We greatly encourage all players to submit a downtime - a between-game email that lets Plot Team know what your character is doing, thinking, or planning.
Downtimes are due two weeks after the end of the preceding game. This allows us to ensure that responses are taken into account with the running story and that the quality of responses doesn’t suffer.
PCs are limited to two downtime actions per between-game period, either individual or in a group. Between events, PCs may only perform one in/around town action and may also only perform one action outside of town.
If an action is not available or accessible at the time, Plot Team may reach out to discuss redirecting or alternative courses of action.
When emailing Plot Team regarding a downtime, please ensure that the word "Downtime" is in the subject line of your email. All downtimes should be sent to: plot@cotvlarp.com.
There are currently two kinds of Downtimes that Plot Team will be accepting:
Explaining what a PC is doing between games
You do not have to send an email to Plot Team if your PC isn’t doing anything to interact with the greater world, but you can if you just want us to know what your PC is up to. This may assist Plot Team in understanding your PC and their goals. Plot Team will respond with “received” once we have read this email.
Explaining how a PC is interacting with plot or attempting to interact with an NPC
If you want your PC to interact with current plots running in the game, look for more information on a plot, or reach an NPC between games, we would like you to hear from you. Such interactions could include writing letters, seeking out NPCs, walking alone in the woods, or otherwise interacting with the game world.
There are two main ways to interact with the game’s plot in downtimes. Both include your character’s (or a group of characters’) actions and their intent. Normal Downtimes are usually describing your characters’ actions in the greater game world. There are also Research Downtimes, which more specifically include the exact information your character (or characters) are seeking.
With all downtimes, we always need a list of which players and characters are engaging in the downtime (all players should be cc’d on the email if their PCs are participating), what their relevant skills or backstory beats are, and what experience they have with relevant plots have been at game.
When submitting a Normal Downtime, we will always need the following information:
What are you doing? This can be as simple as “Venturing out in the woods to seek out food for the winter” or as complex as a detailed list of actions to be taken and contingencies for failures or dead ends. In the case of a group downtime, each character must list what they are doing.
What do you as a player hope to accomplish? This can be as simple as “I want to learn more about the MacGuffin” or outlining the end goal of the endeavor.
If your goal is impossible to achieve for any reason, what sort of outcomes would be acceptable to you as a player? Outlining a worst case scenario that you envision, and how you’ve planned for it, is useful for Plot to ensure that expectations are aligned when things don’t go as planned.
When submitting a Research Downtime, we will always need the following information:
What are you researching? Example: “I want to research this strange ingestible I found.”
How are you going about researching it? Example: “I want to test this ingestible I found against known concoctions.” In the case of a group downtime, each character must list what they are doing.
What resources do you have? Example: “A Chemistry set and samples of the ingestible.”
What do you hope to learn as a player? Example: “I hope to learn how to reproduce this ingestible.”
Please do not write your emails as if beginning a roleplay scenario. We welcome roleplay requests, but have limited time and resources to fulfill requests and reserve the right to decline roleplay in favor of broader discussion. In the event Plot agrees to a scene, this can be completed either through emails or by means of a custom channel on the Call of the Void Discord server.
Players should be as detailed as possible in their emails. Plot may ask follow-up questions and will respond with what the character's actions resulted in.
Plot Team will always in some way respond to a downtime. If you have not received a response, please follow up two weeks before the next event.
The availability of NPCs are up to Plot's discretion, but requests for NPCs in downtimes are always welcome.
A character can be harmed in downtimes and may lead to IG consequences or death. Character deaths will always be handled at game. The player will always receive a warning from Plot if their suggested actions will put their character at risk. The player will then be given a chance to change what their character is doing or continue forward knowing something bad may happen to their character.
We will always try to give a PC something in return for sending in a downtime that interacts with plots going on in the game world. However, the amount of what a PC receives will be dependent on what Plot Team receives in a downtime email. In this way, please include as much information as possible.
Players may run between game roleplay between PCs, such as through chats or emails. Any information or achievements during such a collaboration may not affect the plots in game and may not be validated by Plot Team as having happened inside of game space. Because of this, we suggest not roleplaying as though things that we oversee (monsters, lore, entities, NPCs) are participating in this PC-with-PC interaction. PCs cannot run an unofficial "event" and act as Plot Team.
Players may request a scene with Plot Team oversight or involvement. However, Plot Team may decline the request if they do not have the resources available to participate.
If you would like to request a scene with an NPC for between-game roleplay, either through text RP or through a video call, please email Plot Team with that request. Include “NPC Roleplay” in the subject line of the email. Plot Team may coordinate with the NPC in order to set this up. It is always possible that the NPC may not be available.