Between Slaying Dragons: What to do with Downtime? Travis J. Rodgers What is Downtime? Downtime is the time between the characters’ active involvement in adventuring. Downtime can occur if a character is uninvolved in a scene, if the player misses a session, or if the players have reached a natural stopping point before moving onto the next adventure. Additionally, between a session zero and a first session of a campaign, the GM may allow downtime. Downtime gives players a chance to do things that are ancillary to, or at least outside the flow of, the campaign proper. The main desiderata from a gaming point of view are: increasing player enjoyment and fulfillment, allowing individual pursuits that the group need not be involved in, affording an opportunity for players who miss a session to contribute nonetheless to the story, and to minimize what might otherwise be grunt work (exploring, interrogations, restocking supplies). Degrees of Freedom There are three main...