Travel

Hazards

Traveling Hazards

After calculating the length of their trip, the GM determines the Hazards the heroes will face during their travel. Hazards represent challenges, obstacles, or encounters the characters will have to overcome — or avoid — to reach their destination.

The number and nature of the Hazards encountered depends on the length of the journey and on the notable locations and regions the characters will travel through. Heroes encounter one Hazard per week of travel (or portion thereof), plus one for each notable location or obstacle (mountain range, marshy area, large river, and so on) in their way. Characters will usually face 2-3 Hazards during a medium-length journey. If you come up with more than six Hazards, consider breaking the journey into multiple shorter steps.

Hazards are divided into six broad categories according to the type of obstacle they represent. The GM should try to pick each Hazard from a different category to give the characters a greater variety of challenges. Once the GM has chosen the Hazards, those that are evident or otherwise known to the characters (for example, a difficult mountain pass they must cross) should be announced, while the rest are kept secret until revealed.

Resolving Hazards

Each Hazard is resolved as a separate scene. The GM zooms in, describes the obstacle, and the PCs face it as they see fit. The GM should never suggest (or force) a single solution — present the situation fairly and let the characters decide their course of action.

If they succeed, the characters carry on with their journey and proceed to the next Hazard until they reach their destination. A Failure or Partial Success means a setback — generally more trouble for the characters.

The GM should come up with appropriate consequences based on the Hazard, the degree of failure, and the PCs' decisions and actions. On a Partial Success, the GM can impose a Condition, a Minor Injury, or a loss of time or resources on the party. For example, the characters could become Weary after a long exhausting march, be forced to take a detour (lengthening the trip by a few days and consuming more rations), or one of them could fall and sprain their ankle while crossing a treacherous ford. On a Failure, the GM can present a brand new Hazard that the characters must face immediately. For example, the heroes could be ambushed by the enemies they were trying to avoid, or find their way shut and be forced to take a different, darker, and more dangerous path.

Each Hazard could potentially become an adventure in itself, as the heroes decide or are forced to deviate from their original itinerary, stop to resolve a particular problem, or take their time to investigate something along the way.

After each Hazard, the PCs regroup and decide whether to push on to the next step of their journey or stop to rest and resupply.

Hazard Categories

Below are the six broad categories of Hazards the heroes may face. For each category, the skills likely to be used and typical complications on failure are described. These are not prescriptive — the GM should always consider the characters' actions before deciding which Skill to use.

Weather

Bad weather includes heat waves, snowstorms, downpours, heavy fog, strong winds, or any other dramatic atmospheric event that can negatively affect a journey. Dealing with the weather may require Nature or Wandering Rolls, to stay the course despite adverse conditions, find shelter, or avoid the consequences of exposure. Failing to deal with this kind of Hazard can lead to a long detour or forced rest (and thus the expense of additional rations), the Weary Condition, becoming hopelessly lost in the wilderness, or blindly walking into an enemy's ambush.

Natural Obstacles

Steep mountain cliffs, thick forests, fetid swamps, and scalding deserts are some examples of the natural obstacles heroes may have to overcome. Hacking through a forest or jungle may require a Wandering Roll, while crossing obstacles such as a chasm or climbing a treacherous mountain path may call for an Athletics or Acrobatics Roll. Failures coming from natural obstacles could lead to injuries, loss of equipment, or being forced to choose a different trail.

Perils from the Ancient World

The world is full of relics and ruins from ages past, which sometimes hide horrible dangers ready to spring on unwary travelers. Haunted ruins or enchanted streams could lure adventurers who fail to resist their magic to their doom. A Songs & Tales or Arcana Skill Roll could allow the heroes to recognize the signs of lurking danger. Characters failing to overcome these Hazards may find themselves pursued by a legendary foe, trapped by mystical forces, or suffering the effects of a terrible curse.

Wild Beasts

Heroes may have to deal with wolf packs, poisonous snakes, stampeding herds, or swarms of biting insects while scouting the wilderness. Encounters with wild beasts can often be avoided with Nature or Hunting Skill Rolls, but sometimes a fight is inevitable. Typical complications from this type of Hazard include Injuries, Save Rolls against Poison, and long and tiring chases.

Minions of Darkness

The servants of the Darkmaster prowl the land, bringing chaos and hunting those who dare to defy the will of their cruel lord. Perception and Hunting will help the heroes spot ambushes and other traps set by their enemies. Stealth or Deceive Rolls will allow the characters to avoid confrontation in some cases, but other times they will have to fight or flee for their lives. The fate of characters defeated by these evil creatures is dark indeed: those who survive are often captured to be dragged before their masters, tortured, or worse.

Free People

Even among those who do not serve the Darkness, not everyone is friendly. Old grudges separate Kin from Kin, and fear makes people suspicious of wandering strangers. Alternatively, the heroes could meet people in need, begging for their help or asking them to perform an urgent task. Characters may have to resort to Charisma or Deceive Rolls to persuade others of their good intentions. In other situations, the heroes may be saved by a Cultures Roll, or simply by the payment of a toll. Complications from this category of Hazards could mean being denied hospitality or being chased out of a region. In the worst cases, the characters may be imprisoned or forced to fight.

Random Hazards

If the group prefers improvisation, the GM may roll a percentile die to randomly determine whether and what type of Hazards the characters will encounter. For each day of travel, the heroes have a 20% base chance of facing a Hazard. This percentage may be higher (up to 30% or even 40%) when crossing dangerous places, or lower when traveling through relatively safe territories.

The GM then either chooses the type of Hazard encountered or determines it randomly by rolling on the Random Hazards Table below.

Populated areas include farmlands, populated regions, and other places where the characters are likely to encounter other travelers or meet the local populace. Wildernesses are uninhabited or very sparsely populated areas, where someone could travel for several days without meeting anyone. Wastelands are isolated regions, deserts, and areas largely devoid of life, where natural obstacles are more common than people.

This method works particularly well for keeping short journeys interesting and less predictable. Occasionally, the GM may use this method for trips shorter than a day of travel, rolling once every few hours instead of daily.

Random Hazards Table

Encounters and Evasion

Characters are assumed to keep a lookout while traveling, especially through dangerous areas. Unless surprised by an ambush, they will usually spot approaching parties before actually meeting them.

Depending on the situation, a party may want to evade a particular encounter or avoid encounters altogether. Sneaking through enemy territory or trying to slip past another group without being noticed is normally part of a Hazard and is resolved with a Stealth Skill Roll, either against a set Difficulty or as a Conflicting Action against the opponents' Perception Skill.

Ambushes and surprise attacks are also resolved with a Conflicting Action: the group setting up the ambush makes a Stealth Roll, while their victims use their Perception Skill. Characters losing this conflict are Surprised, regardless of which side they were on.

Chases

In combat situations, use the Tactical Movement rules to handle individuals chasing one another. In other situations, chases are resolved using a series of Conflicting Action Rolls.

Distance and Escape Value. At the start of the chase, the GM determines the Distance between the pursuers and their quarry. This is an abstract measurement ranging from 1 to 6, indicating how close the pursuing party is to the escaping group. A Distance of 1 means the escapees are almost within reach, while a Distance of 5 or more means they have a good head start and escape will be relatively easy. At the same time, the GM generates an Escape Value equal to 3 plus the starting Distance, used to determine how close to escape the pursued party is.

Pursue. After setting the starting Distance and Escape Value, the chase begins. Both pursuers and the escapee describe their actions, then make a Conflicting Action Roll using the most appropriate Skill. If the pursuing party wins, Distance decreases by one. If the roll favors the escaping party, Distance increases by one. Rolls continue until either party gives up, the pursued manage to escape (Distance reaches the Escape Value), or the pursuers corner the escapees (Distance reduced to zero).