Chapter 9: Down Time
The time-period between game sessions - i.e., whenever you’re not playing - is referred to as downtime. The gamemaster (GM) should make use of downtime to work out the details of her story or scenario. This entails preparing for the next game session; in particular, considering how the story threats might react to the player characters’ (PCs’) recent actions, preparing new influences and threats, developing new challenges for the PCs, and planning for the story’s endgame and eventual finale.
For example, downtime provides the GM the opportunity to answer questions generated during the character creation process, such as plot elements stemming from the PCs’ Dark Secrets and Disadvantages. What is haunting the PCs? What really happened during the rituals the PC took part in? What childhood event did the PC repress? During downtime, the GM will have plenty of time to ponder these questions and integrate the answers with the story’s influences and threats.
Using the Intrigue Map
06 - Setting up a Story provides instructions for how GMs should create the story’s Intrigue Map by writing down the different story elements established during the various phases of character creation, such as the PCs’ background and important events, places, monsters, groups, and contacts.
The Intrigue Map is a helpful tool for planning future sessions during downtime. When the player group is in session, the GM can use the Intrigue Map to reference the important threats in the story, as well as for noting down new events, relationship changes, and any new NPCs, groups, and places she establishes. In the process of playing, the GM will have to answer the players’ questions about the world’s setting on the spot, and when these answers establish new elements to the story, she should write them down on the map immediately. She can then use downtime to flesh out the threat, contact, or other story elements further.
In the first session, the Intrigue Map will likely feature hubs the GM and players have more questions than answers for. As the game progresses, these questions will be answered, and the hubs will become anchored to the story in a more concrete and real way.
As the story progresses, the various links will connect threats with no prior relationship to each other, and new threats will emerge on the Intrigue Map, as well.
Should the group continuing playing this story, the Intrigue Map will evolve even further. New hubs will emerge and old ones will fade in importance, possibly disappearing entirely. The various links will also change, along with the relationships between the different hubs.
Reactions
A story’s threats aren’t static - they change and adapt to the events as they transpire. Usually PCs will affect threats by stopping their opponents’ plans, but different influences may be simultaneously working at cross purposes, while the PCs are stuck in the middle. As one of the influences advances their goals, it can affect another influence in the same area, be it positively or negatively. This interaction affects the story’s progression.
For example, one influence is tied to the Archon Malkuth; a group of scientists are attempting to create rifts in the Illusion to awaken an entire city. Another influence is tied to the Archon Geburah; a lictor is manipulating the city’s mayor and police force, controlling its population with an iron fist. As Malkuth’s influence increases and the scientists manage to accomplish part of their plan, several individuals awaken from their slumber and the Illusion weakens in various locations across the city, revealing the alternate, underlying dimensions. Naturally, Geburah’s influence reacts to this, and the lictor launches into action to prevent further damage. The outcome might be the police, acting on orders from their superiors and ignorant of the exact reasons, cordon off different areas to keep the public away from where the Illusion is weakening. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies hunt down the scientists, who have been labeled fugitives and terrorists for their actions.
Influences react in much the same way if the PCs’ actions affect their interests.
In addition, individual threats such as leaders, monsters, and groups will also take action if their interests are affected by the PCs or other NPCs. For example, the PCs might defeat an opponent and earn their allies as new enemies (or vice versa), they might rob a threat of something, or cause an event that affects the threat negatively. The PCs may not even be aware of this at the time, or realize they’ve earned the enmity/benevolence of an influence/threat.
When Do Reactions Occur?
The GM should ask the following questions after each session:
- During this session, did anything happen that affected (or could possibly affect) an influence or individual threat?
- If the answer is ‘Yes,’ how would they respond?
Plan out how the influence or threat would react, and play it out during the next or future sessions.
New Influences and Threats
During the course of the story, the characters will sometimes encounter brand new threats. This could be the result of the GM suddenly having a great idea, the PCs learning more about a Dark Secret or Disadvantage, or the PCs discovering something the GM hasn’t prepared for while exploring the story’s setting.
If the PCs must interact with a brand-new threat, the GM has two options:
- Improvise the encounter and note down the most important aspects on the Intrigue Map.
- Call for a short break to prepare the threat further.
If the threat is merely mentioned and not investigated further, the GM can simply make a note and prepare the threat further during downtime. It’s common during an investigation for the PCs to discover clues mentioning a place, object, group, or adversary of some kind, which are unrelated to the current game session. New influences and threats are prepared as usual (see 08 - Influences).
If the threat cannot be connected to a pre-existing influence, the GM can create a new one and add it to the Intrigue Map. During the course of the game, the GM notes down new threats on the Intrigue Map, drawing links to them when the PCs discover it is connected to one of the hubs.
Dark Secrets and Disadvantages
When you first set up a story, the players’ Dark Secrets and Disadvantages are typically not explained in detail, but described in general so the GM can flesh them out further as the game progresses. The GM will ask the players as many questions about them as she feels is necessary, but the player shouldn’t know more in-game details than her character does. If the character is Haunted, the player may answer a question about what he thinks the entity haunting his character is, but only the GM can determine the actual truth. This can be an excellent opportunity to surprise the player when it turns out their - and their character’s - theories are totally wrong.
The most important thing for the GM to rememher to do while preparing the background details for Dark Secrets and Disadvantages is to connect them to the story. If she doesn’t, these details will be relegated to mere sidetracks, only coming into the spotlight occasionally, and at worst be ignored and forgotten completely. The easiest way to ensure these connections are made is by linking the Dark Secrets and Disadvantages to threats on the Intrigue Map.
As the PCs’ Dark Secrets are linked together, common goals will emerge, thus creating a more focused story with believable reasons for the PCs to meet each other and cooperate. When Dark Secrets remain unlinked to the other story elements, the plot will pull in different directions and be more demanding for the GM to plan and run, and could be seen as sprawling and meandering by the players.
The GM doesn’t have to link the Dark Secrets together immediately, but should attempt to create connections during the course of the story. Inspiration often strikes while the game is in session and the PCs explore their world.
During downtime the GM should ask herself:
- Have there been any further revelations about the PCs’ Dark Secrets or Disadvantages I haven’t already established?
- Did the player suggest or hint at something that would be a better idea than the one I originally had? (It’s okay to change your mind. The GM is the only person reading her own notes.)
- Do I have any idea for how the Dark Secret or Disadvantage can be linked to another hub on the Intrigue Map?
Challenge the Player Characters
07 - First Session covers how the GM should plan a set of challenging events for the PCs, referred to as bombs, before the game starts. Between sessions during downtime the GM should also review what sorts of challenges she should give the PCs next session.
The GM should ask herself:
- Has anything happened during the story that would make good material for a bomb?
- Has any player acquired an Advantage for their character that would make for interesting material to base a bomb on? For example, the Avenger’s Advantage Rage or a supernatural Advantage that gives the player and PC the ability to learn secret truths about Reality.
- Are there any contacts that could be interesting to highlight in game by building a bomb around them?
- Would it be suitable to put additional spotlight on one of the PCs in particular this upcoming session?
If any of these questions are a ‘yes’, she should try to come up with one or several bombs to toss the PCs.
When a Player Character Dies
When a PC dies in the middle of a story, the GM might simply allow the player to create a new character. However, the GM may impose certain restrictions on the player, such as demanding the new PC’s Archetype and Dark Secret be in line with the story’s theme or the PC shares a Dark Secret with one or all of the other characters. If the death occurs early in the session, you can take a break until the new character is ready to go. The GM will look it over and have the player present it the same way as when the story was initially set up (see Presentation in 06 - Setting up a Story). At that point, all there is left to do is establishing any relations and throwing the PC head first into the story.
If you’re playing a scenario, the GM might want more control over the new PC’s creation process; possibly developing large parts or even the entire character herself. They may already have a pre-generated character for just this situation. If the GM doesn’t have any issues with the player making a new character of her choosing, as with playing through a standard story, this is the preferred option.
ASTAROTH
A story comes to an end when its themes have been exhausted and the protagonists’ goals have been reached. Every story’s finale should have some sort of climax, in which the story reaches its crescendo. At this point, the protagonists finally reach their goals, find out the Truth, exact their revenge, perish, or realize their divinity is lost.
Some stories might only span one session, and others may continue for years. It’s the GM’s job to lead the story towards its conclusion andfinale.