Another freaking encounter? Handling Overworld Travel [Archive] - Wizards Community

Another freaking encounter? Handling Overworld Travel [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DMRelious
03-27-06, 10:27 PM Illustrious Dungeon Masters,

I am about to send my party of adventurers out on a fortnight journey between major cities. In this campaign setting of my own design, most of the world is overrun by monster races. The 'civilized' races are just getting a foothold back on the planet.

This said, there is a major road connecting two large cities with a few small villages along its length. Their goal is to travel from the southern major city to the northern major city.

They are all 2nd level, and while the road is heavily patrolled by both nations, (One of the few 'safe' roads in the world) The average EL is still around 2-5.

My question is, how do you handle travel between the two places? Roll for random encounter from custom designed encounter tables every hour? Decide a number per day? Decide a number per journey? Or do you just assume the players crossed the road to their destination?

Please let me know what your brilliant DM minds think on this subject.

-DM Relious
beezly
03-27-06, 10:31 PM Sounds like you could use some fun Side quests!
RK)13
03-27-06, 10:38 PM Side quests are a good idea... this would be a good time to introduce story arcs relating to character goals and motivations. Does your fighter want to build the biggest, baddest sword on the planet? maybe he can catch wind of a master swordsmith in the next village that could give him a list of ingredients he needs to gather, but only if he helps clear the kobolds out of the basement.
I_Strahd
03-27-06, 10:44 PM i like it. side quests that enter into a campaign. one domino into another.

a player finds a sack of pearls. then finds out that a water mephit is missing them. and the story begins. that is just a quick something. the boundries are endless. roll with it.
Minias
03-28-06, 12:10 AM I am not a huge fan of random encounters. I usually design a few encounters appropriate for the terrain and then space them out through the journey. I suggest that you mix it up - some roleplay and some combat opportunity.

Examples for highway travel might be meeting a (in)famous NPC at an roadside inn, or coming to the aid of commoners beset by bandits, or hunting down some maurading dire beast; nothing too distracting nor too XP heavy (unless my PC need the XP before they reach City B). Despite it being a well patroled and travelled road, the soldier patrols can't be everywhere, or always capable enough, to handle all the problems that a magic-filled, monster-wandering, D&D world can dish out. Your PCs are there to fill the gaps!

Forget the random dice, but feel free to roll them to make your players think that the encounter was random.
Pseudo_Gear
03-28-06, 02:54 AM Something that we've been doing for a while and it kinda works, its just have all the players roll a die, and then you roll the same type and if they match whatever number you have then an encounter happens. This way you can scale the probability of encounters by using different dice.

Ex: If you use a d8, and have 4 party members, then theres basically a 50% chance that an encounter will happen. Lets say they roll, 3,5,6, and 7, and you (DM) roll a 5, then an encounter would happen, but if you roll an 8 then one wouldn't happen.

But if you use d20s, then the chance reduces to something ... a lot smaller, (something like 1/100? its late and im not in a stats mood right now)

And of course, if you're really ambitious, you can have seperate "encounter checks" throughout the day, morning could be d8, afternoon d12, evenings d10s, nights d6s, just be sure not to let the players see what you rolled because then they start meta-gaming and expecting an encounter (ie XP)

Thats just a quick and dirty way of doing it, but i think it woud probably be better, like the other people said, to just plan a couple combat encounters, and a bunch of RP encounters that can lead to fun side quests.

Gear
DeadlyDM
03-28-06, 05:46 AM I am not a huge fan of random encounters. I usually design a few encounters appropriate for the terrain and then space them out through the journey. I suggest that you mix it up - some roleplay and some combat opportunity.

Examples for highway travel might be meeting a (in)famous NPC at an roadside inn, or coming to the aid of commoners beset by bandits, or hunting down some maurading dire beast; nothing too distracting nor too XP heavy (unless my PC need the XP before they reach City B). Despite it being a well patroled and travelled road, the soldier patrols can't be everywhere, or always capable enough, to handle all the problems that a magic-filled, monster-wandering, D&D world can dish out. Your PCs are there to fill the gaps!

Forget the random dice, but feel free to roll them to make your players think that the encounter was random.

I'm with Minias. Use such travel as an opportunity to fill out your world, introduce NPC's that the party may later meet again (as friend or foe) and generally add flavour by further detailing the small section of the world in which they're travelling.

My objective when PC's undertake overland travel is not to bog things down with constant pointless encounters, but rather to introduce examples of the types of terrain/climate and people/creatures which the players will come to associate with a given place. A few minor side-adventures (put in under the auspices of 'random encounters') and a brief description of the balance of the trip is usually all I do.
Board_Rider
03-28-06, 09:31 AM Check out the Master DM Competition 24....they're designing vehicles for just this sort of thing.

Otherwise just set up a pre-determined encounter.
gleep
03-28-06, 01:39 PM When the party is journeying somewhere, I tend to think of a few encounters that I would like to happen (plot, sidequest, story-related, etc). Then I figure out how many random encounters (generated from a table or conversant with the area) I hope to have occur. I add it all together to figure out the general amount of XP the players can expect to receive for their characters for the journey. Then, during the trip, I roll to see when the encounters occur.

If I've decided that there's going to be 3 plot-related encounters and 4-7 random encounters, the 3 plot-related ones will occur... though when they may occur will be random (though I may weigh the average by making the rolls more likely, 1-4 on d8 instead of 1 on d12, etc.) If I don't care how many random encounters will occur during the trip, I'll just go with the roll of the dice. I also roll for large chunks of time at once... I'll roll for every section of the night, for example, so I can look at the number of possible encounters and create something cohesive from the randomness.

While it may seem I don't have much in the way of randomness to my "random encounters", it's more that I try to give them a feel of plot. In a recent game, I rolled and got 3 random encounters during the night watches. Since there were goblins and orcs in the area, I decided on 3 patrols. After the first encounter, 2 of the goblins escaped. For the second encounter, they led a party of orcs to the PCs. After that fight, the party wised up and relocated. Fortunately, during the battle they killed the NPC two rangers and the next party of orcs didn't find them. (Though they were part of an ambush the next day, but that's another story ;) ) In another journey, the PCs were taking a "short cut" through an ancient, foreboding forest of spooky nastiness, with a 1 in 6 chance of an appropriate random encounter. 36 rolls later and not a 1 in sight they stumbled out of the forest, wondering why it was so bad. Then got smacked the next night with 3 encounters (3 rolls, 1-2 on d20) that (a tiger, some hobgoblins responding to the noises of the fight with the tiger, and even more hobgoblins responding to the missing patrol) drained them of resources.

The main thing I try to do, however, is balance the journey with the goal. I try not to clutter up the journey too much with randomness if the destination is more important than the trip. Just like a good author won't clutter a book with minutiae about the trip when the reader is expecting the action to be in the destination.

Many times, randomness can be fun. Just don't let it overpower the main objective.

:D

--gleep
DMRelious
03-28-06, 09:32 PM Thank you for all of those replies. I think I liked Gleep's example the best. I think I'll offer up one or two plot related encounters with a few other potential future plots.

Thanks!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DMRelious 03-27-06, 10:27 PM	Illustrious Dungeon Masters, I am about to send my party of adventurers out on a fortnight journey between major cities. In this campaign setting of my own design, most of the world is overrun by monster races. The 'civilized' races are just getting a foothold back on the planet. This said, there is a major road connecting two large cities with a few small villages along its length. Their goal is to travel from the southern major city to the northern major city. They are all 2nd level, and while the road is heavily patrolled by both nations, (One of the few 'safe' roads in the world) The average EL is still around 2-5. My question is, how do you handle travel between the two places? Roll for random encounter from custom designed encounter tables every hour? Decide a number per day? Decide a number per journey? Or do you just assume the players crossed the road to their destination? Please let me know what your brilliant DM minds think on this subject. -DM Relious
beezly 03-27-06, 10:31 PM	Sounds like you could use some fun Side quests!
RK)13 03-27-06, 10:38 PM	Side quests are a good idea... this would be a good time to introduce story arcs relating to character goals and motivations. Does your fighter want to build the biggest, baddest sword on the planet? maybe he can catch wind of a master swordsmith in the next village that could give him a list of ingredients he needs to gather, but only if he helps clear the kobolds out of the basement.
I_Strahd 03-27-06, 10:44 PM	i like it. side quests that enter into a campaign. one domino into another. a player finds a sack of pearls. then finds out that a water mephit is missing them. and the story begins. that is just a quick something. the boundries are endless. roll with it.
Minias 03-28-06, 12:10 AM	I am not a huge fan of random encounters. I usually design a few encounters appropriate for the terrain and then space them out through the journey. I suggest that you mix it up - some roleplay and some combat opportunity. Examples for highway travel might be meeting a (in)famous NPC at an roadside inn, or coming to the aid of commoners beset by bandits, or hunting down some maurading dire beast; nothing too distracting nor too XP heavy (unless my PC need the XP before they reach City B). Despite it being a well patroled and travelled road, the soldier patrols can't be everywhere, or always capable enough, to handle all the problems that a magic-filled, monster-wandering, D&D world can dish out. Your PCs are there to fill the gaps! Forget the random dice, but feel free to roll them to make your players think that the encounter was random.
Pseudo_Gear 03-28-06, 02:54 AM	Something that we've been doing for a while and it kinda works, its just have all the players roll a die, and then you roll the same type and if they match whatever number you have then an encounter happens. This way you can scale the probability of encounters by using different dice. Ex: If you use a d8, and have 4 party members, then theres basically a 50% chance that an encounter will happen. Lets say they roll, 3,5,6, and 7, and you (DM) roll a 5, then an encounter would happen, but if you roll an 8 then one wouldn't happen. But if you use d20s, then the chance reduces to something ... a lot smaller, (something like 1/100? its late and im not in a stats mood right now) And of course, if you're really ambitious, you can have seperate "encounter checks" throughout the day, morning could be d8, afternoon d12, evenings d10s, nights d6s, just be sure not to let the players see what you rolled because then they start meta-gaming and expecting an encounter (ie XP) Thats just a quick and dirty way of doing it, but i think it woud probably be better, like the other people said, to just plan a couple combat encounters, and a bunch of RP encounters that can lead to fun side quests. Gear
DeadlyDM 03-28-06, 05:46 AM	I am not a huge fan of random encounters. I usually design a few encounters appropriate for the terrain and then space them out through the journey. I suggest that you mix it up - some roleplay and some combat opportunity. Examples for highway travel might be meeting a (in)famous NPC at an roadside inn, or coming to the aid of commoners beset by bandits, or hunting down some maurading dire beast; nothing too distracting nor too XP heavy (unless my PC need the XP before they reach City B). Despite it being a well patroled and travelled road, the soldier patrols can't be everywhere, or always capable enough, to handle all the problems that a magic-filled, monster-wandering, D&D world can dish out. Your PCs are there to fill the gaps! Forget the random dice, but feel free to roll them to make your players think that the encounter was random. I'm with Minias. Use such travel as an opportunity to fill out your world, introduce NPC's that the party may later meet again (as friend or foe) and generally add flavour by further detailing the small section of the world in which they're travelling. My objective when PC's undertake overland travel is not to bog things down with constant pointless encounters, but rather to introduce examples of the types of terrain/climate and people/creatures which the players will come to associate with a given place. A few minor side-adventures (put in under the auspices of 'random encounters') and a brief description of the balance of the trip is usually all I do.
Board_Rider 03-28-06, 09:31 AM	Check out the Master DM Competition 24....they're designing vehicles for just this sort of thing. Otherwise just set up a pre-determined encounter.
gleep 03-28-06, 01:39 PM	When the party is journeying somewhere, I tend to think of a few encounters that I would like to happen (plot, sidequest, story-related, etc). Then I figure out how many random encounters (generated from a table or conversant with the area) I hope to have occur. I add it all together to figure out the general amount of XP the players can expect to receive for their characters for the journey. Then, during the trip, I roll to see when the encounters occur. If I've decided that there's going to be 3 plot-related encounters and 4-7 random encounters, the 3 plot-related ones will occur... though when they may occur will be random (though I may weigh the average by making the rolls more likely, 1-4 on d8 instead of 1 on d12, etc.) If I don't care how many random encounters will occur during the trip, I'll just go with the roll of the dice. I also roll for large chunks of time at once... I'll roll for every section of the night, for example, so I can look at the number of possible encounters and create something cohesive from the randomness. While it may seem I don't have much in the way of randomness to my "random encounters", it's more that I try to give them a feel of plot. In a recent game, I rolled and got 3 random encounters during the night watches. Since there were goblins and orcs in the area, I decided on 3 patrols. After the first encounter, 2 of the goblins escaped. For the second encounter, they led a party of orcs to the PCs. After that fight, the party wised up and relocated. Fortunately, during the battle they killed the NPC two rangers and the next party of orcs didn't find them. (Though they were part of an ambush the next day, but that's another story ;) ) In another journey, the PCs were taking a "short cut" through an ancient, foreboding forest of spooky nastiness, with a 1 in 6 chance of an appropriate random encounter. 36 rolls later and not a 1 in sight they stumbled out of the forest, wondering why it was so bad. Then got smacked the next night with 3 encounters (3 rolls, 1-2 on d20) that (a tiger, some hobgoblins responding to the noises of the fight with the tiger, and even more hobgoblins responding to the missing patrol) drained them of resources. The main thing I try to do, however, is balance the journey with the goal. I try not to clutter up the journey too much with randomness if the destination is more important than the trip. Just like a good author won't clutter a book with minutiae about the trip when the reader is expecting the action to be in the destination. Many times, randomness can be fun. Just don't let it overpower the main objective. :D --gleep
DMRelious 03-28-06, 09:32 PM	Thank you for all of those replies. I think I liked Gleep's example the best. I think I'll offer up one or two plot related encounters with a few other potential future plots. Thanks!