No amount of careful planning or clever GMing can get around it; any longer game such as a campaign is going to have downtime. The players may be pausing between quests (or just procrastinating), or perhaps someone needs to look up some unknown rule. Not a lot is happening. So how do you make the most of your time?
The answer depends on your group of players and your own needs as GM. But in general, certain positive activities lend themselves best to certain circumstances. This guide will walk you through what to do in each circumstance that you may have some downtime.
Let's start with something obvious that some GMs nevertheless need to hear. At the beginning of a session, it's important to have a bit of social time in what is likely some downtime as people assemble and prepare to play. But even if you don't have incidental downtime here, it's worth creating it. I have had the great fortune as a GM to teach many people to play and a healthy number to run their own games. And one lesson that seems to have stuck with all of my acolytes is that it's healthy for players to have positive relationships outside of the game--it actually creates or heightens the trust necessary to enjoying roleplaying. So make some time and foster some relationships between your players (respectfully and at their comfort).
But what about more ambiguous moments, like in the moments between people's turns in combat? There's often some space between players' actions that can sap energy and momentum out of a fight. I think that one solution is to keep adding description to the scene. You can describe the battlefield more closely, provide narration of enemies' body language and facial expressions, and get really involved in the details of combat narration. Details like this help to fill the downtime with potentially useful information that might inspire the player, and it also can help to keep combat focused (in my experience, combat makes for chaotic conversation). An example of this tactic in action: "The barbarian you're facing off against is standing about five feet from a boulder. He's favoring his right leg after the last strike you got on him. He's glaring at you but is grimacing with pain. You can see he has two bulging coinpurses at his side." All of these details are minor, but they might lead the player to use "Stone Shape" and fashion the boulder into stocks around the barbarian; they might focus their attacks on the barbarian's revealed weak spot; they may prioritize looting differently with the coinpurse information. All of these would affect the outcome of the scene, and all of it comes from a bit of added detail in these downtime moments.
One of my favorite cases for downtime is when players feel like they just need a break from the stress of questing and seek out in-game fun. This circumstance is close to my heart because it's basically an opportunity to goof around with your friends. A lot of times, this situation starts with a player character deciding to go to a bar. Now, very rarely are player characters really looking for bars--they're really looking for a place where something interesting is likely to be happening. We all assume that a tavern is full of drunk folks doing wild things, and so that's the shorthand; we want craziness, so we say "bar."
Now, there are a few ways to respond to this. You could allow the players to easily find a bar, and the important thing is that they are able to find a rowdy bar. Maybe the first tavern or two is a little lowkey, but they should find a bar with some bizarre goings-on. Remember, they're looking for something interesting, so give them something interesting. We're talking about a traveler with a talking rat interesting, minimum.
You could also recognize the spirit of the request and give them something they'll like just as much or more. If you have players setting the bar for interesting at "maybe there'll be a fight," and you give them a wizard duel in the street or a parade of circus animals, you're going to give them a good time. So the idea here is basically to allow the player characters to look for a bar, but have them interrupted by the more interesting thing that they were really looking for. This approach uses improvisation pretty heavily, but it's definitely worth it for the reactions it gets.
The last approach I would recommend for players needing to unwind is actually stepping back and allowing them some relatively quiet time and seeing how they react. Sometimes, especially with roleplaying-centric groups, an activity like going out to the bar is once again not really going to a bar, though it's also not exactly an invitation to adventure; it's a simulation of real-life socialization. Taverns are where people carried out social business, and roleplayers want time and space to express their characters outside of all the immediate stresses of the game's story. If you have player characters who are reflecting on their emotional experiences associated with recent events, you have absolutely found a roleplayer doing what they play for, so let them have that time when you can.
Depending on your gaming setup, you may have to contend with bathroom breaks. To a certain extent, this should be obvious; people need to go to the bathroom, and usually find times to use the bathroom when their character is not as involved. I concede this is obvious. However, I have played in games where the forward momentum of the story carried us well past the point several of us needed bathroom breaks, but we didn't want to say anything since the GM was so into it. The fact that it's happened to me means that it's happened to others, and to those GMs, I say, "Yes, the pacing matters. So do your friends' bladders." Always choose being considerate as a GM--remember that the point is fun, and it's hard to have fun when you're not being treated considerately.
Different GMs take different policies on side-chatting during the game. This one really is up to your discretion, but I think that it's best dictated by what type of game you're playing. If your game is more casual, I think side-talk should be not only allowed but encouraged. The point of a casual game is to have social fun, so it should include a social focus. More serious games--both roleplaying and combat--tend to need a little less side-talk. Roleplayers need immersion in the world, and hardcore combatants need to focus on the tactics and strategy. However, your tolerance for a lack of focus on your game is ultimately the most important factor, so use your best judgment and give yourself your best position to GM well.
A conceptual note about downtime: this discussion is predicated on a division between time spent playing the game in the way all assembled parties have chosen to do so and time spent doing anything else. I hope that my explanations above help to show that this division does not have to exist. I have run a very casual hijinks campaign for about a year and a half that mostly plays to be silly and hang out. Essentially 100% of their time by the above definition is downtime. They don't do quests very efficiently, and mainly they want to entertain each other with antics. And that's totally fine! I spend a lot of my time trying to add bizarre things in their way, like they're constantly looking for a bar (but not really). And that's just life as a GM--you adapt to your players.
So what do you do when you encounter downtime? You make it serve your game! Whether you add details to combat, wild chaos to the story, or some personal time between players, you can really benefit from treating downtime as an opportunity. So get out there, figure out what best serves you and your players, and start getting the most from every session.
That's all for now. Coming soon: common misconceptions in my homebrew world, why you don't have to recreate modern society's problems in your homebrew setting, and how to create an in-game newspaper. Until next time, happy gaming!
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