Exploration Overloaded

As a solo player I have been trying to come up with or find a system of mechanics that function simply and elegantly for the use of exploration and travel in my games. Accounting for things like time and encumbrance and even terrain modifiers don’t sit well with me. I find them tedious and too varied for my personal enjoyment. In the “osr” school of things, the Solo Rules from Kevin Crawford’s excellent book Scarlet Heroes are perhaps one of the best I have used. You roll a series of die for Events, Encounters, and Features. There is a threshold mechanic built in, which for each “miss” it ticks up, ensuring that there will be an interaction. This works around one of the worst things about hex travel: never rolling the encounter, etc. Once you do roll for interaction of some kind, the threshold resets.

Another system I really enjoy is the Perilous Wilds travel. All the tables and tools therein are really great for generating the world on the fly. However, structured for group play, and the different roles PCs take, become awkward when running a single character. The next logical step then, is the brilliant solo based Ironsworn. Built using “moves”, travel relies on Waypoints and Progress, which function as world-generating opportunities and tracking respectively. But what if one still wants to do full hex world travel with the elements of old school crunch.

Well by now, there is much excellent literature on the subject. As far as I know, a defining contribution to this was the Hazard Die, written by necropraxis on their blog , and further developed here. And others have added to and contributed to this model.

Why is this mechanic so appealing? Because it unifies the procedure. It can easily port back and forth from Wilderness travel to Dungeon travel (see post here)

Simple is good. Standardized is good. Memorable is good. Roll a die, which crucially offers a variety of outcomes with one toss. Consult a tiny table until memorized. React accordingly.

The original concept, as far as I know, utilized a d6, each result with a general trigger. Simple. Elegant. In reading various other literature by Prismatic Wasteland, and this post specifically, by The Retired Adventurer, I wanted to try the d8. My initial draft went with 2d6, to increase curve opportunities, but this is against the spirit of simpler (one die with single correlating result.) As apposed to the truncated d6 however, the d8 allows for a bit more variety and crucially, it allows for space.

The Nothing results on 1 and 2 are significant. Downtime, silence, space are what define tension. Constant action, epicness, movement, interaction is the Hollywood action model. It’s tiresome. Even boring. Anyone who has hiked a decent stretch of real wilderness will tell you, that 15 minute silence through thick woods, if you slightly let your imagination go, is deliciously spooky. It also makes that cave or stunning canyon around the bend, all the more striking! As I play, I really like this option, to get the opportunity to fictionally be struck by something after a period of silence, but not with a frustrating amount of “no action” as per the 1 on a d6 for encounter model.

The goal of the below model is to allow for the results to be equally useful for Wilderness AND Dungeon exploration. Hence (text in parentheses will be the Dungeon equal mechanic)

Exploration happens in four Watches: Morning (1), Afternoon (2), Evening (3), Night (4).

These are easily tracked by the Referee with a d4.

Roll Hazard Die on Morning (1) & Night (4).

PCs will track their individual movement on a d4.

Traversing a hex requires four Move actions.

Traversing a Dungeon room requires two Move actions.

PCs can choose one Action per Watch

Move – PC tracks Move action, set at 1 on first Move. Increase for each Move action taken. At 4, the hex has been traversed.

(Move) – PC tracks Move action, set at 1 on first Move. Increase for each Move action taken. At 2, the room has been traversed.

Forage – roll d6:  1-2) find d6 rations; 3) find water; 4-5) find nothing; 6) Hazard Die

(Active) – (using items, using a skill, deactivating traps, casting, solve a puzzle, stop to eat a ration)

Explore – roll d6: 1-3) nothing; 4-5) special feature; 6) encounter

(Search) – roll d6: 1-2) nothing; 3) trap; 4) treasure; 5) puzzle; 6) encounter

Camp  – roll d6: 1-4) quiet rest; 5) uneasy rest 6) Encounter

(Rest) – (same as above)

Hazard Die

1)  Nothing

2)  Nothing  

3)  Environment – weather / ecology change or event; traps; lost

4)  Resources – consume rations or become fatigued; burn torches

5)  Omen – introduce clue to nearby location; hints of monster activity

6)  Encounter – roll on non-creature encounter tables

7)  Feature – roll on site / landscape tables

8)  Monster – roll on monster tables.

Nothing – window for roleplaying; discuss rumors, make plans, get to know fellow PCs

Environment – a great opportunity to both reveal the nature of the space, introduce weather events, have a dungeon passage crumble

Resources – PCs must consume rations or water before taking next move. If they cannot, they gain 1 fatigue status each passing watch, which takes up an inventory slot each

Omen – Introduce hints to a monster or encounter; tracks, travel debris, fur, feathers, noises and sounds, strange lights, odors, cosmic activity

Encounter – roll on a table of encounters; a mix of hostile, mundane, and 1 truly strange per 6 entries; NPCs with hooks and rumors, traveling parties with news, bandits, wandering wizard, merchants

Feature – ruins, settlements, unique sites, landmark

Monster – have prepared several d6 terrain, dungeon, or region-based tables; each of the tables should include unique or non-violent monster interaction options

This will remain a work in progress, but hoping to give it some tests soon.