There has been a lot of talk about rangers and travel through various environments and this came to mind.It is from dungeon world(a different system). You may or may not have feelings about the system or people involved that is not the point. The point is to talk about travel in games and how to involve other players. I just like how its done here. roles are assigned and actions taken. its a fast easy to use system for travel. the ranger gets to auto succeed at one task, (kind of like how a ranger in 5e gets a free remain alert) to adapt it the DC (+10) would need to be changed.
feel free to talk about what roles you could use in 5e while traveling and what you do to make travel interesting.
Undertake A Perilous Journey When you travel through hostile territory, choose one member of the party to act as trailblazer, one to scout ahead, and one to be quartermaster (the same character cannot have two jobs). If you don’t have enough party members or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had rolled a 6. Each character with a job to do rolls+Wis. On a 10+ the quartermaster reduces the number of rations required by one. On a 10+ the trailblazer reduces the amount of time it takes to reach your destination (the GM will say by how much). On a 10+ the scout will spot any trouble quick enough to let you get the drop on it. On a 7–9 each roles performs their job as expected: the normal number of rations are consumed, the journey takes about as long as expected, no one gets the drop on you but you don’t get the drop on them either.
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.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear everyone must say out loud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear every one must say outloud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
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.
you are right this is not enough to keep the party interested. even simple descriptions of what they do would help. don't just forage. forage items. don't just avoid combat avoid lots of types of monsters and creatures. add exploration encounters and use those dc to determine whether they are forced or optional. simple choices let players feel game agency.
chult is a rich environment and the threat real. it would be a great time to have the party come across another parties tiny hut the party might be trying to solve the problem in clearly a wrong way and be woefully underprepared so not a threat to the real party. see what the group does. if combat breaks out just have the baby adventurers loose immediately. don't draw it out. if they kill them they get to feel guilty.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear every one must say outloud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
Wizards have done this. They implied its use but refuse to make full connections for fear of offending people who don't want it. I used mechanics I have gotten from the game. Having the Optional tag has hurt them in the past because of complaints.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear every one must say outloud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
Wizards have done this. They implied its use but refuse to make full connections for fear of offending people who don't want it. I used mechanics I have gotten from the game. Having the Optional tag has hurt them in the past because of complaints.
Where is this located in a book? They have vague suggestions in the DMG but nothing with this level of detail.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear every one must say outloud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
Wizards have done this. They implied its use but refuse to make full connections for fear of offending people who don't want it. I used mechanics I have gotten from the game. Having the Optional tag has hurt them in the past because of complaints.
Where is this located in a book? They have vague suggestions in the DMG but nothing with this level of detail.
each is created from a different rule. such as the crafting rules. we know they exist the game gives examples some of them that must occur during travel. therefore it is possible the dm just needs to "make it so." following that they need a place to work, time and resources. buy the resources to preform the work, use the time, and a place. I detirmined the only place a player could do most crafting is in a cart or carriage.
Foraging is the same the game talks about the cost of crafting supplies but not where they are from. they must be found out in the world or grown in a factory setting. I allow players to find some of crafting supplies out in natural environments. each terrain will have different ones. players can then sell or use them.
the list goes on. they are all part of the game but not put together in a way where most players make good connections. I look for those connections.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear every one must say outloud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
watch or remain aleart. - A player can roll perception if they remain alert this gives them a chance to Beat PP (rangers get this for free)(pet option)
navigation - if there is a path or not a player can try and understand the way. avoiding bad detours or tricks that might get the party lost. or can alert the party to nearby encounters good or bad.
scout - scouts are allowed stealth checks and if a ranger can move ahead of the party. directly tied to combat positioning and surprise rounds.
crafting. with a solid cart or other crafting setup a player can craft using downtime. common favorites are healing potions but others exist.
ritual casting. A player can ritual cast but they will make noise and possibly earn "disadvantage" on PP, combat position, or certain saving throws. some popular rituals unseen servant, beast sense, speak with animals. this allows them to have it ready when an encounter occurs.
food/forage- taking care of supplies. a player doing this can roll to reduce food and supplies needed for the journey. (pet option)
resource/forage find valuable supplies in the area such as material components, crafting supplies, lost and found items. trade goods. all should be locally found for variation.
reading/reaserch- in my fantasy worlds no motion sickness but while reading you are effectively blind. see research rules. assumes prebought books.
custom ones but most activities fall under one of the above options.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
Wizards have done this. They implied its use but refuse to make full connections for fear of offending people who don't want it. I used mechanics I have gotten from the game. Having the Optional tag has hurt them in the past because of complaints.
Where is this located in a book? They have vague suggestions in the DMG but nothing with this level of detail.
each is created from a different rule. such as the crafting rules. we know they exist the game gives examples some of them that must occur during travel. therefore it is possible the dm just needs to "make it so." following that they need a place to work, time and resources. buy the resources to preform the work, use the time, and a place. I detirmined the only place a player could do most crafting is in a cart or carriage.
Foraging is the same the game talks about the cost of crafting supplies but not where they are from. they must be found out in the world or grown in a factory setting. I allow players to find some of crafting supplies out in natural environments. each terrain will have different ones. players can then sell or use them.
the list goes on. they are all part of the game but not put together in a way where most players make good connections. I look for those connections.
compiled no. official no. part of the rules absolutely. just like if I want a laser pistol in my game or death cleric or alternate familars. where is the exception to the general rule? they are not official but the game tells you how to use them and are in books.
compiled no. official no. part of the rules absolutely. just like if I want a laser pistol in my game or death cleric. they are not official but the game tells you how to use them.
I do not see anything in the DMG about the different roles you can take while travelling. They are in separate sections but not included in the exploration aspects. This leads me to believe that this is not included information that one is expected to know if you read the book.
I guess I see what you are saying about collecting different bits from a lot of different places but I do think it would be more helpful to show how to apply these to the exploration pillar in a separate book.
I akin this to what Xanthar's did with tools and at least gave some examples of how to use them in different situations.
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.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
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.
Good points...I didn't even think of that as a plus but you are right!
There has been a lot of talk about rangers and travel through various environments and this came to mind.It is from dungeon world(a different system). You may or may not have feelings about the system or people involved that is not the point. The point is to talk about travel in games and how to involve other players. I just like how its done here. rolls are assigned and actions taken. its a fast easy to use system for travel. the ranger gets to auto succeed at one task, (kind of like how a ranger in 5e gets a free remain alert) to adapt it the DC (+10) would need to be changed.
feel free to talk about what roles you could use in 5e while traveling and what you do to make travel interesting.
Undertake A Perilous Journey When you travel through hostile territory, choose one member of the party to act as trailblazer, one to scout ahead, and one to be quartermaster (the same character cannot have two jobs). If you don’t have enough party members or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had rolled a 6. Each character with a job to do rolls+Wis. On a 10+ the quartermaster reduces the number of rations required by one. On a 10+ the trailblazer reduces the amount of time it takes to reach your destination (the GM will say by how much). On a 10+ the scout will spot any trouble quick enough to let you get the drop on it. On a 7–9 each roles performs their job as expected: the normal number of rations are consumed, the journey takes about as long as expected, no one gets the drop on you but you don’t get the drop on them either.
This reminds me of the Xanathar's rules for downtime activities, and assuming exploration is essentially a downtime activity definitely makes sense for some tables. You could use the stock rules for some of this, since the DMG has actual rules for the "quartermaster" rolling Survival to Forage (but only for food) and the "trailblazer" rolling Survival to travel in the correct direction (but not for rolling very well resulting in an improved pace). I'd be interested to see a homebrew based on treating exploration as a Xanathar's activity.
There has been a lot of talk about rangers and travel through various environments and this came to mind.It is from dungeon world(a different system). You may or may not have feelings about the system or people involved that is not the point. The point is to talk about travel in games and how to involve other players. I just like how its done here. rolls are assigned and actions taken. its a fast easy to use system for travel. the ranger gets to auto succeed at one task, (kind of like how a ranger in 5e gets a free remain alert) to adapt it the DC (+10) would need to be changed.
feel free to talk about what roles you could use in 5e while traveling and what you do to make travel interesting.
Undertake A Perilous Journey When you travel through hostile territory, choose one member of the party to act as trailblazer, one to scout ahead, and one to be quartermaster (the same character cannot have two jobs). If you don’t have enough party members or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had rolled a 6. Each character with a job to do rolls+Wis. On a 10+ the quartermaster reduces the number of rations required by one. On a 10+ the trailblazer reduces the amount of time it takes to reach your destination (the GM will say by how much). On a 10+ the scout will spot any trouble quick enough to let you get the drop on it. On a 7–9 each roles performs their job as expected: the normal number of rations are consumed, the journey takes about as long as expected, no one gets the drop on you but you don’t get the drop on them either.
This reminds me of the Xanathar's rules for downtime activities, and assuming exploration is essentially a downtime activity definitely makes sense for some tables. You could use the stock rules for some of this, since the DMG has actual rules for the "quartermaster" rolling Survival to Forage (but only for food) and the "trailblazer" rolling Survival to travel in the correct direction (but not for rolling very well resulting in an improved pace). I'd be interested to see a homebrew based on treating exploration as a Xanathar's activity.
Yeah I could see that as well. Then at least everyone could do something.
Hunting for the barb, trailblazer for the ranger, etc...
Have some guides on how to make it work and what complications could arise.
They don't have to be encounters like they are for other complication tables but something a bit different.
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 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.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
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.
These are amazing! Exactly what I am talking about.
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"
However there is a balance where it could potentially add to the gameplay time. tools on a vtt would be necessary to keep a good pace. It should probably treated as a style of play where players are informed and opt-in (like westmarches.) I have seen some westmarches random hex generation that did something like that. List type terrain unfortunately I haven't seen one in forever (the last one was MS-dos based) maybe there are some programed tools still out there.
There has been a lot of talk about rangers and travel through various environments and this came to mind.It is from dungeon world(a different system). You may or may not have feelings about the system or people involved that is not the point. The point is to talk about travel in games and how to involve other players. I just like how its done here. roles are assigned and actions taken. its a fast easy to use system for travel. the ranger gets to auto succeed at one task, (kind of like how a ranger in 5e gets a free remain alert) to adapt it the DC (+10) would need to be changed.
feel free to talk about what roles you could use in 5e while traveling and what you do to make travel interesting.
Undertake A Perilous Journey When you travel through hostile territory, choose one member of the party to act as trailblazer, one to scout ahead, and one to be quartermaster (the same character cannot have two jobs). If you don’t have enough party members or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had rolled a 6. Each character with a job to do rolls+Wis. On a 10+ the quartermaster reduces the number of rations required by one. On a 10+ the trailblazer reduces the amount of time it takes to reach your destination (the GM will say by how much). On a 10+ the scout will spot any trouble quick enough to let you get the drop on it. On a 7–9 each roles performs their job as expected: the normal number of rations are consumed, the journey takes about as long as expected, no one gets the drop on you but you don’t get the drop on them either.
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.
So how do I as a dm get every one involved? I start by making it clear everyone must say out loud what they are doing and take a Job or Role. here are some examples.
after rolls are assigned, I throw in travel specific encounters I will add some examples if there becomes thread interest. I basically have 3 types fun world building encounters, failure encounters, and I'm board encounters.
This is already 10x the effort WotC has ever put into exploration. I prefer the statblock approach as it allows the DM to run everything from a single chunk but you could incorporate the roles in there for a unique challenge they face.
Like the crafter may have to make a roll with their tools to keep a cart moving or if they have the mending cantrip they can forgo the roll.
If we had a whole book full of these examples I would find the PHB ranger features a lot more useful AND I think exploration would finally get more respect.
you are right this is not enough to keep the party interested. even simple descriptions of what they do would help. don't just forage. forage items. don't just avoid combat avoid lots of types of monsters and creatures. add exploration encounters and use those dc to determine whether they are forced or optional. simple choices let players feel game agency.
chult is a rich environment and the threat real. it would be a great time to have the party come across another parties tiny hut the party might be trying to solve the problem in clearly a wrong way and be woefully underprepared so not a threat to the real party. see what the group does. if combat breaks out just have the baby adventurers loose immediately. don't draw it out. if they kill them they get to feel guilty.
Wizards have done this. They implied its use but refuse to make full connections for fear of offending people who don't want it. I used mechanics I have gotten from the game. Having the Optional tag has hurt them in the past because of complaints.
Where is this located in a book? They have vague suggestions in the DMG but nothing with this level of detail.
each is created from a different rule. such as the crafting rules. we know they exist the game gives examples some of them that must occur during travel. therefore it is possible the dm just needs to "make it so." following that they need a place to work, time and resources. buy the resources to preform the work, use the time, and a place. I detirmined the only place a player could do most crafting is in a cart or carriage.
Foraging is the same the game talks about the cost of crafting supplies but not where they are from. they must be found out in the world or grown in a factory setting. I allow players to find some of crafting supplies out in natural environments. each terrain will have different ones. players can then sell or use them.
the list goes on. they are all part of the game but not put together in a way where most players make good connections. I look for those connections.
So its not in an official book?
compiled no. official no. part of the rules absolutely. just like if I want a laser pistol in my game or death cleric or alternate familars. where is the exception to the general rule? they are not official but the game tells you how to use them and are in books.
I do not see anything in the DMG about the different roles you can take while travelling. They are in separate sections but not included in the exploration aspects. This leads me to believe that this is not included information that one is expected to know if you read the book.
I guess I see what you are saying about collecting different bits from a lot of different places but I do think it would be more helpful to show how to apply these to the exploration pillar in a separate book.
I akin this to what Xanthar's did with tools and at least gave some examples of how to use them in different situations.
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.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Good points...I didn't even think of that as a plus but you are right!
This reminds me of the Xanathar's rules for downtime activities, and assuming exploration is essentially a downtime activity definitely makes sense for some tables. You could use the stock rules for some of this, since the DMG has actual rules for the "quartermaster" rolling Survival to Forage (but only for food) and the "trailblazer" rolling Survival to travel in the correct direction (but not for rolling very well resulting in an improved pace). I'd be interested to see a homebrew based on treating exploration as a Xanathar's activity.
Yeah I could see that as well. Then at least everyone could do something.
Hunting for the barb, trailblazer for the ranger, etc...
Have some guides on how to make it work and what complications could arise.
They don't have to be encounters like they are for other complication tables but something a bit different.
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, CR 1
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, CR 8
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.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
These are amazing! Exactly what I am talking about.
ok I get it. I might include a skill challenge section for example harvestable minerals or potion ingredients. valuable pelts. or "good breed horses"
However there is a balance where it could potentially add to the gameplay time. tools on a vtt would be necessary to keep a good pace. It should probably treated as a style of play where players are informed and opt-in (like westmarches.) I have seen some westmarches random hex generation that did something like that. List type terrain unfortunately I haven't seen one in forever (the last one was MS-dos based) maybe there are some programed tools still out there.
https://gnomestew.com/a-randomized-hex-crawl-generator/
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/283984/HExcel-Crawler--a-random-hex-crawl-map-generator-using-Excel
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/3qwosk/hex_map_generator/
H'excel looks promising. there are you tube vids available.