Blog, news and articles
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #8
Hello there, Downtimers! Here are a few adventure hooks straight from our brewery, I hope you'll like them! Development The leaders of two cities have decided to make trade easier and improve their relationship. The almost-impenetrable, treacherous mountains between the two dwellings caused a lot of problem in...
Development Diary #16
Greetings, Downtimers! Another interesting week is behind us, so let’s see what we have for you today! This was the most exciting development phase so far - at least for me! First of all, 2.2 was the first release which got its content entirely from YOUR votes!...
Development Diary #15
Greetings, Downtimers! Great news: we’ve started the final testing phase for the 2.2 update of Downtime Manager! We discussed the new features in our previous update here for your reference: Development Diary 14). This one is shaping up to be a pretty major update, as you...
Development Diary #14
Greetings, Downtimers! I want to begin today’s update by thanking the community for all your continued support for Downtime Manager! We’re thrilled that so many of you are checking out the Feature Roadmap and voting for your preferences! We’re happy to continue adjusting the features to react...
Development Diary #13
Greetings, Downtimers! We have reached the end of another exciting week. Today we’ve implemented all the features planned for version 2.1. Thank you for making your preferences heard by voting on the roadmap of feature updates! We’re dedicated to making this app the best it can...
Thomas’s Mystical Cauldron: The Old Man and the Stew
The true origin of the Cauldron is unknown. Hundreds of theories have arisen over the years each more fantastical than the last. Some say Thomas conjured it from another plane of existence, others claim he created it himself from the armor of slain enemies. Whatever...
Development Diary #12
Greetings, Downtimers! We’re back with one more update before the official launch of Downtime Manager 2.0! But worry not, we have even more feature updates coming soon, and users can vote on which we should prioritize on our website! Version 2.1 is uploaded and will be available...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #7
Some Short but Sturdy Adventure Hooks Guardian The birthday gift of the dwarf king is ready! Hefthyn – or Guardian in the common tongue -, the indomitable warhammer has been forged. The warhammer is covered in mystic runes that protect it from harmful magic, but also prevent...
Running Downtime Sessions – Tips and Tricks – Volume 4
Volume 4: how to run downtime sessions effectively In this series, we are unearthing the arcana of managing downtime sessions and activities in your campaigns. Downtime sessions are those that detail the between adventure activities that the characters get up to. Forging weapons, acquiring lands, or...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #6
It's been a while since we came up with adventure hooks or side-quests for you! Today we give you four! The fair There’s a large fair in the nearby town every year. Artisans and merchants from far and wide offer their intriguing curios and collectibles making the event...
Development Diary #11
Hello Adventurers! We’re back with our promised weekly development update. This is a short one as we’ve been using the past week to fine tune and sharpen the edges of our lethal Downtime Manager app. For those of you in the know, Downtime Manager is available on...
Thomas’s Mystical Cauldron: The Butler
The Butler did it! A trope that is as old as storytelling itself because who would suspect betrayal from the faithful servant? The support Alfred offers Bruce Wayne as Batman or the heroics of Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings as he aids...
Development Diary #10
Hello Adventurers! We did it. We are ready. Completed, tested, repaired, retested, packaged. We’ve prepared the latest iteration of Downtime Manager 2.0 and sent it out into the wild. That means we’re just waiting for the various app stores to approve the listings and we’ll be...
Development Diary #9
Hello Adventurers! We’ve got more great news for you today! We’ve put the polish on the final development of Downtime Manager 2.0 and we’ve begun the steps necessary to wide release! Each store for applications has their own challenges we must overcome, but we’re confident that...
Running Downtime Sessions – Tips and Tricks – Volume 3
Volume 3: How to integrate Downtime Sessions into your campaign In this series, we are unearthing the arcana of managing downtime sessions and activities in your campaigns. Downtime sessions are those that detail the between adventure activities that the characters get up to. Forging weapons, acquiring...
Running Downtime Sessions – Tips and Tricks – Volume 2
Volume 2: How to run Downtime Sessions? In this new series, we will unearth the arcana of running downtime sessions. In each article, we’ll offer up some exciting tips and tricks, dos and don'ts, and help you expand this often overlooked activity of the TTRPG. With...
Development Diary #8
Greetings adventurers! We’re on the cusp of the next level for the Downtime Manager app! Just a few more tasks and we’ll have enough XP to level up and go live! Here’s what we’re up to: You know how when you put a sofa together and you...
Running Downtime Sessions – Tips and Tricks – Volume 1
Volume 1: The Basics In this new series, we will unearth the arcana of running downtime sessions. In each article, we’ll offer up some exciting tips and tricks, dos and don'ts, and help you expand this often overlooked activity of the TTRPG. With well-thought-out downtime activities,...
Development Diary #7
Hey Downtimers, greetings from the lab! We’re pretty busy with fine tuning the official release of Downtime Manager (DTM) as you saw from our last update! While we are working on making what we have even better, we’re still actively thinking about what will be coming next....
Simple Monsters Made Interesting: the Dryad
Simple Monsters Made Interesting is a series where we take an underutilized or generic creature and flesh them out into something more than their stat block to give you some inspiration for your games. Today, we’re taking a walk in the woods to find a...
Development Diary #6
Hey DMs & Downtimers, greetings from the forge! We’ve been pretty busy lately, fine-tuning the app as we prepare the final version for the official launch! Unfortunately, that meant that regular updates fell by the wayside, but here I am to remedy that situation! What we’ve been...
Development Diary #5
Greetings! It’s me again! WE ARE BACK! We took a seemingly long break, but believe me, it wasn’t intentional...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #5
Today we came up with two ideas (from our very own Igor v9) which can be easily adapted to any character’s circumstances. „But… you should be dead!” This classic theme has been covered by a lot of books and movies, but the possibilities are endless. The character had...
Development Diary #4
Greetings! It's Igor v9 again! I'm back! We (specially EvilDM) already spread rumours on our Discord channel, but here are the developments: We're working on a more versatile and sustainable back-end for our app to better support the upcoming features You've already seen some of the new...
Downtime Journals 3: Weelor
I, Weelor of the House Dimir, The Undying, Slayer of Kara-Thoth, Commander of the Cold Legion and Justicar of the Damned, well aware that most events of my life have been hopelessly misinterpreted by some lost souls who are better at quick judgments than careful...
How to create a freeform (aka. open world, sandbox) campaigns and keep your players entertained for years?
Chapter 1: Why would you want such a campaign? The loud regards of slower things How to create a narrative-driven campaign and keep your players entertained for years? Chapter 1: Why would you want such a campaign? Well, we’ve all been there. We DM’d the awesome official adventures and...
Development Diary #3
Greetings! Igor v9 is upgrading himself (maybe he'll be Igor v9.1?) so it's your favorite Evil DM speaking now. We've made some pretty major decisions in the past days and also started to deploy a more flexible and robust infrastructure so we can turn start implementing: custom...
Downtime Journals 2: Weelor
I, Weelor of the House Dimir, The Undying, Slayer of Kara-Thoth, Commander of the Cold Legion and Justicar of the Damned, well aware that most events of my life have been hopelessly misinterpreted by some lost souls who are better at quick judgments than careful...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #4
Three new side-quest ideas for your one-on-one sessions to play during downtime! Wedding: an old friend of the character's is getting married! She used to be an adventurer, but gave up on the dangerous life a few years ago when she met the love of...
Simple Monsters Made Interesting: the Troll
In this new, and hopefully bi-weekly series we’ll give you some special example background stories to make well-known, and possibly neglected monsters interesting. Do your characters view orcs as easy target? Does a gnoll give them no thrill only faint boredom? Well, here are a...
Development Diary #2
Greetings! I’m not saying it as a complaint, but there are so many ideas and feedback coming from You, dear Downtimers that we can hardly process and re-prioritize. Many thanks! You are awesome! The first feature release is available since last Saturday (Google and Apple ID, mainly),...
Downtime Journals: Weelor
I, Weelor of the House Dimir, The Undying, Slayer of Kara-Thoth, Commander of the Cold Legion and Justicar of the Damned, well aware that most events of my life have been hopelessly misinterpreted by some lost souls who are better at quick judgments than careful...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #3
"Let's make some background wealth" Here comes three adventure hooks from our very own Igor v9! When the character feels that he's famous and a bit wealthy, it's time to create a steady source of income! Taking over the family business: the venture of your family...
Development Diary #1
Greetings! First of all, I want to thank our Downtimers for joining us on this fantastic journey! We were very excited when we published our app, and we are very happy with the feedbacks so far. Our team asked me to write a short Dev Diary from...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #2
Let's make this a recurring thing: we'll post a few new adventure hooks every week for you to use in your Downtime sessions! These are mainly meant to be used during 1:1 sessions between a DM and a Player during downtime, but can be extended to...
Adventure Hooks for Downtime #1
Here's a collection of 7 adventure hooks I used in the past when players wanted 1:1 downtime session between gaming sessions. I really like playing these short adventures, PBEM style, using chat (Discord, Messenger, WhatsApp). Of course our DT Manager app will feature options and tools...
Resources for Downtime
Here's a compiled list of resources we've been using to create DT Manager for D&D. I hope you find it useful, too!...
Results of the Feature Poll on Discord
We have concluded our first feature poll! Please find the results and actions we're planning inside this post!...