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[Let's Read] Vault 5e: Uncharted Journeys
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8866152" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Ni8JQjE.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The first four chapters were but a mere quarter of Uncharted Journeys. The remaining 235 pages (discounting things like KickStarter backers and the OGL) are given over entirely to the different Region Types and the Encounters therein.</p><p></p><p>There are 16 Region Types, and 11 cover common terrain such as Forests, Mountains, and Open Waters which correspond almost identically to the terrain types for monsters. The remaining five cover more geo-political or supernatural places, such as War Torn Lands and Wild Magic Lands. I will note that three of these latter types feel ideally built for certain official 5th Edition campaigns: Haunted Lands is quite appropriate for Ravenloft (particularly Barovia and other gloomy Transylvanian-inspired places), Hellscapes is an extraplanar Journey like that of Descent Into Avernus, and Lands of the Fae brings to mind The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.</p><p></p><p>Each Region Type starts out with local flavor to make it come alive: Weather that is common to the region, Flora and Fauna to describe surrounding plants and (usually non-hostile) life forms, Local Inhabitants for the types of people who live off the land, Points of Interest that serve as neat local features that aren’t tied to Encounters, and Possible Journeys which serve as adventure hooks for the Region. Each Region also has its own tables for each of the 12 Encounter Types, although Open Waters bears its own special mention due to the changes involved with maritime travel. Encounter Types cover a wide range of functions, and only a minority involve guaranteed combat: <strong>A Chance Meeting</strong> or <strong>Fateful Encounters</strong> has the PCs meet fellow travelers, with the latter focusing on more unusual or momentous NPCs who serve as inspiration for recurring plot hooks; <strong>A Bump in the Road</strong> involves some non-combat difficulty or hazard that can tax the party’s reserves, and <strong>Needing Assistance</strong> is similar save that it’s NPCs who are in trouble; <strong>Natural Wonders, A Dark Place,</strong> and <strong>Old Memories</strong> can have the PCs come upon wondrous and/or disconcerting scenes that can affect their spirits and morale; <strong>Hidden Reserves</strong> and <strong>A Place to Rest</strong> give the party opportunities to get their bearings in the form of rest and/or resupplies; and <strong>Danger Afoot, Monster Hunt,</strong> and <strong>A Deadly Fight</strong> are encounters that are the most likely to roll for initiative.</p><p></p><p>Every Encounter Type calls for one or two checks, either to resolve it or see who has the upper hand when initiative is rolled in the case of the combat-related ones. Some are individual rolls, usually Role-related, and others have the entire party participate as a Group Travel Check. Sometimes a PC with the appropriate Role can replace another PC’s result with their own, reflecting how they are optimally suited to handle that Encounter by filling in for the weaknesses of their teammates.</p><p></p><p>Success on an Encounter imposes some kind of reward even in cases where there’s nothing to be materially gained: for example, Natural Wonders calls for a group Wisdom save, and if at least half succeed the party gains advantage on their next ability check or saving throw, and if they all succeed they gain Inspiration instead. Conversely, nothing happens if at least the party fails, and if all of them fail they feel overwhelmed by the vastness of nature in losing Inspiration <em>and</em> have disadvantage on their next saving throw! Some Encounters can even alter or add future Encounters, represented by helpful NPCs giving the party directions (or offended ones leading them into danger). Only Fateful Encounter has no built-in mechanical consequences, where success imparts some form of secret information from the NPC, and failure means that the party doesn’t learn the secret.</p><p></p><p>The book also throws a house rule our way: as Inspiration is given out or lost for a few of these Encounter Types, the DM can make an optional rule where gaining/losing it further affects a PC’s morale in more drastic ways. Gaining Inspiration when you already have it grants temporary hit points equal to your largest hit Die, and vice versa for when you’d lose it but don’t have it. In the latter case this is more of a psychological drain and can’t kill a PC or reduce them below 1 hit point.</p><p></p><p>Sadly it is in this chapter that errors in regards to spelling and grammar are most apparent, and judging by the version up on Drive-Thru RPG these mistakes still persist. Although they aren’t omnipresent, I have spotted things such as two periods instead of one or an NPC or monster entry that hasn’t been bolded when that process is the default in this book. A few monsters are mislabeled, like mentioning pteranosaurs rather than pteranodons, or giant anaconda instead of giant constrictor snake, and some to my knowledge don’t exist in the basic rules or more popular monster manuals such as Monks (just monks) and Zombie Knights.</p><p></p><p>Something to note about the combat encounters: there are no results fixed by Average Party Level, and the book doesn’t list the Challenge Rating for NPCs and Monsters nor precise numbers. The intent is to allow the DM to better tailor the encounter to suit the party, and the authors also go by the adage that the world shouldn’t alter itself to be fair to the PC’s abilities.</p><p></p><p>I’m not sure how to feel about this. While the book does mention that running from a fight is possible (in fact, Monster Hunt has a group travel check for avoiding the monster rather than pursuing it), as the death of a PC can lead to a Catastrophic Failure it is something I feel should have some forewarning. That being said, a good amount of the encounters I witnessed hew to the lower end of the CR spectrum, centered mostly around Tier 1 and 2 parties with only a rare few higher than 10.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/YyKWYON.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>There’s too many for me to do all 16, but I decided to compile the CR list of the first two Region Types, split between the 3 combat-risk Encounter Types:</p><p></p><p><strong>Coasts</strong></p><p></p><p>Danger Afoot: Sahuagin (½), Guards (⅛), Mimics (2), Specter (1), Weretigers (4), Druids (2), Blood Hawks (⅛)</p><p>Monster Hunt: Pteranodon (¼), Giant Octopus (1), Violet Fungus (¼), Swarm of Quippers (1) and Giant Shark (5), Plesiosaurus (2), Hydra (8), Giant Constrictor Snake (2), Kraken (23)</p><p>A Deadly Fight: Wights (3), Will-o-Wisps (2), Giant Crabs (⅛), Zombies (¼), Archmage (12), Storm Giants (13), Water Elementals (5), Ghasts (2), Aboleth (10), Merrow (2), Merfolk (⅛), Blue Dragon Wyrmlings (3)</p><p></p><p><strong>Deserts:</strong></p><p></p><p>Danger Afoot: Orcs (½), Dust Mephits (½), Mage (6), Bandits (⅛), Monks (N/A), Giant Scorpion (3), Giant Centipedes (¼), Mummies (3), Bandit Captain (2), Mimics (2)</p><p>Monster Hunt: Ankheg (2), Giant Snake (¼ or 2), Manticore (3), Young Blue Dragon (9), Roc (11), Doppelgangers (3), Wyverns (6), Zombie Knights (N/A)</p><p>A Deadly Fight: Young Blue Dragon (9), Scorpion (0) and Giant Scorpions (3), Blue Dragon Wyrmlings (3), Bulette (5), Lamia (4) and Jackals (0), Mage (6) and Invisible Stalker (6), Shield Guardian (7), Veteran (3), Gladiator (5) and Zombies (¼), Paladin (N/A).</p><p></p><p>So there’s only one monster which can approach Tier 4, the Kraken, and it’s less a direct fight and more “attack the kraken tentacles that made it onto land and are menacing shipwrecked survivors.” In the Storm Giants’ case it’s two giants who are fighting each other as part of a contest and the party ends up between them in the “arena.” So even in the harder fight’s cases the authors took care for outmatched parties to have some kind of way out.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the overall feel of encounters posits a rather high-magic world, or one that cranks up the supernatural wonder of the worlds of D&D a bit, albeit not to a ridiculous extent. For example one of the Bump in the Road encounters for Great Cities involves a stone giant construction crew tearing up the road to rebuild it. And in Grasslands, one of the Dark Place encounters has the party come upon the titanic corpse of a dead Tarrasque, possibly causing fear of something bigger and deadlier out there that slain the legendary beast. Notice that I said "<em>a</em> dead Tarrasque" and not "<em>the</em> Tarrasque." Several encounters of various types in War Torn Lands have local armies making use of magic and monsters to wage war, such as a Shield Guardian retrieving the bodies of dead soldiers as a Chance Encounter or magical land mines as a Bump in the Road.</p><p></p><p>These aren't constant or the norm and certain elements can be changed on the fly by the DM, but as I know that there are some campaigns which have restrictions of various types (Dragonlance being low-magic, nonhumans being shunned in pre-5e Ravenloft, etc) this may be something to consider.</p><p></p><p>I will cover several regions in very brief terms. This review would never end if I were comprehensive, so instead I’m going to showcase some of the more flavorful and interesting Encounters along with local color.</p><p></p><p><strong>Coasts</strong> are the last frontier where the land meets the sea. Strange things washing up on shore, pirates prowling for hapless people to rob, old shipwrecks holding treasure, marshy deltas home to thick plant life and camouflaged predators, and tidal caves which can have all sorts of things lurking in their watery depths. A Chance Meeting may have the party come upon your cliche message in a bottle, Hidden Reserves may have them stop on by at a sea-themed spa run by a succubus and incubus couple offering seaweed bath and salt exfoliation treatments, a Dark Place may have a trio of sadistic eagles who laugh like people and torture screaming fish to death in front of the party, and a Fateful Encounter may have the party come upon a dragon turtle who unknowingly holds a foliage-filled island on its back containing buried necromancers.</p><p></p><p><strong>Farmlands</strong> may be well-settled, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous or prone to conflict and intrigue. Those who harvest the earth’s bounty can be found in virtually every civilization, and even those who don’t farm may be attracted to the ample food stores. Cozy villages emitting hearth smoke on chilly nights, stables containing creatures both mundane and fantastic such as hippogriffs and wyverns, wagons of farmers headed to town to sell their produce, and wary treants hiding among the borders of the forest to ensure that not one inch is taken over by agriculture are some potential sights. A Bump in the Road may include a maddened water elemental bursting out of a stone well and thoroughly soaking everything nearby, the party the party may come upon a Natural Wonder of beehives and mushroom patches presided over by a friendly werebear and wereboar couple, an inn’s resident bard may challenge the party to a singing duel in a Place to Rest, and a Deadly Fight may pit the party against a cursed Knight in rusty armor who babbles incoherently.</p><p></p><p>It is easy to take <strong>Grasslands</strong> for granted. Their wide plains can let you spot people from far away, they’re often associated with “beginner level” encounters in video game RPGs, and they don’t feature as prominently in Western folklore as darkened woods or monster-filled caves. But they too can be home to dangers all their own, from nomadic clans engaged in blood feuds to scarcity of resources pushing predators to desperate measures. The land itself can turn deadly during the dry season, for lightning can ignite brush fires. Griffons and axe beaks sail the windy fields, and huge herds of grazing animals ward off predators with the threat of a legion of horns and hooves. Sticky tar pits with safe mounds and corpses of creatures serving as the only safe way across may be a Bump in the Road. A small mountain among the steppes home to the shrines of various deities may serve as a Natural Wonder for those to take in the serene surroundings. The remains of smashed buildings and propellers scattered across the landscape may be Old Memories of a wondrous village that once soured through the skies. And fields covered with webs from Phase Spiders may encourage a Monster Hunt, for their webs are said to have magical properties and the corpses cocooned may have loot for the taking.</p><p></p><p><strong>Great Cities</strong> are those marvels of civilization, countless humanoids and other intelligent beings packed within walled complexes of glass, metal, and stone. Home to thousands and even millions of souls, the metropolises of fantasy worlds are packed with lifetimes’ worth of stories. Rain patters on shingled roofs, gathering into streams and drains. Packs of feral animals and vermin rush between the innumerable dark and tight corners on the hunt for food. The city’s nobility frequent a fancy restaurant adorned with a fountain in front, their jewelry and colorful fabrics shining in the sunlight. The PCs may have a Chance Meeting with a tiefling feng shui artist having a panic attack over the “street’s flow being all wrong.” A young pixie being raised by a human family may be Needing Assistance as she is overwhelmed in playing against her larger schoolmates in a local sports game. The party may head out on a Monster Hunt as someone accidentally planted Violet Fungi among the tenements at night.</p><p></p><p><strong>Lands of the Fae</strong> can take many forms, from enchanted forests to storybook towns, but their uniting element is that the fey, and not mortalkind, rule here. Fluffy clouds in pink, blue, and yellow hues fly close enough to the ground to touch. The land itself rumbles as a sleeping turtle that is part of the landscape shifts positions. Sprites riding giant owls act as the region’s aerial mailmen, and an ice cave may be home to someone with sculpted furniture and floating lights for a chilly yet functional residence. The PCs may learn of Old Memories from a heavy book full of captivated fairy tales dropping out of the sky in front of them. The Natural Wonders may include unusual things such as a sky of utter black whose stars rise from the ground, gradually forming a pictographic story of two friends turning into foes. A dwarf and his partner may be Needing Assistance as some mischievous sprites stole the latter’s mouth and stuck it to the belly of an elk. A goose’s golden egg may have Hidden Reserves when it is smashed, for it contains a single casting of Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/egGlLkv.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Open Waters</strong> is slightly different from the other Region Types on account that it (usually) takes place on a ship or some other maritime vehicle. The Roles are renamed to more nautical titles (Leader becomes Captain, for example) but the Role Abilities and Group Travel Checks remain overall unchanged although certain encounter types can make use of new things like Water Vehicles for tracking or avoiding a creature during a Monster Hunt. The biggest changes are that tables are grouped differently: they are primarily different bodies of water such as an Archipelago, Frigid Oceans, or Lakes. Each has d10 results for each Encounter Type save a Place to Rest or Fateful Encounters. There are no Fateful Encounters, for oceans are vast lonely places, and resting can be done on a boat by default. However, the size of the boat determines what kinds of rests can be taken, and choosing to rest can impose penalties when the PCs end up sleeping through the beginnings of Encounters, causing checks to auto-fail or enemies automatically getting surprise on the party.</p><p></p><p>There aren’t default descriptions of Weather, Flora and Fauna, and the like which feels a bit of a letdown, but I imagine that the authors didn’t want to take up too much room and also due to the variety (and also uniformity above-water) of aquatic terrain. PCs venturing Beneath the Waves may come upon a Natural Wonder of a merfolk metropolis made of coral. A party venturing through seemingly Calm Seas may have a Deadly Fight on their hands if they mistake the mimics on an empty galley for treasure chests. A Chance Meeting may happen in Jungle Rivers as a friendly herbalist gathering plants is actually an assassin on the hunt for deadly poisons.</p><p></p><p><strong>Underground</strong> is a region which virtually every adventurer is going to be acquainted with in due time. The subterranean realms of D&D settings aren’t just dark caverns full of strange life, but are entire civilizations of cities, tunnels, crevices, and vents filled with deadly monsters and wicked creatures who never saw the light of day. Pale cave shrimp float lazily in pools of water. Bioluminescent fungi illuminates drifting dust passing through the air in wonderful hues. Svirfnbelin work crews direct a summoned earth elemental to build a way for their settlement. A local Bump in the Road may be a rapidly growing patch of red moss that dissolves and consumes natural materials such as leather or wood. The party may come upon a Natural Wonder as they feel an omnipresent tremor and roar that reveals they had been traveling inside an enormous worm which has just been killed by something even larger. They may need to find a Place to Rest in stranger conditions, such as an embassy populated by intelligent yet friendly giant centipedes eager to swap stories about the surrounding Underdark.</p><p></p><p><strong>War Torn Lands</strong> are those places where people are ordered by more prominent individuals to throw themselves against the enemy in wave after bloody wave. War is a terrible thing, even if waged for the most just causes, for it robs soldiers and civilians alike of the right to live in peace with a guaranteed tomorrow. Fields of slaughtered dead attract scavengers, from rats and ravens to looters and flesh-eating monsters. Refugees with nothing to lose walk across the land in tired masses, with no destination in mind save to escape the violence. Invading soldiers build pillared statues of their war horses for some unknown objective. Spies pose as servants of little consequence in claimed fortresses where officers consult each other on plans and plots. Villagers trapped in a city on fire may Need Assistance from the PCs if they hope to escape. It goes without saying that there’s Danger Afoot, for even centaurs and sprites seeking to not get involved may take up arms against the soldiers felling their trees for timber and mistake the party for invaders. Even where lives are not immediately threatened, death and wickedness is present in Dark Places as the PCs come upon a group of Shield Guardians breaking down the foundations of a slaughtered town to burn the evidence so that none may know their owners’ crimes.</p><p></p><p>So that’s a brief covering of about half the Region Types. Still, I think I gave a good overview of the wealth of material to be found in Uncharted Journeys.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> While individual Encounter Types may not be long in word count, their volume combined with the imaginative and inspirational potential of many of them serves as a great generator for events, people, and fights that will be immediately interesting to many gaming groups. As I mentioned before, Uncharted Journeys has a few Region and Encounter Types that may not be suitable for all campaigns, particularly ones that aren’t high magic, but given that D&D is meant to be a world of fantastic possibilities I feel that is a better option. It’s easier to “scale down” such material rather than having to “scale up” from material that goes for a more “realistic” or low fantasy flavor.</p><p></p><p>Another thing to note about the Encounters, as well as the overall Journey system, is that its high emphasis on ability checks encourages options that benefit skill-user types. Stones of Good Luck, a Divination Wizard’s Portent, Guidance and Bless spells, and other things that can modify or reroll d20 results will be highly prized for games using the Journey system. And in terms of being a fair tax on party resources, having only a third of Encounter Types necessitating the rolling of initiative makes it closer to a “puzzle-heavy dungeon” for overall lethality. Getting 3 combats on a Journey isn’t going to be common save for longer Journeys and less-lucky parties. Presuming that such encounters are fair (or give the opportunity to flee from powerful enemies) I don’t foresee such Journeys turning into taxing slogs.</p><p></p><p><strong>Overall Thoughts:</strong> Uncharted Journeys is a strong showing for Cubicle 7 and a clear upgrade from its ancestor rules in Adventures in Middle-Earth. It expands the Exploration pillar of 5th Edition into a worthwhile mini-game of its own. One that can generate many interesting encounters for gaming groups without coming close to running out of material and thus does a great job in keeping Journeys feeling like new experiences. The new rules are relatively short and simple enough for gaming groups to absorb upon a casual reading, and barring the wonkiness of some spells it manages to avoid the One Class/Skill to Rule Them All that made AiME’s Journeys so easy to trivialize. This sourcebook can be a fun addition to virtually any campaign that has the PCs traveling through new lands, which makes it applicable to the vast majority of settings out there.</p><p></p><p>That being said, I do have my criticisms. This book needs another editing pass to clear up grammar and spelling issues; even in the table of contents you can spot an inappropriately capitalized and misspelled “Open WatersS.” More precise language on some class features and spells such as Sorcery Points can be elaborated on, and while short the third and fourth chapters feel more like filler content. But these weak points aren’t enough to bring the whole of Uncharted Journeys down, leaving it with high marks overall.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8866152, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Ni8JQjE.png[/img][/center] The first four chapters were but a mere quarter of Uncharted Journeys. The remaining 235 pages (discounting things like KickStarter backers and the OGL) are given over entirely to the different Region Types and the Encounters therein. There are 16 Region Types, and 11 cover common terrain such as Forests, Mountains, and Open Waters which correspond almost identically to the terrain types for monsters. The remaining five cover more geo-political or supernatural places, such as War Torn Lands and Wild Magic Lands. I will note that three of these latter types feel ideally built for certain official 5th Edition campaigns: Haunted Lands is quite appropriate for Ravenloft (particularly Barovia and other gloomy Transylvanian-inspired places), Hellscapes is an extraplanar Journey like that of Descent Into Avernus, and Lands of the Fae brings to mind The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. Each Region Type starts out with local flavor to make it come alive: Weather that is common to the region, Flora and Fauna to describe surrounding plants and (usually non-hostile) life forms, Local Inhabitants for the types of people who live off the land, Points of Interest that serve as neat local features that aren’t tied to Encounters, and Possible Journeys which serve as adventure hooks for the Region. Each Region also has its own tables for each of the 12 Encounter Types, although Open Waters bears its own special mention due to the changes involved with maritime travel. Encounter Types cover a wide range of functions, and only a minority involve guaranteed combat: [b]A Chance Meeting[/b] or [b]Fateful Encounters[/b] has the PCs meet fellow travelers, with the latter focusing on more unusual or momentous NPCs who serve as inspiration for recurring plot hooks; [b]A Bump in the Road[/b] involves some non-combat difficulty or hazard that can tax the party’s reserves, and [b]Needing Assistance[/b] is similar save that it’s NPCs who are in trouble; [b]Natural Wonders, A Dark Place,[/b] and [b]Old Memories[/b] can have the PCs come upon wondrous and/or disconcerting scenes that can affect their spirits and morale; [b]Hidden Reserves[/b] and [b]A Place to Rest[/b] give the party opportunities to get their bearings in the form of rest and/or resupplies; and [b]Danger Afoot, Monster Hunt,[/b] and [b]A Deadly Fight[/b] are encounters that are the most likely to roll for initiative. Every Encounter Type calls for one or two checks, either to resolve it or see who has the upper hand when initiative is rolled in the case of the combat-related ones. Some are individual rolls, usually Role-related, and others have the entire party participate as a Group Travel Check. Sometimes a PC with the appropriate Role can replace another PC’s result with their own, reflecting how they are optimally suited to handle that Encounter by filling in for the weaknesses of their teammates. Success on an Encounter imposes some kind of reward even in cases where there’s nothing to be materially gained: for example, Natural Wonders calls for a group Wisdom save, and if at least half succeed the party gains advantage on their next ability check or saving throw, and if they all succeed they gain Inspiration instead. Conversely, nothing happens if at least the party fails, and if all of them fail they feel overwhelmed by the vastness of nature in losing Inspiration [i]and[/i] have disadvantage on their next saving throw! Some Encounters can even alter or add future Encounters, represented by helpful NPCs giving the party directions (or offended ones leading them into danger). Only Fateful Encounter has no built-in mechanical consequences, where success imparts some form of secret information from the NPC, and failure means that the party doesn’t learn the secret. The book also throws a house rule our way: as Inspiration is given out or lost for a few of these Encounter Types, the DM can make an optional rule where gaining/losing it further affects a PC’s morale in more drastic ways. Gaining Inspiration when you already have it grants temporary hit points equal to your largest hit Die, and vice versa for when you’d lose it but don’t have it. In the latter case this is more of a psychological drain and can’t kill a PC or reduce them below 1 hit point. Sadly it is in this chapter that errors in regards to spelling and grammar are most apparent, and judging by the version up on Drive-Thru RPG these mistakes still persist. Although they aren’t omnipresent, I have spotted things such as two periods instead of one or an NPC or monster entry that hasn’t been bolded when that process is the default in this book. A few monsters are mislabeled, like mentioning pteranosaurs rather than pteranodons, or giant anaconda instead of giant constrictor snake, and some to my knowledge don’t exist in the basic rules or more popular monster manuals such as Monks (just monks) and Zombie Knights. Something to note about the combat encounters: there are no results fixed by Average Party Level, and the book doesn’t list the Challenge Rating for NPCs and Monsters nor precise numbers. The intent is to allow the DM to better tailor the encounter to suit the party, and the authors also go by the adage that the world shouldn’t alter itself to be fair to the PC’s abilities. I’m not sure how to feel about this. While the book does mention that running from a fight is possible (in fact, Monster Hunt has a group travel check for avoiding the monster rather than pursuing it), as the death of a PC can lead to a Catastrophic Failure it is something I feel should have some forewarning. That being said, a good amount of the encounters I witnessed hew to the lower end of the CR spectrum, centered mostly around Tier 1 and 2 parties with only a rare few higher than 10. [img]https://i.imgur.com/YyKWYON.png[/img] There’s too many for me to do all 16, but I decided to compile the CR list of the first two Region Types, split between the 3 combat-risk Encounter Types: [b]Coasts[/b] Danger Afoot: Sahuagin (½), Guards (⅛), Mimics (2), Specter (1), Weretigers (4), Druids (2), Blood Hawks (⅛) Monster Hunt: Pteranodon (¼), Giant Octopus (1), Violet Fungus (¼), Swarm of Quippers (1) and Giant Shark (5), Plesiosaurus (2), Hydra (8), Giant Constrictor Snake (2), Kraken (23) A Deadly Fight: Wights (3), Will-o-Wisps (2), Giant Crabs (⅛), Zombies (¼), Archmage (12), Storm Giants (13), Water Elementals (5), Ghasts (2), Aboleth (10), Merrow (2), Merfolk (⅛), Blue Dragon Wyrmlings (3) [b]Deserts:[/b] Danger Afoot: Orcs (½), Dust Mephits (½), Mage (6), Bandits (⅛), Monks (N/A), Giant Scorpion (3), Giant Centipedes (¼), Mummies (3), Bandit Captain (2), Mimics (2) Monster Hunt: Ankheg (2), Giant Snake (¼ or 2), Manticore (3), Young Blue Dragon (9), Roc (11), Doppelgangers (3), Wyverns (6), Zombie Knights (N/A) A Deadly Fight: Young Blue Dragon (9), Scorpion (0) and Giant Scorpions (3), Blue Dragon Wyrmlings (3), Bulette (5), Lamia (4) and Jackals (0), Mage (6) and Invisible Stalker (6), Shield Guardian (7), Veteran (3), Gladiator (5) and Zombies (¼), Paladin (N/A). So there’s only one monster which can approach Tier 4, the Kraken, and it’s less a direct fight and more “attack the kraken tentacles that made it onto land and are menacing shipwrecked survivors.” In the Storm Giants’ case it’s two giants who are fighting each other as part of a contest and the party ends up between them in the “arena.” So even in the harder fight’s cases the authors took care for outmatched parties to have some kind of way out. Furthermore, the overall feel of encounters posits a rather high-magic world, or one that cranks up the supernatural wonder of the worlds of D&D a bit, albeit not to a ridiculous extent. For example one of the Bump in the Road encounters for Great Cities involves a stone giant construction crew tearing up the road to rebuild it. And in Grasslands, one of the Dark Place encounters has the party come upon the titanic corpse of a dead Tarrasque, possibly causing fear of something bigger and deadlier out there that slain the legendary beast. Notice that I said "[i]a[/i] dead Tarrasque" and not "[i]the[/i] Tarrasque." Several encounters of various types in War Torn Lands have local armies making use of magic and monsters to wage war, such as a Shield Guardian retrieving the bodies of dead soldiers as a Chance Encounter or magical land mines as a Bump in the Road. These aren't constant or the norm and certain elements can be changed on the fly by the DM, but as I know that there are some campaigns which have restrictions of various types (Dragonlance being low-magic, nonhumans being shunned in pre-5e Ravenloft, etc) this may be something to consider. I will cover several regions in very brief terms. This review would never end if I were comprehensive, so instead I’m going to showcase some of the more flavorful and interesting Encounters along with local color. [b]Coasts[/b] are the last frontier where the land meets the sea. Strange things washing up on shore, pirates prowling for hapless people to rob, old shipwrecks holding treasure, marshy deltas home to thick plant life and camouflaged predators, and tidal caves which can have all sorts of things lurking in their watery depths. A Chance Meeting may have the party come upon your cliche message in a bottle, Hidden Reserves may have them stop on by at a sea-themed spa run by a succubus and incubus couple offering seaweed bath and salt exfoliation treatments, a Dark Place may have a trio of sadistic eagles who laugh like people and torture screaming fish to death in front of the party, and a Fateful Encounter may have the party come upon a dragon turtle who unknowingly holds a foliage-filled island on its back containing buried necromancers. [b]Farmlands[/b] may be well-settled, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous or prone to conflict and intrigue. Those who harvest the earth’s bounty can be found in virtually every civilization, and even those who don’t farm may be attracted to the ample food stores. Cozy villages emitting hearth smoke on chilly nights, stables containing creatures both mundane and fantastic such as hippogriffs and wyverns, wagons of farmers headed to town to sell their produce, and wary treants hiding among the borders of the forest to ensure that not one inch is taken over by agriculture are some potential sights. A Bump in the Road may include a maddened water elemental bursting out of a stone well and thoroughly soaking everything nearby, the party the party may come upon a Natural Wonder of beehives and mushroom patches presided over by a friendly werebear and wereboar couple, an inn’s resident bard may challenge the party to a singing duel in a Place to Rest, and a Deadly Fight may pit the party against a cursed Knight in rusty armor who babbles incoherently. It is easy to take [b]Grasslands[/b] for granted. Their wide plains can let you spot people from far away, they’re often associated with “beginner level” encounters in video game RPGs, and they don’t feature as prominently in Western folklore as darkened woods or monster-filled caves. But they too can be home to dangers all their own, from nomadic clans engaged in blood feuds to scarcity of resources pushing predators to desperate measures. The land itself can turn deadly during the dry season, for lightning can ignite brush fires. Griffons and axe beaks sail the windy fields, and huge herds of grazing animals ward off predators with the threat of a legion of horns and hooves. Sticky tar pits with safe mounds and corpses of creatures serving as the only safe way across may be a Bump in the Road. A small mountain among the steppes home to the shrines of various deities may serve as a Natural Wonder for those to take in the serene surroundings. The remains of smashed buildings and propellers scattered across the landscape may be Old Memories of a wondrous village that once soured through the skies. And fields covered with webs from Phase Spiders may encourage a Monster Hunt, for their webs are said to have magical properties and the corpses cocooned may have loot for the taking. [b]Great Cities[/b] are those marvels of civilization, countless humanoids and other intelligent beings packed within walled complexes of glass, metal, and stone. Home to thousands and even millions of souls, the metropolises of fantasy worlds are packed with lifetimes’ worth of stories. Rain patters on shingled roofs, gathering into streams and drains. Packs of feral animals and vermin rush between the innumerable dark and tight corners on the hunt for food. The city’s nobility frequent a fancy restaurant adorned with a fountain in front, their jewelry and colorful fabrics shining in the sunlight. The PCs may have a Chance Meeting with a tiefling feng shui artist having a panic attack over the “street’s flow being all wrong.” A young pixie being raised by a human family may be Needing Assistance as she is overwhelmed in playing against her larger schoolmates in a local sports game. The party may head out on a Monster Hunt as someone accidentally planted Violet Fungi among the tenements at night. [b]Lands of the Fae[/b] can take many forms, from enchanted forests to storybook towns, but their uniting element is that the fey, and not mortalkind, rule here. Fluffy clouds in pink, blue, and yellow hues fly close enough to the ground to touch. The land itself rumbles as a sleeping turtle that is part of the landscape shifts positions. Sprites riding giant owls act as the region’s aerial mailmen, and an ice cave may be home to someone with sculpted furniture and floating lights for a chilly yet functional residence. The PCs may learn of Old Memories from a heavy book full of captivated fairy tales dropping out of the sky in front of them. The Natural Wonders may include unusual things such as a sky of utter black whose stars rise from the ground, gradually forming a pictographic story of two friends turning into foes. A dwarf and his partner may be Needing Assistance as some mischievous sprites stole the latter’s mouth and stuck it to the belly of an elk. A goose’s golden egg may have Hidden Reserves when it is smashed, for it contains a single casting of Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. [img]https://i.imgur.com/egGlLkv.png[/img] [b]Open Waters[/b] is slightly different from the other Region Types on account that it (usually) takes place on a ship or some other maritime vehicle. The Roles are renamed to more nautical titles (Leader becomes Captain, for example) but the Role Abilities and Group Travel Checks remain overall unchanged although certain encounter types can make use of new things like Water Vehicles for tracking or avoiding a creature during a Monster Hunt. The biggest changes are that tables are grouped differently: they are primarily different bodies of water such as an Archipelago, Frigid Oceans, or Lakes. Each has d10 results for each Encounter Type save a Place to Rest or Fateful Encounters. There are no Fateful Encounters, for oceans are vast lonely places, and resting can be done on a boat by default. However, the size of the boat determines what kinds of rests can be taken, and choosing to rest can impose penalties when the PCs end up sleeping through the beginnings of Encounters, causing checks to auto-fail or enemies automatically getting surprise on the party. There aren’t default descriptions of Weather, Flora and Fauna, and the like which feels a bit of a letdown, but I imagine that the authors didn’t want to take up too much room and also due to the variety (and also uniformity above-water) of aquatic terrain. PCs venturing Beneath the Waves may come upon a Natural Wonder of a merfolk metropolis made of coral. A party venturing through seemingly Calm Seas may have a Deadly Fight on their hands if they mistake the mimics on an empty galley for treasure chests. A Chance Meeting may happen in Jungle Rivers as a friendly herbalist gathering plants is actually an assassin on the hunt for deadly poisons. [b]Underground[/b] is a region which virtually every adventurer is going to be acquainted with in due time. The subterranean realms of D&D settings aren’t just dark caverns full of strange life, but are entire civilizations of cities, tunnels, crevices, and vents filled with deadly monsters and wicked creatures who never saw the light of day. Pale cave shrimp float lazily in pools of water. Bioluminescent fungi illuminates drifting dust passing through the air in wonderful hues. Svirfnbelin work crews direct a summoned earth elemental to build a way for their settlement. A local Bump in the Road may be a rapidly growing patch of red moss that dissolves and consumes natural materials such as leather or wood. The party may come upon a Natural Wonder as they feel an omnipresent tremor and roar that reveals they had been traveling inside an enormous worm which has just been killed by something even larger. They may need to find a Place to Rest in stranger conditions, such as an embassy populated by intelligent yet friendly giant centipedes eager to swap stories about the surrounding Underdark. [b]War Torn Lands[/b] are those places where people are ordered by more prominent individuals to throw themselves against the enemy in wave after bloody wave. War is a terrible thing, even if waged for the most just causes, for it robs soldiers and civilians alike of the right to live in peace with a guaranteed tomorrow. Fields of slaughtered dead attract scavengers, from rats and ravens to looters and flesh-eating monsters. Refugees with nothing to lose walk across the land in tired masses, with no destination in mind save to escape the violence. Invading soldiers build pillared statues of their war horses for some unknown objective. Spies pose as servants of little consequence in claimed fortresses where officers consult each other on plans and plots. Villagers trapped in a city on fire may Need Assistance from the PCs if they hope to escape. It goes without saying that there’s Danger Afoot, for even centaurs and sprites seeking to not get involved may take up arms against the soldiers felling their trees for timber and mistake the party for invaders. Even where lives are not immediately threatened, death and wickedness is present in Dark Places as the PCs come upon a group of Shield Guardians breaking down the foundations of a slaughtered town to burn the evidence so that none may know their owners’ crimes. So that’s a brief covering of about half the Region Types. Still, I think I gave a good overview of the wealth of material to be found in Uncharted Journeys. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] While individual Encounter Types may not be long in word count, their volume combined with the imaginative and inspirational potential of many of them serves as a great generator for events, people, and fights that will be immediately interesting to many gaming groups. As I mentioned before, Uncharted Journeys has a few Region and Encounter Types that may not be suitable for all campaigns, particularly ones that aren’t high magic, but given that D&D is meant to be a world of fantastic possibilities I feel that is a better option. It’s easier to “scale down” such material rather than having to “scale up” from material that goes for a more “realistic” or low fantasy flavor. Another thing to note about the Encounters, as well as the overall Journey system, is that its high emphasis on ability checks encourages options that benefit skill-user types. Stones of Good Luck, a Divination Wizard’s Portent, Guidance and Bless spells, and other things that can modify or reroll d20 results will be highly prized for games using the Journey system. And in terms of being a fair tax on party resources, having only a third of Encounter Types necessitating the rolling of initiative makes it closer to a “puzzle-heavy dungeon” for overall lethality. Getting 3 combats on a Journey isn’t going to be common save for longer Journeys and less-lucky parties. Presuming that such encounters are fair (or give the opportunity to flee from powerful enemies) I don’t foresee such Journeys turning into taxing slogs. [b]Overall Thoughts:[/b] Uncharted Journeys is a strong showing for Cubicle 7 and a clear upgrade from its ancestor rules in Adventures in Middle-Earth. It expands the Exploration pillar of 5th Edition into a worthwhile mini-game of its own. One that can generate many interesting encounters for gaming groups without coming close to running out of material and thus does a great job in keeping Journeys feeling like new experiences. The new rules are relatively short and simple enough for gaming groups to absorb upon a casual reading, and barring the wonkiness of some spells it manages to avoid the One Class/Skill to Rule Them All that made AiME’s Journeys so easy to trivialize. This sourcebook can be a fun addition to virtually any campaign that has the PCs traveling through new lands, which makes it applicable to the vast majority of settings out there. That being said, I do have my criticisms. This book needs another editing pass to clear up grammar and spelling issues; even in the table of contents you can spot an inappropriately capitalized and misspelled “Open WatersS.” More precise language on some class features and spells such as Sorcery Points can be elaborated on, and while short the third and fourth chapters feel more like filler content. But these weak points aren’t enough to bring the whole of Uncharted Journeys down, leaving it with high marks overall. [/QUOTE]
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