I was curious if there are any Narrators / GM's out there who have good information on the basics of overland travel measurment. Any good websites or book suggestions would be fantastic. I like using travel as a way to have my players pay attention to their micro-managing, but I'm am not much of a surveyor. I'd like to know several rates of travel for each of the following.

On foot: The characters travel by foot, covering ground for at least 8 hours

By Horseback: The characters are all on horse back and traveling for atleast 8 hours

By Boat: Travel by river, both upstream and downstream, maybe taking several different types of ship and giving them their own speeds.

By Flight: Either by mostrous mount or gyrochopter, possibly even airship / zeppelin.

After we can gather that information together I think it would benefit the game to add some basic modifiers for terrain, desired rate of travel (and the consequenses of pushing to hard), and weather.

Thanks and any information is a plus!

Actually the on foot and on horseback entries could have rates of movement by the hour and by the day. For every hour after the eight or ten for normal travel time, you could implement some form of fatigue and stress penalty.

This is a topic of particular interest for me; I just finished hiking the AT (2178 mile footpath) on Saturday and I think I have a handle on foot travel. The other methods of travel are of interest to me, I don't know anything about horses and only a bit about water travel.

What I do know is just how big a factor weight is. If I'm carrying a little 6-10lb bag I can punch out 20-30 miles in a day at around 2-3mph on average. If I'm carrying my full 30lb pack 20 miles is about as much as I'm going to do, maybe a little more, at about the same speed. This is on level terrain, good weather, easy conditions. If you are an adventurer with armor, weapons, and heavy equipment (I carried cordura, silnylon, and other high-tech durable and lightweight materials which do not exist in the Old World) you are probably carrying at least 50lbs but maybe as much as 100lbs.

Over easy terrain with most people are going to do around 2mph on average on easily graded, worn paths. Bushwacking, steep or rough terrain, and heavy loads are going to slow you down. I would let players know how fast they are going after a fashion and let them decide how long they are willing to travel. Perhaps we can work out a simple table for the amount of fatigue you get for all of that. At the moment I'm still unpacking and cleaning my crap up. I'll be back though.

This can be applied pretty easily to travel by horse, and to a lesser extent travel by boat. (I assume.)

Thanks for the detail Theredcrosss! I have experience hiking, horseback riding, and traveling via a river in canoe's and rafts. However my judgment of distance is not up to snuff.

I'd love to try and make a table up that contains elements such as:

• mode of travel,
• weight,
• weather,
• condition of characters
• and terrain obstacles.

Lets brain storm a bit!

I've sometimes been wondering this myself. Searched a bit now and got this discussion:

http://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-163108.html

Which also linked this:

http://www.alabrax.com/exalted/content/houserules.html#Traveling Speeds/Times

Allthough that list in the second link seems a bit too slow.

I also ran into another discussion that had these numbers, allthough they did n't specify how long you would be able to maintina that pace:

walk: 5 mph / 8 kmh
loaded 2-horse cart: 10mph / 16 kmh
horse: 25mph / 40 kmh

you certainly do not walk 5 mph / 8 kph in a medieval setting with armor over a day (it's a jogging speed). The roads are not as we know them.
Maybe for an hour you can keep that up, but quickly you'll the pace (Resilience checks every 20 minutes or so with improving difficulty, starting at 0 challenge or something like that).

Go for the 3 kph with light load and 2 kph on heavy load as pointed earlier in this thread (i used a 20 miles per day telling the player they would walk about 10 hours). It's a good guide line for on foot travel. If you want to go faster, you'll have to take fatigue related consequences

25mph sounds pretty quick for a horse too. I understand they can move quickly and sustain it but a lot of fiction mentions the need for additional horses so that while you are traveling long distance quickly you can switch mounts and keep them fairly rested. In addition to having pack animals that is. At 25mph I'd think you would be itching to tire your horse out pretty quickly.

On another note weather effects change your speed quite often as well. Snow and excessive heat slow you down a lot, while I found rain actually got me hiking faster so I could get to a shelter or set up my tent sooner.

On the plus side I like that chart, apparently I'm a "Heroic Mortal" for having done more than 24 miles in a day. Not at 4mph granted, but when you've got nothing else to do but hike and eat, you tend to spend more than 6 hours a day working at it.

I'm working on a table right now. If anybody would like a copy of it I'll send it to them via email, just let me know.

Some info on horse speeds.

The Strolling Bones said:

I am, but I'm not finding a way to PM you.

Send me that overland travel table if ya get a chance...i'd be much obliged!

You can't 'pm'. You have to friend/send friend requests and swap emails then forward the file. The FFG messaging system is quite restrictive.

Alternately ... google doc it and post a link

I am going to try and get this included in Liber Fanatica VII however I could use a little help through discussion or by being pointed to good books or websites pertaining to the subject. I've got a whole bunch of ideas onto paper now I just need to streamline them into an abstract form so they fit with the framework of WHFRP 3e. Any help would be grrrreat.