If a day at normal speed is only 24 miles and let's say you have a 150 mile journey ahead how do you do that? How does a day end, what do they do during each day, how long in real time does this take, etc?
That truly depends on the adventure and what you have planned for it, there's no one answer for that.
If you don't want anything to happen during the travel, you can just skip it. The party leaves destination A, and arrives at destination B a week later. Done and done. Probably best to throw in at least a few lines about what the party sees as they travel, but that's about it. Be careful not to go full Tolkien and wax on for ten paragraphs about the various hills and trees the party sees.
If you do want things to happen during their travel... well, still a lot of variables there. How much do you want to happen? How long do you want to pad out the travel for? Do you want them to travel through a bunch of towns, where they may stumble upon other quests or issues they can resolve? Or do you want to have just a handful of encounters to put a bit of mustard on the fact that they're traveling, and then have them reach the destination?
You can always reach to random encounters to pad out things like time spent traveling, but I would also advise caution when using random encounters; unless they're somehow particularly interesting, they can really just feel like filler. Which isn't necessarily the worst thing all of the time - D&D games do need some filler - but you don't want to overdue it, and you don't want to waste too much time away from the story.
Finally, as far as what a day looks like, well, that also depends, but typically in "D&D terms" it'll be 8 hours traveling, 8 hours doing... whatever, and 8 hours resting. The "whatever" could be aforementioned side quests or encounters, or it could be downtime spent doing productive things like crafting or learning proficiencies, or roleplay based activities such as interacting with party members, hunting, or planning what's to come. A day typically will end with a party setting up camp - or resting at an inn or something if they're in town - which can make up another opportunity for inter-party roleplay, if your players are into that.
As a DM, it's ultimately up to you what you want out of any travel that happens in your games.
As an aside, some stories are just about travel, and they can be fantastic. Look at season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The whole season is about the characters traveling from the South Pole to the North Pole, and it's absolutely phenomenal. However, most of the time actually spent traveling is glossed over, and instead each episode revolves around a new area that they are visiting, and the problems of the people in that area that the characters help to solve.
That kind of game can be great, and is also - if you're looking to make travel (and your world) interesting - a fantastic way to go about it. Gloss over the fluff of the actual time spent moving from place to place, but run little adventures in each new area the party visits. Doing this can really flesh out your world.
As an aside, some stories are just about travel, and they can be fantastic. Look at season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The whole season is about the character's traveling from the South Pole to the North Pole, and it's absolutely phenomenal. However, most of the time actually spent traveling is glossed over, and instead each episode revolves around a new area that they are visiting, and the problems of the people in that area that the characters help to solve.
That kind of game can be great, and is also - if you're looking to make travel (and your world) interesting - a fantastic way to go about it. Gloss over the fluff of the actual time spent moving from place to place, but run little adventures in each new area the party visits. Doing this can really flesh out your world.
I love this idea and that is one of the greatest shows of all time.
Travel is either skip entirely, briefly described in part, or run day-to-day. I like to often provide small description of features of the land, trees, mountain range or hills afar, river flow etc as well as occasional flock of birds or animal herd in the distance all taking place in the paysage. I also call some weather conditions wether clear, windy or rainfall but for the rest, things exploration, social or combat encounters being more upclose interactions.
If a day at normal speed is only 24 miles and let's say you have a 150 mile journey ahead how do you do that? How does a day end, what do they do during each day, how long in real time does this take, etc?
It depends how many interesting things happen on that journey. The general rule is "Don't waste everyone's time" if nothing happens then time skip ahead, don't waste your time writing long descriptions of landscapes that just scroll by without anything for the players to do, and don't waste their time reading them out. If something notable does happen - i.e. the players could learn some important lore, they could make a choice that will impact the outcome of their quest or the lives of NPCs, or obtain some boon or curse - then you stop and play out that situation, if it doesn't you time-skip over it with 1-2 sentences describing how it went.
Similarly, don't feel the need to fabricate some situation to "give them something to do", it's better to time-jump than waste time on random arbitrary inconsequential encounters.
My recommendation, in addition to "skip and describe," is to have an ongoing list of character backstory tidbits on a random encounter table. They could run into an old fling, an old friend, and they might "long rest there for the night" and then that night maybe, another person in the party has an enemy, and they attack them in the night because they'd been following the party. Throwing little things like that help the players feel like their characters are part of the world you're building together, and it makes the travel feel like it had a purpose! I often use travel to be the connective tissue/side quest/lore building portions of my campaigns :)
If a day at normal speed is only 24 miles and let's say you have a 150 mile journey ahead how do you do that? How does a day end, what do they do during each day, how long in real time does this take, etc?
Random encounters were pretty much invented for this. But a lot of DMs just play it out as a cinematic. "Your journey takes [X] days over [terrain type] terrain, but the journey is relatively peaceful. You consume [X] rations and arrive at your destination [level of of exhaustion, if any].
But I use it as an opportunity to use Downtime Activities too. Some downtime activities aren't feasible on the road. But Crafting and Item (if they have the right tools), Research (if they brought a book), and Training make some sense. Downtime Activities are so hard to implement in the game, that I tend to play it fast and loose, allowing players to train each other, or engage in self study while on the road. They can mark their progress and pick it up again after they experience some more long travel, or some downtime at a proper city or town.
Lots of questions - 1) what sort of travel? Major roads? Minor roads, clear trails? Overland (easy)? Overland ( difficult terrain)? Wilderness? 2) are you traveling alone or with a larger group? 3) is it a major piece of the adventure (or could it be)? 4) is there a ranger in your party? 5) are party members familiar with the area? 6) any personal histories linked to the area/travel?
These (and probably others) should all factor into what you do and how. If it’s a minor part of the adventure and on good roads, especially with a larger group then you can gloss over it. If it’s just the party, traveling through wilderness ( no roads or trails beyond game trails) and a major part of the adventure then you should be doing a lot with it. Wandering monsters, getting lost, side quests, gathering/crafting, etc. As the DM it’s really up to you how much you do and where. But factors like those above should be factored in.
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If a day at normal speed is only 24 miles and let's say you have a 150 mile journey ahead how do you do that? How does a day end, what do they do during each day, how long in real time does this take, etc?
That truly depends on the adventure and what you have planned for it, there's no one answer for that.
If you don't want anything to happen during the travel, you can just skip it. The party leaves destination A, and arrives at destination B a week later. Done and done.
Probably best to throw in at least a few lines about what the party sees as they travel, but that's about it. Be careful not to go full Tolkien and wax on for ten paragraphs about the various hills and trees the party sees.
If you do want things to happen during their travel... well, still a lot of variables there. How much do you want to happen? How long do you want to pad out the travel for? Do you want them to travel through a bunch of towns, where they may stumble upon other quests or issues they can resolve? Or do you want to have just a handful of encounters to put a bit of mustard on the fact that they're traveling, and then have them reach the destination?
You can always reach to random encounters to pad out things like time spent traveling, but I would also advise caution when using random encounters; unless they're somehow particularly interesting, they can really just feel like filler. Which isn't necessarily the worst thing all of the time - D&D games do need some filler - but you don't want to overdue it, and you don't want to waste too much time away from the story.
Finally, as far as what a day looks like, well, that also depends, but typically in "D&D terms" it'll be 8 hours traveling, 8 hours doing... whatever, and 8 hours resting. The "whatever" could be aforementioned side quests or encounters, or it could be downtime spent doing productive things like crafting or learning proficiencies, or roleplay based activities such as interacting with party members, hunting, or planning what's to come.
A day typically will end with a party setting up camp - or resting at an inn or something if they're in town - which can make up another opportunity for inter-party roleplay, if your players are into that.
As a DM, it's ultimately up to you what you want out of any travel that happens in your games.
As an aside, some stories are just about travel, and they can be fantastic. Look at season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The whole season is about the characters traveling from the South Pole to the North Pole, and it's absolutely phenomenal. However, most of the time actually spent traveling is glossed over, and instead each episode revolves around a new area that they are visiting, and the problems of the people in that area that the characters help to solve.
That kind of game can be great, and is also - if you're looking to make travel (and your world) interesting - a fantastic way to go about it. Gloss over the fluff of the actual time spent moving from place to place, but run little adventures in each new area the party visits. Doing this can really flesh out your world.
I love this idea and that is one of the greatest shows of all time.
Travel is either skip entirely, briefly described in part, or run day-to-day. I like to often provide small description of features of the land, trees, mountain range or hills afar, river flow etc as well as occasional flock of birds or animal herd in the distance all taking place in the paysage. I also call some weather conditions wether clear, windy or rainfall but for the rest, things exploration, social or combat encounters being more upclose interactions.
It depends how many interesting things happen on that journey. The general rule is "Don't waste everyone's time" if nothing happens then time skip ahead, don't waste your time writing long descriptions of landscapes that just scroll by without anything for the players to do, and don't waste their time reading them out. If something notable does happen - i.e. the players could learn some important lore, they could make a choice that will impact the outcome of their quest or the lives of NPCs, or obtain some boon or curse - then you stop and play out that situation, if it doesn't you time-skip over it with 1-2 sentences describing how it went.
Similarly, don't feel the need to fabricate some situation to "give them something to do", it's better to time-jump than waste time on random arbitrary inconsequential encounters.
My recommendation, in addition to "skip and describe," is to have an ongoing list of character backstory tidbits on a random encounter table. They could run into an old fling, an old friend, and they might "long rest there for the night" and then that night maybe, another person in the party has an enemy, and they attack them in the night because they'd been following the party. Throwing little things like that help the players feel like their characters are part of the world you're building together, and it makes the travel feel like it had a purpose! I often use travel to be the connective tissue/side quest/lore building portions of my campaigns :)
they/him
Random encounters were pretty much invented for this. But a lot of DMs just play it out as a cinematic. "Your journey takes [X] days over [terrain type] terrain, but the journey is relatively peaceful. You consume [X] rations and arrive at your destination [level of of exhaustion, if any].
But I use it as an opportunity to use Downtime Activities too. Some downtime activities aren't feasible on the road. But Crafting and Item (if they have the right tools), Research (if they brought a book), and Training make some sense. Downtime Activities are so hard to implement in the game, that I tend to play it fast and loose, allowing players to train each other, or engage in self study while on the road. They can mark their progress and pick it up again after they experience some more long travel, or some downtime at a proper city or town.
My DM Registry
My Campaigns:
Ibahalii Vriwhulth, the Reaper of Glory v2: IC Thread (PbP); Secrets of the Island (On Discord); Lost Mine of Phendelver (tabletop)
My Characters:
Krik-tul, Thri-kreen monk; Mme Cragmaw, Goblin Artificer; River Kuthraeann, Wood Elf Paladin
Lots of questions -
1) what sort of travel? Major roads? Minor roads, clear trails? Overland (easy)? Overland ( difficult terrain)? Wilderness?
2) are you traveling alone or with a larger group?
3) is it a major piece of the adventure (or could it be)?
4) is there a ranger in your party?
5) are party members familiar with the area?
6) any personal histories linked to the area/travel?
These (and probably others) should all factor into what you do and how. If it’s a minor part of the adventure and on good roads, especially with a larger group then you can gloss over it. If it’s just the party, traveling through wilderness ( no roads or trails beyond game trails) and a major part of the adventure then you should be doing a lot with it. Wandering monsters, getting lost, side quests, gathering/crafting, etc. As the DM it’s really up to you how much you do and where. But factors like those above should be factored in.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.