’s player were to write up an XP spend stating that the fighting was justification to raise Bob’s brawl, it would then become a resolve action.
Free actions may also be used as a build up for resolve actions that may take time to accomplish, gaining high level allies, finding a mentor to teach a new discipline, joining a bloodline, etc. Such acts might take weeks or even months to accomplish, but only cost a resolve action when the actual XP is going to be spent.
Basic maintenance is usually considered a free action as well. For example if a PC runs a business, then going to work and doing your job is considered included in the character’s normal day. The same goes for things like feeding, patrolling territory, (the PCs own) schmoozing with allies, retainers, and ghouls, etc. If these actions are not done, however, it may be negative results, such as an ally not being as friendly as they once were or a retainer becoming disgruntled.
Just because something is free does not mean it is not important. Free action DTs set the mood for the character. They allow the STs to know where the player wants to go with their story. It also allows players to get creative with their PCs in ways that are not practical during actual games.
As stated previously the exception to the resolve action rule is a free action. The first XP expend of the month is considered a free action and costs no resolve. Again there still needs to be a DT submitted to justify the raise in dots, so if a prompt approval is expected please submit a downtime before the experience expenditure.
Things may become very busy before a game for players and ST staff. Many players also start to pile up downtime actions and XP spends up to a few hours before the game. Because it can become very difficult, I am instituting a rule for the Requiem venue that DT’s and XP spends have to be turned in more than 48 hrs before the game. The same goes for IC and OOC emails to the VST account. If there is time I will get to as many as possible, but I make no promises. Please be aware of this, if you plan to do spend XP for something you plan to use in your next game as this is a standing rule.