So after the last session, my PC's are looking at making a 180 mile road trip. They have a carriage, but it's badly damaged and the horses are severely wounded (their stopover in the last town went... less than perfectly). They have supplies, but most of them were ruined and spoiled which leaves them with maybe two or three days' worth of palatable food left.
As per the travel speed guide (D&D 5e), they can travel 24 miles in a day at normal speed, making it a solid 8-day trip. I want this to actually feel like an eight-day journey, rather than a ten-second bit of flavour text. So to that end, I want to have things happen across the days. Ideas include:
>Fix the wagons and heal the horses, or a) the wagon will break two days in and b) the horses will collapse and the Ranger's companion and Paladin's mount (a Worg and a Dire Wolf respectively) will have to fill in - thus losing their participation in encounters
>The party feels eyes on them from the distance - See Invisibility or animal senses reveals a Quasit watching them. It's a familiar from the wizards whose town they just passed through, keeping an eye on them. It will follow them, as long as none of them approach or attack it.
>They have the choice of foraging for food or taking their chances with their spoiled supplies (assuming the wagon still survives). Foraging will extend the journey time, but chancing the supplies makes them Poisoned.
Obviously there's the standard roving orcs or a gnoll hunting band, but I'd also like to give them some interesting/memorable encounters along the road.
What are your tricks for making travel interesting, /tg/? What fun things have you run into by the roadside?
>>46226418
>There's a hunting tradition where skulls are hung on a tree by their tendons. Once the tendons have rotted enough, they break and the skulls fall to the ground. By looking at what skulls are on the tree and on the ground, a hunter knows what animals haven't been hunted for a while. Apparently it also is believed by some people to show respect to the animals; otherwise, they won't allow themselves to be hunted. Source: Ray Mears.
>A roadside well
>Some stone paving that emerges gradually , continues for a while and fades away gradually, appearing for a paving tile now and again.
>A wishing well with lots of coins in
>A big square stone tile with a symbol on
>Neglected wooden signs in local languages and dry stone walls falling down
>Puddles
>Bridges and stepping stones over small rivers. Also small boats attached to each bank by ropes which can be pulled across.
>>46226418
An inn full of merryment and fun perhaps with a catch:
A. Side Quest - The inn keeper, one of his/her workers or a patron has lost a sentimental item to Gnolls/Orcs/Goblins. However all is not what it seems.
B. Inn is an illusion along with it's inhabitants. Anything 'gained' from it isn't actually gained. Items given to characters don't function because they are not real or perhaps a quest item that they can gain is a sword or staff or illusions.
C. Inn is a gateway to a different time period.
D. Inn is a gateway to another plane/dimension.
>>46226418
> a 180 mile road trip.
> carriage, but badly damaged
> the horses are severely wounded
Even mildly wounded horses are put down. They never recover from broken bones or torn ligaments in the legs. They might live, but they won't carry load or gallop well.
> two or three days' worth of palatable food left.
They will starve trying to hunt.
>As per the travel speed guide (D&D 5e), they can travel 24 miles in a day at normal speed, making it a solid 8-day trip.
Without heavy load, well rested, and fed. Have you ever gone hiking? Anything above 60 lbs should slow non heroes down considerably, and without modern backpacks much more so.
>I want this to actually feel like an eight-day journey, rather than a ten-second bit of flavour text. So to that end, I want to have things happen across the days. Ideas include:
>a Worg and a Dire Wolf will have to fill in
Lol, no. I mean physically, sure. But do you have any idea how much conditioning it takes to make dogs into a sled team?
> a Quasit watching them. It's a familiar from the wizards whose town they just passed through
Tension is a whole different game. Read up on it. Otherwise you will present the players with a challenge instead of pressure.
> Foraging will extend the journey time, but chancing the supplies makes them Poisoned.
So what makes this interesting?
> standard roving orcs or a gnoll hunting band
'Standard' sounds like want to make it boring.
>What are your tricks for making travel interesting, /tg/?
It's just like a dungeon or a town. There's encounters to brave, decisions to make and live with, and a story to reveal. The difference is ever shifting locations.
Tell a story of a scary road. Have topography (uphill, wooded, swampy), spheres of influence (patrolled fields, animal hunting grounds, tribelands, robbers' turf), obstacles (unbridged river, sheer cliffs, labyrinthine bogs), and an inner logic connecting all those with plot. Match that to your characters and your players, meet expectations.
>>46226418
A small caravan, roughly two or three wagons, passing the other direction, transporting a rather well-off merchant, his family, servants, a few craftsmen, and a company of mercenaries as protection. As they approach, if the party's caravan seems friendly, he signals his nonaggression and offers to trade goods, services, and information as desired. He has a fondness for games and entertaining stories, and will offer a discount to anyone able to provide new riddles or tales to lighten the road's burden.
>>46226418
>The PCs come upon some kind of road killed animal lying in the road. It shudders unsteadily to its feet and begins to lurch forward.
>Vagabond hitchhikers. Can they be trusted?
> General descriptions of an unforgiving heat as the burning sun beats down upon them from high in the sky.
> A wrecked carriage lies broken on the side of the road. It is overgrown with ivy and if the PCs move to turn it over, they discover nothing more than a few small creatures such as slugs, skinks, woodlice and perhaps a venomous snake or two.
> A small dragon basks in the path, spreading its wings in order to receive maximum sunlight. The PCs only need to bluff as if they are going to attack it before the dragon flees, flying away.
>>46226418
I'd probably do attached for each day or group of days. Cover it that way.
