RPG Evolution: How to Party

I learned a lot from my week-long, 30-mile trek through the rugged Cimarron, New Mexico backcountry, and the parallels between managing a hiking crew and guiding a Dungeons & Dragons party became strikingly clear. Just like an adventuring party navigating a dungeon, a group embarking on a challenging trek relies heavily on cohesion, communication, and clear roles. What works on the trail can work in a dungeon too.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

Hiking Roles​

On a demanding journey like a Boy Scout Philmont trek, every participant is assigned a specific role, designed to ensure safety, efficiency, and a positive group dynamic. These roles, both adult and youth, create a structured environment where individual strengths contribute to collective success.

• Lead Advisor: This adult serves as the primary organizer, handling pre-trek logistics, crew information, and travel details. While they hold overall responsibility, their role shifts to supporting the youth leadership once on the trail.
• Advisors: These adults are primarily there for crew safety. They act as positive motivators, helping to resolve disputes and providing guidance, but crucially, they let the designated Youth Crew Leader lead the crew.
• Crew Leader: This youth is the linchpin of the crew. They organize duties, make decisions, assign tasks, and recognize each member's capabilities. A successful Crew Leader leads by example, practices servant leadership, maintains a positive attitude, attends to all crew members’ needs, and resolves conflicts proactively. They are selected prior to the trek and respected by everyone.
• Chaplain's Aide: Focused on the crew's spiritual and emotional well-being, the Chaplain's Aide leads daily devotionals and facilitates nightly "Thorns and Roses" sessions. This exercise, where each person shares a "rose" (something they liked), a "thorn" (something they disliked), and a "bud" (something they look forward to), is vital for crew bonding and allowing uninterrupted expression.
• Wilderness Pledge Guide (Guia): This role emphasizes environmental stewardship, helping the crew understand and follow the Philmont Wilderness Pledge and Leave No Trace principles. They ensure the crew respects the wilderness both on and off the trail.
• Ranger: These staff members are vital guides. Rangers orient crews to procedures and safety, provide leadership for advanced programs, and are key resources for search and rescue. They serve as backcountry experts, promoting environmental stewardship and emphasizing communication and teamwork. Rangers coach Crew Leaders and educate members on various aspects of the trek, ensuring preparedness, safety, and respect for the environment.

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Adventuring Roles​

The wisdom of separating roles by experience, aptitude, or even sheer size translates seamlessly to the adventuring party. Different character archetypes naturally align with the needs of a cohesive group, mirroring the Philmont roles:

• The Wise One (Lead Advisor): Think of a Gandalf-esque figure. This character is the most experienced and wise of the bunch, often a high-level support spellcaster with high Wisdom. Their job isn't to micro-manage but to provide high-level guidance and crucial support to the party leader, stepping in when only deep knowledge will suffice.
• The Allies (Advisors): These are the higher-level characters, larger characters (like a barbarian or fighter), or versatile support characters who don't fit into the core three operational roles. They provide backup, fill gaps, and ensure overall party safety, much like the adult advisors supporting the youth leader.
• Pathfinder (Ranger): Often filled by rangers or experienced rogues, this role focuses on navigation, especially in unfamiliar or dangerous terrain. The Pathfinder ensures the group gets through a place efficiently and safely, coordinating resources and helping city-dwellers adapt to wilderness challenges.
• Leader (Crew Leader): This is the party leader who directs the group, makes tough calls, breaks ties in arguments, and keeps the party moving towards its goals. This role often suits charismatic classes like bards or paladins, or even a sorcerer, who can inspire and unite the diverse personalities of an adventuring party.
• Healer (Chaplain's Aide): An absolutely crucial role for group harmony and survival. The Healer keeps everyone functioning, physically and mentally. Typically a cleric, but any character with spiritual or potent physical healing abilities can fill this role. Beyond just hit points, the very act of keeping comrades alive fosters deep party bonding.
• Guide (Wilderness Pledge Guia): Similar to a Ranger, but with an emphasis on ethics, blending in, and proactive awareness rather than just navigation. Best filled by a druid, but also suitable for anyone familiar with local customs, terrain nuances, and avoiding pitfalls. The Guide helps the party respect the environment, avoid unnecessary confrontations, and stay alive through local knowledge and intuition, distinguishing them from the Pathfinder who focuses on routes. Bards can also excel here with their knowledge and charm.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work​

In my experience, this structured party approach works incredibly well. With the Allies filling in the blanks and providing robust support, the core three roles—Leader, Healer, and Guide—collectively steer the party, augmented by the wisdom and gentle support of The Wise One. This layered leadership and clearly defined responsibilities allowed our crew to navigate some truly serious challenges across unforgiving terrain.

This symbiotic structure, where individuals excel in their designated areas but operate with a shared goal, is great advice for any adventuring party. Real teamwork works on and off the trail, and in and out of dungeons too.