I appreciate the attempt to get rules in place for exploration...but again this comes down to a single roll that while fun for that few moments it happens...is not something that a significant amount of time or effort is spend on.
I would rather see statblocks for locations or hexes with a battery of challenges or "actions" that the terrain can throw at you.
Jungle (Dense) CR 8
Forage DC: 12 Hazard DC: 18
Predator Perception: 18
Jungle Events:
Overgrown vines: AC 12 HP 120. Navigation DC 23
If the navigation DC is met the party successfully navigates the vines and can move normally. A ranger with the Natural Explorer- Forrest or a Land Druid with the Forrest ciricle has a reduction in the DC to 15. The party can also spend time to chop through the vines but may draw notice from unwanted predators.
If the party chooses to chop through the vines Roll initiative and aJungle perception check.If the roll is lower than the Predator Perception score of this area roll on the random encounters table. If the roll is higher then nothing happens.
Repeat this check each round it takes the party to take the vines to 0 hp.
Slight tangent to this discussion but I would love to see extension to the CR Hex approach. Even if not used to make 100% of the traveling encounters, I think it could lead to doing some fun overlay to world maps ahead of time so that you can quickly check back to your notes on when the party travels somewhere. I envision something on Roll20 like the primary world map the party can see and then in the DM notes have an almost Catan-esque hex grid with terrain names and CR notes for quick referencing.
not a tangent at all. I appreciate the thought. the thread goal was for travel to get interesting for everyone dms and players. I would be interested to hear more as I am not familiar with the term "CR hex" i do understand west marches and some random hex generation stuff though.
I am using "CR Hex" as a shorthand way to denote the idea Optimus put forward: Making certain locations or areas (in this case hexes) on a map have challenge ratings and obstacles to overcome.
This is the sort of thing that a DM could normally just do on their own, of course, but I feel like having some short "stat blocks" to have on hand could help DMs with keeping travel interesting (especially newer DMs). I feel like wilderness conditions and weather are overlooked alot of times in running travel encounters, and I think that sorting these things into generally-applicable chunks could help with that. It also presents the opportunity to make certain features more interesting or relevant, like a Goliaths acclimation to high altitudes from their Mountain Born trait.
Here are a couple I wrote vaguely based on the model Optimus was using
Forest Path
Forest, CR1
Navigation (Survival) DC: 8
Foraging (Survival) DC: 8
Events
Inclement Weather (15-20)
The terrain gains the Heavy Precipitation condition for 1 hour. Every 10 minutes during this event that the party spends outside of shelter, roll 1d20. On a roll of 20, one randomly selected creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 10). That creature takes 1d10 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful save. Recurrence: Each time the party completes a long rest within this terrain, roll 1d20 to see if this event occurs.
Snowy Mountain Path
Mountain, CR8
Navigation (Survival) DC: 12
Foraging (Survival) DC: 15
Features
High Altitude
Traveling at altitudes of 10,000 feet or higher above sea level is taxing for a creature that needs to breathe, because of the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel.
Breathing creatures can become acclimated to a high altitude by spending 30 days or more at this elevation. Breathing creatures can't become acclimated to elevations above 20,000 feet unless they are native to such environments.
Blinding Flurries
Flurries of snow make the Mountain Path difficult to traverse. This terrain zone has Heavy Precipitation and Extreme Cold conditions.
Events
Avalanche (19-20)
A typical avalanche is 300 feet wide, 150 feet long, and 30 feet thick. Creatures in the path of an avalanche can avoid it or escape it if they're close to its edge, but outrunning one is almost impossible.
When an avalanche occurs, all nearby creatures must roll initiative. Twice each round, on initiative counts 10 and 0, the avalanche travels 300 feet until it can travel no more. When an avalanche moves, any creature in its space moves along with it and falls prone, and the creature must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 1d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
When an avalanche stops, the snow and other debris settle and bury creatures. A creature buried in this way is blinded and restrained, and it has total cover. The creature gains 1 level of exhaustion for every 5 minutes it spends buried. It can try to dig itself free as an action, breaking the surface and ending the blinded and restrained conditions on itself with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. A creature that fails this check three times can't attempt to dig itself out again.
A creature that is not restrained or incapacitated can spend 1 minute freeing a buried creature. Once free, that creature is no longer blinded or restrained by the avalanche.
Recurrence: Each time a creature casts a spell of 2nd level or higher that deals thunder damage (such as Shatter) or creates a booming noise (such as Knock), roll 1d20 to see if this event occurs.
the idea for the Events in each of these is that the DM rolls 1d20 every time the party enters a given area for the first time as well as any time the Recurrence condition is satisfied, with the event occurring if the rolled value matches or falls within the range in parentheses.
ok I get it. I might include a skill challenge section for example harvestable minerals or potion ingredients. valuable pelts. or "good breed horses"
Oooh thats fun.
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I appreciate the attempt to get rules in place for exploration...but again this comes down to a single roll that while fun for that few moments it happens...is not something that a significant amount of time or effort is spend on.
I would rather see statblocks for locations or hexes with a battery of challenges or "actions" that the terrain can throw at you.
Jungle (Dense) CR 8
Forage DC: 12 Hazard DC: 18
Predator Perception: 18
Jungle Events:
Overgrown vines: AC 12 HP 120. Navigation DC 23
If the navigation DC is met the party successfully navigates the vines and can move normally. A ranger with the Natural Explorer- Forrest or a Land Druid with the Forrest ciricle has a reduction in the DC to 15. The party can also spend time to chop through the vines but may draw notice from unwanted predators.
If the party chooses to chop through the vines Roll initiative and aJungle perception check.If the roll is lower than the Predator Perception score of this area roll on the random encounters table. If the roll is higher then nothing happens.
Repeat this check each round it takes the party to take the vines to 0 hp.
Slight tangent to this discussion but I would love to see extension to the CR Hex approach. Even if not used to make 100% of the traveling encounters, I think it could lead to doing some fun overlay to world maps ahead of time so that you can quickly check back to your notes on when the party travels somewhere. I envision something on Roll20 like the primary world map the party can see and then in the DM notes have an almost Catan-esque hex grid with terrain names and CR notes for quick referencing.
not a tangent at all. I appreciate the thought. the thread goal was for travel to get interesting for everyone dms and players. I would be interested to hear more as I am not familiar with the term "CR hex" i do understand west marches and some random hex generation stuff though.
I am using "CR Hex" as a shorthand way to denote the idea Optimus put forward: Making certain locations or areas (in this case hexes) on a map have challenge ratings and obstacles to overcome.
This is the sort of thing that a DM could normally just do on their own, of course, but I feel like having some short "stat blocks" to have on hand could help DMs with keeping travel interesting (especially newer DMs). I feel like wilderness conditions and weather are overlooked alot of times in running travel encounters, and I think that sorting these things into generally-applicable chunks could help with that. It also presents the opportunity to make certain features more interesting or relevant, like a Goliaths acclimation to high altitudes from their Mountain Born trait.
Here are a couple I wrote vaguely based on the model Optimus was using
Forest Path
Forest, CR1
Navigation (Survival) DC: 8
Foraging (Survival) DC: 8
Events
Inclement Weather (15-20)
The terrain gains the Heavy Precipitation condition for 1 hour. Every 10 minutes during this event that the party spends outside of shelter, roll 1d20. On a roll of 20, one randomly selected creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 10). That creature takes 1d10 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful save. Recurrence: Each time the party completes a long rest within this terrain, roll 1d20 to see if this event occurs.
Snowy Mountain Path
Mountain, CR8
Navigation (Survival) DC: 12
Foraging (Survival) DC: 15
Features
High Altitude
Traveling at altitudes of 10,000 feet or higher above sea level is taxing for a creature that needs to breathe, because of the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel.
Breathing creatures can become acclimated to a high altitude by spending 30 days or more at this elevation. Breathing creatures can't become acclimated to elevations above 20,000 feet unless they are native to such environments.
Blinding Flurries
Flurries of snow make the Mountain Path difficult to traverse. This terrain zone has Heavy Precipitation and Extreme Cold conditions.
Events
Avalanche (19-20)
A typical avalanche is 300 feet wide, 150 feet long, and 30 feet thick. Creatures in the path of an avalanche can avoid it or escape it if they're close to its edge, but outrunning one is almost impossible.
When an avalanche occurs, all nearby creatures must roll initiative. Twice each round, on initiative counts 10 and 0, the avalanche travels 300 feet until it can travel no more. When an avalanche moves, any creature in its space moves along with it and falls prone, and the creature must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 1d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
When an avalanche stops, the snow and other debris settle and bury creatures. A creature buried in this way is blinded and restrained, and it has total cover. The creature gains 1 level of exhaustion for every 5 minutes it spends buried. It can try to dig itself free as an action, breaking the surface and ending the blinded and restrained conditions on itself with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. A creature that fails this check three times can't attempt to dig itself out again.
A creature that is not restrained or incapacitated can spend 1 minute freeing a buried creature. Once free, that creature is no longer blinded or restrained by the avalanche.
Recurrence: Each time a creature casts a spell of 2nd level or higher that deals thunder damage (such as Shatter) or creates a booming noise (such as Knock), roll 1d20 to see if this event occurs.
the idea for the Events in each of these is that the DM rolls 1d20 every time the party enters a given area for the first time as well as any time the Recurrence condition is satisfied, with the event occurring if the rolled value matches or falls within the range in parentheses.
ok I get it. I might include a skill challenge section for example harvestable minerals or potion ingredients. valuable pelts. or "good breed horses"
so here are some more dungeon world items. when players are board or dont do anything...... the dms do one of the following. I think hitting these make travel fun my favorites are highligted.
Use a monster, danger, or location move
Reveal an unwelcome truth
Show signs of an approaching threat
Deal damage
Use up their resources
Turn their move back on them (make them fight people who use their own style of fighting)
Separate them
Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities
Show a downside to their class, race, or equipment
Offer an opportunity, with or without cost
Put someone in a spot
Tell them the [activity] requirements or consequences
ask questions[background, story, ect.]
dungeon specific (in dw not 5e i think these can be used in travel too)
Change the environment
Point to a looming threat
Introduce a new faction or type of creature
Use a threat from an existing faction or type of creature
Make them backtrack
Present riches at a price
Present a challenge to one of the character [or the group]
This is exactly what a DM(s) should be doing. This is no different than building a dungeon or flushing out a pre written dungeon.
When people say "there are no rules for travel and exploration", although correct, what the game does give us is tools as dungeon masters. We are no longer in the 3.5 days with rules for everything.
Flush out your ideas, everyone! This is our job as DMs. Exploration and overland travel is just a dungeon crawl with no walls, ceilings, or doors, and greater factors of distance and time.
This is exactly what a DM(s) should be doing. This is no different than building a dungeon or flushing out a pre written dungeon.
When people say "there are no rules for travel and exploration", although correct, what the game does give us is tools as dungeon masters. We are no longer in the 3.5 days with rules for everything.
Flush out your ideas, everyone! This is our job as DMs. Exploration and overland travel is just a dungeon crawl with no walls, ceilings, or doors, and greater factors of distance and time.
Not enough though....not everyone has hours a week to devote to pre-planning one aspect of the game. They have done a lot for other aspects of the game (tool use in xanathars, lore for the dread lords and their realms, settings guides) that help DMs why not have support for a feature that is suppose to be a third pillar of the game?
This is exactly what a DM(s) should be doing. This is no different than building a dungeon or flushing out a pre written dungeon.
When people say "there are no rules for travel and exploration", although correct, what the game does give us is tools as dungeon masters. We are no longer in the 3.5 days with rules for everything.
Flush out your ideas, everyone! This is our job as DMs. Exploration and overland travel is just a dungeon crawl with no walls, ceilings, or doors, and greater factors of distance and time.
Not enough though....not everyone has hours a week to devote to pre-planning one aspect of the game. They have done a lot for other aspects of the game (tool use in xanathars, lore for the dread lords and their realms, settings guides) that help DMs why not have support for a feature that is suppose to be a third pillar of the game?
All true. But if a DM is that crunched for time are they really going to be playing that kind of game anyway? I get what you're saying.
I don't think most DMs even read the DMG beyond the magic items.
This is exactly what a DM(s) should be doing. This is no different than building a dungeon or flushing out a pre written dungeon.
When people say "there are no rules for travel and exploration", although correct, what the game does give us is tools as dungeon masters. We are no longer in the 3.5 days with rules for everything.
Flush out your ideas, everyone! This is our job as DMs. Exploration and overland travel is just a dungeon crawl with no walls, ceilings, or doors, and greater factors of distance and time.
Not enough though....not everyone has hours a week to devote to pre-planning one aspect of the game. They have done a lot for other aspects of the game (tool use in xanathars, lore for the dread lords and their realms, settings guides) that help DMs why not have support for a feature that is suppose to be a third pillar of the game?
All true. But if a DM is that crunched for time are they really going to be playing that kind of game anyway? I get what you're saying.
I don't think most DMs even read the DMG beyond the magic items.
Which is fair too...I know as a DM I could do more prep likely and I have read the DMG but do not use a fair amount of it.
I feel like most of what I want to accomplish I can prepare fairly quickly thanks to the resources (mostly the DnD Beyond Monster listing that thing is amazing) and the encounter generator.
Social situations require little prep as I just have a character name and some minor motivations. Or use of the excellent NPC generators out there.
I do not feel I have a quick way of building these type of CR Hexes and would love a large number of generated ones to be able to use on a whim.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
Well things that happen could shape the landscape and change WHO you want to interact with the party. Again DM supplements are already sorely lacking as we get about 1/4th of most "everything" books and the content ranges from super helpful (tool stuff) to pretty much useless (reflavoring spells) so more would not hurt at all.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
Which, to me, is what the hex approach will accomplish. Take some time to prep stats, lay them out across the continent, and then BOOM, you are done with environmental prep for overworld travel for the entire campaign. All you have to do after that is figure out what combat/social encounters might occur while they are traveling. As the party levels up, you can switch a few hexes out with ones listed as having a higher CR.
In the same vein, a DM could spend their prep time designing new monsters from scratch every session, but it is generally easier just to pull a quick stat block from the MM. They can always put the time in to design a campaign-specific monster when it is appropriate or when they feel inspired, but the pre-generated stat blocks in the MM make prep much easier. That is the sort of thing I am hoping that making some terrain stats could accomplish.
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Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
Which, to me, is what the hex approach will accomplish. Take some time to prep stats, lay them out across the continent, and then BOOM, you are done with environmental prep for overworld travel for the entire campaign. All you have to do after that is figure out what combat/social encounters might occur while they are traveling. As the party levels up, you can switch a few hexes out with ones listed as having a higher CR.
In the same vein, a DM could spend their prep time designing new monsters from scratch every session, but it is generally easier just to pull a quick stat block from the MM. They can always put the time in to design a campaign-specific monster when it is appropriate or when they feel inspired, but the pre-generated stat blocks in the MM make prep much easier. That is the sort of thing I am hoping that making some terrain stats could accomplish.
Exactly!
I have loved the bestiary from the last few books...its been amazing to have so many cool creatures that you can tweak a bit at a moments notice.
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
Again, although different numbers and measurements, and maybe drawing from a different [pool of foci and resources, outdoor encounters at their root aren't much different than dungeon encounters. I find the easier to create, setup, insert, and adjudicate in general over dungeon encounters.
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
Again, although different numbers and measurements, and maybe drawing from a different [pool of foci and resources, outdoor encounters at their root aren't much different than dungeon encounters. I find the easier to create, setup, insert, and adjudicate in general over dungeon encounters.
Thats fair....I just always say examples are never missed when it comes to content!
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
So you can mix "environment hexes" with monsters, both of the appropriate CR, to create a well rounded encounter. (I.e. use a Forest Path hex for the environment they travel through and while they are traveling have 2-3 combat encounters with beasts belonging to the forest, or bandits, or whatever else is relevant to their current quest that might stand in their way). Traps and other small obstacles can also be sprinkled in very easily to add variety from one hex to the next even before considering what social or combat encounters may occur.
Also, I do not understand your second line. HOW a party learns about say, a mummy lord who lives in the middle of a forest, wont change the fact that the party has to travel through a forest for several hours to reach it. It might change which monsters they encounter along the way, but a forest is still a forest. If the mummy has some special grasp on the forest itself (like lair effects), then you can write up a different environment hex (or modify one you already made). The monsters that the party encounters and the social situations they find themselves in will not affect the environment that spans several miles (and several hours in game) that they have to travel through to get to each of those encounters.
Edit: I would also add that another benefit of pre-written "cookie cutter" type environments is that they present an easy way to keep track of certain environmental obstacles/conditions that could be easy to forget if you are making things from scratch (such as applying a high altitude condition to mountains).
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
So you can mix "environment hexes" with monsters, both of the appropriate CR, to create a well rounded encounter. (I.e. use a Forest Path hex for the environment they travel through and while they are traveling have 2-3 combat encounters with beasts belonging to the forest, or bandits, or whatever else is relevant to their current quest that might stand in their way). Traps and other small obstacles can also be sprinkled in very easily to add variety from one hex to the next even before considering what social or combat encounters may occur.
Also, I do not understand your second line. HOW a party learns about say, a mummy lord who lives in the middle of a forest, wont change the fact that the party has to travel through a forest for several hours to reach it. It might change which monsters they encounter along the way, but a forest is still a forest. If the mummy has some special grasp on the forest itself (like lair effects), then you can write up a different environment hex (or modify one you already made). The monsters that the party encounters and the social situations they find themselves in will not affect the environment that spans several miles (and several hours in game) that they have to travel through to get to each of those encounters.
Edit: I would also add that another benefit of pre-written "cookie cutter" type environments is that they present an easy way to keep track of certain environmental obstacles/conditions that could be easy to forget if you are making things from scratch (such as applying a high altitude condition to mountains).
So the party rolls (or in my case draws a card) which procs a random encounter. That is just the start. So many class feature and general rules of the game have to do with who sees or senses who first, from what distance, under what circumstances, etc. So not a mummy lord in a jungle, which is silly and I love it, but a pack of zombie dire wolves instead, maybe on the edge of where a forest or open area meet up with the terrible swamp. No we get into things other than survival rolls for food, water, and navigation. Now we get into stealth checks, perception checks in different directions and with different senses, knowledge of the lands you're on and the creatures that normally inhabit them, knowledge of creatures or local history regarding dire wolves or undead, and others. All of these other things start firing off when and before an encounter is even close to being a combat situation or social situation.
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
So you can mix "environment hexes" with monsters, both of the appropriate CR, to create a well rounded encounter. (I.e. use a Forest Path hex for the environment they travel through and while they are traveling have 2-3 combat encounters with beasts belonging to the forest, or bandits, or whatever else is relevant to their current quest that might stand in their way). Traps and other small obstacles can also be sprinkled in very easily to add variety from one hex to the next even before considering what social or combat encounters may occur.
Also, I do not understand your second line. HOW a party learns about say, a mummy lord who lives in the middle of a forest, wont change the fact that the party has to travel through a forest for several hours to reach it. It might change which monsters they encounter along the way, but a forest is still a forest. If the mummy has some special grasp on the forest itself (like lair effects), then you can write up a different environment hex (or modify one you already made). The monsters that the party encounters and the social situations they find themselves in will not affect the environment that spans several miles (and several hours in game) that they have to travel through to get to each of those encounters.
Edit: I would also add that another benefit of pre-written "cookie cutter" type environments is that they present an easy way to keep track of certain environmental obstacles/conditions that could be easy to forget if you are making things from scratch (such as applying a high altitude condition to mountains).
So the party rolls (or in my case draws a card) which procs a random encounter. That is just the start. So many class feature and general rules of the game have to do with who sees or senses who first, from what distance, under what circumstances, etc. So not a mummy lord in a jungle, which is silly and I love it, but a pack of zombie dire wolves instead, maybe on the edge of where a forest or open area meet up with the terrible swamp. No we get into things other than survival rolls for food, water, and navigation. Now we get into stealth checks, perception checks in different directions and with different senses, knowledge of the lands you're on and the creatures that normally inhabit them, knowledge of creatures or local history regarding dire wolves or undead, and others. All of these other things start firing off when and before an encounter is even close to being a combat situation or social situation.
The environment hexes idea that I am thinking of would be something purely tied to the environment itself and not the monsters that live there. All of the aspects of those hex stats would be related to the weather, wilderness hazards, and possible naturally occurring events (like storms) that the party could encounter. These would be purely environmental to the extent that it is something that affects both the party and any other living thing in the area equally.
I am not saying that environment hexes should completely replace all aspects of designing an encounter in an area or the lore surrounding it, but that it would be a really nice tool to expand on the effects that nature has on a party's long distance travel or even on combat or social encounters.
Oooh thats fun.
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Agreed... Would be fun.
Mining opportunity for the dwarves too!
so here are some more dungeon world items. when players are board or dont do anything...... the dms do one of the following. I think hitting these make travel fun my favorites are highligted.
dungeon specific (in dw not 5e i think these can be used in travel too)
This is exactly what a DM(s) should be doing. This is no different than building a dungeon or flushing out a pre written dungeon.
When people say "there are no rules for travel and exploration", although correct, what the game does give us is tools as dungeon masters. We are no longer in the 3.5 days with rules for everything.
Flush out your ideas, everyone! This is our job as DMs. Exploration and overland travel is just a dungeon crawl with no walls, ceilings, or doors, and greater factors of distance and time.
Not enough though....not everyone has hours a week to devote to pre-planning one aspect of the game. They have done a lot for other aspects of the game (tool use in xanathars, lore for the dread lords and their realms, settings guides) that help DMs why not have support for a feature that is suppose to be a third pillar of the game?
All true. But if a DM is that crunched for time are they really going to be playing that kind of game anyway? I get what you're saying.
I don't think most DMs even read the DMG beyond the magic items.
Which is fair too...I know as a DM I could do more prep likely and I have read the DMG but do not use a fair amount of it.
I feel like most of what I want to accomplish I can prepare fairly quickly thanks to the resources (mostly the DnD Beyond Monster listing that thing is amazing) and the encounter generator.
Social situations require little prep as I just have a character name and some minor motivations. Or use of the excellent NPC generators out there.
I do not feel I have a quick way of building these type of CR Hexes and would love a large number of generated ones to be able to use on a whim.
Didn't someone post links to that very thing above?
Also, as a DM you don't need an entire world made up for a hex crawl, just a starting point, a few hexes in each direction, and a couple points of interest or intrigue.
Those are making the grid and randomizing the terrian and what not but not creating the content for each hex. And thats the thing is that you aren't sure if they are going to focus on travel that day and run from every encounter or fight their way to Mordor.
Flexibility has been my biggest tool as a DM.
I guess I just find that kind of prep very easy and quick to do.
And some people do not...to each their own I guess and it doesn't hurt IMO to help the person doing the most work in the room...the DM.
The nice thing about random and planned encounters for a large area is you can prep it once and it will last for almost the entire campaign with no adjustments needed beyond raising the difficulty a bit.
Well things that happen could shape the landscape and change WHO you want to interact with the party. Again DM supplements are already sorely lacking as we get about 1/4th of most "everything" books and the content ranges from super helpful (tool stuff) to pretty much useless (reflavoring spells) so more would not hurt at all.
Which, to me, is what the hex approach will accomplish. Take some time to prep stats, lay them out across the continent, and then BOOM, you are done with environmental prep for overworld travel for the entire campaign. All you have to do after that is figure out what combat/social encounters might occur while they are traveling. As the party levels up, you can switch a few hexes out with ones listed as having a higher CR.
In the same vein, a DM could spend their prep time designing new monsters from scratch every session, but it is generally easier just to pull a quick stat block from the MM. They can always put the time in to design a campaign-specific monster when it is appropriate or when they feel inspired, but the pre-generated stat blocks in the MM make prep much easier. That is the sort of thing I am hoping that making some terrain stats could accomplish.
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Exactly!
I have loved the bestiary from the last few books...its been amazing to have so many cool creatures that you can tweak a bit at a moments notice.
World prep needs a mix of environmental and creature encounters, combat and non, mixed throughout the map. Very important is to remember the approaching of en encounter, meaning HOW the encounter is first made aware to the party, is very important, and a big party of exploration.
Again, although different numbers and measurements, and maybe drawing from a different [pool of foci and resources, outdoor encounters at their root aren't much different than dungeon encounters. I find the easier to create, setup, insert, and adjudicate in general over dungeon encounters.
Thats fair....I just always say examples are never missed when it comes to content!
So you can mix "environment hexes" with monsters, both of the appropriate CR, to create a well rounded encounter. (I.e. use a Forest Path hex for the environment they travel through and while they are traveling have 2-3 combat encounters with beasts belonging to the forest, or bandits, or whatever else is relevant to their current quest that might stand in their way). Traps and other small obstacles can also be sprinkled in very easily to add variety from one hex to the next even before considering what social or combat encounters may occur.
Also, I do not understand your second line. HOW a party learns about say, a mummy lord who lives in the middle of a forest, wont change the fact that the party has to travel through a forest for several hours to reach it. It might change which monsters they encounter along the way, but a forest is still a forest. If the mummy has some special grasp on the forest itself (like lair effects), then you can write up a different environment hex (or modify one you already made). The monsters that the party encounters and the social situations they find themselves in will not affect the environment that spans several miles (and several hours in game) that they have to travel through to get to each of those encounters.
Edit: I would also add that another benefit of pre-written "cookie cutter" type environments is that they present an easy way to keep track of certain environmental obstacles/conditions that could be easy to forget if you are making things from scratch (such as applying a high altitude condition to mountains).
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So the party rolls (or in my case draws a card) which procs a random encounter. That is just the start. So many class feature and general rules of the game have to do with who sees or senses who first, from what distance, under what circumstances, etc. So not a mummy lord in a jungle, which is silly and I love it, but a pack of zombie dire wolves instead, maybe on the edge of where a forest or open area meet up with the terrible swamp. No we get into things other than survival rolls for food, water, and navigation. Now we get into stealth checks, perception checks in different directions and with different senses, knowledge of the lands you're on and the creatures that normally inhabit them, knowledge of creatures or local history regarding dire wolves or undead, and others. All of these other things start firing off when and before an encounter is even close to being a combat situation or social situation.
The environment hexes idea that I am thinking of would be something purely tied to the environment itself and not the monsters that live there. All of the aspects of those hex stats would be related to the weather, wilderness hazards, and possible naturally occurring events (like storms) that the party could encounter. These would be purely environmental to the extent that it is something that affects both the party and any other living thing in the area equally.
I am not saying that environment hexes should completely replace all aspects of designing an encounter in an area or the lore surrounding it, but that it would be a really nice tool to expand on the effects that nature has on a party's long distance travel or even on combat or social encounters.
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