Road Threads

[Hand of Evil]

Roads are the information routes of their times. At rest stops (shrines, watering holes, toll booths, etc.) people will pass on information on the condintions of the road they travelled.

Things like:

• Bandits
• Animals
• Flash Floods
• Wild Fires

I have had games where the players were road workers, they had to place markers and perform repairs as needed. Some of the things they did:

• Bridge building / repairs from flash floods
• Put up markers - lumberjacks would create splits and people would get lost - logging could cause a lot of issues and illegal logging is a great way to get a game started.
• Mapping - distance and ownship

 

[Mark CMG]

I wonder, too, how many run games where the details of the conditions of the road make much difference. I ran a game recently where getting off the road was potentially very dangerous. A series of tremors caused rock falls and trees to come down and block the road. The choices were to take time to clear the road or leave it and risk the dangers of the surrounding woods. Before I describe what happened in this particular game, let me ask, what would some of you have chosen?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Depends on my PC...

A "city slicker"- especially one "not from round here"- might look at the obstruction, say, "Screw THIS!" and go straight for the woods.

OTOH, a local yokel might prefer dealing with the obstruction rather than risk the feared wilds.

And someone with wilderness skills would look at his partymates, inspect the obstruction, scan the surroundings and make an informed choice...

 

[Haltherrion]

I once had a road called "The Century Road." It was a finely surfaced road with deep road cuts and remarkably straight segments. Legend had it that at certain times, a ghostly work gang could be seen laboring on the road.

It's been a long time and I don't remember the exact details but there was a situation where the players could meet what looked like a runaway slave. If they aided the slave in a certain way, one of the players became a slave on the road gang cursed to work the road for 100 years.

It turns out that a king had once needed the road built in a short period of time to win a war. He had contracted with a dark agency to get it created. It was built in a fortnight but by magic that caused the necessary work to be done in the future. An ensorcelled road gang would build the road for all time with each member of the gang to be a mortal cursed to work on the gang for 100 years. When your 100 years were up, you had to find a replacement or serve another 100 years.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I once had a road called "The Century Road." It was a finely surfaced road with deep road cuts and remarkably straight segments. Legend had it that at certain times, a ghostly work gang could be seen laboring on the road.

Hmmmmm
Route 666 (2001)

 

[jonesy]

I wonder, too, how many run games where the details of the conditions of the road make much difference. I ran a game recently where getting off the road was potentially very dangerous. A series of tremors caused rock falls and trees to come down and block the road. The choices were to take time to clear the road or leave it and risk the dangers of the surrounding woods.

Hmm. That brings something to my mind, but I can't quite remember the details. I had this game when I was much younger. It was like a travel game, or something, for multiple players. It had a neat little map of a road through a forest that the players had to get through, with all sorts of things that could happen in between. And for some reason I keep thinking that it was based on the Mirkwood part of the Hobbit. It even had a witch who could get you, kind of like "the necromancer".

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I once had the party encounter a wagon team stuck in the mud, loaded down with heavy parcels. The party helped the team get free ... only to learn later the wagon team was a gang of thieves making off with the crown jewels.

Roads make great places to introduce unusual NPCs with different stories to launch adventure hooks: lost travelers, attacks on caravans, meandering minstrels, etc.

 

[MarkB]

I wonder, too, how many run games where the details of the conditions of the road make much difference. I ran a game recently where getting off the road was potentially very dangerous. A series of tremors caused rock falls and trees to come down and block the road. The choices were to take time to clear the road or leave it and risk the dangers of the surrounding woods. Before I describe what happened in this particular game, let me ask, what would some of you have chosen?

Clear the road, as a matter of protecting the innocent. After all, we tough adventurers might be able to face the perils off the beaten track, but the merchants or messengers who pass this way later would not.

 

[Haltherrion]

Hmmmmm
Route 666 (2001)

The swine! They stole my idea. I used this in the early 90s

It's why I'm fuzzy on the details. I like the concept though; always enjoyed the dark-pacts that result in an "out of time/out of place" punishment.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some variations of "the road" are interesting..

The Mines of Moria are unforgettable as an update on the Labyrinth of Crete, for instance. (Complete with a Balrog subbing for a Minotaur.)

And of course, there are Kobold warrens...

Take a look at movies like 2005's Creep or 2003's excellent Kontroll, each set in the subways of major cities...after hours.