Go to Part 1

In general, an expedition can navigate through the wilderness by landmark or they can navigate by compass direction.

NAVIGATING BY LANDMARK

Generally speaking, it’s trivial to follow a road, river, or other natural feature of the terrain. It’s similarly easy to head towards any visible landmark. The landmark or terrain feature will determine the route of travel and there’s no chance of becoming lost, so you can simply track the number of miles traveled.

IDENTIFYING LANDMARKS: If the PCs are unsure of a landmark but have had previous experience with it, it may be possible to identify it with a Wisdom (Survival) check, at the DM’s discretion. The accuracy and detail of the identification will depend on prior experience.

Example: A ranger is passing through the woods when they encounter a river. If it’s a river they’ve walked up and down before, the Wisdom (Survival) check might let them confirm that it is, in fact, the Mirthwindle. If they’re less familiar with the region, the check might tell them that this is probably the same river they crossed earlier in the day – it must be taking a southerly bend. If this is the first time they’ve ever seen this river in an area they’re not familiar with, the Wisdom (Survival) check won’t tell them much more than “this is a river.”

NAVIGATING BY COMPASS DIRECTION

Characters trying to move in a specific direction through the wilderness must make a navigation check using their Wisdom (Survival) skill once per watch to avoid becoming lost. The DC of the check is primarily determined by the terrain type the expedition is moving through, although other factors may also apply.

BECOMING LOST: Characters who fail the navigation check become lost and may veer away from their intended direction of travel, as indicated by a 1d10 roll on the diagram below. When lost characters exit a hex, they will exit through the face of the hex indicated by the die roll.

Characters who are lost remain lost. In the new hex neither their intended direction of travel nor their veer will change.

If characters who are already lost fail another navigation check, their veer can increase but not decrease. (If they have not yet begun to veer – i.e., they rolled a 5 or 6 on their initial veer check – then their veer can increase in either direction.)

Example: A lost party is already veering to the left when they fail another navigation check. A roll of 1-4 on 1d10 would cause them to exit the next hex two hex faces to the left of their intended direction, but any other result would not change their veer at all.

ALTERNATE VEERS: These alternate methods of determining veer may be useful, particularly if you are adapting these rules to be used without a hex map.

Absolute Degree: Roll (1d10 – 1d10) x 10 to determine the number of degrees off-course.

Compass Direction: Roll 1d10 and consult the diagram below. (The blue arrow indicates the intended direction of travel.)

USING A COMPASS: Compasses grant advantage to navigation checks. In addition, they automatically eliminate veer at hex borders even if the user doesn’t recognize that they were lost. (Even if you don’t recognize that you ended up off course, the compass constantly reorients you towards your intended direction of travel.)

LOST CHARACTERS

Once a character becomes lost, there are several factors to consider.

RECOGNIZING YOU’RE LOST: Lost navigators continue making a navigation check once per watch. If the check succeeds, they will recognize that they are no longer certain of their direction of travel.

Navigators who encounter a clear landmark or unexpectedly enter a distinctly new type of terrain can make an additional navigation check to realize that they’ve become lost.

Note: Some circumstances may make it obvious to the characters that they have become lost without requiring any check.

REORIENTING: A navigator who realizes that they’ve become lost has several options for reorienting themselves.

Backtracking: A lost character can follow their own tracks (see the Tracking watch action). While tracking allows them to retrace their steps, they must still recognize the point at which they went off-track. If a character is successfully backtracking, they may make a navigation check (using the Navigation DC of the terrain) each watch. If the check is successful, they’ll correctly recognize whether they were previously on-track or off-track. If the check is a failure, they reach the wrong conclusion.

Compass Direction: It requires a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check to determine true north without a compass or similar device. On a failed check, randomly determine the direction the navigator thinks is true north.

Setting a New Course: A lost navigator can attempt to precisely determine the direction they should be traveling in order to reach a known objective by making a navigation check at the Navigation DC of the terrain + 10. If the navigator fails the check, they immediately become lost. Determine their direction of travel like any other lost character.

CONFLICTING DIRECTIONS: If several characters in a single party all attempt to determine the correct direction of travel, make their Wisdom (Survival) checks separately. Tell the players whose characters succeeded the correct direction in which to travel, and tell the other characters a random direction they think is right.

Alternative Rule – Group Check: Alternatively, you can use the rules for group checks. If at least half the group succeeds on their Wisdom (Survival) checks, they have determined the correct direction of travel. If not, they immediately become lost.

FINDING LOCATIONS

The difficulty and complexity of finding a specific location within the wilderness varies depending on the character’s familiarity and approach.

Visible Locations: As described in Part 5: Encounters, some locations are visible from a great distance. Characters within the same hex as the visible location (or within a certain number of hexes, as indicated by the key) automatically spot a visible location.

On Road: If a location is on a road, river, or trail, then a character following the road, river, or trail will automatically find the location. (Assuming it isn’t hidden, of course.)

Familiar Locations: Familiar locations are those which a navigator has visited multiple times. Navigators within the same hex as a familiar location can be assumed to automatically find the location. (Within the abstraction of the hexmapping system, they’ve demonstrated sufficiently accurate navigation.) Under certain circumstances, navigators may also be considered “familiar” with a location even if they’ve never been there. (Possibilities include possessing highly accurate topographic maps, receiving divine visions, or using certain types of divinatory magic.)

Note: If navigators are flailing about in their efforts to find a familiar location – by repeatedly “missing the hex,” for example – the GM can decide to treat the location as being unfamiliar until they find some way to reorient themselves.

Unfamiliar Locations: Unfamiliar locations (even those a navigator has been to previously) are found using encounter checks.

In other words, when the navigator has gotten the expedition into the correct hex and a location encounter is generated, that indicates that the navigator has found the location they were looking for. Expeditions can also spend time to specifically search an area in order to increase the odds of finding a location. See Part 7: Hex Exploration.

Go to Part 5: Encounters

Go to Table of Contents

It’s time to explore Hell itself on the war-torn plains of Avernus!

… except there’s a problem.

Descent Into Avernus frequently talks about how the PCs are going to be “exploring” Avernus. Unfortunately, it goes out of its way to stop them from doing that in almost every way possible.

For example, it’s impossible to make a map. And the reason it’s impossible to make a map is because navigation is meaningless. Descent Into Avernus revamps the metaphysics of the Lawful Evil plane of Avernus into a chaotic, ever-shifting place where direction and distance are unfathomable and any attempt to make a map drives the cartographer insane. If the PCs attempt to go somewhere, you just roll a completely random die to determine if they get there or not.

Why have they done this?

I honestly have no idea

Despite maps being both impossible and meaningless, the adventure nevertheless gives the players a poster map (pictured above).

It’s unlabeled and, again, the spatial relationships it depicts don’t actually exist, so it’s utterly useless for literally anything you might actually use a map for. The map also doesn’t include Elturel (where the PCs would begin their exploration of Avernus) or Fort Knucklebones (the first place they’re likely to be going), but the DM is instructed to put these locations anywhere on the map they want. (Although, once again, this is totally meaningless.)

The module actually says:

Your players should never feel like they understand Avernus geographically, providing an unsettled and disorienting feeling as they roam the hellscape.

And, to be clear, this is not how things used to work in Avernus. The designers of Descent Into Avernus did this deliberately. They repeatedly sell the experience – in both marketing and the book itself – as “exploring” Avernus, but then go out of their way to discard the existing lore and the established 5^th Edition rules for wilderness travel in order to create a custom experience designed to make actual exploration completely impossible.

I should mention that the one thing the map DOES do is magically talk to the PCs: Every time they go somewhere, the map tells them exactly what the location is before they have a chance to explore and find out for themselves.

Without actually seeing it in the book, it’s difficult to believe the lengths Descent Into Avernus goes to in order to make sure that the players absolutely cannot explore Avernus in any possible way.

THE AVERNIAN HEXCRAWL

For the Remix, we’re basically going to just toss all of that out:

• The geography of Avernus will be comprehensible.
• Navigation (and therefore exploration) will be possible.
• The map the players receive will be meaningful.

To achieve this, we’ll be redesigning Avernus to use a hexcrawl scenario structure for wilderness exploration.

Now, one thing I’ve heard from a number of people while working on the Remix is that they’re really looking forward to seeing how I redesign Avernus as a sandbox. So I think it’s important to make something clear:

I am NOT going to be redesigning Avernus as a sandbox.

An RPG sandbox exists when the players can either choose or define what the next scenario of the campaign will be. For example, the opening chapters of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden are a sandbox.

Descent Into Avernus, on the other hand, isn’t a sandbox. It isn’t designed for the players to choose or define the scenario. The scenario is saving Elturel.

By using a hexcrawl structure to create a massively non-linear exploration experience while simultaneously blowing open the potential solution space for saving Elturel (as described in Part 6B: The Avernian Quest), we’re creating a huge playground in which the players will have enormous freedom to chart their own course through the campaign.

But, ultimately, they are not choosing their destination. Their destination is saving Elturel.

And this is significant because our design of the Avernian hexcrawl is going to be driven by that knowledge; it is going to be designed and structured for the PCs to save Elturel.

Now, with that being said, there are almost certainly going to be a lot of sandbox-like elements in our Avernian hexcrawl, and the hexcrawl itself is a very robust and flexible structure. So if you (or your PCs) were to ditch the idea of saving Elturel, it would probably be just a hop, skip, and a jump to use the Avernian hexcrawl as the basis for a pretty cool sandbox campaign. But there are meaningful structural changes and accompanying expansions of material that you’d want (or need) to make to truly shift the focus from saving Elturel and realize a fully functional and effective sandbox.

Note: There’s a fairly popular supplement called Avernus as a Sandbox. It’s also not a sandbox. They are misusing the term to just mean “non-linear scenario.” It’s actually a Choose Your Own Adventure structure. This is a really effective way of repackaging the Choose Your Railroad structure of the published campaign, but it’s not a sandbox.

MAKING THE HEX MAP

The first thing we’ll need for an Avernian hexcrawl is a hex map.

In designing the hex map, we’re going to want to keep the player’s map of Avernus in mind: If the players use their map to navigate, the navigational choices they make need to product coherent results when translated into the hexcrawl system.

(For example, they might be at the Hellwasp Nests and see, on their map, that the Demon Zapper lies to the “southwest.” If they tell the GM that they’re heading southwest, then when the GM plugs that movement into the hex map, they should generally end up at the Demon Zapper.)

The good news is that the player’s map is (a) illustrative instead of strictly representational and (b) lacks a scale. In other words, the only specific navigational information encoded into the map is a directional relationship (and even this can be arguably distorted by the imprecision of the illustrations). This gives us a great deal of latitude in tweaking the map.

(No pun intended.)

To create the map, I’m simply going to drape a hex grid over the top of the labeled DM’s version of the map:

In doing this, I’ve played around with the precise positioning of the grid to (as much as possible):

• Keep each location in a unique hex; and
• Maintain as many of the clear directional relationships as possible.

I’m fairly satisfied with the results here, so the next step is to start creating our hex key by assigning all the locations on the map to the corresponding hex. For example:

• A4 is the Arches of Ulloch
• B1 is Arkhan’s Tower
• C1 is the Monument to Tiamat.
• G6 is the Wrecked Flying Fortress.

And so forth.

MAP DIMENSIONS

I’ve used a 6 x 10 grid here, but because the player’s map has no scale, we have a pretty free rein in what the size of the hex map can be. (We could, for example, have just as easily made this a 10 x 20 grid or even distorted the map to achieve something like a 30 x 30 grid.)

In deciding the initial size of your hex map in a hexcrawl, there are basically two factors. First, you need to stock all these hexes with content, so you don’t want so many hexes that the task is overwhelming. Second, the hex map needs to be large enough that the PCs won’t immediately run off the edge of it and into uncharted territory.

(It’s quite likely they’ll eventually end up deciding to see what’s beyond the edge of the map, but if it happens in every single session including the first it can be problematic.)

In the case of Descent Into Avernus, we also have to consider the amount of time and narrative space we want to dedicate to exploring Avernus. If we had a 30 x 30 grid, for example, there would be 900 (!) hexes. That would probably mean spending twenty or thirty times longer in Avernus than the rest of the campaign combined (which would make it very difficult to maintain focus) OR it would mean the players only experiencing a tiny, tiny fraction of the hexcrawl (which would mean a ton of wasted prep).

Based on my experience, I generally recommend a 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 hex grid for an initial hexcrawl campaign (assuming the PCs’ homebase is located in the center of the map).

Our 6 x 10 map, therefore, is a little undersized in one dimension. I think this will be fine in practice because the existence of the map will act as a soft constraint on the PCs’ navigation: Having a map in hand focuses a group’s attention on the area depicted by the map, and they will tend to make their decisions within the confines of the map. There are also mountain ranges depicted to both the north and south, which will act as natural navigational constraints as well.

ADDING LOCATIONS

There are roughly two dozen locations described in Descent Into Avernus. So even after placing those locations, we’ll still have three dozen empty hexes that we’ll need to fill with new content. We’ll take a closer look at that in Part 7C: Avernian Hex Key.

However, among the existing locations, as mentioned above, there are two that need to be added to map: The Dock of Fallen Cities (where Elturel is currently located) and Fort Knucklebones.

These two locations need to be placed in relation to each other, as Lulu can hypothetically see Fort Knucklebones from the Dock of Fallen Cities. Furthermore, we know that the Dock of Fallen Cities is located on the Styx.

We could put both of these locations in a single hex, but it probably works just as well to put them into two separate hexes.

The map actually has a number of unlabeled locations, and to simplify my life it would also be great if I could grab one of them and use it for either the Dock or the Fort or both. I’d also prefer a relatively central location.

Scanning the map, this hill looks promising:

You could pretty easily make the case for that depicting Fort Knucklebones. That’s in Hex I3, so we’ll go ahead and slot the Dock of Fallen Cities in Hex H3.

Go to Part 7B: Avernian Hex Map

This is a useful cheat sheet I created for understanding what characters can see in the wilderness. In practice, sight lines will vary quite a bit (due to hills, forest canopies, atmospheric haze, and other obstructions), but I’ve found it’s useful to have some reference points and a few rules of thumb.

HORIZON: The horizon is 3 miles away at sea level.

NEIGHBORING HEXES: Passing through the center of a 12-mile hex, neighboring hexes cannot be seen. If the path is biased, the nearest hexes can usually be discerned (depending on the terrain).

Design Note: This is one of the reasons I prefer a 12-mile hex. Unless the PCs take special action to see farther, you’ll generally be able to focus exclusively on the hex they’re currently traveling through.

MOUNTAINS: Mountains can be seen from 6 hexes (72 miles) away.

Design Note: My research indicates that most mountain ranges have an average height of 3,000 feet. If you do the math, you can see an object 3,000 feet high from about 68 miles away, which I then rounded up to 6 hexes. Or, if you reverse the math, I’m saying that at 72 miles you can see the occasional peak that’s up to 3,500 feet high in that range or thereabouts. A very tall peak of 10,000 feet could theoretically be seen from 10 hexes away on a clear day.

ELEVATION: Distance to the horizon in miles is the square root of (feet above sea level x 1.5 feet). Add the height of tall objects to the viewer’s. Atmospheric haze will eliminate the ability to see even the largest objects more than 3-5 hexes away.

SIGHTING

Characters may seek out a good location for seeing long distances by taking the Sighting watch action. Height is obviously a factor here, but finding the right sight lines can be equally important. (Climbing a tree is all well and good, but if it’s at the bottom of a valley the effect will be mitigated.) This is also why simply being “on a mountain” doesn’t automatically translate to great sighting: you’re usually surrounded by other mountains.

As a general rule of thumb, assume that characters can find a location granting them 50 feet of height (or the equivalent thereof). This will allow them to see into neighboring hexes, and possibly even see notable locations within those hexes or their current hex (which may or may not require a Wisdom (Perception) check).

If you call for a skill check to find a sighting location, consider using a fail forward technique: On a success, the PCs get the normal benefits of sighting. On a failure, they might only be able to make out the terrain type of two or three of the nearby hexes (and no details thereof).

If circumstances suggest that the PCs would have great sight lines without needing to take special effort, that’s great. It might still be appropriate to allow them to take the Sighting action to improve their line of sight even more, extending their vision by another hex.

ENCOUNTER DISTANCE

When an encounter is generated, the distance at which the encounter may be detected will depend on the terrain in which it is occurring. (If the encounter is with a group of creatures and both sides are surprised – i.e., they do not detect each other – it’s technically possible they will pass each other without ever realizing it.)

The figures here represent typical circumstances on the ground. If the PCs are keeping watch from the top of a stone tower, for example, it’s quite possible for them to spot potential threats at much greater distances.

Back to 5E Hexcrawls

Go to Part 1

Characters can take watch actions to contribute to the expedition’s success or achieve other tasks while traveling. Some watch actions are limited to specific types of watch or travel pace.

Playtest Tip: It’s usually a good idea to get an expedition’s “standing orders” instead of asking everyone to declare their watch action during every single watch. An easy example is that if the ranger has been doing the navigating for the last eight days, he’s probably going to continue navigating for the next four hours and you don’t need to confirm that.

FORAGER

Characters can forage during an active watch or while traveling at a slow pace. Foragers make a Wisdom (Survival) check against the Forage DC of the terrain. On a success, the forager either gains 1 ration of food or finds a source of fresh water (allowing the expedition to drink their daily ration of water and for waterskins to be refilled). An additional ration of food or source of fresh water can be found for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds the DC.

Advanced Rule – Sparse Biome: At the GM’s discretion, a biome may be deemed sparse. In a sparse biome, each source of fresh water discovered only yields one gallon of water.

Advanced Rule – Grazing: Some animals (like horses) can simply graze for sustenance. In an appropriate biome (as determined by the GM), they will be fully fed as long as they are allowed to graze for one watch per day. In a sparse biome, they must graze for two watches per day and it may be necessary to also provide fresh water for them.

FOOD & WATER

Food: Small or Medium creatures require 1 ration of food per day. They can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + their Constitution modifier (minimum 1) before suffering 1 exhaustion level per day thereafter. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.

A creature on half rations counts as going a ½ day without food (and these half days accumulate until they can eat full rations).

Water: Small or Medium creatures require 1 gallon of water per day, or twice that in hot weather. A creature on a half ration of water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution check at the end of each day or suffer a level of exhaustion. If they drink less water than that, they suffer a level of exhaustion automatically. If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels instead of one level in either case.

Waterskins hold a half-ration of water.

Recovery: Any exhaustion suffered from lack of food or water cannot be removed until after a full day of normal consumption.

Large & Tiny Creatures: Tiny creatures require one-quarter ration of food and water per day. Large creatures (like horses) require four rations  of food and water per day.

NAVIGATOR

The expedition’s navigator is responsible for making navigation checks. A second navigator can assist, granting advantage to the navigation checks.

PACK-PULLER

A pack-puller is responsible for managing an expeditions pack animals. A pack-puller can lead a number of animals equal to their passive Wisdom (Animal Handling) score. (This number includes the pack-puller’s mount, if any.)

RESTING

A character must take the Resting watch action for two rest watches in a row in order to gain the benefits of a Long Rest. (See the rules for Long Rests regarding which types of interruptions are possible without disrupting the Resting action.)

Advanced Rule – Lack of Sleep: If a character does not spend at least one full watch per day resting, they must succeed at a Constitution saving throw (DC 16 – the number of hours they slept, if any) or suffer a level of exhaustion.

SCOUT

A scout can journey out from an expedition in an effort to chart a course or learn the lay of the land. When scouting, they can choose one of two actions:

• Reporting: If the navigator receives a scout’s report, they gain advantage on their navigation checks for the next travel watch.
• Pathfinding: The scout attempts a Wisdom (Survival) score using the area’s Navigation DC. On a success, the expedition can treat trackless terrain as if it had a trail for one watch.

A character can scout during a watch in which an expedition is traveling only if their speed is faster than the expedition’s. Alternatively, scouts can be sent out during watches in which the rest of the expedition are active or resting (but not traveling).

An additional encounter check is made for each scouting group. (They are effectively a separate expedition while engaged in scouting.)

SENTINEL

A member of an expedition acting as a sentinel can make Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect threats or notice anything else out of the ordinary.

Design Note: If you use passive Wisdom (Perception) scores, their use on journeys is also limited to sentinels. I do not.

Advanced Rule – Outrider: During a travel watch, a character can journey out in an effort to protect the expedition from detection or threats. Whenever an encounter is generated for the expedition, each outrider group can attempt a Wisdom (Perception) check (DC 15 or opposed by the encounter’s Stealth check) to detect the encounter before it’s encountered by the expedition.

However, an additional encounter check is also made for each outrider group at one-half the normal chance of an encounter. (It’s possible for outriders to discover locations or encounter creatures which would have otherwise been missed by the main expedition.)

SIGHTING

During an active watch, a character can take a watch action to find an outlook – a good sighting place which will allow the character to significantly extend the distance to which they can see the surrounding wilderness. (See Hexcrawl Tools: Spot Distances.)

At the GM’s discretion, a skill check may be required to identify or reach the outlook. (For example, a Strength (Athletics) check to reach the top of an appropriately positioned tree.)

TRACKER

Finding Tracks: Searching a significant wilderness area for tracks is an active watch action. The tracker makes a Wisdom (Perception) check against the appropriate Track DC.

Following Tracks: Once tracks have been found, a tracker can follow the trail during a travel watch by making a Wisdom (Survival) check against the appropriate Track DC. A new check must be made each time the trail enter a new hex.

If a trail is lost, it may be possible to reacquire it using the Finding Tracks action.

Design Note: Generally speaking, it’s appropriate to use let it ride techniques when tracking a quarry. In this case, however, navigation (and possibly getting lost) is a significant component of the hexcrawl structure and these additional checks are meaningful.

However, you could easily decide to go the other direction: A single successful Wisdom (Survival) check could follow the trail all the way to its end. Alternatively, you might only call for new checks when the terrain (the tracks enter the desert) or conditions (it starts raining) change, creating points of uncertainty.

TRACK DCs

Advanced Rule – Cover Your Tracks: As a watch action, a character can attempt to cover the expedition’s tracks. This is a stealth action, requiring the expedition to be moving at a slow pace. The character makes a Wisdom (Stealth) or Wisdom (Survival) check to set the Track DC for any pursuer attempting to find or follow their tracks. The check suffers disadvantage in very soft ground, but gains advantage on hard ground. Condition modifiers apply normally to the pursuer’s tracking check.

TRAILBLAZER

When an expedition is trailblazing (see Advanced Rule: Trailblazing), one member of the expedition must use their watch action to blaze the trail. If hidden signs are being employed, an additional character can assist the trailblazer on their Wisdom (Stealth) check.

Go to Part 4: Navigation

Go to Part 1

The rules for wilderness exploration can be broken down into four modules:

• Wilderness Travel, with rules for timekeeping and determining the distance traveled.
• Watch Actions, which allow characters traveling through the wilderness to do activities other than simply moving.
• Navigation, providing a structure for determining where the characters actually go.
• Encounter System, for determining what characters experience during their travels.

To some extent, each of these modules can be used independently of the others, either by simply ignoring a particular module or, in some cases, by assuming a basic default for the module.

For example, instead of using the rules for wilderness travel, you could simply assume that an expedition always moves 24 miles or 2 hexes per day, while still using the rules for navigation to determine where the PCs end up with that distance traveled. Conversely, you could use all the rules for wilderness travel to greatly vary and customize the distance traveled each day, but simultaneously ignore all the rules for navigation and simply checking off the distance traveled towards whatever destination was selected.

But, of course, the four modules are also designed to be used together, with the results produced by one module enhancing and informing the others.

WATCHES

A watch is the basic unit for tracking time. A watch is equal to 4 hours.

Determining Time Within a Watch: To randomly generate a particular time within a watch, use 1d8 to determine the half hour and 1d30 to determine the exact minute (if necessary).

WATCH TYPES

There are six watches per day and three types of watch:

• Active
• Rest
• Travel

While traveling, it is generally assumed that an expedition is spending two watches per day traveling, two watches per day resting, and two watches per day engaged in other activities.

Forced March: If a character spends more than two watches traveling in one day, they must make a Constitution check (DC 10 + 1 per hour of additional travel). On a failure, they suffer one level of exhaustion.

TRAVEL PACE

During each travel watch, the expedition determines their travel pace.

Normal: An expedition traveling at normal pace cannot use Stealth checks to avoid detection.

Slow: While moving at a slow pace, the expedition is purposely being careful. An expedition traveling at slow pace:

• Gains advantage on navigation checks.
• Can make Stealth checks to avoid detection.
• The chance for a non-exploratory encounter is halved. (If a non-exploratory encounter is generated, there is a 50% chance it doesn’t actually happen.)

Exploration: While exploring, an expedition is assumed to be trying out side trails, examining objects of interest, and so forth. While exploring, an expedition:

• Cannot use Stealth checks to avoid detection.
• Gains advantage on navigation checks.
• The chance for encounters is doubled.

Fast: While moving quickly through the wilderness, expeditions traveling at fast pace:

• Cannot use Stealth checks to avoid detection.
• Suffer disadvantage to Wisdom (Perception) checks.
• Suffer a -5 penalty to navigation checks.

BASIC TRAVEL DISTANCE

Note: Per Day on this table is based on traveling for two watches (8 hours); i.e., a full day of travel without a forced march.

ADVANCED RULE: MOUNTS & VEHICLES

Gallop: If riding a mount, you can gallop for 1 hour during a watch in which you are traveling at normal or fast pace. During that hour you travel at twice your fast pace speed. (This results in a total watch distance of 18 miles at normal pace or 22.5 miles at fast pace.)

If fresh mounts are available every 8 or 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.

Note: If you are using the advanced rules for party speed below, do not use the rule for galloping.

Land Vehicles: Choose pace normally.

Waterborne Vehicles: Distance is limited to the speed of the vessel. On some ships, characters may be able to take rest and active watches even while the ship is moving. This may also allow the ship to travel up to 24 hours a day if the crew can operate in multiple shifts.

Unsuitable Terrain: Most land vehicles are designed to be used on roads, although many will fair well in open terrain (like a prairie). At the GM’s discretion, in unsuitable terrain a vehicle may be limited to a slow pace and ability checks may be required each watch to make any progress at all.

ADVANCED RULE: EXPEDITION SPEED

An expedition’s speed is based on the speed of its slowest member.

• In 1 hour at normal pace, the expedition can travel a number of miles equal to its speed divided by 10.
• At a fast pace, the expedition can travel 150% of its normal speed.
• At a slow pace, the expedition can travel two-thirds of its normal speed.
• At an exploration pace, the expedition can travel one-half of its normal speed.
• Calculate distance per watch based on the expedition’s hourly speed.

On the tables below, distances have been rounded to the nearest half mile.

EXPEDITION SPEED – PER HOUR

EXPEDITION SPEED – PER WATCH

Note: You might also choose to generally use the basic travel distance for expeditions, but use the advanced rules for expedition speed for unusual means of conveyance (via magic, mechanism, or fantastical mount, for example).

ADVANCED RULE: TERRAIN

The type of terrain modifies the speed at which an expedition can travel.

• Highway: A highway is a straight, major, paved road.
• Road: A road is a dirt track or similar causeway.
• Trail: An irregular byway. Probably unsuitable for most vehicles and may only allow for single-file travel. Most off-road travel follows local trails. A known trail does not usually require navigation checks, although a known trail in poor repair requires a DC 10 navigation check to follow.
• Trackless: Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths. +2 to navigation DCs.

ADVANCED RULE: CONDITIONS

Certain climate conditions and activities modify the speed at which an expedition can travel.

Leading Pack Animal: Under normal circumstances, a pack-puller can lead a file with a number of animals equal to their passive Wisdom (Animal Handling) skill.

Poor Visibility: This condition also gives disadvantage to navigation and forage checks.

River Crossing: This penalty applies to any watch during which a river must be crossed. This does not apply if the characters are following a road which has a bridge on it, but does apply if they’re traveling cross-country and must seek out a bridge.

ADVANCED RULE: ACTUAL DISTANCE TRAVELED

The distance cited on the travel tables is the average distance traveled. The actual distance traveled in a watch is 50% to 150% (2d6+3 x 10%) of that distance.

Characters can ascertain the actual distance traveled with a successful Wisdom (Survival) check made at the navigation DC of the terrain. On a failure, they assume the average value of the distance traveled.

Design Note: The purpose of this rule is to make accurate mapping more difficult. (You could hypothetically adapt a similar rule to dungeon exploration in order to make accurate mapping of the dungeon environment more difficult, too, although the resolution time involved would probably be prohibitive.)

ADVANCED RULE: TRAILBLAZING

Trailblazing is a special travel pace which can be taken in conjunction with other travel paces. It reduces the expedition’s speed by one-half, but also marks an efficient trail through the wilderness with some form of signs – paint, simple carvings, cloth flags, etc.

Once blazed, this is considered a known trail to the expedition.

Hidden Signs: The signs of a trail can be followed by any creature. When blazing a trail, however, the character making the signs can make a Wisdom (Stealth) check to disguise them so that they can only be noticed or found with a Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check.

You don’t need to make a Wisdom (Perception) check to follow your own hidden signs (or the hidden signs of a known trail you’ve followed before). Those who are aware of the trail’s existence but who have not followed it before gain advantage on their Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check to find the trail sign.

Note: Trail signs – including hidden trail signs – may be encountered as an exploration encounter in a hex the trail passes through.

Optional Rule – Old Trails: Most trail signs are impermanent and likely to decay over time. There is a 1 in 6 chance per season that a trail will decay from good repair to weather worn; from weather worn to poor repair; or from poor repair to no longer existing.

Someone traveling along a weather worn trail can restore it to good repair as long as they are not traveling at fast pace. Trails in poor repair require someone to travel along them at the trailblazing travel pace to restore to good repair.

Note: Erecting more permanent trail signs – like cairns, stone carvings, etc. – is a significant and time-consuming activity, but may be worthwhile on well-traveled trails.

HEXES

1 Hex = 12 miles (center to center / side to side) = 7 mile sides = 124 square miles

Movement on the wilderness hex grid is abstracted. In order to determine if an expedition has left a hex, you must keep track of their progress within the hex.

Starting in a Hex: If an expedition starts movement within a hex, it requires 6 miles of progress to exit any face of the hex.

Optional Rule: You can choose to bias a starting position. For example, you might see that a river flows near the western edge of a hex. If the PCs start traveling from that river, you might decide it only takes 2 miles to exit through the hex’s western face and 10 miles to exit through its eastern face.

Crossing Hex to a Far Side: It requires 12 miles of progress to exit a hex through one of the three faces on the opposite side.

Crossing Hex to a Near Side: It requires 6 miles of progress to exit a hex through one of the two nearest faces.

Changing Direction: Changing direction more than once within a hex will result in the loss of 2 miles of progress each time direction is changed.

Back the Way We Came: If characters deliberately double back along their own trail, simply reduce their progress until they exit the hex. If they leave back through the face through which they entered the hex for any other reason (by getting lost, for example) it requires an additional 1d6-1 miles of progress to exit the hex (unless circumstances suggest some other figure).

Go to Part 3: Watch Actions