Downtime

Downtime is used to refer to time during the week between the linears and interactives. Uptime refers to both the Interactives (Fridays) and the Linears (Saturdays) and is the main focus of LARP, but other events in your characters' lives can affect and fuel what happens there.


It should be noted that Downtimes are entirely optional, you don't need to submit one to play the game and you won't receive any penalties. Don't worry - you don't need to have Touchstones and even if you don't submit a downtime there are plenty of other reasons why your Touchstones might come and ask for help!


If you think about LARP like a TV show then the Interactives and Linears are the show itself where the action and drama happens. In this example Downtimes are the premise for the next episode, the events that aren't shown on screen but have fallout that the characters need to deal with.


Almost all Downtimes will involve your Touchstones in some way as they are important people in your life, but as stated in the Touchstones section you are not very good at being human and while you are probably successful in your goal, your actions will often result in unintended consequences.


As a result of what happens in Downtime if you interacted with your Touchstones they will probably come to the UCH asking for your or others for help. If you did a downtime that doesn't involve Touchstones, you might not need a response or it might affect someone else's Touchstone. Either way, it drives some action for everyone to get involved in.

Submitting a Downtime

Downtime is designed to be simple. If you want to cause some drama for yourself or others or do something small to advance personal character goals, this is a possible way to do so.


If you want to submit a downtime request to the refs we will ask for what Tone you want your response to have. The Tone helps us work out the kind of response you get, the difference between whether you're in a sitcom with occasional serious notes or grim "How high is the body count?". This helps us to manage expectations and give everyone a response they will enjoy. Some example Tones could be: Realistic, Sitcom/Farce, Hit me in the feels, Let the bodies pile up.


As a note about restricted topics and escalation, they are completely unrelated! Escalation is talking about the stakes and the drama involved with an action, restricted topics are about the content. You can have a lighter tone even when dealing with restricted topics and the examples page includes some.


There are three ways you can organise and submit a downtime, which all happen on the Discord via your Player Communication channel (usually #YourName near the bottom):


  1. You can mutually agree with a Touchstone that you're going to plot your downtime together and you don't need to involve refs at all if your Touchstone is up for it. Once you're done, tell the refs about it in your Player Communication channel on the discord so that we know what's going on and make sure it fits with the setting.

  2. You can send a downtime request via your Player Communication channel - ideally both a short action description (50 words max?) plus a sentence about what Tone you want. This should usually be something about your relationship with a Touchstone but could be anything - more complicated things are less likely to get a satisfying response.

  3. If you don't know what you want and just want things to Happen to your Touchstones, tell us what Tone of drama you want via your Player Communication channel. After all, life can Just Happen to people.


If you have any questions about this process please feel free to ask the Downtime refs questions via your Player Communication channel - you can tell who they are by the roles on Discord. If you want some examples of Downtimes and how Tone affects them check out the Downtime Examples page.