D&D Downtime: Can We Throw Away the Rules?

D&D downtime without the rules

We find rules for downtime resolution in three Dungeons & Dragons publications: the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. But when we’re running the game, we can let go of most, if not all, of these rules for downtime in D&D. We can relax our grip on the rules, and instead come back to the core purpose of downtime. In downtime, we tell the individual characters’ stories in between adventures. So why not let the story drive our downtime resolution, instead of the rules?

The published rules tell us to track days, or workweeks a character spends working on a task, roll some checks, and eventually hand out rewards. While this approach gives us minute control over a character’s progress, it can distract from the fiction. Players pick a goal, and check boxes until they have accrued enough downtime to fulfill that goal. Bookkeeping takes center stage, while the narrative turns into window dressing.

We generally want the opposite. The fiction comes first. Mechanics only come into play when we’re not certain how a story will progress.

Let players tell their characters’ downtime stories

In D&D, downtime that doesn’t start and end with the rules creates room for collaborative storytelling. Us and the player are not figuring out how many days are necessary to go on a gambling spree. Instead, we simply ask the player to describe their character’s gambling escapades. Handing over the reigns of description and narration to the player, can enrich our game. It gives players the freedom to invent and describe new locations, NPCs, and lore as it relates to their characters’ downtime activities.

We should stress that this is a moment for them to step away from their character sheet, and engage in worldbuilding. If players are hesitant to accept this responsibility, we can guide them with questions. “What is the first thing your character notices as they step into the casino?” “Who is your main rival during your long nights of gambling?” “What is the history of this casino?”

Here, we can use some of the content in Xanathar’s to create prompts and to build on our players’ ideas. The tables for creating rivals can flesh out an NPC proposed by the player. We can use the tables of complications if we want to insert some tension into our players’ descriptions.

But we can leave most of the heavy lifting up to our players. Asking them to describe their characters’ downtime gives them ownership over their character’s story. And it makes sense. When a character uses their downtime to visit friends and family in their home town, they would remember best what that town is like. So by letting the player describe the town, we can let the world conform to the player’s imagination of their character’s past. We, as DMs, can then build on our players’ imagination. We take notes, run with our players’ ideas, and feed them back into the campaign.

When we’re not distracted by accounting for a number of workweeks, we open the table for this collaborative storytelling.

A minimum of mechanics for downtime in D&D

The rules proposed in official D&D publications can turn downtime into bookkeeping. Choose a goal, track the days and weeks, roll some dice. Instead, we can start with the fiction and build from there. We can let go of the minute tracking of time, and instead set scenes and describe events freely. Rough time intervals can function as a guide for downtime activities. But it’s probably enough to think in terms of “a few” weeks, months, hours, or days.

The rules tell us to consult tables of downtime outcomes, corresponding DCs, and mechanics to influence the necessary checks. This can make us feel safe as DMs. After all, we are following the rules. But these rules also box us in. For example, they prescribe which single Ability or skill, a character can use for a specific downtime activity. But approaches outside of the given Ability are not covered by the rules.

Therefore, instead of relying on these tables, we fall back to the simplest mechanic of D&D: the Ability check. The player describes their character’s downtime activities. Most of the time, these just happen. There is no check required for the monk to visit her monastery. But if there is a chance of failure, we call for an Ability check. For example, the sorcerer describes how they train an apprentice. To see how good of a teacher they are, we let them roll a Charisma check. In this case, the student is struggling with controlling their innate magical talents. We set the DC at 15. From here on out, we work with the player to tell the story based on the result of the die roll.

Let the story determine the rewards

With this “fiction first” approach, players aren’t motivated by rewards for their downtime activities. Downtime is derived from the story of the characters in between adventures. And so are the rewards. When we are running downtime resolution, we can have different kinds of rewards at hand. Rare spell material components, and, if appropriate, magic items can function as rewards for downtime. We can keep a list of potential material rewards in our notes to drop them in when they fit thematically.

But beyond items and components, secrets, clues and lore can be fantastic rewards for downtime activities. By spending time among other people, in fantastic locations, or in libraries and archives, characters can learn something. Similar to material rewards, we can keep a list of secrets and clues ready to be revealed when the downtime story dictates it.

Following the Lazy Dungeon Master approach, we don’t predetermine when, where, or how a character learns this information. We simply make sure that the bits of lore are relevant to the character, and then work them into the story appropriately. Our druid might go back to the High Forest to rebuild a lost community of wood elves. During the weeks spent there, she experiences the elves newfound worship of an old elvish god. Or she discovers an ancient portal to the Feywild deep in the forest. These secrets double as story-focused rewards for a character’s investment in downtime, while functioning as character-driven adventure hooks for the party as a whole.

Sometimes a player has a specific reward in mind for their character’s downtime activity. They might want to research their nemesis. Or they might be looking for a specific magic item. In this case we can draw them away from the mechanics and back into the story by falling back to collaborative storytelling. Ask the question, “How are you doing this?” Motivate the player to describe their approach to research, or to finding an item, in the fiction. We can focus the table on the narrative if we use this technique rather than popping open the book, and consulting the tables.

Zooming in to tell the downtime story

Whether as a result of collaborative storytelling, the fiction that prompts an Ability check, or a situation in which we hand out a reward, we might want to “zoom in” to specific moments. Small (or not so small) scenes, or vignettes, can create episodic glimpses which illustrate the characters’ individual developments during downtime. Check out the article “Pacing D&D Downtime Sessions by Zooming In” to learn more about this idea.

Different styles for different tables

There are infinite ways of playing D&D. It follows that there are infinite ways of running downtime. Some DMs and players might prefer the minutia of tracking days, and weeks to accomplish a mechanical goal. If that approach seems right for your table, the rules in the PHB, the DMG, and Xanathar’s provide a robust mechanical framework.

If we want to put the story told in downtime front and center at our table, we can let go of the rigid system in the books. We can fall back to the fiction, create space for collaborative storytelling, use the elegant Ability check mechanic, and let the story dictate the rewards of downtime.