New Downtime Format!
Good news! Downtime Reports just got easier! And just in time for April's Downtime Report too! Now that character listings are private, you will post your downtime reports in your character listing forum. This should make it easier to track, and will leave a record for future reference. Only you and the Ops team has access to view and post to your character forums, so there is no need to hide things behind PMs. Also, we've simplified how to write a report. The House Rules have been updated to reflect both of these changes, so be sure to take a look.
So you have collected a bunch of XP, but now what? We’re going to look at how you can spend it, what the STers want to know, and how it should be incorporated into your rp. The following example was originally posted by Thea, but has been edited to reflect changes to the new report method. We’re going to use the NPC Jack, earned by Talyn during personal plot. Jack is a low level Mortal minion with no awareness of the supernatural world. Jack's Character Sheet Jack is an 18 year old street kid who has never finished high school. Talyn knows he’s got potential but Jack is in need of a bit of refinement and polish to make him shine. During this month of rp, Talyn has pulled Jack aside and made the following comments.
'"You need to be a little quicker on your toes boy, and I don’t mean in the physical sense. I need you to make the best decision in a tight spot."
This is referring to Wits, a mental attribute. Jack already has 2 dots of Wits so this will be dot 3. Using the XP Cost thread, we see this will cost 8 XP (Current Rating x4)
"You’re about as scary as a kitten in a box someone labeled FREE to a good home. Who are you going to be able to intimidate kid? The local thugs are going to eat you up!"
It is all about Intimidate here, a talent-ability. Jack currently has no points in intimidate so this will be his first dot. The cost will be 3 XP.
"You don’t know anybody on these streets. How are you going to get any information when I need it?"
This one falls under Contacts which is a Background. Backgrounds are chosen at character creation, but can be expanded upon through active rp. Many backgrounds will not cost you XP, but it does require rp with a STer. Be careful though. Just because you want to make a new contact doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing. This requires effort on your part to get with a STer and play it out, AND requires you to make choices. Like a choose your own adventure book, not all choices lead to the prize at the end.
"How did you get this far without a mastery of influencing others? It’s so important in this line of work, especially with as useless as you are with a gun or a knife. Time to use that to your advantage. Learn to control a situation with confidence, deflect focus on to something else, and you’ll have them eating out of your hand."
This of course the social attribute Manipulation. Jack has 2 dots of this as well, so the cost will be another 8 XP.
Let’s assume Jack only has 15 XP right now. Right now, Jack wants to work on four things, the total cost of which is 19. Jack is going to have to pick what is most important to him for this month and at least one of these will have to wait for another month. His Downtime Report might look something like this.
------------------------------------------------------------- Thread Title: Downtime Report [Apr '16] Name: Jack the NPC * Last month Jack heard that some kid at school was picking on his sister but she won’t tell him who it is. Jack’s been asking some of her friends, offering small bribes of candy for anyone who can tell him what’s been happening and who’s behind it. * Talyn has also been pressing Jack to learn a few new skills. Details below. * Talyn also wants Jack to work on his manipulation (future xp purchase) but for now Jack has resolved to act more confident in May so he will have an easier time learning to influence people in the future. Stat/Power and Rank: Wits 3 XP Cost: 8 XP Justification: Jack will be sitting down in the Park early morning on the weekends to play Chess with the old men and pit wits with them. Attempting to keep up as they sling insults back and forth, as well as selecting his moves faster as he plays a timed game of chess. Stat/Power and Rank: Intimidate 1 XP Cost: 3 XP Justification: Mostly right now he'll be bullying street kids slightly younger then him into handing over bits of information. He will threaten them with suggestions of what will happen, who will find them in the cold dark night. Also, Jack attempted to intimidate Rose into giving him enough money for a cup of coffee….RAWR….she hit him with a purse! (This was rp’d privately this month with Rose.) Stat/Power and Rank: Background: Contact XP Cost: 0 XP Justification: Jack is looking for a more knowledge contact in the underworld. He is using his lesser contacts to feel out who might be a little more up on the news, or who might be good to get in touch with and make friends. I am available to play Wed. evenings, and weekend nights if you want to run a scene for the contacts.