Downtime

Actions Between Games

Your Sporebound exists even when not fighting the good fight against the Blight. Most of the time between gatherings is spent maintaining their human life. Still, between games your character strives to make meaningful changes for themselves and the world around them.

Between games, you gain a single Investigation and a single Downtime Action.

Between games, select one piece of plot your character is interested in learning more about. If you can’t think of a plot, pick one of your Anchors and ask to learn something going on related to them. The Storyteller will respond with a clue or piece of information related to what you chose.

Understand that if multiple people/Troops investigate the same thing, it’s not that unlikely they’ll get the same answer. You’re all Sporebound, and you all have the same overall goal: remember to play well and coordinate with others.

Between games, your character may accomplish one meaningful goal. Select a single Downtime Action from the following list:

  • Investigate. As per Investigation. You double down on learning two clues.

  • Develop an Anchor. Gain an additional Anchor. Describe how you build your relationship with this person or group. Work with the storytellers to determine your Anchor. You may have a max of 3 Anchors at a time.

  • Protect your Anchor. Select a single Anchor. They are immune to being In Crisis next game, whether via player’s actions between games or the Heat Map.

  • Undermine Anchor. Select an Anchor held by another PC and describe how you jeopardize that PC’s relationship with that Anchor. This can be as simple as kidnapping a person, or spreading rumors about someone among a group. That Anchor is In Crisis at the next game that the player attends. You may not kill Anchors (but see Destroy Anchor, below). The Crisis may be solved if you choose to Solve it, or if the player gets two other players to expend their Anchors or Resource for a Narrative benefit.

  • Destroy Anchor. Select an Anchor held by another PC and describe how you completely and in a (semi?) permanent fashion remove their connection to them. The Anchor must have ended the game still In Crisis at the end of the last game. That Anchor is Removed.

  • Narrative Impact. Start a business, finish college, help one of your Anchors achieve their dreams, or otherwise work with the Storytellers to have a meaningful impact on the setting. In addition to the story, you receive a single Resource related to what was achieved. This could be a literal item, a favor, or anything else that makes narrative sense. The Resource may be spent for a Narrative Benefit like an Anchor. This may only be done once, and then the Resource is gone for good. You may never have more than three Resources at a time.

  • Culture a Germ: Spend time investing in your personal relationship with an Anchor and investing into their story. One of your Germs associated with that Anchor becomes Cultured as a result of your efforts.

If your downtime targets something ineligible, it simply fails (for instance, targeting something that is not that PC’s Anchor, or trying to Destroy an Anchor that did not end the game In Crisis). Your character can not die between games. Lengthy explanations about how safe they are aren’t helpful. It’s just not fun as a game, so it’s enough to say it won’t happen.