D&D (2024) World Building Magic, Magic Items, The DMG, and joined up thinking.

[UngainlyTitan]

Why? There are people all over who live off-grid and have a lot more stamina than I do. I used to do 10 day backpacking trips with no stamina loss as a young adult. Living in the wilderness is not, by itself, particularly taxing if you have experience doing so. And an adventuring party in a fantasy settings probably does, or can learn it quickly if needed.

Where you in a small party of 4 or five, cut off from all communication of thing went wrong and subject to attack from monsters that would rat your face. Somehow I could imagine that, that would somewhat stressful.

That is the opposite of what I want.

The reason people like fast travel is to avoid the annoying, stressful parts. DMs like forcing it because they think it's dramatic.

That is fair enough, I just have a dislike of rules that just hang there, like the exhaustion rules, with little actual application.

 

[Oofta]

Speaking of travel, I would like to see something like the exhaustion rules (not as severe or death spirally as they are) incorporated in to regular play. Staying out in the wilderness should be stamina taxing.

Throughout history most people have been far, far more physically active than we are now. Unless conditions are extreme, I see no reason to impose exhaustion.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Throughout history most people have been far, far more physically active than we are now. Unless conditions are extreme, I see no reason to impose exhaustion.

They also had no good ideas about disease prevention and one of the consistent things about old travel stories is the number of people that got sick, especially with dysentery.

 

[Vaalingrade]

That is fair enough, I just have a dislike of rules that just hang there, like the exhaustion rules, with little actual application.

I mean if it was a good set of rules, but 5Exaustion is just a Death Spiral with more steps as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Oofta]

They also had no good ideas about disease prevention and one of the consistent things about old travel stories is the number of people that got sick, especially with dysentery.

I'm not looking for a medieval travel simulator. Diseases are different from exhaustion and is largely avoided by the game.

 

[jayoungr]

I am using the cost of the Helm of Teleportation as a guide to the cost of a magic item that replicates the permanent teleport circle, assume for the moment that the DM allows it.

If you're inventing the magic item, can't you also decide on the price? I'm confused about where the problem is.

It'd be way better if they did something to make travel and exploration fun instead of just a logistics puzzle and resource sink.

I don't disagree that travel for travel's sake can often be handled badly. But if travel doesn't happen, you lose the chance for encounters that are actually important to the main story to happen during travel. You don't just eliminate filler--you cut out the possibility of non-filler as well.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I don't disagree that travel for travel's sake can often be handled badly. But if travel doesn't happen, you lose the chance for encounters that are actually important to the main story to happen during travel.

How often does that actually happen though? Travel is mostly for trash fights via random encounters to fill out the increasingly greedy adventuring day.

"I know you want to get back to dealing with Duke Killmuderton, but here, punch these wolves until you're leveled enough to deal with the real plot"

 

[Oofta]

How often does that actually happen though? Travel is mostly for trash fights via random encounters to fill out the increasingly greedy adventuring day.

"I know you want to get back to dealing with Duke Killmuderton, but here, punch these wolves until you're leveled enough to deal with the real plot"

If the DM's goal is to have the PCs higher level than they are currently, they will just come up with other "trash fights". In the meantime if an interesting story can be told via travel, cool. If not I recommend just hand-waving and maybe narrating that they had some minor difficulties along the way.

 

[LordEntrails]

Where you in a small party of 4 or five, cut off from all communication of thing went wrong and subject to attack from monsters that would rat your face. Somehow I could imagine that, that would somewhat stressful.

No monsters, but got chased by a mother brown bear. Everything else yes. Carried food, bedding, shelter, tools; everything but one days water with us every day for 10-20 miles hiking per day depending upon our objective.

Look, I get it if you haven't done something similar, that you think one might deteriorate over time. But there is plenty of hard evidence as well as anecdotes like mine that people can live and thrive under much harsher conditions than travelling through wilderness. Yes, over long periods of time at above a sustainable pace, sure, one can get run down.

Go ahead and work out a system of stamina reduction or exhaustion to fit your vision But as others have said, very few players are going to care about such or enjoy such an experience. You do you.

 

[jayoungr]

"I know you want to get back to dealing with Duke Killmuderton, but here, punch these wolves until you're leveled enough to deal with the real plot"

How about "While you're on your way to see the famously good and kind Duke Killmuderton, you run across some of his soldiers terrorizing a family who were unable to pay their taxes"? Or "While you're on your way to negotiate with Duke Killmuderton about getting access to his mines to search for the lost pickaxe of McGuffin, you are attacked by bandits who have a map showing a secret entrance to the mine"?

As for how often it happens, the only way to know that would be to survey every DM ever.

In the meantime if an interesting story can be told via travel, cool. If not I recommend just hand-waving and maybe narrating that they had some minor difficulties along the way.

I agree with that. It just sounds like some people want to cut out the choice part.