Travelling

I would recommend fast-forwarding through most of a long journey by road, concentrating on any interesting encounters. Road travel should normally be routine, even in a fantasy world - if every journey was interrupted by orcs and manticores few people would ever get to their destination. Describing the changing scenery is nice, but forcing people to play through every minute of the trip sounds like a boring waste of time to me.
If the party are travelling through a dangerous environment, it's worth taking longer over the journey. Where I might say "Over the next 10 days you travel 500 miles along the Sakbe Highway...", if the party is struggling through high snowy mountains at 5 miles/day I'll make sure they feel how difficult it is with plenty of Climb checks, Survival checks, opportunities for disaster through falls and other accidents, as well as describing the notable scenery each day: "Climbing up out of the Valley of Bones across a bleak scree-strewn slope, a dark cavern looms ahead to your left, while along the ridgeline above you a huge boulder reminiscent of a giant's skull is silhouetted against the glowering sky..."

"Travel is so broadening"

Travel doesn't occur in a vacuum. It sounds to me like you WANT to get through it, so I would just roll a handful or three of dice (behind the screen), peer at them, and then announce:

"After X days of travel, you arrive in the city of Y, having encountered many other travellers, and picking up a few tales along the way, but nothing of major interest or import happened..."

In general, I would make the PCs play out such things, at least in brief. Every road goes somewhere, even if it's a dead end! Every traveller has a story. So does every place they encounter. The safer the road, the more NPCs to interact with... and The Doctrine of Imminent Confabulation (look it up) means that the PCs WILL interact! (Just TRY to go a normal day in the city without talking to anyone!)

In the wild, as someone else already pointed out, make them interact with the terrain. There are also occasional ruins to explore, which might have a basement - or dungeon - under them, adding a short adventure to the trip.

Never forget the weather, either. D&D has NO items for keeping the rain off your head that can be personally transported, except the tent! Wagons will also work, but most parties carry neither! Cold Weather Clothing (provided they have it) might work. Cloaks will quickly soak through. Shelters, in the wild, are pretty rare. Pity Buttercup's party... especially above the treeline (no mo' firewood)!

Oh, lets talk history! The Travel Channel was discussing the Kings Highway or as it is now known US1, they discussed the number of lost people going from Washington DC to Richmond Va. when marker signs fell over, they were places back up in the best ground if this was at a cross road this could mean they got placed on the wrong sides and as many of the workmen could not read, they pointed the signs in the wrong directions. Also of note that with the expanding fronteer people would cut roads willy-nilly.

Great topic! In general, I go through travel fairly quickly, just describing the terrain and maybe a few brief encounters (not in a D&D "Encounter" sense of the word) on the way, and fast forward through travel. Of course, I also like to break up this fast forwarded travel with occasional actual things happening -- hunting for food on the way, coming across brigands or other hostile encounters, or just giving them things to explore about the world as they go.

My group ha s a phrase "travel...travel get there" meaning that we gloss over most of what happens on a trip providing they are traveling well known/patroled roads. Cross country is dangerous in my campaign right now. It is post war with a lot of the defeated army and deserters turning to banditry and a number of monsters running unchecked in the country side as the nation rebuilds. So cross country the expect to fight something occasionally.

On roads I describe the weather and let the passage of time show if things are improving. IE the village they passed a month ago has finished rebuilding its temple etc. This past travel on a fairly well patroled road (meaning they see a patrol daily, enough to make bandits worry but not enough to really save any one) they crossed from one city trying to succeed after the war to the war torn city. So I got to give them some scenery and scenes to show this rising tension and since one character is actually the unrevealed King it eats at him (sounds cliche but has played out very dramatic for him he is the reluctant king only a few people know about such as the partyu and the regent and a few others. he is the best kind of king it is power he truly doesn't want)

But in anycase that is how I handle it. I let it be a way to introduce information in that only takes a few minutes and doesn't slow the game. I think the most important part is keeping a calender to keep track of time since that 1-2 weeks that passes in 5 minutes is easily lost forgotten with a calander it isn't also helps with seasons and weather if you make notes.

Later

Think also about your roads, only a few cultures ever built them most were just a path and trails, if not maintained and upkeep provided they could become over grown quickly.

Hand of Evil said:

There are also Rules to remember, not all party members will know these right away but shoulf be informed by rangers, durids and barbarians:

Wilderness:
You always put out your fires and make sure they are out.
You do not approch a camp without warning.
You share your camp to those that ask.
You share news and information of the road.

Rural
You don't sleep in a barn without the owner knowing about it.
If you are offered someones home you repay kindness with work or goods.
You don't kill live stock.
You share news and information along the road with other travelled and at stops.

Click to expand...

Unless you are an orc

WILDERNESS
Then you like to see fires raging.
You want to approach without warning, its better for intimidation or ambushing.
Those that reveal themselves in a position of weakness are asking to be dominated.
Strangers are probably enemies treat them as such.


RRURAL
Kill the owner before sleeping in the barn.
If they offer tribute/bribes you take the best looking stuff you can find.
Other peoples' livestock are opportunities to practice with your weapons or are loot to be taken.
Strangers are probably enemies, treat them as such.

Voadam said:

Unless you are an orc

WILDERNESS
Then you like to see fires raging.
You want to approach without warning, its better for intimidation or ambushing.
Those that reveal themselves in a position of weakness are asking to be dominated.
Strangers are probably enemies treat them as such.


RRURAL
Kill the owner before sleeping in the barn.
If they offer tribute/bribes you take the best looking stuff you can find.
Other peoples' livestock are opportunities to practice with your weapons or are loot to be taken.
Strangers are probably enemies, treat them as such.

Click to expand...

That is why we kill the orcs

I've always had trouble trying to make travel more interesting that "ok, X days go by and you are there."

The PCs in my game are about to embark on a long journey, and it just so happens that it falls between sessions. I try to let it fall like this so I can write up a page or so describing the journey and what they see/hear on the way. Also, it is a good way to plant some plot hooks.

I figure I'll set up an encounter in the handout, that way we can start the next session with a battle (makes it a little more interesting and build anticipation for the next game).

Lots of good ideas in this thread though. I'm going to be watching this one.

~MojoGM (Chris)

A suggestion: travel is usually glossed over because there is very little a player character can do to influence it, and usually, the actual means of travel matters little. Think about the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring (and I mean a movie) where the decision was made to go to Mines of Moria: in that case, the way the fellowship travelled mattered.

If travel breaks down into a series of Random Encounters, players are only going to enjoy it as much as they enjoy the encounter, and likely, they would have probably enjoyed the encounter more if it had a more direct bearing on the adventure than "it happened on the way."

For example, let us say that your playing in the Forgotten Realms, and you have from Uthmere, a small port town in the Great Dale, to Silverymoon. Make sure that you emphasize that there are different routes. The quickest might be to sail around the Vast and Impiltur up to the Moonsea, and then try and negotiate with the Bedine to cross the desert, and then proceed through the wilds of the north. This is among the most direct routes, but also travels through pirate waters, has the most difficult terrain, and almost all the people you might deal with are harsh towards outsiders, if not outright hostile. Perhaps you could have a captain heading for Hlondeth, on the southern shores of the Sea of Fallen Stars, who knows that you can book river passage down to the Lake of Steam, and from there, travel by water all the way to Waterdeep and join a caravan. Stress that this is a well-traveled trade route, but also could take months, perhaps the better part of a year. Or another ship sails for Cormyr, which would normally be a good compromise, but the recent battle with the Shades has resulted in lawlessness about the eastern border, and there are numerous humanoids growing bolder. But all this travel time can be avoided with magic, and one of the party members knows a Witch of Rasheman who might help, but the Great Dale is threatened by the blighted horde of the Rotting Man, and the only way to that land is straight through the contested area. And if the witch decides not to help, that's a week's travel in the completely wrong direction...

The trick is to give choices which have consequences, and those consequences are rooted in the campaign world. The real point of travel in an rpg is to set the tone and feel of the game, and you need to have history and a sense of reality to do that.