My player's travel

[jhanzur]

Hi all,
This is my first post (could you tell?)

I just ran almost 6 hrs of nothing but overland movement for my player's characters. They traveled but 75 miles in 6 days (they were slightly loaded with equipment) and things went pretty well. I like to keep a sense of reality when it comes to land and campaign size and don't want it to seem like the party just zips here and there all over the world (FRCS). They did have a couple of tough random encounters and handled some city stuff. Well, we meet again in two weeks (which gives me more time to work on integrating the next plot hook in Urmlaspyr).

As a player, would you be bothered by so much time spent aside from normal adventuring?

 

[Oni]

Unless there is something interesting that happens when traveling I personally prefer to glaze over that sort of thing. I've been in games where the DM has noted each day of travel the setting up of camp and the breaking of camp, and all of this on and on for an hour or more with nothing happening. Well after a while its boring, you just want to get on with exciting or important things, it got the point I would desperated hope for random encounters, or brigands or anything to happen to make it worthwhile. So I prefer a quick summery of overland travels unless something interesting is planned.

 

[jhanzur]

well, there were a couple of tough random encounters. one of the characters nearly died when the party came across a shambling mound. in fact, by the time they reached town, two characters had enough XP to level up.

 

[LostSoul]

I don't like using random encounters, but they can be a fun change of pace to a game - surprising both the DM and the Players!

There are other things that can "happen" along the path to ADVENTURE! You can foreshadow coming events (dark clouds cover the horizon), give the PCs dreams, have them encounter NPCs who tell them rumours or sell them things, point out something in your campaign world that will be important later (or just sets the mood), and a whole host of other things I can't think of right now.

Just skimming through the wilderness seems unfair to players as well. Perhaps they come across a ruined tower. As DM, you have no plans for this; you just tell them they see a ruined tower, a relic of the Great War, in order to show that there was once a Great War. Maybe they will remember this tower and use it as an ambush; fix up the tower and use it as a home; or whatever.

But don't detail travel if the players are bored or really want to get to the next part.

 

[Heap Thaumaturgist]

I usually glaze over travel.

I don't suppose it is "zipping" from here to there. I note how long it should take to get from point to point ... but I plan pretty much all the encounters. Even random things, like getting waylaid by brigands or coming across a monster.

Both are very rare on well traveled roads, and most established game settings have established road systems ... so it seems sort of silly to come across half a dozen ghouls kicking it on the road, or a group of bandits who would attempt to waylay five guys in armor with weapons and war horses and a wizard.

But travel time definately comes into play, say, when they're giving chase across long distances, or have to get to a certain place before an event occurs, etc etc. In novels, distance has meaning, but seldom is the evening campsite detailed unless halfway through the night the watchman is murdered and the Magic Thingamajig Which Must Be Protected is stolen ...

--HT

 

[jhanzur]

I can definately see how pacing the game is important and how players might get bored with overland travel. LostSoul, I like the idea of throwing small plot hooks while traveling. I also like your idea of adding bits of history during travel sessions, be it through a passing caravan master or any other means. In this particular session, they encountered a shambling mound that was spotted (and had spotted them) along a forested road. The other encounter was a pair of dire wolves that had sented the party's campground and snuck up on them at night. Two of my PCs were near to leveling up, and I wanted them to "make the grade" for the next major adventure. They (the players) seemed ok with the night's session, but sometimes I don't get feedback from them, wether it be in-character or out-of-character. I was just wondering if this scenario seemed a waste of a session. In the future, I will try to push past overland travel as soon as possible. In this case, it also allowed me to work more on the integration of my plot for the next session.

 

[Crothian]

I get the PCs routinue of what they do when they travel, then interupt it with random encounters (which are carefully planeed out in advance) and other important things. Sometimes I do fast forward if they are traveling through a safe section of country.

In the current game I'm playing in we have been been traveling for 3 straight sessions. It gets a little boring for the PCs but I can see what the GM is trying to do. We do get many encounters (bandits, giant ants, undead scouting parties) so it's not completely wasted time. I just wish she'd speed up some of the non encounters so we can get more done.

 

[jhanzur]

As a DM, I like to see how things go for players outside of my game as well. Crothian, how often does your group meet? If I had nothing but travel for three sessions it would take up a month and a half of real time (we meet two times per month). My players would probably get a bit bored too. How does a DM get through this though? My player's party has decided to mostly travel from one place to another in the Realms, which will require ALOT of overland movement, sometimes even more than a few days in a stretch. How should I go about making the distance seem meaningfull? Should I just cut from one encounter to the next? Would this seem too choppy for the players? It just seems hard for me to skip from encounter to encounter along the way. Any advice as to how to make it flavorful and enjoyable for the players would be nice.

 

[LostSoul]

Where are they going, and what are they doing when they get there? Do you want to make the journey an adventure in itself, or just a slight challenge leading up to the main adventure?

You should give them choices whenever you can. They might stop off in an inn after and pick up some supplies. (You might want to drop in an NPC or store or something that they will want to return to at some point in the future here.) After asking (or not) about the road ahead, you throw out some adventure hooks. "The old valley road's been plagued by bandits and their pet troll, so you might want to avoid travelling that way alone. Especially at night. There's a caravan travelling that way, leaving in a few nights. But if you're adventurous, you can cross over the old mountain path and pick up a few days on you journey. But there's a whole tribe of bugbears in the hills."

Set up two encounters - one with bandits & a troll, the other with bugbears. Make sure that these encounters are bigger than just he PCs. Maybe the bugbears are the lead force of a humanoid army. Maybe the bandits are raiding the road for the king of a nearby country who is testing the defenses on the road.

Later on in the game, you'll have a ton of hooks to play with, ones that will seem "right" to the players because they are grounded in the game world. It will seem like your campaign is an organic thing, growing and evolving around (and with) the PCs.

edit: player choice is very important here - they won't want to feel led around by the nose from one encounter to the next. Always give them a choice.

 

[jhanzur]

The party has just arrived in the city of Urmlaspyr in Sembia (FRCS) for about a one month's stay. The wizard plans on making a wand if possible and the rest of the party will be doing a bit of urban site seeing. The rogue actually wants to do a B&E to supplement his income, and I have a short solo adventure for that (might involve the authorities if things go wrong). After this, the party is headed for Westgate. I have a hook that they will most likely WANT to take before they leave Urmlaspyr (which I won't get into just in case ). So far, I have been pretty linear in my plots, mostly because I am not comfortable with how much detail I will need for the next session. I am pretty good at detailing one very set in stone adventure, given ALOT of time. But I run in to trouble with having different hooks that I haven't fleshed out. Do I risk the PCs taking a hook that I haven't planned, only to either wing it (which I do badly) or cut the session short so that in two weeks when we meet again I will be prepared? I ask as much information at the end of each session, and in between sessions, on what the party wants to do, but I'm having a hard time coming up with character driven plot hooks. Hopefully, at some point the party will settle into an area in the FRCS. If they do, I will have a much easier time fleshing out a good 50sq.mile radius of hooks, NPCs, places, etc. For now, I kind of have to push it linear. Westgate has some great possibilities, but the party fears the city quite a bit (some of this is, sadly, metagaming on the player's parts. Read LoD for examples of the Night Masks/Fire Knives. Some of my players insist on owning every freaking book known to 3E). I could easily have Westgate be nothing like what the players know. In fact, I've thought about buying a supplement city to take it's place, i.e. Geanavue from KoK. Any suggestions on these topics would be greatly appreciated.