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What is *worldbuilding* for?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7383034" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Other than the encounters-per-day bit, all these rules are just trying to enforce some vague semblance of realism. Travel takes time (unless you can teleport); time taken requires sustenance; and sustenance requires either wealth to spend acquiring it, magic to generate it, or the means and wherewithal to steal it.</p><p></p><p>It also forces the DM to determine how many days the journey takes, important if for any reason something is running to a schedule or time limit.</p><p></p><p>No rules for random encounters is cool; they're supposed to be random, after all, not guaranteed. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>But assuming a typical medieval-fantasy setting where the PCs can't just hop on the Stark jet and get there in an hour or three, any journey of any length at all is going to take significant time; and time is important. Washington DC to Tokyo could take several months travelling overland followed by several weeks at sea during which if nothing else seasonal variations and weather could become huge factors; not to mention the possibilities of disease, environment-caused mishap e.g. a flood or landslide, or - and here's yer random encounters - encounters with local wildlife or inhabitants.</p><p></p><p>Handwaving a journey like this is going a bit far. Boston to New York? Not quite so bad unless it's winter.</p><p></p><p>Does "no rules for wealth" apply just in this sort of case, as in there's no rules for minor wealth spent during travel; or are there no rules for wealth at all in that system?</p><p></p><p>How I'd do this would depend on the situation. Let's say that the Boston-NY corridor is fairly safe, while anything much west of that is wild land and the Pacific Ocean is thought to be full of beasties.</p><p></p><p>For a Boston to New York trip in summer I'd probably roll once to see if anything untoward happens, work out how long the trip takes based on a consistent speed of travel, ask what they're doing for food and lodging along the way, and get 'em to knock off some arbitrary small amount of g.p. if food and lodging are being purchased.</p><p></p><p>For the same trip in winter I'd be a lot more stringent on what's being done and how, and would be rolling for weather each day. Speed of travel would not at all be guaranteed - weather conditions could slow them down or even stop them at any time - and I'd be more careful about food and lodging costs and requirements.</p><p></p><p>For Washington to Tokyo I'd almost look at the journey as a mini-adventure in itself - there's the prairies (possible risks: local inhabitants, stampedes, weather e.g. tornadoes in summer and bitter cold in winter), the western mountains (possible risks: local wildlife, navigational woes, flash floods in summer, weather e.g. thunder and lightning in summer and snowstorms in winter), the coast (fewer risks but I'd want to know what they're doing about a sturdy boat to get across the ocean, 'cause I'm betting they didn't bring one with them!), and the ocean (possible risks: sea monsters, pirates, weather, navigational woes, rocks reefs and shoals near land).</p><p></p><p>Lan-"I've driven from here almost to the east coast and that's bad enough; I sure as hell wouldn't want to walk it"-efan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7383034, member: 29398"] Other than the encounters-per-day bit, all these rules are just trying to enforce some vague semblance of realism. Travel takes time (unless you can teleport); time taken requires sustenance; and sustenance requires either wealth to spend acquiring it, magic to generate it, or the means and wherewithal to steal it. It also forces the DM to determine how many days the journey takes, important if for any reason something is running to a schedule or time limit. No rules for random encounters is cool; they're supposed to be random, after all, not guaranteed. :) But assuming a typical medieval-fantasy setting where the PCs can't just hop on the Stark jet and get there in an hour or three, any journey of any length at all is going to take significant time; and time is important. Washington DC to Tokyo could take several months travelling overland followed by several weeks at sea during which if nothing else seasonal variations and weather could become huge factors; not to mention the possibilities of disease, environment-caused mishap e.g. a flood or landslide, or - and here's yer random encounters - encounters with local wildlife or inhabitants. Handwaving a journey like this is going a bit far. Boston to New York? Not quite so bad unless it's winter. Does "no rules for wealth" apply just in this sort of case, as in there's no rules for minor wealth spent during travel; or are there no rules for wealth at all in that system? How I'd do this would depend on the situation. Let's say that the Boston-NY corridor is fairly safe, while anything much west of that is wild land and the Pacific Ocean is thought to be full of beasties. For a Boston to New York trip in summer I'd probably roll once to see if anything untoward happens, work out how long the trip takes based on a consistent speed of travel, ask what they're doing for food and lodging along the way, and get 'em to knock off some arbitrary small amount of g.p. if food and lodging are being purchased. For the same trip in winter I'd be a lot more stringent on what's being done and how, and would be rolling for weather each day. Speed of travel would not at all be guaranteed - weather conditions could slow them down or even stop them at any time - and I'd be more careful about food and lodging costs and requirements. For Washington to Tokyo I'd almost look at the journey as a mini-adventure in itself - there's the prairies (possible risks: local inhabitants, stampedes, weather e.g. tornadoes in summer and bitter cold in winter), the western mountains (possible risks: local wildlife, navigational woes, flash floods in summer, weather e.g. thunder and lightning in summer and snowstorms in winter), the coast (fewer risks but I'd want to know what they're doing about a sturdy boat to get across the ocean, 'cause I'm betting they didn't bring one with them!), and the ocean (possible risks: sea monsters, pirates, weather, navigational woes, rocks reefs and shoals near land). Lan-"I've driven from here almost to the east coast and that's bad enough; I sure as hell wouldn't want to walk it"-efan [/QUOTE]
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