howandwhy99
Adventurer
Overland Travel is fun and can be a big part of the game. I treat it as another type of map exploration, a.k.a. spacial exploration over a timeline.
In dungeons this is fairly straightforward. There is a maze of corridors and larger open spaces or rooms. It is typically a gaseous environment bounded by solids, but liquids have their place too. Two dimensionally-speaking the borders within sight lines of the PCs are almost always double, one to each side making a corridor. 3D adds vertical doubles, which are usually of uniform height marked on a key (floors & ceilings), but variations are possible and noted by location. The PCs travel typically via sight with lighting along these lines with inclines and declines noted when over a certain degree. Those under can be purposefully checked for with a standard chance to notice, dwarves being superior at this.
Overland Travel uses the same system as above, but terrain borders are almost never doubled - with the common exception of road edges. The outdoors includes more than the overland, but the standard map is one of a solid floor, gaseous ceiling levels demarcated by density, and liquids mixed in. PCs follow the maze of lines marking the edges of terrain types they can sense (e.g. grassy floors, treeline walls). Like dungeons, terrain affects travel times, but in the outdoors the big difference is scale. I use 10 yards/square for close up action and miles for longer distances. I use 1" and 1/2" hex overlays for measuring the distance of map lines followed, so time and travel distances can easily be tracked.
Going off road is to blaze one's own trail and includes its own dangers. The first of these is getting lost. Keeping a general direction is normally fairly easy overland with some study of the celestial bodies - bearing points - but getting lost even with them is a common occurrence (environment affecting sight distances). When underground, direction is best kept track of through careful mapping. In whatever case, a good lodestone is valuable. Underground trailblazing is more aptly named tunneling, but like heading into the wilds it creates a trail although one far more obvious and more permanent in the time it takes to degrade.
Monster population and placement is a big hindrance on travel. For monster types I would include stats like faction size, organization, habitat and climate, diet, activity cycles, territory size (largely effected by speed), and, of course, challenge level. Everything in a given level of the dungeon / outdoors is on average the same level in terms of challenge and reward. 1st level monsters, terrain, mazes, magic, magic items, treasure, etc., with some deviation to the standard. Once the overall population of an area has been determined, things like tactics & strategies known to creature type factions within, activity cycles, organizational structures, and the overall population density, will determine what kind of "out of lair" or wandering monster encounters are available. Because all actions are performed on a timeline, I find it's easiest to simply pre-roll these with a timeline of encounters generated for time spent within each territorial region / dungeon. That is a list of pre-generated time-based encounters barring any activity by the PCs which draws monsters upon them.
Maze difficulty can be determined to a relative degree in both dungeon and overland maps. Think like a Pacman maze creator. Topologically, dead ends are more dangerous than lines circling, but, if enclosed, they can be a good place to hide. The longer a dead end, the more difficult it will be to survive exiting, if there are active creatures in the area. However, longer dead end paths contain more pellets, treasure, and rewards in D&D mazes should be commensurate with their challenges too. Spacial navigation challenges change based upon movement type too, so if PCs can travel through solid walls, its best to treat the region as a single open space with mapped "concealment" areas. Open spaces and their shape can be rated in difficulty as well. Borders are benefits as long as one doesn't maneuver oneself into a dead end - a corner. Rooms exist overland too as regions of territory between travel lines. Their difficulty is affected by whatever system is used for travel when trailblazers become lost (traveling randomly to escape is harder in a larger space or uniformly wider shape). Lastly, creature size matters in relation to the space, it is always a factor whether in a confined or open area.
Anyways, a lot of overland exploration has to do with what you are willing to put into it. I could go on, but I hope you get the idea.
In dungeons this is fairly straightforward. There is a maze of corridors and larger open spaces or rooms. It is typically a gaseous environment bounded by solids, but liquids have their place too. Two dimensionally-speaking the borders within sight lines of the PCs are almost always double, one to each side making a corridor. 3D adds vertical doubles, which are usually of uniform height marked on a key (floors & ceilings), but variations are possible and noted by location. The PCs travel typically via sight with lighting along these lines with inclines and declines noted when over a certain degree. Those under can be purposefully checked for with a standard chance to notice, dwarves being superior at this.
Overland Travel uses the same system as above, but terrain borders are almost never doubled - with the common exception of road edges. The outdoors includes more than the overland, but the standard map is one of a solid floor, gaseous ceiling levels demarcated by density, and liquids mixed in. PCs follow the maze of lines marking the edges of terrain types they can sense (e.g. grassy floors, treeline walls). Like dungeons, terrain affects travel times, but in the outdoors the big difference is scale. I use 10 yards/square for close up action and miles for longer distances. I use 1" and 1/2" hex overlays for measuring the distance of map lines followed, so time and travel distances can easily be tracked.
Going off road is to blaze one's own trail and includes its own dangers. The first of these is getting lost. Keeping a general direction is normally fairly easy overland with some study of the celestial bodies - bearing points - but getting lost even with them is a common occurrence (environment affecting sight distances). When underground, direction is best kept track of through careful mapping. In whatever case, a good lodestone is valuable. Underground trailblazing is more aptly named tunneling, but like heading into the wilds it creates a trail although one far more obvious and more permanent in the time it takes to degrade.
Monster population and placement is a big hindrance on travel. For monster types I would include stats like faction size, organization, habitat and climate, diet, activity cycles, territory size (largely effected by speed), and, of course, challenge level. Everything in a given level of the dungeon / outdoors is on average the same level in terms of challenge and reward. 1st level monsters, terrain, mazes, magic, magic items, treasure, etc., with some deviation to the standard. Once the overall population of an area has been determined, things like tactics & strategies known to creature type factions within, activity cycles, organizational structures, and the overall population density, will determine what kind of "out of lair" or wandering monster encounters are available. Because all actions are performed on a timeline, I find it's easiest to simply pre-roll these with a timeline of encounters generated for time spent within each territorial region / dungeon. That is a list of pre-generated time-based encounters barring any activity by the PCs which draws monsters upon them.
Maze difficulty can be determined to a relative degree in both dungeon and overland maps. Think like a Pacman maze creator. Topologically, dead ends are more dangerous than lines circling, but, if enclosed, they can be a good place to hide. The longer a dead end, the more difficult it will be to survive exiting, if there are active creatures in the area. However, longer dead end paths contain more pellets, treasure, and rewards in D&D mazes should be commensurate with their challenges too. Spacial navigation challenges change based upon movement type too, so if PCs can travel through solid walls, its best to treat the region as a single open space with mapped "concealment" areas. Open spaces and their shape can be rated in difficulty as well. Borders are benefits as long as one doesn't maneuver oneself into a dead end - a corner. Rooms exist overland too as regions of territory between travel lines. Their difficulty is affected by whatever system is used for travel when trailblazers become lost (traveling randomly to escape is harder in a larger space or uniformly wider shape). Lastly, creature size matters in relation to the space, it is always a factor whether in a confined or open area.
Anyways, a lot of overland exploration has to do with what you are willing to put into it. I could go on, but I hope you get the idea.
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