Road adventures -- advice?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

OK, I know what the first two adventures of my sequel campaign will be (cleaning up the messes from the two branches of the original campaign, unsurprisingly). I also know that, in the fourth adventure, I want to set everyone up in their new locale before everything takes off like a rocket in the fifth.

What I am missing, though, are ideas for the overland trek from here to there. I'm looking for some suggestions for iconic "on the road" D&D adventures for characters from levels 7-9. They will be coming from a coastal city and traveling by land to a city to the north.

I'm open to almost anything, but I'd like the adventure to both emphasize the travel aspect, be iconically "D&D," and also feature something hard to include in an urban environment, which is where they'll be for an extended period after this adventure.

Any ideas or tales from your own campaigns? I'm open to pretty much anything.

 

[Quickleaf]

Have you checked out LostSoul's "random terrain features of the natural world"? http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan...64-random-terrain-features-natural-world.html Very cool and lots of adventure hooks.

One "en route" encounter I ran involved a ghost of a mage who died in mid-teleport; the ghost could create a loop in space, effectively trapping anyone on a particular road under the new moon...until the ghost was appeased or the new moon passed. While in the ghost's nether realm the PCs find themselves in the roles of the mage's companions, and each has some piece of a plot to assassinate the mage who is shepherding a young would-be sorceress to a wizard school. The way I played it the mage actually intended to sacrifice the young sorceress to steal her magic, and the rest of his party (aka the PCs) were actually the good guys trying to stop him. The sorceress caught wind of the plot and told the Mage (oops!) who killed off his companions one by one and raised them as zombies to kill each other.

When I ran this encounter the PCs were on horseback and when they entered the ghost's realm and realized what was going on, skeletal horsemen on shadow steeds began pursuing them, making this something of a chase scene.

This works as an en route encounter because of the nature of the ghost and the risk of losing time on the road. It also is a good hook to the wizard school in town - what became ofthe young sorceress, not to mention the mage's mansion?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Just some thoughts...

Overland travel is not easy, just look at history on the subject. People got lost all the time and nature was hard on travellers.

Changes in the Road - That is if you have a road and their have not been too many road building civilations. If you don't have a road, you are travelling a path or trail, both are problematic; you have flash floods and the something that made them, on top of that lots of other things use them. What this means, random encounters.

Okay, you have roads - What is the status and condition? you have tolls, you have patrols, you have other travellers? Add to this, homesteaders, loggers, and such; you can have a road that one day looks great but the next, has forks in it and pot holes. Now sign post, right side or left, are they stone or wood, what language are they in?

Shoes and other lost itmes - Gamers don't think too much about this, but when you are walking 20 miles a day, your shoes have to be replaced or repaired after 300 or so miles, 15 days to a month. What happens when that shoe blows while travelling overland? You also have the lost items, thing get forgotten at camp sites.

So, random encounters with bad weather and animals, patrols and other travels, chances of getting lost and equipment failures.

 

[Gilladian]

Some things that helped me when I was doing a long overland:
1) draw up all the weather ahead of time. I did very detailed temp/weather charts, but at the very least, do have notes that say things like "rainy weather between town a and town b" and "big storm while camped on road by river", etc...

2) create bits of random color ahead of time as well. Little vignettes that reflect things that are unique to your campaign or this region. Do they pass within 5 miles of Knightly Order A? Have them see a band of the knights riding the road. Are they traveling during a major holy day? What does that day look like at a local village level? Also things that can be found by the road, abandoned by other travelers.

3) "random" encounters - have them readied ahead of time. Know your PCs standard marching order, campsite layout, watch order, spot and listen checks, etc... so you can integrate encounters into their routines.

4) special problems - fording a flooding river after 3 days of rain, an unmarked fork in the road, choice of traveling by the main road (2 days) vs a shortcut through a dank forest (1 day). Lamed or lost pack animals; what gear do they have to abandon? Whose invitations do they accept for a night of shelter on the road?

One of the best books I read on travel in medieval times (if that's the tone you're going for) is a YA book called "The book of the maidservant" by Rebeccca Barnhouse. It illustrates very clearly what the various dangers and challenges were to unprepared or inexperienced travelers.

 

[Thanael]

Some that caught my eye from the old Dungeon magazine:


DEADFALLS ON NIGHTWOOD TRAIL
AD&D SideTrek adventure, 3-6 characters of levels 3-4
Written by: Jay Ouzts
Forest, temperate to sub-tropical
2 pages

Description: The heroes are travelling through the woods when they stumble across an ettercap's trap.



GRIMJAWS
AD&D adventure, for 2-3 characters of levels 5-7
Written by: Jennifer Tittle Stack
Artwork by: Lorelle Ahlstrom and rk post
Swamp, tropical to temperate
4 pages

Description: Characters travelling through the vast swamp stumble upon Sutholo, a sickly lizard man shaman stalked by his own dread creation: an undead crocodile.



HOUSE OF THE BROTHERS, THE
AD&D GREYHAWK adventure, 3-6 characters of levels 6-10
Written by: Mark R. Shipley
Artwork by: Roger Raupp
Forest/hills, temperate
6 pages

Description: Travelling through the wilderness, the characters stumble upon the caves of Erdol and Karzahk, a pair of fog giant brothers.



And of course Bandits:

BANDITS OF BUNGLEWOOD, THE
AD&D adventure, 4-8 characters of levels 1-3
Written by: Christopher Perkins
Artwork by: Kevin Ward
Forest/subterranean, temperate
10 pages

Description: Mysterious bandits are attacking travellers on the road between Stelwerd and Whitebirch.

 

[KidSnide]

I always thought the joy of travel encounters is that they let the PCs learn so much about the game world. It's a good reason to think about what types of threats appear in what areas. There are lots of good opportunities for wandering monsters where avoiding the monster altogether is a reasonable alternative to combat. In a game like this, I think xp should be awarded for progress (maybe with bonuses for speed), and not for how well they do in meaningless fights along the way.

I also like to provide at least one choice to the PCs (e.g. "the fast and dangerous route" vs "the long and safe route"). That choice provides intentionality to what otherwise would be a railroad series of encounters. Plus, it gives the PCs an incentive to learn where they are going beforehand - a real advantage in terms of helping they buy into the world.

Also, at least one part of the journey should be over difficult terrain where the PCs can't easily forage or find water. (Deserts are the principal example, but badlands or magical territories also work.) Your PCs will definitely overpack -- that's fine. But that means encounters in that area can threaten the "supply mule", which puts a different spin on an ordinary fight. Anyway, allowing the PCs to overcome a resource challenge with good planning is perfectly good fun.

-KS

 

[Thanael]

Another one:

SERENADE BEFORE SUPPER, A
AD&D GREYHAWK adventure, 4-6 characters of levels 3-5
Written by: Andrew Veen
Artwork by: Eric Anderson
Any wilderness, temperate
5 pages

Description: A stop at the Wayfarer's Rest Inn turns deadly when the resident bard reveals himself to be a wolfwere.

 

[Meatboy]

-Pilgrims of the same faith as one of the party members or cleric as for safe passage to a nearby abbey or village
A. they are legit but being harried by members of another faith.
B. they are legit but are heretics and turn on the party if they don't accept their doctrine.
C. They are not legit and turn on the party first chance they get.

-A wandering wizard and his bodygaurds are met on the road. The wizard wishes to trade spells with party wizard.
A. the offer is legit and you can gain magical knowledge. Refusal results in nothing.
B. legit but refusal leads to an attack
c. non legit (bandits)

Using the above formula you can create tonnes of minor road encounters.