Most of this still feels like game prompts to me.  Perhaps it's the nature of a forum game compared to a table top, where there's (perhaps) less DM direction?  Perhaps that's what I'm missing to all of this.  But my D&D experience is fairly linear, until a prompt happens.  So the 'earned' part still makes no sense to me.  Either you're on the main quest at the DM's beck and call, or he/she/it has given some downtime and asked 'ok, what do you do now'.<br/><br/>So while doing stuff in downtime makes sense... 'earning' it does not.  This is where you're losing me, every time you use the word.<br/><br/>If I don't earn downtime, then when the story ceases progression, I go to the church and pray?<br/><br/>And again, most of the examples you've mentioned would have motivations behind them.  I suppose some of the characters (Mouser, for instance, or probably the grey/blacks) might want to spend some time cutting purses just for the fun of it.  But for those that are quest-centered... those gather info checks won't occur until after the game has moved to that point, and at which point it would be 'ok DM, I'm going off to do XYZ'.  Crafting, adding spells to a spellbook, 'leveling' (training during downtime)... To me those are different things.<br/><br/>So what am I missing that I can't seem to understand what this is for?<br/>