Hi,

Some time ago I saw some very interesting posts for creating travelling rules inspired by The One Ring RPG. I think it was "Ralzar" who published them in the forums; in any case, I only wanted to say that my rules were inspired by those posts.

This is my travel mat:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6PF7hbwQPuTUW9ranFrcDMxTWs

And here are the cards I have created using Strange Eons for my travel house rules:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6PF7hbwQPuTSjBmeUh1QTF4Qk0

The rules are explained in the travel mat and they are similar to the ones originally published by Ralzar (again, I think it was him, so if the creator was someone else sorry for not giving the correct mention here). Here is a rules summary:

0. Prepare the mat placing the difficulty dice for that stretch of journey on the appropriate lines. These will serve as a reminder for the remainder of the journey.

1. The main roles are the Guide, the Leader and the Scout (s). The party decides on the roles.

2. The Guide is the one choosing the approximate direction of travel. He makes a Simple Folklore or Education check modified with Terrain and Knowledge conditions (some examples for possible conditions are given in the mat).

3. The Leader is the person deciding when to make pauses, who to help with the loads and trying to motivate the other party members. He makes an Average Discipline or Leadership check modified with party tension conditions (again, examples given in the mat).

4. The Scout(s) walk a bit ahead of the party, trying to find best paths to go in the direction chosen by the leader. He makes a Simple Coordination or Nature Lore check modified by Terrain and Weather conditions (examples in the mat).

5. With the results of these checks, a Journey Dice pool is assembled. This pool is used to make a Wilderness Journey check using the action card (I created it with Strange Eons). The results of this check indicates how many leagues the group will advance that day and the cost in Fatigue.

6. Each traveller must then take a Simple Travel Resilience check using Terrain, Weather and Temperature conditions using the action card I created with Strange Eons. My idea is that characters who did not have an active role would get 1 Fortune die as a bonus.

7. Optionally, there can be Hunter(s) and an Entertainer in the party (they have their own action cards that I also created with Strange Eons).

Encounters (I provide 12 examples or so in the card deck)

I prepare an encounter deck appropriate to the area being travelled. Then I pull one at the beginning of the day. If any of the Scouts obtains a Chaos Star, then the party will encounter that card. If at least one of the Scouts is successful, then they can avoid the encounter if they want to. Finally, if the Scouts don't have success in their checks but there is no Chaos Star rolled, then decide with a Luck check (2 Fortune + 2 Misfortune) in which conditions they'll encounter the card.

Well, as usual, explaining the rules in words seems much more complex than just doing them. I have tried it several times and it goes quite fast for the players. You only need some preparation as a GM, but not much (I'll publish an example below). At the moment I'm still tweaking the balance of the difficulties and actions, so feel free to adapt the cards to your style.

OK, sorry for answering my own post. I just did not want to create one too long, so here is an example trip:

Terrain (14 leagues to cover)

The PCs are walking through a soggy area, to their right is a swamp and to their left is a sparsely wooded area, sometimes becoming shrubby, sometimes becoming too soaked with water. Difficulty for Terrain is 1 Challenge and 1 Misfortune dice.

Weather

It's late winter, so the normal weather conditions add 1 Misfortune die because of the cold.

At the beginning of each travel day, make a Luck check with 2 Fortune, 1 Misfortune and 1 Challenge dice. Players can contribute 1 Fortune die each to this check. Follow these results:

- Chaos Star: snow (1 extra Misfortune Weather modifier as can be seen in the mat). Ignore any other result .

- no success: rain.

- success: clean weather.

- 2 or more Boons: less cold than usual. No modifier because of cold.

- 2 or more Banes: more cold than usual. Cold modifier will be 2 Misfortune dice.

Encounters

- Minor Encounter (check the card in the deck, but this is just a minor battle with bandits, goblins, etc. which is solved just with one die roll per character in the order they choose).

- Insect Swarm. Only if there is no precipitations.

- Bog.

Great idea.

jh