A question for DM's

[NewbyDM]

Hello, i've got a question for the o so many talented DM's on these boards... (something i have to achief...yet)

But i want to know how you people fill in the traveling time??

When traveling between towns... do you play ervery day??? roll every day for encounters etc.??? in my campain it gets a bit dull when playing 7 days repeating everything every time
or you tell them that the first 4 days nothing happens... and suddenly you pick up the story or something else???
I somethings just cut things and tell them its 4 days later and that they see the citywalls of a (probably the) city they were going to...

im just curious how you people do that...

Thanx for reading this

Robert

 

[Crothian]

I RP the first few days even if nothing happens so I can set up their routinue. Then they follow the same basic routinue when ever the travel unless they specifically change it. I'll have all sorts of things happen to interupt the routinue like weather adn animal encounters, not just combat things. This way they don't automatically get suspicious when the routinue is broken.

 

[King_Stannis]

i usually describe it, but rarely role-play it. the only way i would is if i needed "filler" time or if i needed to insert an npc before the next adventure.

i usually just say something like: "after a few days travel over the wide open grasslands with warm days and cool nights, you finally make it to (destination)."

no need to roleplay every travel day or trip to the local shop. it can get pretty boring if you do.

 

[ckirby]

...On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again...

Here's my little DM trick.

When my players travel, I only RP important events, such as...

A. A dark bend in the road ahead. Could it be a trap?
B. Something of interest gets their attention such as an NPC or a hungry dragon.
C. Some important point to the story.

In short, I do not RP every waking moment or every inch when the player's travel. I concentrate on important events and sum up the rest for them....("OK, after traveling for two days, your supplies have held out, but your stomachs ache for real food. As if by divine intervention, you see the welcoming signs of smoke on the horizon...could it be a small town? Hmm....nothing on your map...").

There you have it.

Keep it simple and the rest will follow.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I run a monolog to my players talking about the sites, sounds, road conditions and other travellers. If I have an event planed, it just happens.

Now the other travellers are important, I think about information that can be passed on. Sometimes it is news, sometimes warnings but all the time it is useful.

The cast maybe no names but sometimes a reoccurring NPC may be used, or a plot twist.

An example was a Ranger was taking some bandits he had captured back to town and stopped to share the players fire, he passed on information about their hideout, a ruin. Which the players thought was a good place to explore.

 

[the Jester]

I almost always spend a few seconds on each day, describing the weather, the general aspect of the land, travellers they might briefly encounter, etc. While rolling for random encounters, of course...