D&D General How to Make Travel Meaningful and Interesting

[Micah Sweet]

My belief is that to make anything interesting there needs to be an interesting choice being made by the players. So the answer to how to make travel interesting is simple, provide interesting choices for the players.

Random combat encounters don't tend to provide interesting choices, but that can and should be far from the only types of "random" encounters. Many of these encounters shouldn't be combat but side quests, moral dilemas, exploration & wonder, foreshadowing, building relationships, trade, etc... And even the combat ones should offer some choice.

So for example, say they come across a caravan that was attacked and some of the people from the caravan were taken. The remaining people from the caravan plead with the PCs to escort them the rest of the way. There's a moral dilemma of whether to go after the people taken, or protect those that remain, and if the PCs own quest is time relevant possibly even to just leave everyone and continue on their way. The danger level of the monster that attacked the caravan also plays a part, if it's goblins then any level of PC should be confidant that they can "win" any fight, but if it was say an adult or young adult dragon then that calculus is less clear. Any combat here is a choice, and regardless of the choice it's going to impact NPC relationships which can come up at a future time to provide more long term consequences if desired but at the end of the day it's all about choice for the players.

I should also note that if I want a game where travel matters I would go with a quality of rest homebrew, generally being you can't get a full LR unless it's in a place built for sleeping like a home, or inn. This provides an attrition element to travel, and opens up more interesting choices. Do we risk going up to this friendly looking cottage in the woods that is clearly the home of some Hag which is dangerous but probably gets us a full LR, or do we skip it and not get the LR we want/need?

This is again how Level Up and several other journey systems do it.

 

[GMMichael]

So the answer to how to make travel interesting is simple, provide interesting choices for the players.

It doesn't even have to be choices. Just provide interest. This is what I gathered from Numenera: the goal of the game is to learn, explore, or discover. Find new landmarks and artifacts, and delve into their secrets. You could call that a choice - investigate or not? - but the interest is rooted in what you find, not what choice you make.

A video example of this is Hyper Light Drifter. There's no text in the game, so all you can do is explore and experiment. The NPC "said" something in cryptic pictures. What could it mean? You'll just have to use your imagination to find out.

 

[pemerton]

It doesn't even have to be choices. Just provide interest. This is what I gathered from Numenera: the goal of the game is to learn, explore, or discover. Find new landmarks and artifacts, and delve into their secrets. You could call that a choice - investigate or not? - but the interest is rooted in what you find, not what choice you make.

Is it the GM who decides what the players (via their PCs) find? In that case, this seems to be looking to the GM's ideas to provide all that is interesting.

 

[GMMichael]

Is it the GM who decides what the players (via their PCs) find? In that case, this seems to be looking to the GM's ideas to provide all that is interesting.

The PCs can decide, sure. But it's more interesting to me if I'm finding something that I haven't invented.

 

[Sorinth]

Brainstorming here:

ROLL 2D6
2 - Hazard - rocky terrain, bad weather, unexpected quakes, treefall, cliffside switchback
3 - Wilderness Encounter (Starting Attitude: Indifferent) - wild deer, hungry wolves, posturing bear,
4 - Social Encounter (Starting Attitude: Indifferent) - travelers, merchants, patrol, pilgrims, caravan
6 - 9 Landmark or No Encounter
10 - Signs of Passage (Indication that a person or creature was in the area, or an abandoned settlement)
11 - Unexpected Complication - lost gear, twisted ankle, where are we?, magic malfunction, replaced traveler, bounty hunter
12 - Hostile Encounter - bandits, raiders, crazed animal, dangerous monstrosity

I'm not sure how often a check would be appropriate, but I'd be inclined to do 2-3 a day (one in morning, one in midday, one at day's end). If I were to implement this, I'd probably draw up several subtables for each entry.

<Edit> The "Unexpected Complication" would probably be something of a skill challenge to mitigate or avoid a bad outcome or delay.

One problem with this type of "random" approach is that without the adventuring context a lot of this stuff is just not particularly interesting in itself.

If the players are trying to sneak into an orc camp to rescue some prisoners, then something like a posturing bear becomes more interesting since the sounds of combat risks alerting the orcs, and/or might drain resources needed for the rescue. But if it's some random bear during a 10 day journey where all resources are regained every night with a LR then it's not going to be particularly interesting event.

You might find more value if instead of generic categories the entries were the raison d'etre. So for example if there is a time constraint at play maybe an entry in the random table would be something like "A time consuming event." That could be bad weather, or a natural hazard where failure causes a twisted ankle so movement is slowed, or a patrol of the king's guard who want to spend a few hours interrogating the party, etc...

Another entry might be something like "An opportunity to acquire a magic tiem or a component needed to craft a magic item", this opportunity could be a social encounter with a merchant willing to trade, an NPC handing out a side quest, the reward for exploring a ruined tower, loot from a monster's lair, etc...

By focusing on the reason for the encounter you probably have a much better chance of it being interesting to the players.

 

[Micah Sweet]

One problem with this type of "random" approach is that without the adventuring context a lot of this stuff is just not particularly interesting in itself.

If the players are trying to sneak into an orc camp to rescue some prisoners, then something like a posturing bear becomes more interesting since the sounds of combat risks alerting the orcs, and/or might drain resources needed for the rescue. But if it's some random bear during a 10 day journey where all resources are regained every night with a LR then it's not going to be particularly interesting event.

You might find more value if instead of generic categories the entries were the raison d'etre. So for example if there is a time constraint at play maybe an entry in the random table would be something like "A time consuming event." That could be bad weather, or a natural hazard where failure causes a twisted ankle so movement is slowed, or a patrol of the king's guard who want to spend a few hours interrogating the party, etc...

Another entry might be something like "An opportunity to acquire a magic tiem or a component needed to craft a magic item", this opportunity could be a social encounter with a merchant willing to trade, an NPC handing out a side quest, the reward for exploring a ruined tower, loot from a monster's lair, etc...

By focusing on the reason for the encounter you probably have a much better chance of it being interesting to the players.

Scenery is not intended to be interesting mechanically (which I assume is why you're bringing up tactical-level resource management). It's for color and to make the world feel more real.

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

This is again how Level Up and several other journey systems do it.

Yep, that is how rests work in my game. A LR is actually a significant commodity, where players will actively ignore their metagame instincts to get that LR... particularly because I am a stinker about leveling up

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

Scenery is not intended to be interesting mechanically (which I assume is why you're bringing up tactical-level resource management). It's for color and to make the world feel more real.

'Tone setting' is hard to find with alot of playgroups, a good amount of PC's can go a little meta and assume (not unreasonably) if the DM wrote it, it probably has some utility or sandbox/choice aspect.

Alot of my game is retraining our little metagamey mindframes (mine included). I can have a field that is full of poppies, the electric hum of cicadas, with the sound of thunder on the horizon, maybe a fresh manure smell... and the group is getting pretty good at just gathering the tone of the location instead of: "I will check a cicada for magic properties".

So I do use a good amount of travel to just describe scene/tone. Which (if I am narrating well) will influence party objectives, ie. Does this area scream lighthearted free time? - pursuing hobbies (crafting, etc...), or lets find shelter now? or lets double-time it through here (get ready to roll some CON or Survival).

 

[Micah Sweet]

'Tone setting' is hard to find with alot of playgroups, a good amount of PC's can go a little meta and assume (not unreasonably) if the DM wrote it, it probably has some utility or sandbox/choice aspect.

Alot of my game is retraining our little metagamey mindframes (mine included). I can have a field that is full of poppies, the electric hum of cicadas, with the sound of thunder on the horizon, maybe a fresh manure smell... and the group is getting pretty good at just gathering the tone of the location instead of: "I will check a cicada for magic properties".

So I do use a good amount of travel to just describe scene/tone. Which (if I am narrating well) will influence party objectives, ie. Does this area scream lighthearted free time? - pursuing hobbies (crafting, etc...), or lets find shelter now? or lets double-time it through here (get ready to roll some CON or Survival).

Basically, as you say you have to train out of that mindset. Talk about play expectations in session 0, and then walk the walk. Dont have every encounter be hostile or deceptive. Get them out of the metagame and help them experience the world. It's not a video game from the 80s and not everything is trying to kill you, or even exists solely for the PCs's interest.

 

[Sorinth]

Scenery is not intended to be interesting mechanically (which I assume is why you're bringing up tactical-level resource management). It's for color and to make the world feel more real.

The scenery type stuff should mostly be in addition to the interesting encounters and not be the encounter itself. And often times you don't want that stuff to be random. If you are using say the weather to help set a specific tone then you can't use/rely on a random table to do that.