Rules: Journeys
The rules for journey resolution help the Loremaster to make travelling a significant part of an adventure. These rules can be used either to quickly summarise the effects of a journey on a group of travellers and allow the Loremaster to rapidly resume play with what befalls the adventurers when they reach their destination, or to play out the trip in detail. Travelling requires the use of a number of dedicated abilities whose use adds variety to the game and can provide many interesting story hooks.
Procedure
Determine Roles
- Party should choose the Guide, Scouts, Huntsmen and Lookouts.
- The Guide is in charge of the route, rest, and supplies. There may only be one Guide. Focus is on Travel.
- Scouts set up camp and open new trails. Focus is on Explore.
- Huntsmen find food in the wild. Focus is on Hunting.
- Lookouts keep watch. Focus is on Awareness.
Route Determination
- Party decides on route. 1 hex = 10 miles, and is further modified by the Terrain as below:
| Difficulty | Example | Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Very Easy | Good Road | x0.5 |
| Easy | Open terrain, well-trodden path, plains, meadows, or a boat on a navigable river. | x1.0 |
| Moderate | Pathless wilderness, hills, sparse woods, bogs | x1.5 |
| Hard | Marshes, wastes, fells, woods with good tracks. Note party must walk horses through woods. | x2.0 |
| Severe | Dense woods, very rough ground, any road or path in Mirkwood or Fangorn. Horses must be walked through woods. | x3.0 |
| Daunting | Densest wood, desert, blighted or ruined land, mountain passes | x5.0 |
Duration
- Party may travel 20 miles per day on foot or downstream by boat, 40 on horses.
- When the Loremaster has determined the final length of the journey in days and the number of tests required to complete it, all players attempt a Lore roll to gain bonus Success dice.
Fatigue Tests
Target Number
# Tests = Days Traveled / Frequency
TN determined from table below:
Winter: 3 Days
Free Lands (Easy): 12
Spring: 5 Days
Border Lands (Moderate): 14
Summer: 6 Days
Wild Lands (Hard): 16
Fall: 4 Days
Shadow Lands (Severe): 18
Dark Lands (Daunting): 20
- Failed Fatigue Test: Increase Fatigue by ENC of all traveling gear (3 in Fall and Winter, 2 in Spring and Summer. Subtract 1 if using ponies or boats). Eye: Hazard
Recovering From Fatigue
- For every prolonged rest taken into a reasonably sheltered refuge, a hero reduces his Fatigue increase by one point. A "safe refuge" is up to the Loremaster but is typically only the end of the journey or a place where the party stays three days or more.
