The Most Elegant D&D Travel System I've Seen | Campfire Travel System
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Travel in dungeons and dragons can be a difficult thing to manage as a GM, but the Campfire system from Abyssal Brews makes it seamless!
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Tell me your most interesting D&D Travel story down below!
I hope you enjoyed the video folks, it's good to be back!
I always base travel on the region the characters are in. I can usually get them through 'secured' regions that are populated and patroled with what you referred to as a 'hand wave'. Once they get out on the roads between far flung settlements or are off the beaten path, then they get to face unexpected travel issues. Critters, terrain dificulties, weather, hostile natives... Whatever seems most appropriate for the region. Honestly though, I think the thing that most players fear the most is weather. Unless they have a caster of sufficient power to mitigate the effect of dangerous weather, they're screwed. Beasts and brigands you can fight, but a tornado is beyond what most characters can manage.
That's an excellent point about fighting the weather!
@@IcarusGames The incident that originally got me thinking about this was a drive through an Iowa blizzard that was basically the size of the entire southern portion of the state. As I was sitting on 35 south watching people in 4x4s try to climb the hill and failing, I started thinking about spell ranges, areas of effect, spell durations, etc. Basically short of divine intervention or wish, there's precious little a character can do to deal with a storm of regional proportions. Sure, they may be able to mitigate the effect in their sphere of magical influence for a limited period of time, but once that spell effect runs its course, they're back in the middle of insert bad weather here. Now, while casters with access to spells applicable to altering weather can make the situation better for a limited period of time, melee and sneaky types are basically screwed. Exhaustion penalties build up faster, movement is dramatically curtailed, visibility is impaired, riding or pack animals may panic or injure themselves... Loads of fun for a DM ;)
@@5KAmenshawn I once had a TPK from a blizzard in an early campaign.
The players didn't believe me when I told them to buy more than just armor and weapons.
I’ve never had to deal with this as a player. That seems scary lmao.
I tend to look at travel as follows.
1. I try to learn where they are going and how they plan on travelling. Typically asking at the end of a session and planning where they'll be travelling.
2. I break the trip into short morning, afternoon, evening, and night 6-hour slots.
3. I write a super-short description of each. Typically (a) terrain, (b) weather, (c) population/people, (d) any unusual activities. I check the game calendar for full moons, holidays, celebrations, etc.
4. I typically try to impart random information which is typical of something which they might notice/standout (even if mundane). There are roadside stops with other travelers, the area has a lot of copper mining, nearby farms sell cooked meals to travelers, the inn has really good barely stew, the city thins out, etc.
5. I often have pictures (from the real world) of terrain or weather in the area.
6. I don't dwell on anything, but I can let the players stop. If they want to ask questions, get the barley stew recipe, or talk to the copper miners... sure.
7. I work classes, races, and abilities into things. I'll metagame a ranger avoiding creatures, I'd just say a bard talked his way past the border guards, etc.
Typically one or two (max) sentences per 6 hours, and typically a tiny paragraph per day. If players on on a ship, caravan, etc. I'll typically switch to a day or two per sentence, a week per paragraph. If the players are in somewhere more dangerous, then I'll typically go to 2-3 hours per sentence, and only then ask for rolls to avoid or deal with things like survival, weather, avoiding creatures, etc.
I don't like turning general travel into a game or just dice rolling. Rolling is actually worst than describing. In describing, you can always pause and give them a chance to take specific actions in that moment -- go pick flowers, talk to people, look at an old ruin, heal refugees, etc. With rolls, players often feel cheat as they no longer have control or can plan to avoid the rolls.
Good advice, friend! Thanks
Maybe I'm confused but it sounds like you just talk at your party for their whole travel unless they interrupt to go do something. Wouldn't that be just as boring if not more so than dice rolling?
@@anthonydeperino2046 No reason to be boring if you follow #3 i.e. super-short description. Here's an example of a day's travel in one of my past home campaigns. PCs are traveling with an NPC (an elven ranger) on a three-day trip.
ENCOUNTER 4A - FIRST STOP
The first leg takes the PCs about twelve miles south. The eastern slopes of the Sepia are actually quite striking with lots of snow-caped trees and hills. There are no signs of any habitation. Most of the trees near the hills are thin and heavy pines. Snow covers a lot of the ground and the PCs trample through a few inches of it most of the day.
Going is extremely hard as streams and rivers cross their path of travel and the rocky vales generally run east-west. They run across rocks, over logs, through snow, across small streams. Everyone tires quickly.
Around 3pm, The PC's must cross a wide stream.
Dukst finds a large crevasse for shelter. He warns of a cold night. PCs need to arrange guard duty.
Dukst will answer some questions for the night. He also ends the night singing an elven song (“Winter’s Kiss” about a bear going to sleep for the winter) and another in sylvan (“Grass in the Wind” about insects playing in a field).
It takes maybe a two minutes to read to the players -- which might take five minutes of play time of they ask some questions, interact with the NPC, want to do things around camp, take different spells for tomorrow. They get a sense of the terrain, weather, etc. The entire six day trip (3 there, 3 back) would literally consist of 12 minutes of 'reading' out of a 4-5 hour session. They won't dwell on it as they'll be dealing with an air mephit tomorrow, an orc patrol the next, and day three they'll be negotiating with the wizard.
In practice, I've never found these boring. In fact they are the opposite. They ground the campaign and make them feel they are actually traveling vs. teleporting. It gives them agency as they can stop and ask about the stream or the bard can offer his own song, or ask to learn Dukst's.
@@BW022 ok i was misunderstanding, from your first descriptionit made it seem like you just described things with no encounters or rp to break up the reading that does sound like a good system
I have been struggling with travel, too! So I am excited to get this and check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hope you enjoy it!
Very helpful review! While I'm glad it's working for you, my group did not enjoy mechanical skill challenges in 4e, and doesn't like them to this day. Learning how this works mechanically helped steer me away from it. Sounds like it might be very good for the right group, but this told me it isn't right for mine. Thanks for the details.
Hey, I appreciate the honesty and glad that even though it's not for you, you still found the review useful!
Completely agreed! A good review gives you the information you need to decide if the product is right for you, and this review definitely does that. My group is also not in love with skill challenges and we will likely also pass on this system.
Awesome, saw this on my regular account and just purchased it with this account! Simple and awesome!
Awesome, enjoy!
Just got this, and will be trying this out in my storm kings thunder campaign! Just gotta personalize the hardship and windfall tables.
This looks promising.
While this might seem like railroading it actually works really well. As the DM, I know what the various factions of NPCs and monsters are doing and how they are interacting in the landscape at different times and places. I also know the terrains and the effects on those terrains in different seasons and different weather conditions. I also have some ideas as to how the PC might function under these conditions. Therefore, I can set up a range of possible encounters in advance that will engage, challenge and inform and possibly equip, reprovision or warn the characters AND, more importantly, they move the plot of the story forward. Depending upon the PCs composition, alignment and choices, one particular such encounter will always stand out. That is the encounter that I then select to play. In this way, travel, encounters while traveling, pursuit or ambushes while traveling are ALL an essential part of the campaign. Moreover, they feel that way to the PCs. Encounters while traveling and encounters at various destinations are all important and are all equally compelling and meaningful. That's the goal that you should aim for.
I unfortunately don't have a group to play with:(
Nor, do I have a computer to play online.
But, I did create 6 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group.
Anyway; I was potentially going to be a GM for D&D at my local library, but no one signed up:(
Anyhow, I created a few "House Rules", improved character playable Races for Werewolves & Vampires, and a few unique NPCs.
As for travel, I planned a simple system where Bad Weather & Most other Negatives would be impossible to occur. At most would be some random Enemies and perhaps aiding other travelers type stuff. Similarly, 1 of my biggest "House Rules" was that TPK and even Individual Player Character Deaths are nearly impossible unless they are deliberately doing dangerous things such as jumping off a massive cliff without being a 'Slow-Fall Monk' or 'Feather-Fall Wizard'.
I solo play AD&D, Shadowdark, DCC and Mork Borg it is not hard look up about it. Lots of people have lots of ways of doing it inculding simple rules to follow. You only need a core book, monsters and a player book, some paper and so on.
I know a lot of people who play online via their phones. But also, just ask your normal friend group or coworkers if they want to try dnd. someone has to be the one to put their foot in the door.
i tried a skill challenge type. DC15 each PC can make 3 checks. a success gives a boon, 10 or below a complication, Nat20 2 boons.
Skill challenges are so perfect for the kind of abstracted action you want from travel!
Which skills would you apply to such a challenge?
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 I improvised with the situation/scenario. I reviewed character sheets and offered options they had skill proficiency.
Just got it, simple and awesome. Solves so much for me! Thank you
Glad you found the video helpful!
Super good video. Thanks Anto!
Will give it a look, thanks for the heads up.
Hope you enjoy it!
Very interesting! I think I’d like it. Thanks for the video! 👍
Glad you enjoyed!
1) Thanks.
2) Hey it's been a while!
3) What about the weather? Land slides and the like? Rotting food? A character get's sicke, twists theire leg or get's an infection?
You're welcome, it has been a while! But hopefully it's back to our regularly scheduled programming now!
The rules cover weather and a variety of hardships on the road.
Landslides, spoiled food, and minor injuries are all great examples!
@@IcarusGames Thank you for responding and answering my questions!
Holy reversed video, Batman! (look at the background books, etc.)
Great info, BTW.
If my players tell me they are only bringing hardtack dry rations and water, I make them roll a 19 or 20 on d20 or they are eaten by bugbears. Then after they have rolled up new characters, I feed them only beef jerky, trail mix without chocolate and water at the table for the rest of the game. If they put any effort into their provisioning and don't try to carry everything themselves, I order them whatever they want to eat and pay for it. Then they get to slaughter the goblins that try to ambush them or the orc that try to bum-rush them.
If your players like rolling dice and consulting tables, the Campfire system sounds perfect. I get the dialing it in thing, though. Trying to manage time, light, logistics and all the good "crunchy" stuff has led me to consider finding an "assistant DM". Add weather and terrain and it's easy to get swamped.
You can farm these things out to players, but ideal players should be left free to focus on play.
Perhaps the old 1e AD&D Wilderness Survival Guide isn't so bad after all?
First comment...nice. Also enjoyed the video. I will for sure be using this.
I just noticed this but the text on the books is backwards!
Yeah even I didn't notice it until it was pointed out after publishing. All my adjustments go on their own layer, so I must have hit "mirror" by mistake and then not noticed 😂
Thanks! And........purchased. :)
Bought it
phenomenal content Icarus Games. I shattered that thumbs up on your video. Maintain up the wonderful work.
We'll scatter the pieces of the thumbs up to the four corners of the globe!
Glad you enjoyed!
This sounds exactly like adventures in middle earth. Like copy and paste
And I’m talking about the 5E version of The One Ring that came out years ago from Cubicle 7.
It’s a great system, but these guys didn’t design it. Modified it slightly but it’s pulled from AiME.
I've never played or had the chance to read adventures in middle earth, but it is a system I'd love to look into.
At its core, campire is skill challenges, which have been mechanised since at least 4e.
@@IcarusGames it’s killer! I’ve got the PDFs I’d be happy share since the books are sadly no longer in print. I’d highly recommend it. My group loves it!!
@@IcarusGames also. I’m a huge fan of your channel man!!! You have some of the best content for campaign and world building out there period!!!
@@wendellpowell5838 I got the PDF's from humble bundle a while back I think. I have been trying to get a hardback copy but they are pricey because they are out of print!
Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully there will be a lot more worldbuilding content coming soon.
Yeah we always did wandering encounters with Rolls. Old school......