D&D 5E (2014) What would you put in an "Exploration Manual"?

[Zardnaar]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm somewhat familiar with Isle of Dread, but not with the others you mention so I can't give any specific advice on those. Exploration challenges can range from abstract overland travel to granular room or even object interaction depending on the level of "zoom." The key thing in my view is the DM needs to be good on description, trade-offs and meaningful decisions need to be present at all levels of zoom, and mechanical process should not get in the way. Traditional hexcrawls tend to fail on all three points in my experience and also suffer from the 15-minute work day or 5-minute work day, whatever we call that now. (The latter is caused by a lack of time pressure.)

I'm currently tinkering with a hexcrawl right now so this stuff is on my mind. If you have some more specific ideas for discussion, it might be good for another thread. This is just my broad strokes advice. I don't want to derail mellored's thread.

Similar stuff, I have not figured it out in the 5E context.

Pathfinder Kingmaker they used keyed encounters on various hexes and mixed in things like land marks and resources for you to find. You also got xp for exploring the hexes. There were also little side quests added with various NPCs willing to reward you in various ways for things you discovered. They might want monster parts, eggs, or artefacts from various ruins. With limited daily healing though and no expectation of the 6-8 encounters thing though you could get worn down or even killed out right by say Wyvern poison and since save or dies are out the window its hard threatening the PCs since everything is just damage for the most part.

On the Isle of Dread you might want to think hard before engaging a Wyvern and it is fine for a single encounter for the day (avoid, run, kill and maybe get killed). Its the main reason I am struggling with exploration themed encounters as you have to grind down the party resources which is harder. Works OK at level 1-3 to some extent in 5E after that not so much.

 

[mellored]

Its the main reason I am struggling with exploration themed encounters as you have to grind down the party resources which is harder. Works OK at level 1-3 to some extent in 5E after that not so much.

I suggest damage equal to their level. Sure the wizard is going to have all his spells loaded for that one combat encounter, but he's also going to run out of HP.

Also 5e Exhaustion is also a rather nice.

 

[iserith]

Similar stuff, I have not figured it out in the 5E context.

Pathfinder Kingmaker they used keyed encounters on various hexes and mixed in things like land marks and resources for you to find. You also got xp for exploring the hexes. There were also little side quests added with various NPCs willing to reward you in various ways for things you discovered. They might want monster parts, eggs, or artefacts from various ruins. With limited daily healing though and no expectation of the 6-8 encounters thing though you could get worn down or even killed out right by say Wyvern poison and since save or dies are out the window its hard threatening the PCs since everything is just damage for the most part.

A lot of this sounds pretty good. I might check it out. XP for exploring hexes is particularly good and something I've already included in my own hexcrawl design.

On the Isle of Dread you might want to think hard before engaging a Wyvern and it is fine for a single encounter for the day (avoid, run, kill and maybe get killed). Its the main reason I am struggling with exploration themed encounters as you have to grind down the party resources which is harder. Works OK at level 1-3 to some extent in 5E after that not so much.

This comes down to challenge versus difficulty in my view. Challenge is the potential for winning or losing; difficulty is what it costs you to win. While some level of difficulty is required to have a satisfying challenge, it doesn't always have to be so difficult as to wear down party resources to a particular level in my view. I've presented many a challenge, for example, where nobody loses a single hit point but where everyone was highly engaged and had to make some hard decisions to succeed.

 

[77IM]

I'd want to see streamlined abstract resource management: much of exploration and expeditions focussed on gathering supplies, transporting supplies, storing supplies, what to do if you run out of supplies and need to forage, etc. I think there's room for something more interesting here than "one dude makes Survival checks while you travel," while still being faster in play than listing out every single piece of gear the party is bringing with them.

I'd want to see dungeon puzzles, particularly examples where an entire dungeon is itself a kind of puzzle.

I'd want to see more exotic terrains, like a swamp where time moves slowly or a dungeon that has variable gravity or a valley full of psychotropic crystals.

I'd want to see rules for negotiating very mundane obstacles -- like climbing a cliff, or squeezing through a narrow opening, or swimming through an underground channel -- in a way that is dramatic and interesting and not just "you make a skill check to get past the speed bump."

I'd want to see discussion of how terrain shapes societies and cultures. For example, way humans place towns and cities in the overworld, or the way goblinoid tribes defend territory down in the dungeons. Travel times and access to resources can inform setting design, and can also lead to interesting opportunities for conflict and drama.