Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 thewhooda Mar 05, 2010 14:50:47	First time on these forums so be gentle poppin mah forum cherry!  Also I'm still using 3.0 but none of that should interfere here (but don't tell the guys upstairs!) What I need help with is my low-magic, generally Dark Age/Late Roman tech campaign.  Not in a big way, I have most of my stuff taken care of.  But there's some travel stuff I'm needing to work out. I'm doing an adventure in which some fairly tough 2nd level characters (they all got lucky during character creation rolls) including a druid, rogue and fighter, have to travel to a port town so that they can escape the current kingdom, where they are fugitives from the law. My problem is this - there are three routes they can take to this port city.  One of them is overland through the wilderness, and that I can handle myself.  What I'm having trouble with is the two other routes.  One of them is a busy trade road and the other is a low back-country road.  Essentially, my challenge is to make 1/4 of an adventure out of eight days of road travel.  The rest I can handle for myself, but the road travel segment is kind of iffy. I'm trying to work with disease (hypothermia, infection, heatstroke etc.) since they only have one tiny tent and 4 days rations (out of 8 days travel), and I realize bandits and patrols can be good encounters, but I don't know quite how to organize it and allow them to use their skills.  For example, I'd like to make the Druid feel useful and able to use his nature skills, and the Rogue to perhaps steal food from passing carts.  I'd prefer there to be one reasonable challenge daily and not a constant ability to stop at taverns, and I'd -really- like to impliment common disease, hunting, fire-building and survival stuff even on the roads. How can I create a daily way to generate weather?  How can I make a challenge out of starting a fire, hunting for game, battling disease and dehydration and trying to make it to the next inn as quickly as possible?  Since monsters are not going to attack the roads, how can I randomly generate different kinds of bandits instead? If there's any help or anybody's run this kind of "mini-game" for travel, I sure could use some help.  If you need more information or some tips on 3.0 (I know it's old but I think it's much better for the low-budget gamer) I'd be happy to provide it. (I also have maps of the land for those who need them) Thanks for everybody's help! Game on! -The Whooda Some tips about the world this adventure is set in (this can be skipped unless you need to know more to help me out) -Relatively low magic.  Arcane magic is illegal, magic items are contraband and traded by street gang-like "Cults."  Carts and such are searched by patrols. -Late Roman, very early middle-ages technology.  No crossbows or gunpowder, mostly light or medium armor. -Current area is Celtic in culture.  The weather is similar to that of France or Ireland, with fog and rain.  The time of year is Autumn. -The characters are on foot with 4 days of rations each including water.  The fighter is an ex-soldier and therefore has the only tent and cooking gear. -The government is colonial Roman style and therefore there are some patrols on the roads.  The characters are fugitives and will need to attempt to avoid the patrols.
#2 Grimbus Mar 05, 2010 18:41:42	To save yourself some work I suggest you make the road route nigh on impossible for the players - basicaly there are too many patrols to make this option viable - as soon as one partol sees them, a runner will ensure everyone on the road knows they are coming - you are making too much work for yourself preparing 3 routes when the players are only going to use one. Set up a different set on encounters so the players have to use their skills - as for generating the weather - just decide what weather you want and go for it - you don't need a random system - just go for what suits the game - if you want them to struggle setting fires then make it rain, if you want them to get thirsty make it very hot and if you want them to use the mist for cover give them a light mist to encourage them to use it. The players may have to pass a fortified toll house on the road - the rogue may need required to sneak up on the tollhouse to eliminate/pacify a pack of dogs with a potion made up of leaves prepared by the druid. Once the dogs are pacified the rest of the party will be able to sneak past whilst the occupants sleep. Maybe some monsters could attack the road - a bunch of rabid wolves or something- very unnatural behaviour for animals which the druid might want to investigate further leading to a short dungeon quest or something - maybe some mining activity by goblins has lead to the water being poisoned and this is driving the local wildlife mad.. The Druid will have to use his skill sets to decide what is wrong with the animals and how to solve the problem whilst the other players provide the muscle  to deal with the goblins in the mine. For rations the players might want to go hunting - now what happens if they fell a deer and a troll turns up and decides it wants the kill - get the players to fight for their food. Taverns - are you sure the players are going to want to use the taverns - to ramp up the drama I suggest you put reward posters up in the taverns to make the players fell a bit more paranoid. They will have to use their diplomacy and disguise skills to stay at the inn or some fink is going to sell them out to the city watch.
#3 thewhooda Mar 05, 2010 20:01:26	The only reason I'm giving 3 roads is so the characters don't think I'm crowbarring them into only one option.  These in particular like to feel like they've got options. HOWEVER -really- good advice.  There's no reason I have to randomly generate the weather from a sheet if I can randomly generate it in my brain.  And the toll thing is a -great- idea.  Since this society is pseudo-Roman/British the idea of road taxation makes total sense and I don't know why I didn't think of it.