Unearthed Arcana Into the Wild: New Unearthed Arcana Covers Wilderness Exploration

Ohh the Nentir Vale - Moon Hills example that Mearls had showed a screenshot of before. Nice.

 

[dave2008]

Think harder then, your players expect it. If needed take a 5 minute break. Then present a cool, detailed, complex new situation. This will be much better than the result of a dice roll. This would be my advice.

Wow, that is a pretty jerk move. Why insult someone who has method that apparently works for them (the DM and players). And, of course, you are not inherently correct. If this works for you great, but that doesn't mean it will work for others or that the idea sparked by a random table will not be better (and possible require harder more detailed and complex thought).

EDIT: PS - sorry for jumping into this discussion mid stream - I should have just moved on.

 

[MagicSN]

Wow, that is a pretty jerk move. Why insult someone who has method that apparently works for them (the DM and players). And, of course, you are not inherently correct. If this works for you great, but that doesn't mean it will work for others or that the idea sparked by a random table will not be better (and possible require harder more detailed and complex thought).

EDIT: PS - sorry for jumping into this discussion mid stream - I should have just moved on.

Was not meant as insult - if it was taken as such I apologize. After rereading my post I think you are right this could be taken as offensive. I edited my old post because of that. I just wanted to explain that it is not required (and I think not even recommended) to introduce a random table element to introduce a "new element" into the running session.

I also did not "ignore" posts about using random tables "because of the new element". I said several times that this is not an argument for random tables, but an
argument for new elements. And that new elements can be done in a different way (and probably better).

I probably should have left this discussion long ago.

 

[CapnZapp]

Talk about third rate content.

How about using UA to shore up the core game instead?

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[dave2008]

I probably should have left this discussion long ago.

I've been there too.

 

[Calm_EyE]

I feel like this UA was quite underwhelming for experienced GM's and players, however for newer GM's it really provided some fun new ideas.

 

[Ristamar]

I feel like this UA was quite underwhelming for experienced GM's and players, however for newer GM's it really provided some fun new ideas.

You could probably say that of most UA content.

 

[Monayuris]

But I think it makes not much sense to continue this discussion. The fronts are - too hard. For me Random Tables is just something we did when we were still teens and which have no role in current RPGing anymore. Others seem to think otherwise.

I agree it doesn’t make much sense to continue the conversation. This is getting way off topic.

We have a fundamental difference in play style, but that’s ok. If it works for the group there is no right or wrong way to do it.

To suggest that the way another group plays is objectively wrong is not constructive. In the end we all want the same thing, different groups have different ways of getting there.






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[MagicSN]

I agree it doesn’t make much sense to continue the conversation. This is getting way off topic.

We have a fundamental difference in play style, but that’s ok. If it works for the group there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Yeah. If I would have guessed that someone would still use this other playstyle and continue to do so I wouldn't have posted.
Just was trying to teach and help ;-) But sure, everyone to his own.

Let's agree to disagree and leave it at that.

 

[Monayuris]

In my view, they still didn't get it right with this.

The problem I've had early on with my games is that tracking hour by hour, or even day by day, becomes too monotonous and becomes too much accounting. It just seems like work without much fun in return.

I really like the approach Cubicle 7 did with the One Ring and Adventures in Middle Earth, and I think there's a three-step method to port some of that over to a standard 5th edition game with high magic, but you'd have to 1. make exhaustion levels more meaningful (receiving a con check for them when the navigator fails a navigation check, or when the forager fails a foraging check, etc. This is an abstraction of getting lost for a time, or not doing a good job finding enough food or water, etc.), 2. make a special "long rest in a sanctuary" that is the only way to remove exhaustion levels, and 3. abstract travel over the entire journey (whether it's 3 days, or 5 days, or 10 days) instead of trying to track day by day or hour by hour.

When my group wants to go out in the wilderness they usually do so for two reasons:

1. They want to go to a place and explore it.
2. They want to wander out in a random direction and see what they find.

The TOR / AiME rules work very well for the first reason, but not so well for the second.

In the first case the travel is just a means to get to the adventure. In the second, the wilderness is the adventure (my campaign world is seeded with lots of mini-adventure locations plus I have tables that procedurally generate content - you can’t throw a stick without finding something interesting)

But you are right, detailed wilderness exploration can be dull, especially if the group is more interested in getting somewhere (why force them to drill down hour by hour if that’s not what they want to do?)

This article is a bit incomplete. But it’s a start to a kind of ‘fractal’ approach to wilderness. Where there are rules that support an abstracted route: players make a navigation roll to find the place they are going to, or a more detailed hour by hour exploration.


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[rmcoen]

Perhaps some form of stamina mechanic (combining exhaustion and hp loss from environmental hazards) that measured your ability to withstand travel might work. That way, the effect of things like being lost, starved, caught in the rain, attacked by mosquitos, or chilled to the bone) could sap your strength. Resting at a non-dangerous place (like an inn or residence) could recover them. Seems like it would be another complicated system to track.

This, definitely this! Long-term drain/exhaustion. Proper preparation mitigates the drain, but these aren't wounds a cure
spell can just fix...

Ultimately, though, adventurers in a "normal rules" situation have so many resources that it just comes down to Time. (unless they are 0th or 1st level, perhaps) So ultimately, I as GM generally give a time constraint (or at least, the impression of one) for most situations that require travel. "You decide to head out to find the ruins of Tremalta, which your just-discovered map says is 3 weeks southwest. There and back should take 2 months, reasonably, so you should get back just in time for the Mayor's big announcement..." Or "Your divination has revealed that the drow army will make landfall in 5 days; you think you can get there in 3, and loot the tomb before they arrive." Sometimes even something as simple as "Sure, you can do that. It'll take about a day, though... are you sure?" "Why? What's the time limit?" "Nothing, that you are aware of..."



Having said all that, I want more help building wilderness. I don't have time with 3 kids, 2 jobs, and a wife - but I want to run an "explore and conquer the new world/continent/area" campaign. I want help with making interesting destinations, or populating a zone with foes and features and [an f-word that means loot]. I want the players to have the joy/excitement of a 4X, of wanting to push on and explore the next hex on the map... not just "the ranger succeeds on his Nature check; you spend 10 days hiking through forest, and arrive at the mountain."