Making traveling eventful

[Lejonel]

Hello Monkeys!

Some time ago I posted a few notes on an Rpg I am working on. It has been in for a lot of overhauling lately and I have now started to rebuilding a setting for it. Doing so I realise that a lot of (in-game) time will be spent traveling and I want to make this time significant and to some degree colour the players' perception of the world.

How do you usually handle travel? What kind of obstacles or interactive opportunities do you present to your players? Personally I usually just skip travel and cut to the next interesting scene, but I don't believe.this to be the only way to handle it. Nor the best.

Traveling can be of different character in different environments, I am sure, but I am interested to hear points of views from both space travel, fantasy journeys or cityscape commuting to try to get as many ideas as possible.

Best regards and Happy Lucia to those of you who celebrate it!
//Lejonel

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

This is for a game that establishes the settled, frontier, and the wild - right?

One idea would be to have mystical or dream like events in the Wild Area - for a minute all sound disappears, a storm rolls in from a clear sky, or a mythological creature is spotted on the horizon then vanishes. Nothing too directly dangerous or even story related (though it could be) just eerie.

Part of the way story is told through rules in D&D is the presence of random encounter tables at all, and the rate at which they're rolled. That you're likely to encounter a band of brigands or trolls every few hours says a lot about how dangerous the world is, and shows even at first levels, PCs are amazing for venturing out at all.

In your case, the random events for the areas might not be so different, but the rate at which things happen can say a lot. Characters might encounter potentially dangerous people once or twice a day on the frontier, but at best once per 48 hours in the city.

I tend not to go into detail about travel in most games, since I tend to play modern or SF where where travel is relatively safe. (Your destination, that is another story). Trends aboard the ship may become apparent if the ships crew are professional and get along or fights break out on board. Trains on time versus surprise government inspections (for what or who?) or out right robbery can be another issue. If I'm generous, they might be able to get some supplies from the remains of a destroyed caravan - though that hints that something was about to attack it.

[Onix]

I used to worry about travel, that the players wouldn't appreciate the effort and time involved. I did develop random encounter tables, but it wasn't originally for travel. One of my players was a scavenger and was scouring the planet looking for left over equipment. It did eventually get used for travel though.

So yes. Random encounters work to inject some intrest. The main thing that makes travel interesting for my players is it's time to heal, plan, put together new equipment and repair old equipment. It's downtime. They've learned that this is a good time to teach each other languages (they all learned polish just because one character could speak it. It did prove useful because they would use it when they wanted a private conversation with others around.)

This makes travel an interesting affair for the players. It's something that now just happens as part of the game. The players know how to handle it and I know generally what they'll use the time for.

[Lejonel]

CA, yes this is for that game precisely! Even though that game has undergone some horrible, but much needed surgery. It is still based on the two culture clash and unknown wild terrain so the heart is the same but the skin is different. I'll try to summarize something when it has been properly tested in my gaming group.

I have always been a little against using randomized events because of the risk that it somehow breaks or upsets the main storyline. It could be due to the last time I used randomized events was in the early '90 and the tables I used back then were severely flawed.

I generally believe that random encounters all to often equals meeting someone or something when it should probably far mote likely that the players run in to some interesting worldly feature, but I guess that is just a matter how random encounter table design. I will have to have a think about it.

Onix mentioned something which sparked an idea for me."Scenes" are an important thing in my game because dome actions (such as attempting healing) is only allowed once a scene or at an increased "cost" for retries. Maybe travels could grant characters some form of bonus in that department, or recharging of abilities which is also important in my game (some things are one-per-session-only). Travel=Downtime=time for planing, plotting and healing on the players' part. Interesting...

//Lejonel

EDIT: I blame bad spelling and wrong choice of words all on my "smart" phone from which I post. Smart, my ass...

[Onix]

Oh, as an addendum, the reason why we got to the process of travel being used for downtime was because I would point out to the players that they had a lot of time on their hands. I'd ask them if there was anything they wanted to use that time for. At the beginning, they would just say no, let's get to the action. Slowly they built up a toolbox of things to do in that time. So you could start out suggesting the things mentioned so far but I would encourage you to ask the same question if they have time left over. At first they probably won't have anything but as they get used to things, they'll start thinking about it and may surprise you with interesting things to do during travel.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Travel as downtime to recharge is certainly a good idea, as is avoiding the use of random encounters if they don't make sense. I was just using those tables as an example of world building.

You may want to consider how difficult travel is or how much can be restored based on where in the world the players are, and for that matter, invert places of safety. In the big towns, law enforcement is present, roads are paved (or at least marked) and so travel is quick and safe, its when you stop at a destination that you run into shady bushiness, and gambling dens, and other illicit activities that mark people trying to escape the ossification of the settled areas.

Conversely, travel in the wild is slow and dangerous, but any settlement is a safe place against the outside chaos. The people within are the smart and strong types that made it this far, and thus able to keep order, and the threat of being removed from the safe area keeps everyone in line.

The frontier is where things get mixed. Some attempts to get a hand on the wild and tame things, but also a mix of people who thing its safe prematurely and are unprepared, bandits escaping enforcement, overzealous reformers, and so forth.

Reversing the original idea for a bit, perhaps travel requires some resource - and you need to earn "travel points" or acquire supplies to move to a new area, and are thus inclined to complete whatever quests are present. (so to speak. This isn't an instanced MMO after all.)

[Lejonel]

I don't disagree with what you are saying about random encounter tables. In some games they might fit and add tons of flavour to the setting, but I wanted to point out that (in my point of view) too many of these tables are combat focused rather than event focused. There is a big difference there that I have noticed that a lot of "classically schooled" gamers tend do miss. Not to say that a game of hack-n-slash with random monsters popping up now and then is not a good idea. I just is not the <i>only</i>. But this you already know, and I digress.

Having increased difficulties for healing, teaching, recuperating, doing-what-ever during travels in difficult terrain is a good idea and fits wonderfully in my game mechanics which already uses difficulty levels 1-6 for skillrolls. Demanding a higher level for illequipped characters or characters in difficult traveling conditions will be on my list of things to try next time we have a session.

"Travelpoints" don't really fit in <i>my</i> game, but it's a nice little idea. I can imagine using travelpoints for extended travle like trains or by flight (like spending cash on a ticket). Not quite as sure as how to use it for when people travel on their own. Substituting it for food seems like a too high abstraction for my current taste. But on the other hand, it would be interesting to use this idea for an old-school DnD-esque game. Maybe "loot" might be converted to traveling points? This could also be used to "rob" the players of excess gold, jewels and other odd treasure... Damn! I just got into game-design mode. Too bad I have other stuff to do first. :P

[madunkieg]

I just had an idea. People who join your journey for part of the way. They could be helpful, they could be hindrances, or some combination thereof. The person who seems to consume extra resources but has just the right skills for a future encounter is an example of a combination companion. The players will have to work out where the companions fit by interacting with them.

[catty_big]

[madunkieg]