Traveling Event System

This is a PointyHat Official addition to the campaign, because I think it's a good idea. This system was not designed with the goal of achieving realism when roleplaying extended travel, but with the goal of making it exciting. Every time we've tried to make travel fun for the group, it's always either been ignored after the first encounter or it's just been tedious when we try. This method is meant to recreate the feel and appeal of other media centered on travel, focusing on dramatic scenarios rather than the real-life mechanics of travel. Its design concentrates on keeping travel simple and calculations to a minimum.

Distance

The Travel Event System measures distance traveled by "Events". The longer the distance, the more Events the party bumps into. Distances are measured in three brackets:

• Close
• Far
• Very Far

I am deliberately not including real distances in these. The distance is designed to help decide how much time to spend on each “leg” of the journey; the early game definition of "close" might be a more difficult hurdle than later game, for example, or I might turn journey that was "near" distance the first time you traveled into a "far" distance to add one more story-driven encounter to that path. Distances might also change depending on elevation, swaths of difficult terrain, avoiding antagonistic camps or patrols, etc. When you ask to travel somewhere, I will tell you the distance it will take before you decide to set off on your adventure.

Events

Events are the main component of the Traveling Event System. An event is anything that happens while traveling, and I decide what events occur. How many events happen while on your journey depends on the distance you are traveling:

• Close: 1 Event
• Far: 2 Events
• Very Far: 3 Events

Once you all encountered the number of events determined by the distance traveled, you arrive at their destination. I may choose to add or remove events to a journey, regardless of distance, when the circumstances call for it: I may remove one from a journey if you all accomplished a task that would negate further issues down the road, for example, or I may add one if you all trigger a high alert when traveling through enemy territory.

Type of Events

An event constitutes a number of different encounter types, from combat to social to environmental. Events are divided into three main categories, and are each assigned a color that we can use for quick reference outside of gameplay. If I tell you what kind of event you are encountering at the table mid-gameplay, I might not tell you the entire truth about the event; a red event could be turned into a blue event by your actions, or a perceived yellow event could be a green event in disguise, for example. The classification is really just a guide for all of us to use when discussing the events, and I might have fun with colorful encounter alerts in Foundry or something like that to correlate to the event's color.

Red - Combat Events:

These events are combat scenarios. I will specifically plan a combat encounter before you set off for these eventss; this better allows for me to lean into story-relevant combat encounters that happen while traveling, which the RAW systems that rely on random tables don’t account for.
As previously stated, a red event does not need to remain red throughout the entire encounter. You all are always welcome to try talking things out with an adversary, calming a beast, or booking it to avoid the hassle. This encounter type is just more likely than not going to start with me saying "OK, roll for initiative" before anything else. The biggest change from how we usually run travel combat is that it's actually going to be seen at the table now. The last time I had a traveling combat encounter was in Ocean campaign, and maybe like once. This system ensures I remember to actually threaten you all with a non-boss encounter every once in a while.

Blue - Roleplay Events:

These events are roleplay scenarios. They could range from a chance to meet a new helpful NPC to a tense negotiation with a hostile one. Roleplay events can be as high-stakes as combat events, but we already play that way at this table. You're all accustomed to that by now. Roleplay events have the most variety and can easilly turn into other kinds of events if you all do or say the right or wrong things. This is going to play exactly as you're already used to, so no need to worry about anything changing much here.

Yellow - Exploration Events:

These events are an exploration scenario. These events shift the focus away from people and monsters and towards the land itself. Exploration events offer a great alternative to combat encounters, as they shift the focus from characters that can solve problems with their might or their wiles and towards characters who rely on other skills like Survival, Stealth, or even more obscure picks like Animal Handling and Vehicle Proficiencies. This kind of event we almost never see anymore because most of us just want to skip to the fun part, and for most of us that means skip to the roleplay. Like the red events, the biggest change with how we used to run these events will be actually getting to see them. I don't even think I had an environmental hazard in Ocean, I think Theros was the last time you all saw that (with the lotus flowers). Again, this system ensures I remember to actually threaten you all with the terrain every once in a while.

Combo Events:

In most cases, an event belongs in two or even three of the categories listed above. In this system, this is classified as a Combo Event. Combo Events are events that mix several categories together, either because they could turn from one into the other, or because they exhibit traits of both at the same time. I can guarantee that most red events are actually purple events, for example; unless you are fighting mindless, soulless creatures, you will have opportunities to roleplay.
Purple Event: Roleplay and Combat. Example: The party has come to bring justice to an evil hag who has taken many a life, but the hag offers them a deal before they can even start talking. If they let her go, she’ll give them an item that would tremendously help in achieving one of the party member’s personal goals. If they fight, she’ll make sure the item does not fall into the party’s hands. This event starts as a roleplay event, but could become a combat event depending on the party’s choices.

Green Event: Exploration and Roleplay. Example: While exploring an abandoned mine, the party meets with a small kobold who seems to have lost their way. The kobold is extremely wary of the party, but if they manage to befriend them, they could prove invaluable in controlling the mine carts that can take the party out of the mine.

Orange Event: Combat and Exploration. Example: The party must find the three objects that bind some nefarious spirits to an abandoned manor and destroy them, while the spirits routinely attack the party. This event blends exploring the manor while withstanding one or two rounds of combat as the spirits pop in and out of the realm of the living to attack the party and then dissipate.

White Event: All three, Combat, Roleplay, and Exploration. Example: The rival party has turned outright villainous, conducting their nefarious deeds from an old keep. They have kidnapped a beloved NPC and plan to use them in a ritual. The party can attempt to negotiate with them (roleplay), go directly on the offensive and dispatch them (combat), or infiltrate the keep and free their friend (exploration).

Passing Time

While on the road, you can do plenty of things to pass the time. Talking to the rest of the party is the most common example, such as sharing stories at the campfire or participating in idle chatter while you walk. If you have the means,, you can participate in certain downtime activities while you travel.
Doing anything beyond idle chat will require you to alter your pace to some degree. If the party is traveling on foot, the entire party must cut their traveling speed in half if any person engages in traveling downtime; this is only really consequential if you are on a time limit or if you are being pursued. You won't need to slow your pace if you have hired a carriage, if you own a carriage, or if you all are riding mounts to travel.
The following list encompasses everything you can do while traveling, as well as the consequences for not keeping your eyes on the road. If you want more information on what each activity entails, click here:

• Leisure activities: You can perform reasonable leisure activities while you travel, such as catching up on some mundane reading or taking notes. While doing so, decrease your passive perception by 5 for the trip.
• Research: You can perform reasonable research while traveling, like reading books you are carrying with you or using a familiar with Voice of the Chain Master to look into things, making progress on research you may wish to conduct in your spare time. Depending on what you're looking for, I may require multiple on-the-road research activities to gain information. While doing so, decrease your passive perception by 5 for the trip.
• Maintenance: You can continue work on something reasonably travel-friendly, such as studying a magic item or writing in your spell book. While doing so, decrease your passive perception by 5 for the trip.
• Resource Gathering: You can explore the local environment as you travel for crafting resources (such as reagents or exposed mineral deposits) or wild game. If you discover anything that requires time to harvest (such as going on a hunt for hide, carefully picking a delicate herb, or mining exposed iron), travel must halt in order to gather those resources. Again, this is mostly inconsequential, but is important to note if time is of the essence. Gathering resources always slows your pace by half, even if you have a carriage or something like it; you need to be walking in the brush and meandering in order to actually find things. While doing so, decrease your passive perception by 5 for the trip.

The following list is for things I will not allow during traveling downtime:

• Conversations that exclude players: I'm ok if you say "I talk to (some character) while we travel", but any conversations that would require someone to sit out for an extended period of time I won't allow at the table. This is purely to avoid any 30 minute typing-fest. If you want to do something like "Can I grab (character) and walk further behind everyone so we can talk in private?" then we can handle that conversation after the session, as long as you're OK with doing roleplay out of chronological order
• Crafting: I won't allow crafting during travel. This is because I don't see how you could handle precise actions (like making sure reactive concoctions aren't shaken, cutting a blade at a precise angle, mixing things at the right speed, writing a spell scroll without messing up your handwriting, etc etc) while moving, and some forms of crafting require a valid work station (like a campfire with a cauldron, for example). The carriage is going to hit bumps, your mount is going to move like any animal, or you have to pay attention to walking; regardless, crafting requires precision, so mobile crafting doesn't make sense to me. I would allow someone to cast Tenser's Floating Disc and allow another party member to craft while sitting on the disc (3 feet diameter isn't that large, I'd only allow one person to do this per disc and it cant be the caster due to the movement rules), in which case the crafting must be shorter than or equal to one hour (be prepared to land on your ass when the spell ends), the crafter rolls at disadvantage for any crafting checks, and the crafter must decrease their passive perception by 5 for the duration.

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