I've scanned in my map and thrown a hex grid over it and set about colour coding each hex to determine the level range of a given area. This is mostly for random encounters, but also to give an indication of that general area's difficulty.
Colour coded:
Green (Lv1-5), Yellow (Lv6-10), Orange (Lv11-15), Red (Lv16-20), Purple (Lv21-25), Black (Lv26-30).
I haven't really paid much attention to the colour code outside of major settlements, and basically just expanded the threat as you move further away from civilisation. City States, major settlements and main roads are obviously reasonably safe to travel in. Each hex represents about 25miles or 1 day of travel. I figure about a day out from major roads the patrols stop and the land starts getting wild.
Anyone with more intimate knowledge of specific areas care to help me refine this map to make it a bit more Athas-accurate? Am I being too harsh? Not harsh enough?
Easy (Same level encounter)
Medium (+1 or +2 level encounter)
Hard (+3 level encounter)
Very Hard (+4 level encounter)
I like the hexes for the purpose of figuring out how long travel would take...but nowhere in Athas is safe traveling. Breaking areas down by level doesnt make any sense at all
Are you saying you're just as likely to be attacked by an randomly wandering lvl27 monster one day travel out of town as a lvl5 monster? The closer you get to established settlements, the less likely you are going to be attacked by an extremely dangerous monster. This is for three reasons:
1) Guards will patrol around the area, killing or driving off dangerous creatures.
2) If the chance of being attacked was equal at all levels, then most settlements would either be under constant attack (plausable for something very far out), or already destroyed from the statistically high probability of invasion by a high level opponent.
3) Higher threat on the settlement means more guards to drive that threat away, bringing us back to reason #1
I'm not arguing that athas is dangerous the second you step outside the walls of a city state, but logic dictates that there will be a gradient in just how dangerous the closer you are to civilisation.
Instead of breaking them down by levels, which I agree doesn't make sense, I would do something like:
Easy (Same level encounter)
Medium (+1 or +2 level encounter)
Hard (+3 level encounter)
Very Hard (+4 level encounter)
I think you're missing the point of a sandbox world. The world is static and doesn't necissarily scale around the characters. If there is a cave full of lvl10 halfling cannibals, those lvl10 halfing cannibal will stay lvl10 halfling cannibals wether the party explores that cave at lvl1 or lvl 20. The idea there is to make the world slightly more challenging, and provide more suspense, since you won't know if what you've picked a fight with is a match for your character or not.
They go on and on about how dangerous Athas is, but if you build the game to scale with the players, then there really isn't that much of a challenge to be had.
The entire point of the level system in D&D is that challenges DO scale with the party, and you're provided with the mechanics for doing so, because the levels mean nothing except in relation to the party. Deadly means that you, as the DM, specifically tune deadly challenges for the party, not that you randomly roll up a level 27 solo when they stray too far from civilization.
I see what you're trying to do (limit the movement of players in the sandbox so they don't go willy-nilly right out of the gate) but I think that's better handled with appropriately challenging encounters or prohibitive terrain/skill checks than random encounter level bands.
Instead, my original plan was to set up a system by which traveling was a multi-stage skill challenge (for example, the travel challenge at the beginning of Bloodsand Arena) and each hex would have a terrain type (as dictated by the map) which would have it's own table of appropriate checks, weather, obstacles, hindrances, and appropriate encounters.
For example, if something is way too hard for them to beat I'll just tell them straight up and then we go in to a skill challenge to escape from the creature instead of just battling it out until they die. And with the other way around, the players could be so intimidating to a group of goblins that they go running at the first sight of them.
I'm willing to concede that my current setup may not be the best way to handle it (which is why I posted on here in the first place), but it is still reasonable to assume that creatures between a certain level range are more likely to hang around in some areas than others.
While I'd love to debate the pros and cons of running a sandbox game as opposed to a standard game as set out by the DMG, it really isn't the purpose of my thread.
FlashbackJon: I'm going to do the same thing as you too with each hex representing a terrain type and its associated challenges. Random encounters are just another layer on top of it.
Are you saying you're just as likely to be attacked by an randomly wandering lvl27 monster one day travel out of town as a lvl5 monster? The closer you get to established settlements, the less likely you are going to be attacked by an extremely dangerous monster. This is for three reasons:
1) Guards will patrol around the area, killing or driving off dangerous creatures.
2) If the chance of being attacked was equal at all levels, then most settlements would either be under constant attack (plausable for something very far out), or already destroyed from the statistically high probability of invasion by a high level opponent.
3) Higher threat on the settlement means more guards to drive that threat away, bringing us back to reason #1
Travel routes are camped by bandits, slavers and all manner of scum and villany. You think all evil humanoids are under lvl 5?
Guards arent much help more than a day away from city, at best. Even then, guards are people and easily corruptable. For all you know, those guards that escorted you half a day were relaying your position to slavers.
You are probably safer in the middle of no where than you are on trade routes.
My creature catalogue has yet to arrive, so I haven't had a chance to see what threats there are, but I'm gonna take a guess and assume that at about the lvl15 area the "mundane" creatures of the wasteland stop and the rarer, tougher stuff starts. Stuff that just won't bother coming near civilisation and can only be found in remote areas and down the bottom of dungeons.
Traces are encounters that include tracks, skeletal remains or other signs of a type of creature. These types of encounters would be a good way of imparting information on the game world or, even more specifically, the current adventure. They are a way of allowing you to have the characters use skills such as Nature, Perception and others to give them information. Sometimes it can be pertinent, sometimes it is a red herring. These types of encounters should never lead to any type of confrontation.
Sightings are encounters that take place at a distance that allows for the players to decide if they want to initiate contact. They could impart crucial information as they may allow the characters to observe something which may be relevant later. It may also be another way to show the world in action without endangering their characters. These types of encounters could lead to a confrontation, but do leave the choice up to characters.
Close Encounters do usually lead to some sort of confrontation, whether violent or not. They take place at a distance which would make this unavoidable. These are the types of encounters most people are used to working with.
Encounters don't always have to be about combat. I use a system of encounter types I picked up from another game many years ago. In fact, it was the Talislanta game when it was put out by WotC. Basically it breaks encounters down into three types; traces, sightings, and close encounters.
Traces are encounters that include tracks, skeletal remains or other signs of a type of creature. These types of encounters would be a good way of imparting information on the game world or, even more specifically, the current adventure. They are a way of allowing you to have the characters use skills such as Nature, Perception and others to give them information. Sometimes it can be pertinent, sometimes it is a red herring. These types of encounters should never lead to any type of confrontation.
Sightings are encounters that take place at a distance that allows for the players to decide if they want to initiate contact. They could impart crucial information as they may allow the characters to observe something which may be relevant later. It may also be another way to show the world in action without endangering their characters. These types of encounters could lead to a confrontation, but do leave the choice up to characters.
Close Encounters do usually lead to some sort of confrontation, whether violent or not. They take place at a distance which would make this unavoidable. These are the types of encounters most people are used to working with.
I like
Kind of reminds me of the rare random encounters in Fallout 1/2/Tactics. If the dice are lucky, the party might stumble upon a cache of treasure, or a wandering merchant, or something else that could be beneficial if played right.
Incidentally, my group has playtested a simple houserule where you don't add half-level to attacks/defenses and it makes 4e a *lot* more sandboxable IMO. We probably won't be using it because it's annoying not to be able to play they monsters from the CC straight up (they need to be docked a similar amount), but it's an idea that might be worth considering.
Is there any chance you could post your map scan with blank hexes, instead of colored hexes? Don't have a scanner here
