Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emberashh" data-source="post: 9073725" data-attributes="member: 7040941">In other news, tonight I think I cracked the code on the whole "Getting Lost sucks ass" part, and ironically I did so by going more realistic with the travel rules for my game. In actual wilderness navigation, theres a phenomenon called the drift error. Essentially, because even with highly precise navigation equipment or omnipresent landmarks to navigate towards, it generally isn't possible to travel and perfectly straight lines when you're on untamed terrain. You eventually drift off course and your final path, at its most precise, will be quite wiggly, and with less precision, this drift effect can be pretty pronounced, especially over long distances without course correction. And this is something Ive actually noticed in the survival games I like to play, so its a very real effect. So, to translate that into a TTRPG, I've started working on implementing Travel Drift as a mechanic. The basics of how it works is that for every 12 miles (two hexes) travelled, you accumulate a Drift error of 1, which will drive you into either a leftward or rightward adjacent hex if you continue past that 12 miles. Now, whether or not you actually travel that 12 miles or more will depend, as it will vary upon whether or not you have a specific course you wish to take, and if you have such a course, how well the skill checks go. So how does that work? In comes the Pathfinding skill, and two particular Travel Tasks that fall under it: Pathfind and Navigate. Pathfind is used to find efficient routes through the terrain you're travelling in, and is what provides the Party with their Pacing, which is the measure of how many miles the party manages to travel in a given Expedition turn, equal to whatever you rolled on your 2d10 skill check. However, you also gain a bonus to Pacing with a degree of success system, with your result compared to the Terrain Modifier (basically a DC thats set by region and/or Hex), up to a max of 15 additional miles if you get 10 over the Terrain mod. But if you roll even higher, every set of 5 above 10 you get reduces your drift error by 1. You don't actually have to roll Pathfind, however, to travel. The Party could instead Meander, and just wander aimlessly, which they can do at a rate of 1 Hex per turn. The other is Navigate, which is more or less self-explanitory. This one can't provide you any additional Pacing (though it will provide the base amount if you or someone else doesn't Pathfind; if both are used, the highest result determines your base Pacing), but it can directly impact your Drift error. The DOS here is based on being within 3 of the Terrain Modifier; come within 3, you keep your course. Roll more than 3 below the TM, you take a drift penalty of 1 for every 5. Roll above the TM, you take a drift reduction of 1 for every 5. So, long story short, getting "lost" when you're actively pathfinding doesn't actually happen. Instead, becoming lost is simply a function of not knowing where you actually are. This can happen when you're Pathfinding, if the party travels an excessive distance without checking themselves (this is something Im still contemplating a range for), but most often will occur when leaving the other ends of places the party can't really keep their bearings in, like long dungeons, especially dense forests, etc, and is a condition to be cured by navigating your way out of it, looking for landmarks to center yourself. This Im still working on as well, but the idea will be that its a confluence of Pathfinding check (Find Bearing) and actively moving through the world. Basically, the longer you're out there lost, the more likely you will be to find your way. (As unlike hapless city folk, you'll be assumed as an adventurer to have some basic knowledge with the skill, as you will with all of them, so you can't stay lost forever...unless something sets itself against you, that is, and there will be options there. Like getting your own Wizard to shout back at the Mountain to stop bothering you just because some white-robed moron on a tower somewhere has gone power hungry) So by setting up these particular rules (amongst the great pile of them going into Adventuring, including Exploration, Travel, Survival, and Time) this gives a lot of fodder to build class abilities on for not just the Ranger, but also the other Nature classes, as well as some choice others, like the Barbarian.</blockquote>

Verification