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how to run long distance travelling without it sucking
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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6522737" data-attributes="member: 97077"><p>On the rare times that I actually play it out rather than do a collaborative scene-building montage, I set some stakes for the travel and then present encounters that challenge the players to achieve victory. Such stakes might be getting from point A to point B before a certain time, finding something hidden on the way to point B, avoiding detection while traveling, gathering important reconnaissance, etc.</p><p></p><p>So, for example, if the characters are trying to get from Sleepy Hamlet to Big City before the doppelganger is crowned king, I'm going to present challenges along the way that slow them down. These might be wandering monsters, natural hazards, or the like. If they are slowed down three times (say), then they fail to get to Big City before the doppelganger is crowned and must now deal with the aftermath. (Or they get there on time, but suffer a cost or additional complication.)</p><p></p><p>The key, in my view, are the stakes. If travel is just a matter of going from Point A to Point B with some throwaway encounters thrown in, I'm going to prefer to skip it and describe a montage. If, however, the PCs have something to win or lose other than the odd wilderness encounter here and there, I'll make it a tough challenge that the players will feel good about winning, where success and failure are both interesting, and that affects the direction of the unfolding story in a significant way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="iserith, post: 6522737, member: 97077"] On the rare times that I actually play it out rather than do a collaborative scene-building montage, I set some stakes for the travel and then present encounters that challenge the players to achieve victory. Such stakes might be getting from point A to point B before a certain time, finding something hidden on the way to point B, avoiding detection while traveling, gathering important reconnaissance, etc. So, for example, if the characters are trying to get from Sleepy Hamlet to Big City before the doppelganger is crowned king, I'm going to present challenges along the way that slow them down. These might be wandering monsters, natural hazards, or the like. If they are slowed down three times (say), then they fail to get to Big City before the doppelganger is crowned and must now deal with the aftermath. (Or they get there on time, but suffer a cost or additional complication.) The key, in my view, are the stakes. If travel is just a matter of going from Point A to Point B with some throwaway encounters thrown in, I'm going to prefer to skip it and describe a montage. If, however, the PCs have something to win or lose other than the odd wilderness encounter here and there, I'll make it a tough challenge that the players will feel good about winning, where success and failure are both interesting, and that affects the direction of the unfolding story in a significant way. [/QUOTE]
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