Travel Rules

While on an excursion, a party may want to travel from Verdigras to a location of choice by traveling across hexes on the overworld map. This is done through a process call a Hexcrawl. During this process, each in-game day is accompanied by a number of travel related checks to determine how effectively the party travel and whether they encounter anything of note on their journey. Below is a step-by-step guide on how travel is handled.

1. Declare Where You Are Going

The first order of business is for the party to decide where they are going. To do this, Choose a hex adjacent to the currently occupied hex that the party would like to travel to and inform the Game Master of the party's choice. While the Party may move more than a single hex during a day of travel, the chosen hex will be used to assess the travel conditions.

2. Check the Weather and Assess the Terrain

Weather and terrain are the primary factors that determine how easy a hex is to traverse. It is substantially easier to travel through grasslands with a paved road during a beautiful day than it is to traverse the mires of a swamp during a thunderstorm.

Identify the Base Terrain Difficulty Class

The GM is to assess the type of terrain located on the party's chosen hex and determine the base DC of the travel from the below list.

• Grasslands - DC 10
• Rolling Hills - DC 12
• Forest - DC 14
• Highlands - DC 15
• Thick Forest - DC 16
• Swampland - DC 18
• Mountains - DC 19

Determine the Weather

The GM is to draw and reveal one weather card from the Weather Deck in Roll20. This whether card will provide a +0 to +8 DC modifier to the terrain's difficulty based upon how severe the drawn weather conditions are.
Some possible weather cards are:

• Clear Skies (+0)
• Cloudy (+0)
• Windy (+1)
• Hot (+1)
• Light Rain (+2)
• Foggy (+2)
• Snowfall (+3)
• Heat Wave (+3)
• Heavy Rain (+4)
• Thunderstorm (+6)
• Blizzard (+8)

The Terrain + Weather values are to be added together to provide a total Travel DC for all travel related checks. For Example, when travelling through a forest with light rainfall the DC for all travel checks is 16 (14[Forest] + 2[Light Rain]).

3. Roll an Encounter

One player of the Game Master's choice makes a 2d6 roll to determine what sort of threats, boons and points of interest are encountered during the party's travels. The outcome of this roll is unknown to the players, and may occur at any time over the remaining day of travel.

4. Perform Travel Actions

There are a number of travel actions that can be performed by party members. Each action may be performed by one party member with the exception of the assist action which can be taken my multiple party members.

Lead the March [Required]

Make a Survival(Wisdom) check against the Travel DC to determine how well you navigate and traverse the wilderness. This is the core travel action and must always be performed by a party member.

• Great Success: Exceed the Travel DC by +10 or more. The party travels 3 hexes.
• Success: Meet or exceed the Travel DC. The party travels 2 hexes.
• Failure: Fail to meet the Travel DC. The party travels 1 hex.
• Substantial Failure: Fail the DC by -10 or more. The party travels 1 hex and gains 1 level of exhaustion.

If all hexes travelled within a day contain a road, move 1 additional hex. This additional hex does not have to have a road on it.

Scout Ahead

Keep a lookout for signs of trouble and points of interest. Make a Perception(Wisdom) roll against the Travel DC. On a success the GM may give you additional information about the hex or upcoming encounters. On a failure, no pertinent information is learned and the party may be left unaware to potential threats.
Succeeding the Scout Ahead action allows all hexes adjacent to where the party travels this day to be revealed.

Hunt and Forage

Make a Survival(Wisdom) check against the Travel DC to attempt to gather or hunt enough food for the party. On a success, the hunter gains 1 provision. On a failure, not enough food is found to compose a meal.

Track

Instead of declaring which hex to travel to, a party may instead choose to track the movements of a known creature or group of creatures and follow their tracks. Make a Survival(Wisdom) check against the higher between the creatures Cover Tracks roll or the Travel DC. On a success you know which direction the creatures travelled and how long ago they passed by this location. On a failure, the information provided could be wrong or the trail could end.

Cover Tracks

If the party is concerned that they could be followed, they may choose to take efforts to disguise their tracks. When performing this action, make a Stealth(Dexterity) check. The result of this check becomes the new DC that trackers need to overcome.

Assist

Instead of performing an action themselves, a party member may assist an ally with their task if they are proficient in the relevant skill.

5. Move

The party moves their caravan across the world map a number of hexes based on the result of the Lead the March action, 1-3 hexes total. The first of these hexes is always to the adjacent hex chosen in step 1. Any subsequent movement may be determined by the party at this time. If the party succeeded their Scout Ahead travel action, adjacent hexes are revealed after each hex moved, and before declaring the next hex travelled.
Given that a party can travel up to 3 hexes in a single day, it is possible to transition between different biomes during a day's movement. If the party's caravan enters a hex with a terrain whose base terrain DC is higher than that of the terrain used to determine the Travel DC, the party's movement ends.
If players arrive at their desired destination, there is no need to perform steps 6-8.

6. Camp

After a full day of travel, the party sets up their campsite. There is no roll for setting up camp, but at this time the party can choose to have a chef cook a meal if desired. Otherwise, at this time each party member consumes 1 food ration and 1 water ration.

Cooking

One party member may consume a provision and make a Chef's Utensil's tool check against the Travel DC. On a success, any Hit-Dice spent to recover HP during the night's short rest are given their maximum value and need not be rolled. Regardless of success or failure, 1 provision is consumed and the entire party is fed (no rations need to be consumed). The chef is encouraged to provide a narrative description of the meal they cook.

Inns

On your travels you may come across inns or other settlements which allow for a comfortable night's rest in exchange for gold. When sleeping an an inn, there is no need for cooking or night night watch checks, of these checks are bypassed with the help of the inn staff. While staying at an inn, any Hit-Dice spent to recover HP during the night's short rest are given their maximum value and need not be rolled. While their are no Night Watch checks, that does not mean that an inn is necessarily safe. Most inn's do not have a and are still susceptible to monster attacks. However, due to the Inn's guards and patrons, the party will always learn of a threat before it attacks.
Inns also carry rations, provisions, water and some amenities which are available for purchase.

7. Night Watch

Each night is composed of 4 night watch shifts. During a shift, each attending party member makes a Perception(Wisdom) Check to spot any potential threats during their shift. Each party member can attend a single night shift without impacting their rest. Characters with the Trance racial feature, such as elves, may attend 2 night shifts without impacting their sleep.

8. Short Rest

After the final night shift has concluded, a new day has begun and the party benefits from the effects of a Short Rest. If travelling is to continue, return to step 1 and repeat this process.

Uneventful Days

At the GMs discression days of travel may be glossed over for the sake of brevity. These are called Uneventful days and an only occur within areas of the map that have already been explored by the players. During these days steps 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 of the travel process are ignored; leaving only movement and camp. Since no travel checks were made, success is assumed. The party moves 2 hexes, plus any other bonuses to movement, each uneventful day. and their are no random encounters.

New Player Guide