#### Version 0.7
___
*Created by Iceblade [[@GMBinder](https://www.gmbinder.com/profile/Iceblade) | [@Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/Iceblade423/)]*
**Format:** DIN A4
#### Table Of Contents
| *Topic* | *Page* |
|:------|:----:|
| [**Journey**](#p2) | 2 |
| [**Travel Segments**](#p2) | 2 |
|. [*Travel Segment Sequence*](#p2) | 2 |
|. [*Route*](#p2) | 2 |
|. [*Travel Time and Distance*](#p3) | 3 |
| [**Travel Roles**](#p4) | 4 |
|. [*Pathfinder (Land)*](#p4) | 4 |
|. [*Helmsman (Ocean)*](#p4) | 4 |
|. [*Navigator (Ocean)*](#p4) | 4 |
|. [*Scout/Lookout*](#p4) | 4 |
|. [*Forager*](#p5) | 5 |
|. [*Leader*](#p5) | 5 |
|. [*Caravan Manager*](#p5) | 5 |
| [**Tasks**](#p5) | 5 |
|. [*Hunting*](#p9) | 9 |
|. [*Fishing*](#p9) | 9 |
|. [*Short Rests*](#p9) | 9 |
|. [*Setting up Camp*](#p9) | 9 |
|. [*Exploring a Site*](#p9) | 9 |
|. [*Other Tasks*](#p9) | 9 |
\pagebreak
## There and Back Again
For any Travel System, two major components must be established. How should the trip to the dungeon or the next town over be broken up into smaller segments? How should each of these segments be processed?
The first question is all about the broader Journey that the party and any npcs will be taking and how many Travel Segments the **Journey** will be broken up. The second question is answered through defining the mechanics of each **Travel Segment**.
For the party to engage with these segments, certain activities will be quite long and repetitive and should thus be handled as a **Travel Role**. Other activities are rather more distinct and engaging occurring once every day or more. These **Tasks** often involve the whole party spending an hour or more to accomplish a goal.
Lastly, of course, are the **Encounters or Events** the party will come across. These incidents include a broad range of challenges and occurrences. The party may need to overcome a navigational obstacle, fight off an ambush by bandits, help a 'simple' old lady living in a cabin in the woods, explore a small cave, or converse with the merchant caravan heading the other direction.
### Journey
A Journey is defined as the trip an adventuring group takes to go one significant location to another location in their adventure. Commonly, groups will travel between City A and Town B or Town B and Dungeon C or Dungeon C to City A (because your quest started in City A not Town B). Ocean Travel works fairly similarly using the same basic structures with a few additions or changes.
Any Journey that requires significant attention by the players should be broken down into a set of Travel Segments. How the Journey is broken up can vary between player groups, campaigns, adventures, or even Journeys; however, consistency is generally preferred within adventures. For this Travel System, Journeys can be broken into Daily, Multi-day, or Narrative segments. The main body of rules are intended for day-by-day journeys in generally hex-crawl style games where the Journey is a major part of the adventure. Generally, each segment can be any time length, but 1 to 10 days per segment are best.
Common segment sizes to consider: 1 day, 2 days, 5 days, 7 days, or variable days. With variable days, each segment varies in size from segment to segment. Narrative segments are similar to variable sized segments where the Journey is broken up by Narrative Events. Narrative Journeys are far more focused on keeping the travel segments simple and quick while the Events are the main focus of the Journey itself. Events are generally more engaging versions of the encounters or off-road sites commonly encountered in more travel-focused games.
### Narrative Travel
For play groups desiring fast travel sessions, a more streamlined approach can be employed. First, the party decides on their destination, abstracting away the Route's details. The Dungeon Master then decides how many narrative segments are required for the journey. Each segment includes a few optional checks and ends with a significant **Encounter** or **Event**. An event could be a pre-defined combat, a social encounter, an exploration/terrain challenge, or an engaging site to briefly explore.
#### Narrative Segments
The steps below describe a fast and simple set of checks to process a travel segment. Many of these steps are optional for the degree of depth desired.
1. (OPT) **Navigation Check**
* DM sets the Navigation DC
* DC: 10, 15, or 20 based on weather/terrain difficulty.
* Navigator PC rolls Survival (Wisdom)
* Navigator: +4 for a Ranger navigation feature
* Navigator: +2 for other navigation feature
* On a Failure: add one travel segment
2. (OPT) **Scout Check**
* Scout PC rolls Stealth (Dexterity) vs DC 10 in heavy cover environments and DC 15 in minimal cover environments
* Scout PC rolls Perception (Wisdom), which determines party's passive perception
* Scout PC gets advantage on Perception if successful on Stealth check.
3. (OPT) **Forage Check**
* DM sets DC as 10/15/20 due to environment
* Forager PC rolls Survival (Wisdom)
* Success: finds enough food for party
* Success + 5: finds 3x food for party
* Failure: finds only enough food for half of the party
4. Process the **Event/Encounter** for the Travel Segment
5. Process Short Rest for party
* Assume sufficient rest to avoid exhaustion
* Exhaustion from events should linger
* A Resting Travel Segment = full recovery
The travel segments do not have to be equal blocks of time nor measured in days, so pace and miles are not significant with this approach. The number of travel segments chosen should instead be reflective of how long and arduous the journey should feel for the group. A moderate length trip along well traveled roads may only consist of only one or two events, likely social encounters with interesting or unusual travelers. A shorter length trip through jungles, however, should feel more involved, so 2-3 segments/events would be a better fit. Events associated with these travel segments should be a variety of encounters including visiting any major sites along the way. Long treks should be more packed with events, splitting up the trip into 4 or 5 segments.
For Narrative Travel, time should not be precisely managed. Events often occur during the daytime, which makes for awkward break points for time estimation. For any Journey, assume the party travels around 20 miles per day. Simply divide the estimated direct distance between points by 20 to determine total days. If desired, divide the time by the number of desired travel segments for the average length of a travel segment. Whenever the party fails a Navigation Check, just add an extra travel segment of time.
\pagebreakNum
### Travel Segments
For Journeys focused on the details of the travel, the Travel Segments can evaluated with varying degrees of depth. Travel Segments are the mechanical and choice-based element of the Journey. Each segment involves a series of steps and decisions the players make regarding about their Journey. Before setting off, the party plans their general route assuming they have a destination in mind. Additionally, the party needs to decide their Primary and Secondary Roles during the Journey. Travel Roles will rarely change between segments baring some major event.
Once the party plans their Journey and preps their bags (and wagons), the party sets out and starts to process the first Travel Segment. Each Travel Segment involves a sequence of steps primarily focused on Navigation. For customizability, many steps are optional (OPT). A quick reference page is provided in the addendum.
#### Travel Segment Sequence:
##### Land Travel
Three main roles: Pathfinders handle navigation and cartography, Scouts observe and scout, and Foragers collect food/water for the group while traveling.
1. (**OPT**) Adjust **Route** and/or **Travel Roles**
2. DM determines the Route's current DC
* current Weather and Road/Terrain Conditions
3. **Navigation Check** - multi-step process
4. (**OPT**) **Scout Check**
5. (**OPT**) **Forage Check**
6. Process any **Tasks, Encounters, or Events** that occurred during or at the end of the Travel Segment
##### Navigation Check
1. (**OPT**) **Calligraphy:Cartography (Intelligence)** Check using local maps
2. (**OPT**) Mitigate Harsh Travel Conditions and/or Gather Information
3. (**Larger Groups**) Leadership or Animal Handling Checks to mitigate penalties
4. Set **Pace** (Default: Normal Pace)
5. Add any circumstantial/Background/Class travel bonuses from Primary and Secondary **Pathfinders**
6. Include any other bonuses/penalties
7. **Survival (Wisdom)** Check
8. DM calculates the Time and/or Distance traveled
##### Scout Check
1. **Stealth** Check - Primary and Secondary Scouts hide
* If all succeed: +5 to Perception Check
2. **Perception** Check - Becomes Passive Perception Score
##### Ocean Travel
Though similar to Land Travel, there are a few changes when traveling by water vehicle:
* **Calligraphy:Cartography (Intelligence)** becomes **Seamanship:Navigator's Tools (Intelligence)**
* **Pace** is not adjustable and remains Normal
* **Pathfinders** become one **Helmsman** assisted by **Navigators**
* **Survival (Wisdom)** becomes **Seamanship (Dexterity)**
* **Scouts** become one **Lookout** (no Stealth Check).
* There is no **Foraging** while at sea.
#### Route
The DC of the Route being traveled during the current Travel Segment is the average difficulty of traveling across that Route for a given Time Segment. The longer the Time Segment, the more abstract the DC is in representing the Route's difficulties. There are two major components to consider when developing a DC: **Travel Impediments** and **Weather Impediments**.
##### Travel Impediments
Travel Impediments largely consist of conditions that make movement more difficult. Anything defined as difficult terrain is a major limitation when walking. Traveling by ship is also more difficult than basic overland travel, though wagons carry their own penalties to Navigation Checks. The basic Travel DC assumes the group is following well-worn trails and simple paths. If the party favors major and well-maintained roads during their travels, the DC of the route decreases significantly.
| DC | Path |
|:--:|:-----:|
| **15** | Land Route |
| **12** | Ocean Travel |
| **+2** | Minor Difficult Terrain |
| **+6** | Major Difficult Terrain |
| **-4** | Regular Roads |
Difficult Terrain can vary considerably by environment. Occasional hills and thick underbrush can limit movement speed, but good navigation can mitigate or even bypass such impediments. Regular, harsh difficult terrain often comes in the form of rocky terrain, sandy deserts, murky swamps, steep hills, and thick forests.
##### Weather Impediments
Weather is a major factor in any journey. In fact, the highly variable nature of weather conditions encourages splitting up Journeys into more segments to avoid facing 5 days of heavy weather from a poor weather roll. However, 5 days of bad weather could result in interesting narrative consequences. Weather (**W**) is also a major factor in ocean travel since few vessels employ propulsion methods other than sailing.
| DC | Weather | W
|:--:|:-----:|:--:|
| **+2** | Minor Weather | **1.25** |
| **+4** | Moderate Weather | **1.00** |
| **+6** | Heavy Weather | **0.75** |
| **+6** | No Weather/Wind (Ocean) | **0.25** |
Weather can carry significant penalties in a variety of Tasks and Encounters. The impact of significant weather conditions can cause varying effects depending on the nature of local environment. Compare the impacts on characters when facing thick desert-storms versus raging blizzards.
Extreme weather carries with it more significant negative effects for the party. The hazards from bad weather vary considerably depending on the terrain and climate. See the Poor Weather Section for specifics.
\pagebreakNum
#### Pace
While traveling, a group can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace. Paces impact the overall travel rate the party attempts. Faster paces reduces Passive Perception and imposes disadvantage on the Navigation Check and any Stealth checks made while Scouting. Slower paces increases Passive Perception and gives advantage on any Stealth checks made while Scouting. Additionally, the slower pace gives the lead Navigator advantage on his Navigation Check. Large Groups are unable to move rapidly and cannot travel at a Fast Pace.
| P | Pace | PP |
|:--:|:-----:|:--:|
| **1.00** | Normal Pace | **0** |
| **1.25** | Fast Pace | **-5** |
| **0.75** | Slow Pace | **+5** |
#### Navigation
As a group will normally be able to travel 24 miles (72 miles at sea) per day, succeeding on the Navigation Check results in a Navigation Factor of 2. Exceeding the DC by a significant amount will further improve the rate of travel through Navigators finding shortcuts, better paths, and not getting lost. Failing the Navigation Check represents the party losing time due to getting turned around, being briefly lost, taking longer paths, and being slowed by difficult terrain and bad weather.
For more travel focused adventures, a DM may want players to risk becoming Lost. If the Navigator fails the Navigation Check by more than 5, the party traveled a decent distance but are now truly Lost. The DM should place the group within 6 miles times days traveled away from their expected current location. Grid maps with 6 mile hexes make this easier. When the party becomes Lost, they will encounter additional challenges that must handled before the party can continue. See the Lost section for more detail.
| N | Nav Result |
|:--:|:-----:|
| **2.5** | Nav Check >= DC + 5 |
| **2.0** | Nav Check >= DC |
| **1.0** | Nav Check < DC |
| **1.5** | Nav Check < DC - 5 |
#### Travel Time and Distance
The Average Daily Distance Traveled (**D**) during a Travel Segment is determined based on the Time Length (**T**) of the segment, the group's travel Pace (**P**), the current day's average weather (**W**), and a factor determined by the Navigation Check (**N**).