What do other DMs do to invoke greater immersion and realism in their campaigns?
For example, I have a homebrew rule called Fit for the Road. Essentially, it means:
Exhaustion is incurred more frequently when adventuring in the wilderness. This could be from extended periods walking through difficult terrain, failed athletics checks, illness, etc.
I've added Intelligence (Cooking) as a skill. A Short Rest + Successful Cooking Check can reduce one level of exhaustion and provide temporary hp depending on how high the roll is.
Long Rests in proper establishments with decent meals have greater benefits than camping on the road with just rations. Spending money on grand accommodations can even result in inspiration for the next day, as the PC is now sated, well-slept, and invigorated to return to their adventures.
I've found that this rule allows for a greater necessity for players to find decent taverns and avoid "slumming it" just because they want to hang on to their gold. It also makes money far more meaningful on a daily basis.
Just curious what other people do to create a better sense of realism in their world and dial up the grit.
The first thing that comes to mind that I do also uses the Exhaustion mechanic. Any time a character drops to 0 HP, they get a point of exhaustion. This point of exhaustion can only be removed by getting a Long Rest combined with magical healing. If they can't get enough magical healing to restore them to full HP, and have to depend on natural healing, they need to rest longer in a safer location like an inn.
I don't really have a hard calculation for tracking HP healed precisely or what constitutes a 'good' rest. It's mostly just played more to suit the narrative at the moment for the recovery part. Whatever feels right. But by giving out the exhaustion, it prevents anyone from playing 'whack a mole' with healing in combat. It makes the players take going unconscious more seriously. And I think the magic healing stipulation helps the rest of the world feel more realistic. It's kind of a compromise between normal play and the 'gritty realism' rules, where both take place in the same world.
Heroes might have access to a cleric, but they still need to expend spells to recover from grievous wounds. Regular people in the world are usually stuck in bed for weeks to recover naturally. This especially makes the aftermath of large battles/wars feel more realistic. After the long night defending the town against a horde of monsters, there are makeshift hospitals full of injured NPCs. The few healers in the town can't help everyone immediately. They have to triage the worst cases. The rest of the townsfolk and NPC guards have a longer road to recovery. If the party has healers, they can even spend the next day tending to the injured. It's a heroic action and makes the war feel truly dangerous to see its toll. NPCs they meet might still be nursing a broken arm the next time they see them.
Even if the PCs can overcome their personal injuries more easily, it still takes time and resources, and makes the injuries feel more 'real.' And it helps create a world where the heroes are the exception rather than the rule. So that kind of rubs off on them, even just by seeing NPCs struggle with recovery.
The first thing that comes to mind that I do also uses the Exhaustion mechanic. Any time a character drops to 0 HP, they get a point of exhaustion. This point of exhaustion can only be removed by getting a Long Rest combined with magical healing. If they can't get enough magical healing to restore them to full HP, and have to depend on natural healing, they need to rest longer in a safer location like an inn.
I don't really have a hard calculation for tracking HP healed precisely or what constitutes a 'good' rest. It's mostly just played more to suit the narrative at the moment for the recovery part. Whatever feels right. But by giving out the exhaustion, it prevents anyone from playing 'whack a mole' with healing in combat. It makes the players take going unconscious more seriously. And I think the magic healing stipulation helps the rest of the world feel more realistic. It's kind of a compromise between normal play and the 'gritty realism' rules, where both take place in the same world.
Heroes might have access to a cleric, but they still need to expend spells to recover from grievous wounds. Regular people in the world are usually stuck in bed for weeks to recover naturally. This especially makes the aftermath of large battles/wars feel more realistic. After the long night defending the town against a horde of monsters, there are makeshift hospitals full of injured NPCs. The few healers in the town can't help everyone immediately. They have to triage the worst cases. The rest of the townsfolk and NPC guards have a longer road to recovery. If the party has healers, they can even spend the next day tending to the injured. It's a heroic action and makes the war feel truly dangerous to see its toll. NPCs they meet might still be nursing a broken arm the next time they see them.
Even if the PCs can overcome their personal injuries more easily, it still takes time and resources, and makes the injuries feel more 'real.' And it helps create a world where the heroes are the exception rather than the rule. So that kind of rubs off on them, even just by seeing NPCs struggle with recovery.
100% agree! I also induce a level of exhaustion for falling unconscious. I do like your take on requiring magical healing though because, yes, it would realistically take weeks to recover from very serious wounds. I think I will implement that to dial up the grit and put an emphasis on the conservation of healing magic spell slots. Thanks!
And thank you! I'm thrilled we get to share ideas like this.
Another thing I do for this house rule isn't really a mechanic, but I do describe the 'feeling' of each kind of healing differently too. If the party just slept in a cave after a lot of fighting, and healed naturally, I tell them how they wake up sore. I specifically mention the injuries they took. How their ribs hurt when they move from the time the giant crab pinched them in that last fight. Or how tender their cuts are as they wrap them with fresh bandages. How their character has a moment thinking they need to be careful about not getting infected.
If they heal magically, I describe it based on the source of magic. A cleric of Life might create a soothing, numbing feeling as they watch their wounds rapidly close. A Wildfire Druid might cause a burning flash that hurts as they cleanse the wound with flame. But it quickly passes and they know the wounds won't fester.
This might really just be basic DMing kind of stuff, but it helps reinforce the idea that natural and magically healing are very different.
And thank you! I'm thrilled we get to share ideas like this.
Another thing I do for this house rule isn't really a mechanic, but I do describe the 'feeling' of each kind of healing differently too. If the party just slept in a cave after a lot of fighting, and healed naturally, I tell them how they wake up sore. I specifically mention the injuries they took. How their ribs hurt when they move from the time the giant crab pinched them in that last fight. Or how tender their cuts are as they wrap them with fresh bandages. How their character has a moment thinking they need to be careful about not getting infected.
If they heal magically, I describe it based on the source of magic. A cleric of Life might create a soothing, numbing feeling as they watch their wounds rapidly close. A Wildfire Druid might cause a burning flash that hurts as they cleanse the wound with flame. But it quickly passes and they know the wounds won't fester.
This might really just be basic DMing kind of stuff, but it helps reinforce the idea that natural and magically healing are very different.
THIS! I have a very similar take on narrating healing magic based on source. Similar to your example above, one of the PCs in my campaign is a Life Domain Cleric/Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen. So, he's essentially the healer of the group but also has a reservoir of necrotic spells to dish out some damage. To keep up his character's flavor and remind the group that his PC shouldn't be seen as some lovable priest that cures their injuries when they get boo boos, I describe his magic as a "cold staving off of death" rather than a "surge of warmth and vitality." This helps keep the focus that he's in fact a priest of a goddess of the death domain itself and taking healing from him should induce some level of relative despair (for flavor and RP purposes).
It seems we have some common DM styles. I'm interested to know how you handle downtime in your campaign. Any thoughts to share?
I love that flavor for a death domain related style of healing. Very nice.
Downtime is an interesting question, and one I've been struggling a bit with personally at the moment.
I think it largely depends on the group of players and what they want from the game. If they groan at the idea of even a short shopping trip, I'm not going to make downtime very complicated. The rules in the main books and Xanathar's work just fine for quick resolutions.
If they are all really into roleplaying out scenes that aren't directly related to a quest, I'm totally happy doing that with them as long as they like.
My current campaign is somewhat unusual. All of the characters have skills they like to explore out of combat, which is awesome. Our rogue/warlock is proficient in herbalism and poison kits. He loves to forage for herbs and mushrooms and venom for creating healing potions and poisons. Our atificer loves creating maps and wants to start making more permanent magic items and scrolls. Our monk considers himself a chef and merchant first, and an adventurer later. He is happy to find new ingredients for meals and run his food cart at the market
The only problem (and it's not really a problem) is that they are all really motivated by the plot haha. They feel an urgency to follow up on every lead, push towards the next objective, or solve a mystery of the world. Even when I've placed no ticking clock on anything. And that's wonderful! I'm really happy they want to engage with the story. It just makes it pretty hard to convince them that they can settle down for a few days in a nice town sometimes.
So lately I have been consciously trying to let them wrap up any loose ends one at a time before starting the next arc. They will be heading towards the biggest local city soon. And I've told the players that they will have some weeks of downtime. So they can plan for it. I've shown them examples from the books and let them come up with their own. They are all new players.
The artificer wants to use their connections with the academy there to start forging items and transcribing spells at their facility. Their player loves social roleplaying so I expect that to take a lot of time. The monk wants to just run his business. His player isn't much into social situations and he is happy to let me cover those actions in a brief montage and some rolls. The rogue loves combat and harvesting. His player wants to get a list of materials the artificer needs for magic items and go hunt for components. That will take some time too, but mostly be combat and mild survival. So I'm considering running each of them separately between actual sessions. That way they don't get bored waiting on each other to do things they aren't as interested in. I'll also try to bring elements of the next story arc into each of their downtime activities. Little clues to what's happening next. So they can get geared up to explore again by the end of it.
If I was stuck on a strict schedule, and had to do everything at the table, I'd probably run it mostly by the book to save time. Unless they were really invested and could work on some part of it together. Like if one player ran into trouble gambling and they all had to bail him out. That could be a fun diversion. I'd focus the time we have on one set piece.
I don't usually use prescribed lists of materials and components for crafting. I prefer to match it to the location and the character's level on the fly, and try to fit it in the narrative. If I had a prewritten list that said a Ring of Protection needs an eye from a beholder, and that's what they choose to craft, they would run off to another part of the world to find it and go way off the plot. That's fine for a sandbox style game, but I find it can make a more traditional story difficult.
How do you handle downtime? I'd love to hear other people's ideas. And any suggestions on making it run smoothly while still be exciting.
That all makes total sense and seems, from experience, to be the common conception of downtime for both players and DMs. Personally, I encourage and promote a whole downtime based system that I developed for my world. I love the idea of the characters having side businesses and other things to care about "back home" when they are off adventuring. I've found that it provides an extra layer of fun for when adventure arcs conclude and, more importantly, provides an almost limitless supply of story hooks - both for the main narrative and for side quests if you decide to spice things up.
For example, my players (6) currently own a tavern in the city as a collective partnership. They were actually gifted the tavern after completing a job for one of the city officials, but had to use their own resources to refurbish it and staff it. We had a whole session where the party used their different skills and reputations to get their place equipped - the barbarian did the heavy labor and carpentry, the swashbuckler/bard secured the alcohol deal for the bar, the cleric with a noble background fronted the cost for new inventory and hires, along with the drow rogue who has a significant amount of material wealth, etc. It was great and the tavern provides a continuous source of income - depending on random encounter rolls for the establishment itself.
However, they also have their own personal endeavors. The swashbuckler/bard owns his own small massage parlor. The drow rogue has a separate gambling den in the shadier part of town. The warlock is developing an alchemy practice.
I find it gives the players a chance to highlight the effectiveness of their classes more and also brings a good sense of cohesion when in the city and not just when fighting. Plus, its a great way to introduce new adversaries!
That sounds awesome. I've had characters get land, houses, even a whole town once. When an old group was at the level to attract followers back in 2nd edition, they invested most of their money in a small village they saved, and years later they became it's council and protectors. But I never had a group get the literal tavern that so many games start in! Constant plot hooks. Fantastic.
My current group has an airship/spelljammer that is their kind of home base. They like to invest in it, interact with the crew, make modifications. One of my players, the artificer, wanted to be the captain of a ship. But they had to spend the first five levels trying make money and clear their name to get it out of impound (and preserve some balance.) It was part of the reward for finishing the first big arc.
It's a lot of fun. I even built a full scale model of it for battles. The only problem, the one I didn't think about, is that their home base is mobile! There's very little reason for them to stop and just relax anywhere permanent. Oh well... live and learn. Don't do what I did if you want to ever stop moving. Haha
Do you have your downtime system written down? Is there a guide of sorts? Or is it more of just a method you keep in mind? I'd love to hear more. Downtime is one of the more interesting aspects of the game to me, and sadly underutilized in so many games.
Do you have your downtime system written down? Is there a guide of sorts? Or is it more of just a method you keep in mind? I'd love to hear more. Downtime is one of the more interesting aspects of the game to me, and sadly underutilized in so many games.
In addition to this, I have the players give me a detailed account of what their characters are doing during the allotted downtime and then from there, I implement a series of rolls and consequential circumstances. Sometimes these are quick and simple, with lots of flavor. Other times, things can get a little more complex and have more dramatic results.
For example, let's say the drow rogue wants to spend three weeks of downtime building up his shoddy gambling den in the seedier part of the city. He tells me he wants to add a bar to the den in order to increase customer traffic and also get players to be riskier with their bets. Now, obviously the rogue is an adventurer first and a business proprietor second, so our sessions won't be focused on RPing this out. Instead, we do a series of downtime rolls - which we usually handle outside of our sessions. It's a great way to keep "playing" even when you aren't playing!
So, here's how I would do it. This seems like a lot but is actually super easy to manage once you do it a couple of times.
Ask the PC how he wants to add in the bar. Either by buying the materials and spending the time doing it himself, which makes the actual bar price 50% of its total cost (to account for his own labor) or whether he wants to pay for full service and thus keep his personal time to himself. My player decides to pay full price for the labor, since he wants to go thieving while the bar is being built, which he believes will cover the cost of full service and then some.
The player pays the full price and work begins on Day 1 of downtime and will take approximately one week to finish.
In that week, the Player then decides to go thieving (narrative pickpocketing and burglary).
I ask for a Skill Challenge: Intelligence (Street Smarts) (which is a homebrew skill) to mark targets, Dexterity (Stealth) to avoid detection, and Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) to successfully fish for valuables out of people's pockets and hard to reach places.
I relay the results based on how high each check is. A Street Smarts check determines the range of valuables that he can possibly obtain during his time thieving because of how he manages to mark decent targets (e.g. high roll - catches wind of a visiting noble of high affluence, medium roll - locates a relatively wealthy merchant from the market, low roll - can only find the lowliest of laborers/sailors). A high Sleight of Hand will yield the most valuable items on the marked target (e.g. a diamond or other precious gem from a noble, a decent piece of jewelry from a merchant, or a smattering of copper from the lowly sailor. A Nat 1 would result in finding nothing of value. A high Stealth roll would mean the PC successfully avoided detection for the entire stint. A medium stealth roll would mean the rogue was undetected by the target but may have been seen by others leaving a window or removing his hand from someone's pocket (which could lead to implications down the road), a low stealth roll means the rogue was made by the target and must leave behind all potential "earnings" in order to escape. A Nat 1 is automatic capture, either by authorities or, even better, a disgruntled would-be victim who wants to extract their own justice.
Now, all of these have further effects for downtime. If the rolls were high, the rogue would complete downtime with a brand new bar in his establishment and more net worth to boot, either in the form of precious gems or stolen coin. That's always the hope of everyone at the table! However, if the rolls are low, then this spices things up. Perhaps the rogue is captured and being held in a warehouse by a disgruntled merchant who the rogue attempted to steal from. More than just a shopkeeper, this merchant is also a mercenary for hire in his downtime and is now using the rogue for ransom. Next session means the party may have to put their adventure on hold to deal with this - if they choose to! (It's always good when PC's develop a sense of friendship in the party!)
Lastly, we take into account the addition of the establishment. Implementing a bar now comes with several benefits. Although the cost to implement it could be high, requiring significant money and time, the perks can be very worth it. For example, in my setting, a bar in the gambling den would increase the monthly revenue of the den by 50%, but also increase the likelihood of damage by 25% (from inebriated patrons). Similarly, I would grant a bonus to the owner's charisma checks whenever they try to extract information from someone at their bar.
If a business establishes a reputation, like the tavern that my PC's own, I also grant them advantage on charisma checks made within the city. For example, they would have an easier time gaining an audience with a noble or magistrate since they are well-known citizens with a lucrative local business. It's also a great way to have rivals extract retribution when the party is away. In my previous campaign, a bitter lord that the party had wronged burned down their inn when they were away - a place they sunk nearly 10,000gp into and which contained trophies from their previous adventures. Talk about a PISSED OFF group of PCs (although the players had an absolute blast with the RP and the scheming to extract their revenge). Despite their magic weapons, magic armor, spells, and skills - that's a loss they couldn't fight back against because they simply weren't there to defend it.
This is a bit of a watered down version but I think you get the gist. Happy to talk more!
What do other DMs do to invoke greater immersion and realism in their campaigns?
For example, I have a homebrew rule called Fit for the Road. Essentially, it means:
I've found that this rule allows for a greater necessity for players to find decent taverns and avoid "slumming it" just because they want to hang on to their gold. It also makes money far more meaningful on a daily basis.
Just curious what other people do to create a better sense of realism in their world and dial up the grit.
Those are awesome ideas!
The first thing that comes to mind that I do also uses the Exhaustion mechanic. Any time a character drops to 0 HP, they get a point of exhaustion. This point of exhaustion can only be removed by getting a Long Rest combined with magical healing. If they can't get enough magical healing to restore them to full HP, and have to depend on natural healing, they need to rest longer in a safer location like an inn.
I don't really have a hard calculation for tracking HP healed precisely or what constitutes a 'good' rest. It's mostly just played more to suit the narrative at the moment for the recovery part. Whatever feels right. But by giving out the exhaustion, it prevents anyone from playing 'whack a mole' with healing in combat. It makes the players take going unconscious more seriously. And I think the magic healing stipulation helps the rest of the world feel more realistic. It's kind of a compromise between normal play and the 'gritty realism' rules, where both take place in the same world.
Heroes might have access to a cleric, but they still need to expend spells to recover from grievous wounds. Regular people in the world are usually stuck in bed for weeks to recover naturally. This especially makes the aftermath of large battles/wars feel more realistic. After the long night defending the town against a horde of monsters, there are makeshift hospitals full of injured NPCs. The few healers in the town can't help everyone immediately. They have to triage the worst cases. The rest of the townsfolk and NPC guards have a longer road to recovery. If the party has healers, they can even spend the next day tending to the injured. It's a heroic action and makes the war feel truly dangerous to see its toll. NPCs they meet might still be nursing a broken arm the next time they see them.
Even if the PCs can overcome their personal injuries more easily, it still takes time and resources, and makes the injuries feel more 'real.' And it helps create a world where the heroes are the exception rather than the rule. So that kind of rubs off on them, even just by seeing NPCs struggle with recovery.
100% agree! I also induce a level of exhaustion for falling unconscious. I do like your take on requiring magical healing though because, yes, it would realistically take weeks to recover from very serious wounds. I think I will implement that to dial up the grit and put an emphasis on the conservation of healing magic spell slots. Thanks!
And thank you! I'm thrilled we get to share ideas like this.
Another thing I do for this house rule isn't really a mechanic, but I do describe the 'feeling' of each kind of healing differently too. If the party just slept in a cave after a lot of fighting, and healed naturally, I tell them how they wake up sore. I specifically mention the injuries they took. How their ribs hurt when they move from the time the giant crab pinched them in that last fight. Or how tender their cuts are as they wrap them with fresh bandages. How their character has a moment thinking they need to be careful about not getting infected.
If they heal magically, I describe it based on the source of magic. A cleric of Life might create a soothing, numbing feeling as they watch their wounds rapidly close. A Wildfire Druid might cause a burning flash that hurts as they cleanse the wound with flame. But it quickly passes and they know the wounds won't fester.
This might really just be basic DMing kind of stuff, but it helps reinforce the idea that natural and magically healing are very different.
THIS! I have a very similar take on narrating healing magic based on source. Similar to your example above, one of the PCs in my campaign is a Life Domain Cleric/Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen. So, he's essentially the healer of the group but also has a reservoir of necrotic spells to dish out some damage. To keep up his character's flavor and remind the group that his PC shouldn't be seen as some lovable priest that cures their injuries when they get boo boos, I describe his magic as a "cold staving off of death" rather than a "surge of warmth and vitality." This helps keep the focus that he's in fact a priest of a goddess of the death domain itself and taking healing from him should induce some level of relative despair (for flavor and RP purposes).
It seems we have some common DM styles. I'm interested to know how you handle downtime in your campaign. Any thoughts to share?
I love that flavor for a death domain related style of healing. Very nice.
Downtime is an interesting question, and one I've been struggling a bit with personally at the moment.
I think it largely depends on the group of players and what they want from the game. If they groan at the idea of even a short shopping trip, I'm not going to make downtime very complicated. The rules in the main books and Xanathar's work just fine for quick resolutions.
If they are all really into roleplaying out scenes that aren't directly related to a quest, I'm totally happy doing that with them as long as they like.
My current campaign is somewhat unusual. All of the characters have skills they like to explore out of combat, which is awesome. Our rogue/warlock is proficient in herbalism and poison kits. He loves to forage for herbs and mushrooms and venom for creating healing potions and poisons. Our atificer loves creating maps and wants to start making more permanent magic items and scrolls. Our monk considers himself a chef and merchant first, and an adventurer later. He is happy to find new ingredients for meals and run his food cart at the market
The only problem (and it's not really a problem) is that they are all really motivated by the plot haha. They feel an urgency to follow up on every lead, push towards the next objective, or solve a mystery of the world. Even when I've placed no ticking clock on anything. And that's wonderful! I'm really happy they want to engage with the story. It just makes it pretty hard to convince them that they can settle down for a few days in a nice town sometimes.
So lately I have been consciously trying to let them wrap up any loose ends one at a time before starting the next arc. They will be heading towards the biggest local city soon. And I've told the players that they will have some weeks of downtime. So they can plan for it. I've shown them examples from the books and let them come up with their own. They are all new players.
The artificer wants to use their connections with the academy there to start forging items and transcribing spells at their facility. Their player loves social roleplaying so I expect that to take a lot of time. The monk wants to just run his business. His player isn't much into social situations and he is happy to let me cover those actions in a brief montage and some rolls. The rogue loves combat and harvesting. His player wants to get a list of materials the artificer needs for magic items and go hunt for components. That will take some time too, but mostly be combat and mild survival. So I'm considering running each of them separately between actual sessions. That way they don't get bored waiting on each other to do things they aren't as interested in. I'll also try to bring elements of the next story arc into each of their downtime activities. Little clues to what's happening next. So they can get geared up to explore again by the end of it.
If I was stuck on a strict schedule, and had to do everything at the table, I'd probably run it mostly by the book to save time. Unless they were really invested and could work on some part of it together. Like if one player ran into trouble gambling and they all had to bail him out. That could be a fun diversion. I'd focus the time we have on one set piece.
I don't usually use prescribed lists of materials and components for crafting. I prefer to match it to the location and the character's level on the fly, and try to fit it in the narrative. If I had a prewritten list that said a Ring of Protection needs an eye from a beholder, and that's what they choose to craft, they would run off to another part of the world to find it and go way off the plot. That's fine for a sandbox style game, but I find it can make a more traditional story difficult.
How do you handle downtime? I'd love to hear other people's ideas. And any suggestions on making it run smoothly while still be exciting.
That all makes total sense and seems, from experience, to be the common conception of downtime for both players and DMs. Personally, I encourage and promote a whole downtime based system that I developed for my world. I love the idea of the characters having side businesses and other things to care about "back home" when they are off adventuring. I've found that it provides an extra layer of fun for when adventure arcs conclude and, more importantly, provides an almost limitless supply of story hooks - both for the main narrative and for side quests if you decide to spice things up.
For example, my players (6) currently own a tavern in the city as a collective partnership. They were actually gifted the tavern after completing a job for one of the city officials, but had to use their own resources to refurbish it and staff it. We had a whole session where the party used their different skills and reputations to get their place equipped - the barbarian did the heavy labor and carpentry, the swashbuckler/bard secured the alcohol deal for the bar, the cleric with a noble background fronted the cost for new inventory and hires, along with the drow rogue who has a significant amount of material wealth, etc. It was great and the tavern provides a continuous source of income - depending on random encounter rolls for the establishment itself.
However, they also have their own personal endeavors. The swashbuckler/bard owns his own small massage parlor. The drow rogue has a separate gambling den in the shadier part of town. The warlock is developing an alchemy practice.
I find it gives the players a chance to highlight the effectiveness of their classes more and also brings a good sense of cohesion when in the city and not just when fighting. Plus, its a great way to introduce new adversaries!
That sounds awesome. I've had characters get land, houses, even a whole town once. When an old group was at the level to attract followers back in 2nd edition, they invested most of their money in a small village they saved, and years later they became it's council and protectors. But I never had a group get the literal tavern that so many games start in! Constant plot hooks. Fantastic.
My current group has an airship/spelljammer that is their kind of home base. They like to invest in it, interact with the crew, make modifications. One of my players, the artificer, wanted to be the captain of a ship. But they had to spend the first five levels trying make money and clear their name to get it out of impound (and preserve some balance.) It was part of the reward for finishing the first big arc.
It's a lot of fun. I even built a full scale model of it for battles. The only problem, the one I didn't think about, is that their home base is mobile! There's very little reason for them to stop and just relax anywhere permanent. Oh well... live and learn. Don't do what I did if you want to ever stop moving. Haha
Do you have your downtime system written down? Is there a guide of sorts? Or is it more of just a method you keep in mind? I'd love to hear more. Downtime is one of the more interesting aspects of the game to me, and sadly underutilized in so many games.
I do keep many things written down as a matter of practice, mostly to remain consistent. I've implemented the Capital system from Pathfinder into my game, and I'd suggest taking a look at it: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/downtime/.
In addition to this, I have the players give me a detailed account of what their characters are doing during the allotted downtime and then from there, I implement a series of rolls and consequential circumstances. Sometimes these are quick and simple, with lots of flavor. Other times, things can get a little more complex and have more dramatic results.
For example, let's say the drow rogue wants to spend three weeks of downtime building up his shoddy gambling den in the seedier part of the city. He tells me he wants to add a bar to the den in order to increase customer traffic and also get players to be riskier with their bets. Now, obviously the rogue is an adventurer first and a business proprietor second, so our sessions won't be focused on RPing this out. Instead, we do a series of downtime rolls - which we usually handle outside of our sessions. It's a great way to keep "playing" even when you aren't playing!
So, here's how I would do it. This seems like a lot but is actually super easy to manage once you do it a couple of times.
This is a bit of a watered down version but I think you get the gist. Happy to talk more!