Party Downtime: When, How and Should You Let the Players Pursue Their Own Character Goals?

Downtime: It’s when we play, when we sleep and when we record podcasts. Everyone needs some downtime, right? … Maybe. Do you actually give your player characters downtime? Or do you keep them slaloming down the plot with barely a weekend to get their equipment sharpened?What do you let the PCs attempt when they do get a weekend off? Is it taverns and tax collectors, or can they create new spells, magic items and heists? In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about different ways to handle downtime and keep the game moving and fun. They also talk about what’s not fun in downtime, and things they’ve tried that the players didn’t like.But first, we have an ogre to bury … A quantum ogre! A recent article on our site kicked a hornets’ nest of a broader discussion about encounters that DMs op in no matter which way the PCs go. Here’s what we think of the debate and how it fits into reasonable game prep.It’s all in this week’s episode of 3 Wise DMs.1:00 Schrodinger’s Encounter gets ambushed by the Quantum Ogre 8:00 Revisiting traumatized players and how it influences online discussions13:00 The lies DMs tell … and should keep telling20:00 A frank discussion of how we build and change things on the fly27:00 Downtime activities: How they fit into 5E vs. prior editions of D&D32:00 Libraries?! How Quaint! Ways to portray downtime research 39:00 Pros and cons of letting players find incorrect “facts” and false research 47:00 Do you want to let players design new items and spells with downtime?50:00 Does your adventure even have room for downtime activities?53:00 Giving PCs a cool base of operations55:00 Do you open up the world and give players a chance to take on other big downtime projects like building armies, magic items, spells, kingdoms, etc.?63:00 Training, titles and taxes: Are your downtime activities actually fun?68:00 How do you bring a long-running, high-level, epic campaign to a satisfying end?79:00 Final thoughts