West Marches Original Dungeons and Dragons - Downtime Activities

INTRODUCTION
Downtime activities as a mechanic are quite new to my campaign. At first, I didn't want to bother with them since, in a West Marches campaign, there is a very fast rotation both of players and of characters. But at the end of the day, PCs that stayed did do "downtime activities", even if they were not formalized. I therefore decided to craft a simple set of rules taken mostly from the 5th Ed. DM Guide and 1st AD&D DM Guide.

There are eight downtime activities possible, two of them being "exceptional*" (as in, working differently) and one of them being its own subgame which I will not tackle here** (Domain Management):

• Carousing
• Gambling
• Pit Fighting/Jousting (as per the social status of the PC)
• Religious Service
• Research (arcane or not)
• Expedition research*
• Working*
• Domain management**

Since I took out the "training for leveling" rule recently, I do not have the classic "training" dowtime. I consider that if people want to train, their character is already training to get better no matter what.

Each downtime activities has its own possible reward (hidden from the player) and complication (hidden from the player). Loyalty from/to the organization can have an impact. Last mission successes, especially if it had a positive impact on the downtime activity provider (such as a guild) can also help the PC. Both of those are taken as a form of "renown".

There is 1/6 chance of having a complication, unless the DM wants to reduce it for some reason, or the player did something wrong and it needs to be increased (2/6 or even 3/6).

Those categories are flexible. I would probably accept, for example, a player doing some research and jousting. Or a player gambling and doing carousing with the money in the lower wards, etc. Also, they are flexible in their definition. If someone wants to gain renown from a high feat of glory, or send rumors against/for someone, I'd probably roll it into carousing for the sake of checking if it works and what kind of complications it can have. Finally, I'd probably accept any personal downtime activities, such as "relaxing" in order to get a better save on a disease or Flesh recovery.

DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES
Carousing
There is 12 organizations/places where players can carouse (which takes a different definition depending on the social context):

• Hunter's Guild
• Sage's Guild
• Magician's Guild
• Artisan's Guild
• Baron's Court
• Militia
• Mercenary Guild
• Blacksmith's Guild
• Temple of Tizan
• Temple of Arta
• Temple of Frumos
• Taverns and pubs

PCs have to pay 10gp for lower class, 100 gp for middle class and 500 gp for higher class. Afterward, I roll 2d6 + renown. 

• 2-3: Has made a powerful hostile contact, but learn something
• 4-5: Has made a hostile contact, but learn something
• 6-8: Character has made no new contact, but learn something
• 9-10: Character has made an allied contact
• 11-12: Character has made a powerful allied contact

For the players, there is no direct difference between result 2 and 8, so it's up to the DM to telegraph (or not) what happened, and then have it play a distinctive role in the weeks/adventures to come. 

For each of the classes, there is a potential complication. 1d8 for complications for each of the classes.

• Lower Classes
• 1: Got pickpocketed (1d20*1d6 GP)
• 2: Bar brawl (-1 Flesh for the next adventure)
• 3: Fuzzy memories of something illegal
• 4: Banned from a tavern (-1 renown)
• 5: After a few drinks, you swore in the town square to pursue a dangerous quest (physical/social version of a geas)
• 6: Surprise ! You are married ! (-5% income that automatically goes to wife)
• 7: Naked on the streets (-1 renown)
• 8: Everyone is calling you by some weird embarrasing nickname and you don't remember why (-1 renown)
• Middle Classes
• 1: You accidentally insulted a guild master (roll at random) and only a public apology will let you do business with the guild again (-1 renown, price +10% until apology)
• 2: You swore to complete some quest on behalf of a temple or guild (roll at random: in the case of Magician/Sage/Temple, it's an actual geas; if not, as per lower classes)
• 3: A social gaffe has made you the talk of the town (-2 renown)
• 4: You have made a foe out of a local spellcaster
• 5: You have been recruited to help run a local festival, play or similar event (cash sink)
• 6: Surprise, you are married to a wealthy wife ! (-10% to wife)
• 7: You spent an additional 150 GP to try impress people
• 8: You have made a drunken toast that scandalized the locals (-2 renown)
• Higher Classes:
• 1: You tripped and fell during a dance, and people can't stop talking about it (-2 renown)
• 2: You agreed to take on a noble's debts
• 3: You have been challenged to a joust by a knight (-3 renown if lost)
• 4: You have made a foe out of a local noble
• 5: You have become the target of a variety of embarrasing rumors (-3 renown)
• 6: Surprise ! You are married to a backwater noble daughter (-25% cash, but the PC can use this to its advantage if he wants to)
• 7: You spent an additional 750GP to impress people. 
• 8: You have made a drunken toast that scandalized the nobles (-3 renown)

You could add more if you want, such as -> 9: A camel spit on your and you known him on the head

Gambling

Gambling is a little mini-game that follow those steps:

1. PC decide an amount to gamble
2. PC roll 2d6
3. PC must choose to add a d6. This step can be repeated until 20 is busted.
4. If 20 is busted, the money is lost. 
5. If it's not busted, see the following table

• 17 or less: lose money
• 18 to 20: keep money
• One double: 0.5* added
• Two double: 1* added
• Triple: 2* added
• Quad: 4* added
• 5 dice flush: 10* added

Complications (1d6):

• 1: Caught cheating (true or not)
• 2: Busted the gambling ring, went to jail
• 3: Someone lost to you and want revenge
• 4: One of the guilds that lost to you want its money back
• 5: You have been forced from now on to frequent a specific gambling place that's not very nice
• 6: High stakes holder came by, you had to put in 100 GP more (this can be beneficial if the player wins)

Pit Fighting/Jousting

For jousting, I use the AD&D/OD&D rules that are, if my memory serves right, modified from Chainmail. 

For pit fighting, I make it simple. You put in some money, you two one Attack roll and one physical stats roll (3d6 roll under) to your choice. Then you compare to this:

• 0 success: you lose your money
• 1 success: you keep
• 2 success: you gain 0.25
• 3 success: you gain 0.50

The gains are low because middle level F-M should be able to always (or almost) win this with relative success. 

Complications (1d6):

• 1: Death Fight (it becomes a real fight with a real enemy, to the death)
• 2: Someone that lost to you want revenge
• 3: Someone wants you to lose for money (+3d100 GP, -2 renown)
• 4: You fight against the local champion (more difficult, but +1 renown if win)
• 5: You fought against a noble's servant that has its eyes on you
• 6: You were caught cheating (true or not)

Religious Service to a Temple

You participate in the temple life of one of the three deities. You roll 2d6 + any kind of gift you give/gave to that temple. 

• 2-3: Geas
• 4-5: Rejected by the temple for your faults
• 6-8: Nothing of sorts, you learn something
• 9-10: Small favor
• 11-12: Major favor

Complication (1d6):

• 1: Offense (-1 renown)
• 2: Blasphemy (-1 renown)
• 3: Approached by cultist of a dark cult
• 4: Holy quest demanded
• 5: Discover something dark about a high member that now wants you dead. Nobody believes you !
• 6: Touched something that you weren't supposed to: cursed !

Research

Research is done to gather specific information about something or just to learn stuff (including new spells for M-U). You roll 2d6 + renown + gift. 

• 2-3: Geas
• 4-5: Rejected by the library
• 6-8: Nothing of note, you learn something (or something minor about your subject of research)
• 9-10: You learn a legendary lore in a lost tome (or something major about your subject of research)
• 11-12: Same as above, but also a language (or another lore, as per PC choice/actions)

Complications (1d6):

• 1: You damaged a rare book (-2 renown)
• 2: Offended a sage that now demands a gift (-1 renown)
• 3: Touched a cursed book (curse)
• 4: Offended a high level spellcaster (geas or a reparation in the form of a magical item)
• 5: Banned from library until reparations are made for a mistake
• 6: Useful lore is kept from you until you give something in exchange by a zealous librarian/wizard

Expedition Research

This was created as requested by some of my players. They felt that sometimes there was too many places to explore, and since the player pool is too few (15-20, but only 10ish are serious), it wasn't possible to go everywhere. This is basically a DM fiat with a small equation. I roll 1d100 roll over a DC. The DC is determined by: distance, difficulty, number of people sent, direction/information given, equipment/pay. After I set my DC, I roll and check according to a loose table:

• -20 or less: expedition failure. 1d4:
• 1: They didn't get there
• 2: They never came back (as per DM to see if they are dead or prisoner)
• 3: They got an information from someone else and chickened out before leaving
• 4: They barely got in and it went horrible so they decided to flee for their lives
• -19 to -1: partial failure. They get there, to do some stuff, but they cannot exactly gather the information for the player (or the object). At least they got some loot on the way so their bonus is paid for, and they found something useful (either in the dungeon or on the way to it). In any cases, they are interested to work with the PC again. 
• 0 to +20: partial success. They do what the player asked for, BUT... It can be a curse, more monsters were attracted, it wasn't what the PCs thought, etc. 
• +21 or more: exactly as planned (very rare). 

Work

The PC just decided to get a decent job and work it out. Type of job (and therefore payment) depends on the Charisma score. 

CONCLUSION

It's also, like I said, a matter of flexibility. If this is too complicated for you, you can just pick and choose for your players are per their class (cleric = religious, M-U = research, F-M = carousing or pit fighting) and give them a small bonus. Or just have everyone carouse.