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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libramarian" data-source="post: 6855126" data-attributes="member: 6688858">Ran sessions on Saturday and last night. The campaign really took off on Saturday--very fun session.Exactly right -- I invented a watchtower near the mine and let the PCs have a good look around for about 10 miles. That along with me not doing fractional turns anymore (the players choose a direction and duration of travel in hours, and I just roll for encounters) got the game humming along.There is a distinction to be made between exploratory play and navigational play. You can give the players the map and still do exploration, as long as the map is not the territory and there are interesting things to find out about the dungeon rooms or wilderness regions that the players choose to travel to. Navigation is more of an acquired taste. We like it but I can see why some would wish to obviate it. Navigation is a bit tricky to do well because the players need enough information about their surroundings to get started, the process needs to be streamlined, and getting lost needs to "punish" the players with unnecessary danger and less XP return, but not boredom and frustration. Getting lost should still be kinda fun.I think I managed that in the game last night. After taking a long rest in the goblin lair they cleared out, the players set out to investigate a ruined fortress in the foothills to the southeast, but mistakenly headed northeast instead. Luckily they came across the crystal cave with a dust mephit who enjoys ironic demises. One of the players told the tale of their "cousin" Romeo and Juliet, and the mephit thanked them by warning them that they were about to enter troll-infested marshland and the bandit hills were due south. So they took an unnecessary risk and wasted some time in terms of accomplishing their goals, but still learned something about the area and had a fun scene. They started mapping after that <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" />I am using [MENTION=6801354]feartheminotaur[/MENTION]'s ambush chance concept, with a slightly different implementation: When an encounter is indicated, the PCs and monsters roll a Perception contest (PCs have advantage at Slow travel pace, and disadvantage at Fast). The winner becomes aware of the other side first. Being aware of the monster doesn't give complete information about what it is -- the PCs see vaguely humanoid shapes off in the distance, or hear something in a forest. The aware side can then choose to avoid the encounter, or close with or without a Stealth check for surprise.Encounter distance:Clear terrain (arctic/desert/grassland): 3d6 x 20 feetLightly obscured (light forest/swamp): 3d6 x 10 feetHeavily obscured (heavy forest/jungle): 3d6 x 5 feetOh yeah, another fun thing I've been doing is I start each session with a little encounter related to what the PCs have accomplished so far. It starts the session off with a bang and and reminds me to make the world change in response to PC actions. Last session after clearing the goblin lair a talking squirrel showed up and offered a nut out of gratitude. Most of the PCs were mistrustful but one ate it and gained +1 max HP.Next session the PCs will probably finish the bandit fort, and then head back to Westport for horses and henchmen. I'll have to make some NPCs for them to meet. I'm interested to try out the 5e rules for NPC personalities, social interaction and Loyalty/Renown.</blockquote>

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