Downtime

**WARNING: Jill was decidedly goofy when she wrote the post below**

Has this ever happened to you? And by "this", I realise you have *no* idea what I'm talking about. Let me elucidate:

Let's say you submit your Endeavours the day after the game. Or a week after the game - any time before the Endeavours deadline.

Partway through the month, before the 15th, you hear IC about something that's happened during the downtime system, or you've received an email from the Storyguide with *stuff* in it. Stuff that's happened. Stuff that obviously, you weren't aware of at the game, because it hadn't happened yet.

You think, "Crap on a stick! I went and submitted my Endeavours, and now all this malarky happens! Now what?!! I'm hooped! I can't resubmit!"

ho-HO! But you can!

While I don't want to encourage you to change your actions seven times before the deadline, you're certainly welcome to send me an email that says "in light of what's happened with my character this month, may I change my Endeavours to X?"

Yes. Yes, you may. When this kind of thing happens, I basically take the most recent submission I have from you and ignore the previous ones. I know in some cases, this has already happened in one way or another, but the only times I've ever mentioned that this is possible is in a room full of people where it's *very* easy to miss what may have amounted to a toss-away comment at the time.

In fact, in *most* circumstances if you want to change your Endeavours, I'm pretty flexible. The only caveat is that I ask you to make any modifications you wish to make before the regular Endeavours deadline.

Window into your Storyguide's method: Stuff that happens before the Endeavours deadline that is not strictly character-related (ie. IC chats, IMs, conversations, scenes that do not involve Storyguide plot) is provided before the Endeavours cutoff. Stuff that happens *as a result of your Endeavours* (Risk, Hunts, Hinders, etc.) is submitted to you *after* the Endeavours deadline and (hopefully) before the game.

Your Storyguide does this so that, hopefully, it expands and embetters your experience *at* game events, which only happen (for now) once a month.* In conjunction with the game blog, the Forums, and email/IM scenes and chats that encourage character interaction and development, hopefully this kind of thing enhances game play.

So, yeah. If you're ever in a situation where you feel your character would change her downtime actions, it's okay for you to resubmit.

Generally, the guiding principle I try to use as a Storyguide is "just ask". The reason your Storyguide is running the game is so that you have fun; if there's something (reasonable) that you feel might help you in that regard, please ask. I like to think that I'm *fairly* approachable. Sometimes, I sound very dismissive, and while sometimes I mean to, other times, I really do just need time to think about what you've asked. Hopefully, I make it clear in those situations that when I say "would you please ask me this in five minutes", it's because I'm busy or need time to think about it.

*I have mentioned before, but perhaps not en masse that if you want more than one event a month, I would certainly consider moving to a two-event-per-month game, and plan accordingly. Take note, however, that this could be problematic for out-of-town players who play regular (and, in some cases, critical) characters.