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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 417547" data-attributes="member: 1210">Well, one technique I use for overland travel is describing the weather and wildlife.&nbsp; I generally spend a little time on each day's journey, even if nothing happens.&nbsp; As in, &quot;You start moving about 9 a.m.&nbsp; The surrounding country is full of mildly rolling hills dotted with some kind of scrub and thigh-high grass.&nbsp; You see the occasional birds in the sky.&nbsp; The sky is cloudy, and by noon it starts to rain a little.&nbsp; The drizzle seems to drive most of the animals into cover, and though you had been seeing lots of small groundhog type critters and lizards, now the animals you see are limited to the rare bird sheltering under the leaves of the few trees around.&nbsp; By midafternoon you're all soaked through, and the rain has picked up to a steady downpour.&nbsp; When you break for the night you have some trouble finding dry wood for a fire.&quot;I find that calling for spot checks for things other than encounters helps break things up, too.&nbsp; &quot;Make a spot check.... okay, everyone who made a DC10 notices that clouds are massing on the horizon.&quot;&nbsp; Or, &quot;If you made a DC13 you spot a river winding in the distance.&quot;&nbsp; Or, &quot;All right, Bob, you see a distant line of smoke in the sky, possibly from a good-sized fire.&nbsp; You'd guess it's about eight miles away.&quot;Red herrings stop the pcs from assuming that every spot check means something's out to get them.&nbsp; I'll never forget the time I called for a spot check and none of the pcs made it, but one of them immediately cast mage armor.&nbsp; &quot;Why?&quot; I asked.&nbsp; &quot;Uh...&quot; said the player.&nbsp; &quot;Right.&nbsp; No, you don't have any reason to cast it...&quot;&nbsp; After that the players started casting their long-duration buffs at a given time every day.As long as you don't have twenty days between every encounter, I find that a little time spent on every day helps the players feel like their journey actually takes time, and describing the non-monstrous creatures, weather, terrain, etc. goes a long way towards fleshing out the experience.Hope this helps...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 417547, member: 1210"] Well, one technique I use for overland travel is describing the weather and wildlife. I generally spend a little time on each day's journey, even if nothing happens. As in, "You start moving about 9 a.m. The surrounding country is full of mildly rolling hills dotted with some kind of scrub and thigh-high grass. You see the occasional birds in the sky. The sky is cloudy, and by noon it starts to rain a little. The drizzle seems to drive most of the animals into cover, and though you had been seeing lots of small groundhog type critters and lizards, now the animals you see are limited to the rare bird sheltering under the leaves of the few trees around. By midafternoon you're all soaked through, and the rain has picked up to a steady downpour. When you break for the night you have some trouble finding dry wood for a fire." I find that calling for spot checks for things other than encounters helps break things up, too. "Make a spot check.... okay, everyone who made a DC10 notices that clouds are massing on the horizon." Or, "If you made a DC13 you spot a river winding in the distance." Or, "All right, Bob, you see a distant line of smoke in the sky, possibly from a good-sized fire. You'd guess it's about eight miles away." Red herrings stop the pcs from assuming that every spot check means something's out to get them. I'll never forget the time I called for a spot check and none of the pcs made it, but one of them immediately cast mage armor. "Why?" I asked. "Uh..." said the player. "Right. No, you don't have any reason to cast it..." After that the players started casting their long-duration buffs at a given time every day. As long as you don't have twenty days between every encounter, I find that a little time spent on every day helps the players feel like their journey actually takes time, and describing the non-monstrous creatures, weather, terrain, etc. goes a long way towards fleshing out the experience. Hope this helps... [/QUOTE]

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