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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Baron Opal II" data-source="post: 9484570" data-attributes="member: 6794067">(The penguins were kind of a joke.)Well, yes. It's at least a concern if not an active obstacle.I am apparently not communicating, or neither of you have read exploration accounts or adventure fiction based on real experience.The party enters a terrain or environment outside the player's experience.The DM clarifies what precautions they take. Information is provided based on character class, level, access to local experts, available gear, reinforcement of how spells mitigate issues. "Gotchas" are minimized or eliminated- "poor choices" are actually embracing risk for whatever reason. For example, not buying wool and furs or light linen and silk clothing and keeping with layered cotton when going into extreme cold or heat. The players may not wish to spend the coin or barter for them. The players are informed by the local guide as to their utility.5-10 minutes of narration by the DM as to the first handful of days in the new environment. The beauty of the environment is emphasized. Unusual flora and fauna from our temperate clime is noted. Clockwork-regular rainfall or the total lack of clouds and wide temperature swings are noted. Minor or trivial obstacles that are overcome with gear or skill are noted. This last bit is, at least to a degree, foreshadowing of greater threats to come. It particularly severe environments there is always some impairment. You might lose a d4 hit points a day if you choose to travel. How important is speed? Are you willing to exhaust all your X level spells to protect the party? Unless you are a native you aren't going to be at 100% while travelling. And there are some places the natives aren't at 100% either.The first encounter. This could be a combat of local hostiles or an environmental obstacle. Sandstorm, blizzard, profound cold, heat, or rain. Violent thunderstorms destroying nearby trees; not only do you need to avoid the blast but also falling trees and wooden shrapnel from trees that explode as their sap instantly boils from the lighting strike. How did the party prepare, how do they react? Importantly, this is not a single skill check or spell. This is an encounter, and treated as such. However, you're not fighting a creature but navigating the danger that nature provides. Game-wise, this takes the same time as a combat encounter and can be harrowing. Or, relatively minor like an easy combat encounter. Crossing a river swollen with rain from upstream as an example. Potentially quite dangerous, but also relatively straight-forward if not easy to manage.The second stretch of travel. How does the encounter affect the status quo? Was key gear consumed, sacrificed, or lost? Does the party have to stay put for a couple days and utilize skills or spend magic to recover exhaustion or steadily eroded hit points? Does the time required to recuperate impact food supplies? If there are spiders the size of your hand that like the shelter of your tents as much as you do, or their prey is attracted to the shelter, has the encounter changed your ability to deal with that nuisance? Are you out of your first level pest repellent spells, or are you going to have to sacrifice a third level slot to get the same effect? Is this the night where that will make a difference since you are now camping next to a nest of chon-chons?The second encounter. Often, for me, if the first was environmental the second is an encounter with local dangerous critters. The baseline environment can have particular effect on a fight. Difficult terrain, always have 50% cover from dense trees, &c.Third stretch of travel. Long-term issues with the environment develop. Further narration of the beauty of the landscape, but as characters are now more experienced they can perceive the danger that is masked by it.Depending on the length of travel there may be other discoveries. If they are going to travel for a couple months through the deep desert they will encounter something different along the way. Magical anomalies, ruins uncovered by a sandstorm, a wise and talkative jaguar curious about the strange two-legs wandering through its hunting grounds. A variety of challenges and obstacles maintains interest. You're not going to have twenty combats in a row, you're not going to have an excess of Man vs. Nature encounters in a row.So, yes, the party is going to worry about avoiding disease for the three weeks trekking through the Green Hell. They are going to listen to the locals and/or lean on their skills and magic. They're going to have to think about the last dose of wound ointment when they've gone through their fourth combat against killer moas. It is not the only thing the have to think about; there are combats and ruins and strange happenings to marvel at. But it is most definitely more than two skill checks per day of travel. Because, yes, that would be tedious. There are many stories, and drama takes many forms.</blockquote>

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