This is a topic that many game designers and GMs have tackled before, but I had a few ideas and wanted to get them down to see how they looked from a distance greater than inside my own head.
Since I'm about to embark upon the second Cha'alt campaign, mysterious Qada'ath, I'm trying to push myself to even greater heights!
At the close of a session (assuming it's not a cliff-hanger where we pick-up right where we left off last session), PCs tell me what they intend to pursue. If anyone wants to spend their downtime helping another PC, that pursuit will get Advantage (you'll see what I mean later).
If what they're trying to accomplish is feasible, I write it down and wait until next session... probably giving each pursuit a little think in the meantime.
Next session, we start by addressing whatever the PCs were pursuing. They each roll on the following random table to see if they were successful or not. As mentioned, if a PC was attempting to do something and another PC helped that come to fruition during his own downtime, the roll gets Advantage (roll twice, take the higher result).
After the rolls, we talk about what happened, briefly weaving a collective story that makes sense based on the circumstances. This will undoubtedly affect individual sessions and the overall campaign.
Downtime Pursuits
- Failure + complication, setback, or reversal
- Failure
- Partial success
- Success
- Success
- Success + fringe benefit
This actually something that could also be used to handle a player who's absent for a session, presumably with a logical explanation as to why the character wasn't with the party last session.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the elderly Zedi had to shut down the tractor beam that prevents their escape. He shuts it off, but runs into his old pupil on the way back..
Yeah, I could see that. When a player inevitably misses a session, that's a convenient, built-in reason why he's not there.
DeleteI got to use it at the conclusion of yesterday's session (I'm writing up the session report now). So far, so good.
👍🏻
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