Let's Build an Overland Journey

/u/mr_abomination asked me if I would do a post on this subject, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The city and cavern building posts were easy for me, as I've mentored a few new DMs and have explained these a few times. This subject, however, I've never tried to articulate, so this might be all over the place.

Journeys. The bane of all our existences. They are almost always either handwaved or consist of nothing but random encounters (which seems to get a lot of hate around here), and both methods are exceedingly dull.

I find it ironic that the biggest selling fantasy novel of all time was a road trip, and yet we all hate them. Of course, Professor Tolkien didn't stick to the road through all the books. There were long stopovers and cutaways to other parts of the story. We don't always have that freedom in a campaign because the characters are almost always together.

So how can we make the journey more interesting?

A few things spring to mind, but I don't think you are going to like some of them.

Food & Water

Oh the hatred I've seen for tracking provisions. "Pointless bookkeeping", most will say. Well, yeah, it can be. But it's one of the most important aspects of the game, in my opinion. D&D is about struggling against the odds to survive. Well, why shouldn't the most basic requirements for survival be important? "Its a game", some will say. Well, yes, it is, but lots of video games and board games require you to track things like this, so why should D&D be different? Is it really so hard to make a tick mark every day on your sheet next to your provisions? Its not like the game is asking you to cook and wash the dishes!

Keeping food and water in the game gives you a very powerful tool. It forces the players to carefully consider their journeys, hunt or forage for food, find water, and ensure that any trips underground are well-planned and well-stocked. Maybe starving to death isn't all that heroic, but it needn't come to that, as I'll explain in a moment.

I strive for a balance between realism and fun. I would never kill off a player due to lack of food or water, because let's face it, D&D isn't "The Oregon Trail", and it would be boring as shit. Introducing a disabling mechanic, however, is something that reminds the players that provisions are important, but isn't something that is so crippling that it takes all the fun away.

Since we are in 5e, I would simply make every roll at a disadvantage while a player is starving. That sounds harsh, and its meant to be. Have you ever been really hungry? I mean so hungry you feel like you are going to pass out? Imagine trying to fight like that.

I would introduce provisions as an item. Keep it generic. Provisions would encompass food and water and each character would be required to consume 1 a day. The provisions would weigh 5 pounds each (this would represent all the food and water consumed over the course of a single day) and cost 1 gp. A character could reasonably carry 7 provisions with them on top of all their other equipment. Provisions would be subject to befoulment and destruction from water immersion, or failed saves against fireballs, etc.. Of course, there are magical means of obtaining food as well, and for this reason, in my games at least, these spells don't exist.

The journey will need to include keeping these provisions topped up. In the course of hunting for food and water you might very well stumble across our next subject:

Random Encounters

I've seen two schools of thought. Those who like them and those who don't. I understand both sides. I'm firmly in the first camp, and I'm hoping that this post might make those who don't think a little bit about why they are a valuable addition to a DMs toolbox.

The problem I've seen (and I've done this myself many times) is that random encounters are just filler, usually. A fight to fill up the time. They are dull and pointless and can get you killed for no good reason (this is the reason I think those who don't like them, don't like them).

If you read my post on cavern building, you'll know that I love ecologies. I take the same approach to building random encounters. They shouldn't just be, "Orcs", but "Orcs are attacking a caravan of druids on the road, and it looks like the druids are losing." Each random encounter should be a vignette, a tiny snapshot of an event that the characters encounter mid-event. This also gives the illusion of a living world, as things are happening around the characters that have nothing to do with them.

I usually always keep a list of 10 random encounters clipped to my shield. When I use one, I replace it with another one between sessions. I've never used all 10 in one session.

Let's look at how we can do these vignettes. First up, we need to write up a list of 10 creatures or NPCs. So let's do one now.

• 01: Orcs
• 02: Bandits(Rogues)
• 03: Ogres
• 04: Stirge
• 05: Displacer Beasts
• 06: Ettercap
• 07: Goblins
• 08: Beholder
• 09: Mages
• 10: Bulette

Pretty standard stuff right? We've all seen these types of encounters. They are dull as shit. That's because we need to add some detail to these entries, and we need to create a scene for the characters to view, so that they can decide if they want to interfere, or move on.

So let's flesh these out

• 01: Orcs are swarming over a beleaguered band of druids. The druids have encircled themselves with Walls of Thorns and Entangles and have killed many orcs, but the monsters are slowly overcoming these barriers.
• 02: Bandits(Rogues) are butchering the families on a small convoy of four wagons. One of the wagons is aflame, and the survivors are not going to survive for much longer. The children have all been murdered and the women are being forced.
• 03: Ogres and a band of humans are fighting atop a small hill where the ruins of an Inn once stood. The Ogres outnumber the humans and are slowly cutting their numbers down with hurled rocks and guerrilla tactics.
• 04: Stirge are swarming a tribe of goblins. It is mating season and the skies are dark with Stirge. The goblins are losing badly.
• 05: Displacer Beasts and Blink Dogs are engaged in a running battle that will soon overtake your position.
• 06: Ettercap have infested some trees along the road and you find yourselves caught in an ambush. Other bodies hang like fruit from the nearby branches.
• 07: Goblins are attacking a well-defended wagon filled with fighters. The wagon is carrying a huge iron box, nearly 10' per side. The warriors are showing no quarter, even though they are vastly outnumbered, they seem to be fighting to the death to protect the wagon and its contents.
• 08: A Beholder is blocking the road. It is wearing a false beard and seems to be extremely pleased to see you. It introduces itself as Mxylplyx and will allow you to pass only if you tell it a joke that makes it laugh out loud (you must make the DM laugh out loud)
• 09: Mages are conducting some sort of ritual, and it appears as a Gate is beginning to form. The mages are chanting loudly in Arcan ("Bring forth The Watcher, The Devourer, The Keeper of the Blade")
• 10: A Bulette is harrassing a family of farmers on their way to market. The menfolk have stuck it with a few spears, but it does not seem to have slowed it down much.

By simply adding some detail, we have taken some boring old encounters and given them some life. This only took me a few minutes to write up, and could easily be done during breaks in play during the session if necessary.

Lost

How many of us have ever gotten lost in the game? I've rarely seen it. However, I had a great DM as a mentor and he taught me that getting lost is one of the best tools for a DM to use. There were rules for this back in the 1e DMG that I remember quite clearly, and I've adapted them to use in my games over the years.

Getting lost is just one more obstacle for your players to overcome. Once they leave the road, they must use Navigation (or Wisdom, I guess) to find their way. Since we are in 5e, I would handle this like so:

• Every day they are in trackless territory, the person with the highest Wisdom rolls a check on a DC of 15. Do not tell the players the DC. If they fail, then they have drifted one compass point off their intended path, e.g., if they are heading North, now they are heading NW or NE. They are now have the condition, "Lost". If they succeed, they are sweet.

• If the party is Lost, then the next day's Wisdom check has an increased DC of 1 (e.g., its now 16 instead of 15). If they fail again, then they remain lost and have either stayed on the compass heading they were previously on, or they move one heading away from their intended path.

• It takes two successful Wisdom checks in-a-row to remove the Lost condition.

• The DC for being lost will cap out at 20.

This will make your journeys all the more perilous, and ensure that players take a lot more care before they head off the road. Hiring a guide, learning the local geographic features, and the like will ensure that they stay the course without wandering too much.

I hope this has inspired you to inject some life into your "boring old journeys" and added a bit of peril and mystery back into this essential part of the game. As always, if you have questions or need a hand, I'm only a PM away.

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