Shadowrun
Shadowrun Missions Living Campaign => Living Campaign Discussion => Topic started by: runarm on <12-31-14/0829:47>
-
Hi all.
As I've started preparing to run Missions I've begun looking into things like the missions calendar and downtime between missions.
Aside from training (pg.103-107 in SR5), what exactly can characters use their downtime for in a Missions campaign? And how do they go about doing it? The FAQ is not very clear on this.
The Missions calendar concept has me a little confused. I assume that the calendar is per character, and is mostly used to track that character's time spent training and going on runs - is that right?
Do players mark the missions their characters take part in on the calendar, and if so, does a run take an entire week's slot even though in game time the run only lasted a couple of days or even a few hours?
Can this scenario come up?: Two people who both attend the same two sessions in a row, have different amounts of downtime marked on their characters calendars between those two Missions because one needed more training time than the other
Is the downtime a character can have related at all to the real-world time between Missions sessions?
I think that's enough stupid questions for now :)
Hope you guys can help
R.M.
-
Hi all.
As I've started preparing to run Missions I've begun looking into things like the missions calendar and downtime between missions.
Aside from training (pg.103-107 in SR5), what exactly can characters use their downtime for in a Missions campaign? And how do they go about doing it? The FAQ is not very clear on this.
Downtime can be spent just like normal, but there's a lot of changes from the standard rules. You always use the buying hits rules for activities that are permanent (like buying a gun, learning a spell, or having a contact network for you, for example), and several activities are handled in special ways (such as fixing all the broken drek and healing damage suffered during a run). From the FAQ, page 10 and 11:
"Any additional time that you take to buy gear, train, etc. should all be marked on the calendar, and take additional time on your calendar. You may take multiple actions in a single week if they take fewer than 7 days, and actions may spill into the following week. So a training session that takes 3 days and learning a spell that takes 6 days would take 9 days total. You track your weeks in full though, so any “unused days” before the next Mission are lost.
You must pay your Lifestyle costs at the beginning of the week of each month (after the first month), before you do anything else that week.
You may not take more than four weeks off between shadowruns. After all, you need to keep your name out there. Runners that stay hidden too long run the risk of being forgotten, and your fixer will stop calling if you ignore him too often."
Note the restrictions on amount of downtime; 1 week per run and then 4 weeks of downtime max between each run.
The Missions calendar concept has me a little confused. I assume that the calendar is per character, and is mostly used to track that character's time spent training and going on runs - is that right?
Correct. Each player character maintains their own Missions calendar separate from all others.
Do players mark the missions their characters take part in on the calendar, and if so, does a run take an entire week's slot even though in game time the run only lasted a couple of days or even a few hours?
Yes, and yes. From the FAQ page 10:
"You can run one Missions adventure per week, and you cannot use that week for anything else."
Can this scenario come up?: Two people who both attend the same two sessions in a row, have different amounts of downtime marked on their characters calendars between those two Missions because one needed more training time than the other
Yes, this is a very probable outcome, since as mentioned above each player character's calendar is separate from any others.
Is the downtime a character can have related at all to the real-world time between Missions sessions?
As I understand it Missions are designed for convention play where the group of players are unlikely to be consistent. Think of Missions less like your traditional game between a group of friends and more like a game between total strangers who all share a love for Shadowrun.
I think that's enough stupid questions for now :)
Hope you guys can help
R.M.
Have fun with Missions!
-
Aside from training (pg.103-107 in SR5), what exactly can characters use their downtime for in a Missions campaign? And how do they go about doing it? The FAQ is not very clear on this.
H.B. gave you most the info you'll need but there are a couple things I'd add to that.
1. There is a time when you do have to have all the runners on the same calendar. That is if they are sharing a lifestyle. So I would avoid that for sure since sharing the calendar is really a pain since everyone needs different training times.
2. In a addition to a minimum of 1 run every 5 weeks that H.B. mentioned you also want to remember that you have to keep up long term training & can not miss more than 3 weeks before its wasted. (For Example Initiation is 4 Weeks, Skills 5+ & Attrtbutes are many weeks long)
So you have to time your calendar carefully if you are doing to make sure you keep up the Shadowruns & the Long Duration training while still fitting in other stuff that you want to do, like short term training like learning spells, low level skills, binding a foci, quickening spells, buying items yourself instead of using fixer, etc etc.