Can we talk a bit about how Milestones work? The Player’s Guide says:
Each Milestone represents a comprehensive, non-interactive task.
I’m not sure what “non-interactive” means in this context. I initially took it to mean that the player pays whatever cost the Warden has assigned to a task, and that completes the Milestone. But looking at the examples in the Warden’s Guide, it’s pretty clear that some Milestones involve actions beyond paying a static cost. In the Faction Advancement growth example, for instance, three of the tasks involve completing missions, which presumably aren’t Downtime Actions.
Based on the Resolution of a Bond or Omen example, it seems more like Downtime Actions sometimes function as requests for Milestones as a list of steps toward some end. The player uses a Downtime Action to research a cure, and the Warden responds with a series of Milestones that must be completed in order to attain that goal.
Maybe I’m misinterpreting this:
PCs can complete individual Milestones by taking a Downtime Action and paying its respective Cost.
I took that as the way PCs handle Milestones, but maybe it’s meant as a substitute for more direct action?
It’s also possible that I’m just getting things muddled because I’m accustomed to Blades in the Dark’s Long Term Projects, where individual steps may still be Downtime Actions, and they’re spread across clocks mostly to gate progress.
2 Likes
Milestones are often resolved through play. If the next step in a process involves risk, or a series of careful choices (typically reflected via a back and forth between the Warden and player), then it shouldn’t get resolved via Downtime but in regular play.
So for example if a PC is researching the location of an ancient Relic and needs to sneak into a well defended library, the sneaking should not happen via Downtime but in-game, as it produces both risk and multiple individual choices.
1 Like
So after the PC sneaks into the library, do you still make them pay a Cost for the action, or does that only apply to actions resolved in Downtime? Is sneaking the Cost?
1 Like
No, sneaking is the risk (which I would require take place in play).
If the cost was “I know a guy” they might pursue that relationship in game, but access the library in Downtime.
Does that make sense?
It does. Thank you. I was just caught up on the “non-interactive” part.
I definitely could have elaborated a bit more. That whole sentence came out of playtesting, I kept running into an issue where PCs would try to engage in risky behavior “out of game” (during Downtime Actions) and was faced with a choice: allow it and make up rules, or disallow it entirely. After trying out a few options for the former, I went with the latter.
TL;DR consequences that result from Downtime actions are OK, but any actions that would result in risky behavior or back-and-forths between the Warden and the player need to happen in-game.
1 Like