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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 548362" data-attributes="member: 704">Things to do on long trips.If you come accross any point in a campaign where you want the players to undertake an 'epic' journey to some distant land to do something, then you need to do one of two things.1)  Tell the players "After 8 long months of road weary travel, you arrive at the city of Tofartowalk."Method one kind of takes the 'epic' part of the plan out of it.  However, it causes the least amount of problems.  On the plus side, it avoids having a journey that simply turns into random encounters and semi regular intervals.2)  Decide what happens on the trip, and play out each encounter in the way that makes the most sense.Number two is hard, and it is hard for one reason alone.  The players know that they are on a journey, and they are eager to get to the good part.  Providing them with side quests is a risky proposition.  You either end up railroading them into it, or losing several hours of your time on a well developed side quest that your players choose to ignore.Here are my suggestions.1)  No Side Quests:  Other then encounters directly related to the adventure at hand, do not set up any quests that take longer then one encounter to resolve.  This keeps the game moving forward instead of side ways, and saves you alot of time and difficulty.2)  Use Foreshadowing:  Traveling is a great time for you to introduce NPC's that have nothing to do with this adventure, but everything to do with the next adventure.  It gives you a chance to role play, and it adds continuity to your campaign.  If you want your next adventure to be a crusade against the Black Fang Orcs of the Shattered Peak, then have them pass through that mountain range and fight  aband of Black Fang Orcs.  If you want the players to recover stolen crown jewels in the next adventure, have them share a camp with the Theif who stole them.  Do you have a party of level 3 adventureres who must someday fight the Black King when they hit level 15?  Have them meet Bards who tell the horrible tales of the Black King.4)  Use 'Skill' Challenges:  As another poster said, put obstacles in the players way that beg for the use of Skill and Ability checks.  A washed out bridge,  a rock face that must be climbed, a river that must be crossed.  For each one that they choose to go around, lengthen the journey a few days or weeks.  This is most effective when the players must reach the destination Before Something Bad Happens.5)  Refer to past Adventures:  Take a look at your previous adventures that you have run, and see if you can tie in some encounters that remind the players of foes long defeated.  Perhaps they find an NPC they once rescued.  Perhaps they see a King they deposed doing menial labor.  Did you have a TPK a while back?  Why not have your players meet the bastards who killed their old characters, or come accross the old battle site?6)  Puzzles and Riddles:  Have the players come accross some magical phenomenon or encounter a friendly ghost with a riddle.  Solve the Puzzle / Riddle, get the prize.  This is a nice way to give the players a minor magical item or two, as long as the puzzle warrents it.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

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