Charwoman Gene
Adventurer
Hong stinks.
Roleplaying Travel
- Thread starter greyscale1
- Start date
I think travel should be narrowed down to some descriptive sentences.
"As you leave Motala, you see peasants taking in the harvest as you travel down the road. The sun is warm and despite all the walking, it's a good time to be alive. The nearer you get to Norrköping, the more you see the signs that a war is raging. Villages are empty and burned out, the few locals you see keep their distance."*
If the players want to interfere here, they are free to do so (for example by trying to contact the locals). Otherwise, you have described a three week long travel.
* It's hard to make a text fluent in a secondary language
"As you leave Motala, you see peasants taking in the harvest as you travel down the road. The sun is warm and despite all the walking, it's a good time to be alive. The nearer you get to Norrköping, the more you see the signs that a war is raging. Villages are empty and burned out, the few locals you see keep their distance."*
If the players want to interfere here, they are free to do so (for example by trying to contact the locals). Otherwise, you have described a three week long travel.
* It's hard to make a text fluent in a secondary language
Charwoman Gene said:
…Of what?
Hussar
Legend
I guess it boils down to what you want to get out of the traveling bit. What is the purpose of drawing it out? Is there a purpose? Once you have that answer, it will be easier to decide which side of the scale you want to come down on.
For example, if the party has been tracking Baron McEvilton for the last three levels and they know he's holed up in that abandoned castle a week or two ahead, they probably don't want to screw around with side treks on the way.
OTOH, if the party has just finished one adventure and is on the way to another location because they heard of something interesting over yonder, then spicing up the trip might be worth it. Heck, it might be as simple as wanting to bump the party up a bit in XP so that you don't have to fiddle around with that module you want to run.
The WOTC site with the Vicious Venues, and of course Dungeon Magazine have tons of this sort of stuff, just aching to be parachuted in.
I guess, for me, the answer will depend on the purpose of the trip. It could be showcasing the setting, in which case, a short encounter (not necessarily combat) with lots of local flavor is a good idea.
Hope this helps.
For example, if the party has been tracking Baron McEvilton for the last three levels and they know he's holed up in that abandoned castle a week or two ahead, they probably don't want to screw around with side treks on the way.
OTOH, if the party has just finished one adventure and is on the way to another location because they heard of something interesting over yonder, then spicing up the trip might be worth it. Heck, it might be as simple as wanting to bump the party up a bit in XP so that you don't have to fiddle around with that module you want to run.
The WOTC site with the Vicious Venues, and of course Dungeon Magazine have tons of this sort of stuff, just aching to be parachuted in.
I guess, for me, the answer will depend on the purpose of the trip. It could be showcasing the setting, in which case, a short encounter (not necessarily combat) with lots of local flavor is a good idea.
Hope this helps.
hong said:
Which no one but the DM reads actually reads. (I am kind of kidding).
I actually think exploration of the world in-game is a much better way of understanding the world than reading any supplement.
On the other handi definitely agree that laboriously roleplayed travel, is not an ideal choice of ways to let players explore the world (i admit that I cheat though and let the players come up with a good chunk of the world, i feel that they are way more invested in the world that way).
As time goes by I have become more of a fan of the world actually mostly developing during play.
Wyrmshadows
Explorer
Travel is a great way to weave roleplaying into the game. The PCs and NPCs get to interact with each other, they get to face resource, weather and geography challenges. Plus, travel makes the world seem large and real to the players because the journey often takes place between plot points. The illusion of being a living setting is maintained by making sure the PCs see that the world has a reality that doesn't revolve around the adventure or the adventurers.
Its also worth considering that travel allows the DM to pain pictures with worlds about the areas the PCs travel through, the flora, fauna, weather, etc. Want to connect your players (and thus their PCs) to the setting make them see the world through your words.
Plus, travel give me the chance to create some mini stories that can throw the PCs a curveball from time to time.
Wyrmshadows
Its also worth considering that travel allows the DM to pain pictures with worlds about the areas the PCs travel through, the flora, fauna, weather, etc. Want to connect your players (and thus their PCs) to the setting make them see the world through your words.
Plus, travel give me the chance to create some mini stories that can throw the PCs a curveball from time to time.
Wyrmshadows
Last edited:
Imperialus
Explorer
Sometimes I enjoy having little sidequests during travel. It can be helpful if you want to bump up the parties power level a bit or you're itching for a diversion from the main quest. Don't use them so much in episodic style games without a metaplot though.
One thing I do always try to do though is give at least a brief monologue description of something different. If the party is traveling through mountains, it might be a fantastic waterfall, if they're on an arid plain, perhaps a mesa or canyon. I tend to use terrain because it's meant to be descriptive, not necessarily an adventure hook. To use the waterfall example, I might say: "As you reach the crest of the pass on the third day the hard shale slope gives way to a river valley. Further down the trail and towards the head of the valley you see a waterfall cascading down the rockface. There is a small pool at the foot of it. It looks like a good place to make camp."
At that point what happens depends on the players response. If they say they want to do a quick recon of the area before setting down for the night I'll just do a normal 1/10 chance for a random encounter. If on the other hand they suggest that they're going to look behind the waterfall or somesuch they'll discover a small cave complex.
In that case I just pop down a 'stock' mini dungeon or monster that seems native to the area, nothing terribly detailed.
One thing I do always try to do though is give at least a brief monologue description of something different. If the party is traveling through mountains, it might be a fantastic waterfall, if they're on an arid plain, perhaps a mesa or canyon. I tend to use terrain because it's meant to be descriptive, not necessarily an adventure hook. To use the waterfall example, I might say: "As you reach the crest of the pass on the third day the hard shale slope gives way to a river valley. Further down the trail and towards the head of the valley you see a waterfall cascading down the rockface. There is a small pool at the foot of it. It looks like a good place to make camp."
At that point what happens depends on the players response. If they say they want to do a quick recon of the area before setting down for the night I'll just do a normal 1/10 chance for a random encounter. If on the other hand they suggest that they're going to look behind the waterfall or somesuch they'll discover a small cave complex.
In that case I just pop down a 'stock' mini dungeon or monster that seems native to the area, nothing terribly detailed.
Lite Fluff travel
I roll weather for each day of travel -- d10, low is stormier, high is clearer -- and adjust it by season and terrain.
I also describe the distances travelled, the terrain, the types of other travellers or lack thereof (assuming it's a road, trail, river, or other place where travellers go), and the types of settlements (frontier cluster of stout-walled homes with a palisade, or sprawling, open, unwalled villages with a green in the middle, etc.)
The idea is to make sure they know the background for where they are and what's going on. Wagons going to town with the harvest, peasant militia marching to the front led by impoverished knights, elite cavalry unit hurrying by, heavily armed dwarvish prospecting party, mountain tribesmen climbing a peak to celebrate Mid-Summer Day, etc.
Only very rarely do I have an encounter they have to deal with. I've used things like encountering a hostile barbarian tribe and once, the party contracting the plague during their trip, which means no staying in inns or houses until all symptoms were totally gone!
I roll weather for each day of travel -- d10, low is stormier, high is clearer -- and adjust it by season and terrain.
I also describe the distances travelled, the terrain, the types of other travellers or lack thereof (assuming it's a road, trail, river, or other place where travellers go), and the types of settlements (frontier cluster of stout-walled homes with a palisade, or sprawling, open, unwalled villages with a green in the middle, etc.)
The idea is to make sure they know the background for where they are and what's going on. Wagons going to town with the harvest, peasant militia marching to the front led by impoverished knights, elite cavalry unit hurrying by, heavily armed dwarvish prospecting party, mountain tribesmen climbing a peak to celebrate Mid-Summer Day, etc.
Only very rarely do I have an encounter they have to deal with. I've used things like encountering a hostile barbarian tribe and once, the party contracting the plague during their trip, which means no staying in inns or houses until all symptoms were totally gone!
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