D&D General Travel In Medieval Europe

[MGibster]

I really think that pilgrimages and similar travel, like described in the video, could be integrated into dnd pretty easily regardless of how religious or not the PCs are. You make the pilgrimage to Cantebury because it's a rite of passage, because you've heard all your life how immensely awe-inspiring the cathedral is, and because you've spent your whole life in the same area, and it's hard to say no to that chance to go see the world in relative safety.

You're completely right, and it's such a great concept for a campaign that seems so obvious in hindsight that I'm flabbergasted this is the first I've heard it. As a campaign, this provides us a plausible reason for a disparate group of people to band together, a reason for them to travel, opportunities for various adventures along the path, and an end goal.

It's generally played down to avoid negative interaction with the wide variety of real world beliefs players have.

Or there are odd divides. Like aracane magic is intellectual while divine is completely different. I bet to a lay person, they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Like American society, D&D has a pretty strong divide between the secular and religious.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You're completely right, and it's such a great concept for a campaign that seems so obvious in hindsight that I'm flabbergasted this is the first I've heard it. As a campaign, this provides us a plausible reason for a disparate group of people to band together, a reason for them to travel, opportunities for various adventures along the path, and an end goal.

Or there are odd divides. Like aracane magic is intellectual while divine is completely different. I bet to a lay person, they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Like American society, D&D has a pretty strong divide between the secular and religious.

It's something people are understandably wary of when writing for a general audience, but you can be a bit bolder when writing for people whose beliefs you are familiar with.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You're completely right, and it's such a great concept for a campaign that seems so obvious in hindsight that I'm flabbergasted this is the first I've heard it. As a campaign, this provides us a plausible reason for a disparate group of people to band together, a reason for them to travel, opportunities for various adventures along the path, and an end goal.

Right!? Like it’s a great way to start, rather than just “you’re in a tavern”, you are traveling together. Some of you are on holy pilgrimage, some may be looking for work, fleeing serfdom, or looking to see something greater than the local lord’s manor before you get too old to travel. Regardless of why, you’re all on the same road, heading to the same place. Here are your itineraries, they’re each a bit different at the starting points but you’ve been on the road long enough that your itineraries match up from here to the end of the Aldranal Road and the Cathedral of Starlight. The weather is good today, and has been fairly dry for a few days now, and you all got a fairly early start after a quick breakfast.” Then start asking each player who they are, what they look like, and what they’ve told other they’re traveling for.

From there, you can go all kinds of ways, from danger on the road, to needing to leave the road and finding something strange in the process, to simply making the first act of the campaign culminate with the arrival at the Cathedral of Starlight.

Definitely gonna use this, now.

 

[John R Davis]

*They had breakfast in a tavern!!

Taverns/Inns are so supremely important no wonder many journeys begin, and pass through, them

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Pilgrimages are a great addition to a setting and the neglect of the topic is another failure in D&D’s refusal to even attempt to model religion in any even slightly believable form.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd say in DND land there would be few pilgrimages. Afterall " miracles" are very real and performed everyday by clerics and such that religion wouldn't need such journies

Imc Ive had two Pilgrimages take place. The first inspired by Red Riding Hood has PCs as guards for a neophyte priestess who must travel to the ‘Mother Temple’ for her investiture as a new Sybil but is harrassed by a werewolf who fears her gift.

The second one was set up for so both evil and good pilgrims might be motivated to visit. 1000 years before an ancient vampire warlord had tried to conquer the empire but was finally stopped by a priest and companions and buried in a deep vault. The entrance to the vault had been sealed with ruins and the statue of the cleric Saint Chakum (who sacrificed himself). A monastary was built around the statue.
So the monastary became a pilgrimage site for those wishing to honour Saint Chakum and also by those wanting to revive the Vampire Warlord. The PCs find themselves employed by a NPC of the later kind who asks them to recover the Antediluvians Sword (the Sword that will revive the Vampire)

Then of course you have Conan the Barbarian where pilgrims travel to be in the presence of their prophet/living god

 

[BookTenTiger]

*They had breakfast in a tavern!!

Taverns/Inns are so supremely important no wonder many journeys begin, and pass through, them

Switch things up by having the characters meet in the buffet line!

"As you scoop up the rubbery eggs, you hear someone mention a legendary treasure..."

 

[Ancalagon]

It's generally played down to avoid negative interaction with the wide variety of real world beliefs players have.

But having at least one very powerful religious organisation would be quite important for a "medieval" setting. The only setting that actually has that is Eberron, which isn't trying to be medieval at all.

Drakkenheim does it fairly well too.

 

[Ancalagon]

True story - I once met a man at a party, and for some reason we got into this big conversation about this pilgrimage he had been on in Spain and how it had helped him understand and accept who he was - the weeks of walking and thinking had a profound impact on him. (edit: it was the Compostel pilgrimage mentioned in the video).

I'll also note that the "hero's journey" is not just about facing dragons and lifting curses - going on a pilgrimage, being exposed to new ideas, facing new challenges and gaining a new perspective, are things anyone can gain in a long journey, back then or now.

 

[TheSword]

It's something people are understandably wary of when writing for a general audience, but you can be a bit bolder when writing for people whose beliefs you are familiar with.

The fantasy and futuristic versions of the Warhammer universe don’t shy away from great religions that heavily influence the players and the campaign setting.