This table assumes the PCs are moving at a walking pace and are not doing a forced march extending their travel time beyond 8 hours in the day. If the travel is along clear terrain such as a trail, road or along a body of water the party can travel up to an extra six miles a day. Mounted characters traveling along clear terrain can gain another bonus doubling the amount of miles covered. Any travel in difficult terrain moves at the same pace whether it is on horseback or walking. Travel in carts can only be achieve along relatively flat terrain. Traveling in the dark is the same as traveling in difficult terrain. Travel speed is halved if any party members are encumbered with too much load.
Each day, characters should choose a pace of travel. Traveling fast gets the party farther, but leaves it vulnerable to ambush and raises the chance that they get lost. Careful travel gives the party options to sneak to surprise others themselves, forage for food along the way, explore any hidden points of interest or navigate to recover from getting lost.
| Daily Pace | Miles Covered Per Day | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fast | 18 | Disadvantage to Perception checks |
| Normal | 12 | - |
| Careful | 6 | Able to Explore, Forage, Navigate or Sneak |
In certain cases, the GM may like to create a narrative for dealing with navigation and logistics issues during travel. This minigame might help us do just that.
At the beginning of the travel day, deal one card for each hour of travel face up in a row. The challenge of the minigame is to arrange these cards in order either in increasing order from 2→ Ace or decreasing from Ace → 2. Every card out of order represents a challenge of some sort. Cards of the same rank are considered to be “in order” if they are adjacent. For example, if three jacks are drawn, they would be in order as long as they are right next to one another regardless of their suit. Jokers, as wild cards are considered to be “in order” at any point of the trip. Player characters may use each of the the following assets once per travel day to give them opportunities to either swap the positions of two cards, or move a card's position in the order.
Once the players have had an opportunity to try to clear the path, any challenges are resolved. The GM may use the position of the challenges to rule when during the travel they ran into issues, and the suit of the card out of place to randomize the type of challenge. Finally, the GM may choose to use the final card at the end to rule on the quality of the area near the end of the travel.
A GM may use this outline to narrate what a particular challenge might be if they wish.
The GM may decide that the last card could be used for the type of campsite that the party can cobble together at the end of their day of travel. Players can use this mechanic to decide whether they want to try to order the cards low to high (for comfort) or from high to low (for safety.) Alternately, perhaps they decide to risk challenges in hopes of finding a campsite they would prefer.
PCs may choose to travel slowly in order to perform one or more of these tasks. PCs who wish to sneak as they travel may scout ahead of the group and attempt to identify wilderness encounters ahead of time. By doing so, the group may use that PC’s Stealth proficiency to see if they sneak up on any encounter along the way. They may not spend their time doing any other tasks such as foraging or exploring.
Each PC who helps with navigating may move a card in the travel minigame on a successful check against a salient attribute or skill. A critical failure will negate the success of another player's help.
PCs who forage while traveling may make a Survival check against the DC for the appropriate terrain type to see if they can find appropriate food or water. Foraging PCs also have advantage on their first shot to hunt any wild game.
PCs who wish to explore will have a chance to find any hidden features along their route of travel, and they may map the terrain types along their route of travel.
All characters start each game session in civilization. If characters have not returned home by the end of the session, they automatically return after play has ended. If there’s insufficient time to roleplay the party’s return to civilization scene by scene, the GM can have each player roll to return.
This roll is a check, with each PC rolling with a mod equal to their highest modifier (including proficiency). The GM decides if the path to safety is dangerous or arduous.
DC = 10 + 1 per travel day, max DC 20.
Success means the PC returns to safety without issue. Failure has a cost as described below, depending on the nature of the path.
If the PC is reduced to 0 HP, they die or are left unconscious. This damage ignores armor and can’t be healed or avoided. The GM picks what if any load is dropped, starting with less valuable and less secure items, and working up to weapons and armor.
Additionally, player characters are penalized a cost of 1GP/level per mile they must travel back home after the end of a session.