Downtime

In between dungeon delves, the adventurers stay in Jokari. It is the second phase of the game, the Downtime phase. During this phase, you can roleplay with other players, search for better gear, make extra money, form connections with NPCs, craft magic items, investigate mysteries, and generally take steps to improve your character and pursue their ambitions.

This is an optional phase; it is wholly possible to just play the Dungeon phase and dungeon delve in roll20 without ever taking part in the Downtime phase. However, it enriches the game experience and adds depth to the game.

Doing a downtime activity consists mostly of just telling the DM what you want to do for that week. It can be as simple as "I do some pit fighting for money," or could be more involved, like setting up a roleplaying scene with another player to hash out an issue.

One key fact to keep in mind is that in Tomb of the Serpent Kings, the way you gain experience is by spending gold you retrieved from the dungeon, in town. You don't get the XP until the gold is spent, and it has to be spent on certain activities. These activities are: carousing, donations, funerals, or extravagance.

Carousing is going on an alcohol fueled bender around town. Donations is giving away money to help build up an institution or aid some other group; it has to be no strings attached (if you're expecting payback, it's not a donation). Funerals are for seeing a deceased party member off to the next world. Extravagance is throwing your cash around to indulge and spoil yourself in grandiose fashion; huge buys. If Donald Trump would do it, it would be extravagance.

You can spend your gold on other activities too, but to get XP you specifically need to spend the gold you got from the dungeon on those. Other gold spent in this way can still let you do those activities, but won't get you XP. Only gold taken from the dungeon, through the risk of life and limb, can help you grow.

Note: if you aren't interested in micromanaging this kind of thing, you can just mark off the gold you retrieve from the dungeon when you finish a delve and tally up your gold-for-xp. Each gold piece spent from the dungeon on the above stated downtime activities earns you 3 XP.