Maelstrom Rules - Downtime: General Guide

Characters
If you paid for the preceding Profound Decisions event, then you are eligible to submit a downtime for your primary character and any retainers that they have. Each Maelstrom month has thirty days in it, and your character will receive ninety days of downtime which will run from the last day of the preceding event to the first day of the next event. For example, the downtime from Ideenlehre runs from the 1st of April to the 30th of June 1655.

Every character has a menu of options available to them. If you are submitting your downtime by paper then we will send you a list of all the options that are available to your character. Some actions are only available to your character if they have certain skills. For example, you cannot enchant talismans unless your character has the relevant skills to do so. Some actions are only available to your character at certain times or in certain places. For example, if your character navigates a ship to a port in the Known World then you will be able to purchase basic items of equipment that are for sale there. If you use the website to submit your downtime then you can view the actions that your character can perform at that moment.

Allies
The downtime system allows you to make other characters your ally. If you make another character your ally, then your name appears on their list of allies but their name does not automatically appear on your list of allies. If they are using the website to submit their downtime, then your character will appear automatically as an easy to select option for actions such as teaching skills, giving items, etc. In addition, any ships controlled by you will be visible to them when they try to select actions that require a ship, such as embarking men-at-arms.

If the other player chooses to make you their ally in return, then their name will appear on your list of allies and you will gain the same benefits in return.

Using Your Time
When you have submitted sufficient actions that take you up to or beyond the last day of downtime then you will be unable to submit any further actions which require your character's time. Some actions require your character's orders but not their time, for instance moving or distributing freight. These actions can always be performed.

If you submit your orders by paper then you must indicate the order in which your actions are to be undertaken. We will only submit orders for your character that they are able to begin before downtime ends. Any other orders will be ignored, so make sure that you submit your actions in the correct order. The website automatically appends your actions in date order, so you do not need to worry about this if you are submitting your downtime online.

It is possible to end up with periods of time for which no action is submitted. For instance, if another character teaches you, then the action begins on the date that they begin their teaching, not the first date that you are free. We are hoping to implement the ability to fill in these gaps with actions later, but at present this is not possible.

If you have any time left unused at the end of your downtime submission then the system will fill the remaining time with randomly selected actions for your character.

Maps And Travel
Every character begins with some knowledge of the New World where the game is set. For most new characters who have recently arrived from the Known World this will cover a relatively small area of the colony that they have landed in. Your initial knowledge of the New World includes prominent and easy to find buildings such as farms, warehouses and fortifications in the areas that you know. You can view the areas that you know at any time by viewing your character's map. If you click on a settlement then you will be shown any buildings that you know of that are in that area.

Many downtime actions can only be performed at locations that you know. For instance you can take an action to protect a settlement that you know the location of. When you look at your character's downtime options it should tell you where your character is, provided they are familiar with their current location. Every action you submit will take place at that location until you choose to act at a new location or you submit an action which requires you to move to another location first as part of the action.

The “Known Locations” option in downtime shows every location in the New World that your character knows. As you gain knowledge of new locations, they will be added to this list. This list appears in your downtime options when you choose to act at a location. You can change the order of the list so that the most useful locations are at the top, edit the name to give it a more memorable name or hide a location altogether so that it no longer appears in your list of known locations. The location will also disappear from your viewable maps if you hide it.

The second part of your known locations lists the buildings and features that you are familiar with. Like the list of locations, you can change the order that these buildings appear in, edit the name or hide them from the list altogether. Whenever you act at a location in downtime you will also gain knowledge of the area and the location and any obvious buildings that are there will be added to your list of known locations.

As your character spends more time in an area in downtime their knowledge of the surrounding area improves. This process happens much faster if you choose to explore the area. Eventually when you have learned enough about the surrounding area the viewable map for that location will change and you will see a detailed picture of the area that graphically shows the terrain. This is the most that you can learn about an area unless you are an explorer.

Some buildings and features such as mines, ritual sites and mana sites are hidden. Your character will not be able to find these features no matter how long he spends in an area unless he has the explorer skill and spends time exploring an area. An explorer who has full knowledge of the terrain in an area will be able to find buildings and features that are hidden if he continues to explore the area.

Some explorers are able to produce high quality maps of the New World. If you have such a map in your inventory, then you can view the map and see what locations and buildings are shown on it. While you have the map you can access all these locations exactly as if your character were already familiar with them. If you give the map to another character then the locations on the map that you are not currently familiar with will no longer be available to you. Any living character can spend time studying a map to learn the locations it shows.

If you coordinate another character at a location that you know then that location will be added to their list of known locations for this downtime only. If the character acts at that location then they will gain knowledge of it normally when the downtime is processed. In this way a character that is familiar with a location can help another character to act there.

Your map should not be taken as anything other than broadly representative of where your character is. Characters and their retainers are res

Using Lammies
Your character can use any Profound Decisions lammy that you have handed in to GOD at a previous event in the bag provided. For example, if you wish to use a telescope to help your character to navigate a ship or to explore the New World, then you should hand the lammy in at GOD at the end of an event in the bag provided. The lammies which you hand in will be logged to your character's inventory after the event and will be available for your use in downtime. Do not use anyone else's bag to hand your lammies in, or they will receive the lammies instead of you.

It is not possible to use an item in downtime unless the lammy is in your inventory. If you have forgotten to hand a lammy in that you wish to use in downtime then you can post it to our head office and we will register it to your inventory as soon as we receive it.

You can transfer lammies in downtime to other characters or to men-at-arms. Some actions can only be undertaken if you have a lammy to perform them on. Other actions benefit from using a lammy by taking less time, or producing more potent results. If you wish to sell an item in the Known World, for example any character who visits the Known World during their downtime will have the option to sell any lammies that they have registered to their character.

Time Based Actions
Many actions can be performed for a variable length of time. For instance, if you wish to protect a settlement against sabotage, theft or espionage then you must state how many days you wish to spend doing this. Most actions are more effective the longer that you devote to them. If you use the paper based submission system then you must state how long you are performing the action for. If you use the website to submit your actions then you will have to pick how many days you are spending from those available to you. Time based actions cannot run beyond the end of the downtime period.

Activity Based Actions
Several actions take a predetermined amount of time to complete. For instance, if your character knows how to craft a sword then you will be told how long it takes for you to craft the sword. If you select this action then the appropriate amount of time is dedicated to that action. Activity based actions are submitted as a single action, so that you can submit one that will take you beyond the last day of the downtime period.

If you do not complete an action before the last day of the downtime period, then the remainder of the action will be present in your list of options at the start of the next downtime period. You do not need to continue the action; you may delete it if you wish to do so. The time spent doing the action previously will remain "banked" so that you can resume from that point at any time in the future.

Some activity based actions can be stopped before they are complete. For instance it takes seventy-five days to learn the endurance skill. If you select this action you can elect to spend less days than this if you want to stop before you have finished so that you can resume learning the skill later.

Cooperation
Some skills can be used in cooperation with another character. To construct a barracks, your character must have the skill to build a barracks and they must have access to the skill work wood. This means that either your character must have work wood, or else you must cooperate with another character that has the work wood skill. To cooperate with another character, the individual that knows how to craft the item, ship or building must issue the relevant action and state which character they are cooperating with.

If you are using the website to do your downtime then their request for assistance will appear on your downtime options. You can then agree to accede to the request. If you use the paper based submission system then you should state any request for cooperation that you want to accept.

If a request for assistance through cooperation is not accepted then the action will fail and the system will assign a random downtime in place of the failed action.

Money
Several actions require money to complete them. Many simple actions in the downtime system require you to provide money to pay for them rather than obtain common and relatively inexpensive materials. For instance, if you wish to build a wooden boat or make a steel sword then you do not have to purchase any wood or steel. Your character can acquire all the common materials that they need by purchasing them from NPCs (non-player characters) in downtime. The costs of undertaking any action will always be shown where the costs are fixed.

Some actions have variable costs. For example, if you wish to construct a farm then you must pay workers to build the farm. There may not be enough workers to do all the work available in a group's lands. If this is the case then whoever has offered to pay the best wages will get first pick of the workers. Whenever you perform an action that has a variable cost, you must state the maximum that you are prepared to pay. You will not necessarily pay that amount; you may pay less, but you will never end up paying more. If, however, you have not offered enough money to obtain the workers you need then your action will fail and a random downtime will be assigned in place of that action.

Any money that you hand into GOD at the end of an event will be registered to your character's inventory. If your character is eligible to receive any income this will be automatically added to your inventory at the start of each downtime. You can use this money to pay for any downtime actions taken. Alternatively you can arrange to pay for your actions later by choosing to run up debts with your New World creditors.

If you choose to have your New World creditors pay for an action for you then you will be in debt at the end of the downtime. Your creditors will not extend you any further credit until you clear this debt. If you do not pay the debt by the end of the next downtime then you will be charged 25% interest on the debt every downtime that it remains unpaid.

Learning New Skills
Learning new skills is an important part of downtime. There are five different ways to learn a new skill. The simplest but the slowest way is to practise and study the skill yourself. There is a wide range of skills that can not be learned in this way. Most combat skills and priest skills cannot be learnt by study. Magical and crafting skills can only be studied if your character already knows the basics of the subject that he is studying. The online downtime system or your downtime submission sheets will tell you what skills can be learned by your character.

The second method is to study at a location. Some buildings and resources can be studied to learn skills there. The list of skills that can be gained in this way has recently been updated to increase the number of skills available. If you use the website to choose to study at a location then you will be told which skills you can learn and asked to select one. If you use a paper based submission system then you can contact Profound Decisions to find out what skills can be learnt by studying at a site. You can only study at a location that you have been given permission to use. If you have not been given permission to use a site then you cannot study there.

The third method is to practise with an item. In most cases, you can practise with an item to learn the skill which that item is used for. For instance, if you have a crafted sword then you can practise with the sword to learn the skill sword double. You cannot learn how to make swords by practising with one. If you use the website to choose to practise with an item then you will be told which skills you can learn and asked to select one. If you use a paper based submission system then you can contact Profound Decisions to find out what skills can be learnt by practising with an item.

The fourth method is to be taught a skill. You cannot make another character teach you a skill; they must submit through their downtime options to teach you. If you are using the website to do your downtime then their offer to teach you will appear on your downtime options. You can then agree to accept the offer. If you use the paper based submission system then you should state any offers of instruction that you wish to accept. For the majority of skills, teaching is much faster than learning by yourself.

The fifth method is to receive enlightenment from a loyal eidolon. This is similar to being taught, except that it is much slower and the eidolon has no influence over what skill you gain. You will receive the skill that your deity wishes people to be taught. If you are using the website to do your downtime then their offer to be enlightened will appear on your downtime options. You can then agree to accept the offer. If you use the paper based submission system then you should state any offers of enlightenment that you wish to accept. The only advantage of enlightenment is that you may gain a skill which you personally could not have gained by another route.

Whatever method you undertake, your character can only learn a skill if you know all the prerequisite skills. If you attempt to learn a skill which has a prerequisite that you do not know, then you will learn the prerequisite skill instead. The website will always inform you if a skill is going to be substituted for a prerequisite skill.

Retainers can only learn new skills by studying with an item or at a location or by being taught by another character. They cannot study a new skill or receive enlightenment. Men-at-arms can only gain skills by practising with items. Slaves cannot learn skills at all.

Buying New Equipment
If your character visits a port in the Known World then you will be able to buy equipment from there. You can buy some of the items listed in the Equipment guide for starting characters. If you use the website then the range and prices of the equipment available at that port are shown. If you use the paper based submission system then you can contact Profound Decisions to find out what items are available and at what prices.

Don't F O I P
Many aspects of the Maelstrom campaign are designed to be FOIP (find out in play). The nature of the downtime system, how it works and how to use it, is not one of these things. So far, we have struggled to provide players with sufficient information about the state of affairs in the New World and the options available to their character. This guide is one step in helping to remedy that shortcoming.

The other step is for players to ask questions. We receive dozens of emails and short simple queries will usually get a reply within a few days. You can also ring the head office any time between 9am and 6pm every week day to ask any questions that you like. The downtime system is intended to allow you to choose what options your character pursues and you should have all the relevant information that your character would have to make those decisions with. If you think that your character should know something, but can't find it in the literature, then please discuss it with us.

Completion
An important principle of the downtime system is that no downtime is processed until they have all been submitted. This means that you can't submit new actions that require the output of a previous action submitted in the same downtime period. This often means that your downtime options do not change when you would expect them to. For instance, if you make a crafted item in downtime, you cannot enchant it in the same downtime, because you cannot submit an action to enchant the item as the first downtime has not been processed yet. If you craft a ship then you cannot use the ship until next downtime.

This rule has the most significant impact when acquiring new skills. If you are taught the basics of necromancy at the start of your downtime, then you cannot then study your own necromantic spells, because the first action has not yet been processed. When the downtime is processed your character will gain the benefits of the first action. In following downtimes you will then be able to submit actions to learn new necromantic spells.

This is a limitation of the automated downtime system that affects every player equally. It is a consequence of the software used to process the downtime submissions. Removing this limitation is much more complicated and difficult than it may appear and there are no plans to do so at this time. Please bear in mind that you won't receive the benefits of ANY of your downtime actions until they are all processed.

One of the limited exceptions to this rule is if you are being taught a skill. Although you do not gain the skill taught and cannot make use of it until the next downtime, the system does track the skills you have learnt so that a teacher can teach you a skill if you have already committed to learn the prerequisite skill. In the example described above, if the teacher taught you the basics of necromancy you could not learn necromantic spells unaided, but the teacher could teach you necromantic spells in the same downtime.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.