Project Prerequisites

All downtime projects have prerequisites you must meet before you can undertake them.

Item Prerequisite

Many downtime projects have one or more special items you must possess or obtain before you can start the project. For instance, you can't build an airship without first finding a Wind Crystal of Quintessence, a rare and key component in that vehicle's construction. Other projects have a prerequisite that involves undertaking certain activities during the project process.

Project Source

To start a downtime project, you must have access to specific lore detailing how the project is to be undertaken. This can take the form of written information (a book, scroll, schematic, and so forth), an expert tutor with wisdom to share, a master artisan with skills to teach, a supernatural manifestation of the project's scope and secrets, or any other form of the Director's determination. This project-focused lore is referred to as a project source. Not only do you need project sources to start a downtime project, but you must have access to those sources whenever you make a project roll for that particular project (see Project Roll below).

Some project sources are relatively easy to find. Building a castle doesn't require tomes filled with ancient lore, but it's also not something every stonemason knows how to do. However, the location of the tomb of Ashrya, the mummified protector of one hundred slumbering sorcerer-sovereigns, might exist only in a single tome that requires an accompanying adventure to unearth.

The language with which project sources are set down or can be shared is chosen by the Director. The sample projects below have suggestions using languages in Orden (see that section in Chapter 4: Background), though you might be able to find a version of a source in other languages as well.

Whenever the Director determines that a creature with needed knowledge can be used as a project source, another hero can serve as this source of knowledge. However, they must use a respite activity to be your project source whenever you make a project roll related to the project.

Search for Common Project Sources

If you need a project source for a particular project, ask your Director if the source is common enough that it might be found in a substantial library, among a group of sages or guild artisans, and so forth. If the Director says yes, then the next time you take a respite in a place with a library or access to creatures with the knowledge you seek, you can locate the project source you need as a respite activity.