Travel

Travel Between Settlements

The world map is drawn in hex grid format. When moving between landmarks on the map, base travel speed for the player characters is 1 hex space per day. This can be modified by the terrain and any mode of transportation they can acquire.
While traveling, PCs will also need to pay attention to rations- something they can ignore when in populated settlements and dungeons- as well as enduring travel encounters.

A Traveling Day

When the party leaves a populated settlement, they start with 4 day's worth of rations by default and can hold up to 10. Extra rations can be bought if there is a store in town/the city that would sell them (base price 15gp), but extra rations cannot be sold and do not hold over if the party spends more than 1 night in town.

1. Gathering Provisions

At the start of each traveling day, the party may pick one character, if any of them, to go out to gather provisions. This can include, hunting for meat, fishing, or gathering edible plants.
The DM may also roll for the seasonal weather on the Calendar page.
The PC that goes to gather provisions will have to make a DC 18 Survival check and add the total amount they beat the check by to the party's number of day's rations.

• For example, with a 21 Survival roll (21-18=3) the party gets +3 days' rations.

PCs that gather provisions may be absent for the day's Encounter event unless or until 2 rounds of combat pass. If there is no combat, they miss the entire event. If combat starts without them, they will roll to enter initiative order starting on round 3.
Alternatively, PCs can choose to convert 15gp into 1 days rations.

2. Encounter Roll

After the Gathering party member is decided, the DM will roll 1d20 for the rest of the party's daily encounter from the lists below. encounters vary based on the current biome the party is moving through.
When possible DM should try to predict when the party will be travelling for extended periods and prepare a table of pre-rolled weather and encounters to streamline the travel aspect, taking into account the party's intended destination and what terrains they will be travelling through. This can also help to add variety to travel, as encounters rolled in advance can be screened for repetition.
On top of that, depending on how chaotic the environment, the DM may roll 1d4 plus a variable modifier to determine how many days pass between encounters. The modifier is based on the difficulty of the last encounter:

• 1-5: 1d4+2 days
• 6-10: 1d4+1 days
• 11-15: 1d4 days
• 16-20: 1d4-1 days

3. Travel

After the Gathering and Encounter rolls have been resolved, the day's travel happens. Unless there is some additional narrative or character moment that needs to take place here, this step will largely play out either off-screen or in the background of the Encounter event. Some encounters even take place at the end of the traveling day. The Party will move to the next map hex, or if they're in harsh terrain, the counter for them to move on will tick down signifying that they've moved further through the hex space.

4. Camp

At the end of the day, the party will (usually) make camp. 1 day's ration will be removed from their stock, and players will chose how they wish to spend their 8 hours of long rest period:

• Rest - this character is not on watch and gets a Long Rest
• 1-2 hour watch - this character takes a short shift to keep watch and starts the next day with the benefits of a Long Rest
• 3-7 hour watch - this character only gets the benefits of a Short Rest for the night, unless they are capable of getting a Long Rest in less than 6 hours
• 8 hour watch - this character stays up all night to keep watch. They get no rest and start the next day with 1 added level of exhaustion.

To decide if/when a night encounter takes place, the DM will secretly roll 1d12 and 1d10. On a 1-8 (on the d12), an encounter takes place on that hour of the night's watch. The DM will then use the d10 roll to determine the encounter. On a 9-12, there's no encounter that night and the d10 roll is discarded. Regardless of when the night encounter is set to happen, each watchman must make a perception check for their watch. Night encounters, on their own, will not take away from the party's rest.
If the party has 0 days rations when it's time to make camp, all characters present take 1 level of exhaustion at the start of the next day. A character with exhaustion will not lose any levels of it without rest AND food. The party must make camp with 1 or more day's rations stocked (and the character must take a long rest) to remove 1 level of exhaustion.
If the party chooses to travel through the night rather than make camp, they will forego rest and watches, and instead have another day's travel added to their progression from the previous day. Rations are still removed from their stock, as usual and at the start of the next day, all players take a level of exhaustion, unless they (individually) could have rested on board a form of transport.
Once the party reaches a populated settlement, they will each automatically lose 1 level of exhaustion per night spent there.

Terrain

There are 13 types of terrain expressed on the world map. Mechanically, 6 of them only vary in the encounter types available. Each one offers some variation in flavor and scenery, but based purely on gameplay, they function the same.
The other 7 types are rougher terrains and generally take longer to cross.
Open water is a special case. PCs that can't breath underwater can cross 1 hex of open water without a vessel. It will take them a full day, they cannot look for rations (but will not have an encounter roll), and they will take 1 level of exhaustion from swimming at the start of the next day.
Trying to cross more than 1 hex of open water will cause a character to drown unless they can breath underwater. For non-aquatic characters that can breath underwater, the above rules apply, with the exception that for every day after the first, an encounter roll will be made.

Terrain	Days per Hex	Description
Grassland	1	Flat, grassy expanse with scattered trees and shrubs
Field	1	Flat, grassy expanse with some wild flowers
Scrublands	1	Sandy expanse with scattered cacti and shrubs
Desert / Dunes	1	Flat or raised sandy expanse. Hot
Forest	1	Temperate trees and shrubs
Thick Forest / Jungle	2	Close, tall trees. Dark
Marsh	2	Tall grass and scattered trees. Soft, wet ground
Swamp	3	Tall grass and trees. Thick vegetation. Shallow standing water
Hills	2	Rolling, grassy hills with scattered trees
Mountain / Volcano	3	Rocky or snow-peaked inclines with groups of trees
Crag	2	Cliffs and hard, rocky plateaus. Few plants
Tundra	1	Flat, icy land. Few plants
Open Water	per vessel SPD	High seas or placid lakes

Encounters

Traveling in Kwilterra is unpredictable. Because of the ongoing apocalypse the world is facing, travelers are just as likely to run into bandits or a hoard of monsters as they are to find lost treasure or a dropped potion.
During the Encounter phase of the travel day, or during a night's watch, use these pages of lists to determine what encounters the party faces. If the party has managed to travel by air, encounters are still rolled based on the biome they're travelling over, then the DM decides if the rolled encounter can take place based on information like the party's altitude and visibility. Some encounters may seem impossible (like running into a pirate ship on a land-locked lake) but that's where the power of creative improv and re-flavoring comes in.
Or you can just reroll. That's valid too.
For the sake of space:

• Plains encompasses grasslands, fields, and hills
• Swamps includes marshes
• Mountains also counts volcanoes and crags
• Desert covers scrublands, dunes, and tundra
• Forest also means thick forest and jungle

Daily Encounters are listed by biome from 1-20. See the pages below for the encounter lists:

• Plains
• Swamps
• Mountains
• Desert
• Forest
• Open Water

Nighttime Encounters are listed by biome from 1-10. See the pages below for the encounter lists:

• Plains
• Swamps
• Mountains
• Desert
• Forest
• Open Water

Encounter Frequency

For less severe or faster paced travel, the frequency of encounters can be adjusted based on a D4 roll and the value of the preceding encounter:

Previous Encounter	1-5	6-10	11-15	16-20
Days to next encounter	1D4+1	1D4	1D4-1	1D4-2

Lycanthropy

Travel Encounters involving Wolves or Werebeasts have a slim chance of passing the magical affliction of Lycanthropy. After the encounter, either the DM or one selected player will make an unmodified dice roll based on the circumstances below.
NOTE: For appropriate suspense, the reason for the roll and the outcome should remain secret from the party until any effects take place.
Refer to the Kwilterra Calendar and Lycanthropy rules, for more information.

• Regular Wolves involved - 1d100. On a 1, the selected character has contracted lycanthropy
• Dire Wolves involved - 1d100. On a 2 or lower, the selected character has contracted lycanthropy
• Werebeasts involved - 1d20. On a 1, the selected character has contracted lycanthropy
• If any of the 3 moons are Full Moons - add 2 to the minimum threshold per moon
• If any of the 3 moons are New Moons - roll with advantage

Transport

While walking on foot is the most common way to get around, it can be tedious, more often than not dangerous, and, in some areas, impossible. So people have devised numerous ways to get around:

• Horses - characters riding horseback can travel x2 hexes per (hpd) day, but x.5 hpd over Mountain and Swamp terrain
• Carts - mostly pulled by horses, carts have the same travel buffs and debuffs as horses
• Flight - flying creatures (and perhaps, someday machines?) can travel x2 hpd over all terrain- including Open Water- but must be on land or a solid vessel to take-off

Boats & Ships have variable travel speeds based on their individual ship speed stats:

• SPD 0-6 vessels move up to 1 hex per day
• SPD 7-8 vessels move up to 2 hexes per day
• SPD 9+ vessels move up to 3 hexes per day

Ship Combat

Ships and boats have their own stats and move and attack on the turn of whomever is at the helm. The driver of the ship uses both of their actions to steer the ship. Other characters on the ship can use their turns to move about the ship and/or make a ship attack with the ship's canons, rolling with the ships' attack bonus. If no one is currently steering the ship, it can continue moving in a straight line, but cannot turn or stop on its own. All ships will fall into a few, relatively broad categories (called classes) based on their stats.
Ship stats are made up by:

• Speed - how fast it moves in combat and on the map
• Hull Class - how durable the vessel's hull is
• Hull Points - how much damage the hull can take before the vessel is sunk
• Attack - the vessel's attack roll modifier

Ships and boats are generally designed for peer-to-peer combat. A creature trying to attack a ship will deal half damage. Likewise, if a ships weapons are used on a creature, the target will take double damage.
Ship categories are defined by 2 main factors: Attack and Hull Class, and the combination of those two factors affects the third; Speed. Ultimately, the more weapons and defenses, the heavier and slower your ship.

Unlike the other 3 stats, a vessel's Hull Points are purely based on size. Bigger ships can take more hits.

• Boats/rafts - 100 HP
• Small Ship - 200 HP
• Medium Ship - 250 HP
• Large Ship - 300 HP
• Huge Ship - 375 HP
• Gargantuan Ship - 450 HP

Ships size Medium and larger will generally have 1-2 life boats/rafts.
All Ships are equipped with standard broadside cannons that do 4d6+5 Bludgeoning damage on a hit. Some ships may have unique, specialty weaponry as well. Hull damage can be repaired by the party sacrificing 1 day's rations (in the form of supplies, not food) to repair 1d6+4 Hull Points. This can only be done once per day. Naturally, the price to buy or charter a vessel goes up with both the size and the main class stats.

• Class A>>C
• 1>>3
• Large ship>>>boat

Taking on more than 5 additional passengers beyond the PCs and whatever crew they initially left with means the party uses 1 additional day's rations at the end of each day, but can add 1 additional d6 to repair rolls on their own ship, both effects stacking for every 6 additional creatures past the first 5.

Type

Natural