Wagon trains are traditionally associated with the Wild West, but the trope can easiliy apply to fantasy campaigns too. Far from simple travel, these journeys were complex undertakings, fraught with peril and dependent on careful planning and collective resilience. For DMs looking to capture this unique blend of overland travel, survival, and dynamic encounter design, the trials and tribulations of managing a wagon train can be the basis of an entire campaign.
Trade vs. Settlement
Wagon trains can be roughly grouped into two types: settling and mercantile. In a D&D campaign, each provides different adventure hooks: are the PCs hired to guard a caravan laden with precious trade goods, facing high stakes and the lure of rich rewards, or are they protecting a band of settlers seeking a new homeland, where moral dilemmas and the long-term survival take precedence?The Oregon Trail was predominantly a settler's path. Families and individuals, driven by the promise of fertile land and a new life, packed their belongings into canvas-covered wagons, seeking permanent homes in the West. Their primary goal was relocation and future self-sufficiency, making the perilous journey itself a means to an end. This group often featured wagons who were only as capable as the family members themselves, and were vulnerable to all sorts of dangers, particularly because it involved dependents like children and the elderly.
In contrast, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a mercantile route. It facilitated vital trade, with merchants transporting manufactured goods westward and returning with valuable commodities. Profit was the driving force, leading to a different risk/reward calculation and a keen focus on protecting valuable cargo from bandits and environmental damage.
The structure of a wagon train varied, numbering anywhere from 20 to 100 wagons, sometimes even more. Each wagon generally supported a single family or merchant, averaging 4-6 people per vehicle, though single individuals or small groups would also join. This meant a train could comprise hundreds of individuals, all relying on each other.
There are plenty of roles for PCs to fill in a wagon train, lead by a wagon boss (or trail boss) who provides leadership, arbitrates disputes, and makes crucial decisions about the route. Rogues and rangers can function as scouts who ride ahead, seeking paths and water. Druids and clerics can manage meals and first aid, though often families handled their own meals. And for everyone else, there's cowhands and guards, particularly on mercantile routes like the Santa Fe Trail, to protect against bandits, hostile natives, or dangerous wildlife. The number of these protectors varied, with one armed guard for every 5-10 wagons, sometimes supplemented by armed family members, making defense a collective effort.
Life and Logistics on the Trail
A wagon train was a miniature, mobile society, dependent on its own resources to survive the weeks or months of arduous travel. These journeys were slow and bumpy; wagons averaged only 10-15 miles a day, a pace that meant most people walked alongside their wagons to conserve the draft animals' strength and avoid the bone-jarring ride. This deliberate pace ensures that environmental dangers and encounters with local inhabitants were frequent.Wagons themselves were typically sturdy "prairie schooners," designed for durability, with each family or group having one or more packed with essential tools, provisions, and personal effects. In a fantasy D&D setting, the variety of wagons could range from a small pony cart for a lone adventurer to massive freight wagons for merchant guilds, with their size and number directly impacting the train's overall speed, defensibility, and resource consumption.
The choice of beasts of burden offers another rich layer of fantasy customization. Historically, oxen and mules were often preferred over horses for pulling heavy wagons due to their resilience, lower water needs, and ability to forage more easily. Horses were generally reserved for scouting or riding. In a fantasy campaign, giant lizards might be used in arid terrain or even giant spiders to climb cliff faces. In my campaign, giant goats are used by dwarves for much the same purpose.
Beyond the draft animals, a wagon train was a living ecosystem that often included herding cattle alongside the wagons, providing a source of food and trade goods. Managing this herd, protecting it from predators, and finding sufficient grazing, forage, and water supply are perpetual considerations, pushing PCs to make tough choices about their dwindling supplies.
Dangers and Defenses
Life on a wagon train was a constant exercise in risk mitigation, with dangers assaulting travelers from every direction. It's estimated that nearly one in ten emigrants who set off on the Oregon Trail did not survive the journey (there is a reason the Trail's video game namesake is known for being so hard). This translates to a mortality rate of roughly 6-10% of all travelers, with estimates of overall deaths ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 people over the trail's active period. The route was famously called "the nation's longest graveyard."Historical narratives of the American West often focused on conflict with Native American tribes, but the reality was more complex. Many indigenous groups offered services like guides, trade opportunities, or medical care, or sought tolls and fees for passage through their lands. In a fantasy campaign, these interactions can be embodied by diverse humanoid cultures each with their own complex societies and reasons for engaging with (or opposing) the passing wagon train. PCs might be tasked with negotiating treaties, paying tribute, undertaking specific quests for safe passage, or facing direct conflicts that require diplomacy.
Beyond intelligent inhabitants, the fauna was a very real danger. The American prairie harbored dangers like snakes, aggressive wild bulls, wildcats, and packs of wild dogs. In a fantasy campaign, these transform into terrifying, fantastical threats: giant snakes, gorgons, displacer beasts, and death dogs elevate a simple threat to a much more complicated one -- though for lower level parties, beasts alone are hazardous enough.
The environment itself was a relentless foe, with weather and natural accidents posing constant threats. Sudden, storms, tornadoes, or flash floods during river crossings could lead to wagons sinking, drowning hazards, or the irreversible loss of vital supplies. Navigating treacherous terrain meant frequent broken axles, stuck wagons, or overturning, all which would need to be constantly managed with the appropriate artisan's tools or judicious applications of mending spells. The extended nature of these journeys inevitably brought the specter of disease and starvation, making logistics and healing spells critical.
Westward Ho!
Throughout all these perils, PCs can play a critical role. Whether protecting their own families or hired as professional guards, their actions are central to the wagon train's survival. This involves constant scouting, setting vigilant watches, organizing defenses (such as circling wagons for a stand-off), engaging in direct combat, and exercising resourcefulness – crafting repairs, finding alternative routes, hunting for food, foraging for medicinal herbs, and even mediating internal disputes within the (frequently stressed) community of the wagon train.PCs on a wagon train, whatever their reason, can use the journey both to level up and move to a new, unexplored territory in a campaign. And once they get there? A whole new adventure begins.
