Post by howandwhy99 on Mar 18, 2017 6:37:40 GMT -6
I'm coming late to the party, but here's how I do it.
1. The overland map is just like any other. It has common pathways throughout. It has expansive areas where people don't go unless they go off the paths. (I call this trailblazing). It also can have many other elements which can be unique to a particular map, but are simplified by using a legend of symbols. (Think vegetation, elevation, frostlines, pits/crevasses, or anything else found in the outdoors/territory type).
2. As the DM my primary unwritten duty is to track the game elements. I track the players on the map with a marker. I describe the area within the range which they can sense (basic human modified by demihuman racial abilities). I find the players typically follow the drawn map lines - the feature lines of the map. (roads, rivers, forest edges, gulches, coastlines, and more).
3. If the players trail blaze, leave the path, I draw a new path - their tracks. These tracks have a lifespan depending on the terrain, but they can be trod over many times and made more permanent (though even paved roads will eventually disappear).
4. For trailblazing I use the Outdoor Survival map. Its geographical features are meant to represent small variations in the overall terrain type. And the players visualization of them gives them some sense of how to travel. But the true gameboard is behind the screen. When they are lost I track their actual direction as a pencil trail behind the screen, not on the OS board. They find their way out when they reach another path on the overland map. Or perhaps they find their bearings and map the area leading to newly discovered elements not easily reached.
My thinking is "offhand adventures" are trailblazing, for me, and "exploratory journeys" are mapping the surrounding area from a location on my map the players already know about.
I suggest both of these activities are dangerous, but exploratory is probably safer if only because it's closer to home. Wilderness regions are dangerous, though I use a level range by terrain type (e.g. swamps and high mountains are high level difficulty).
1. The overland map is just like any other. It has common pathways throughout. It has expansive areas where people don't go unless they go off the paths. (I call this trailblazing). It also can have many other elements which can be unique to a particular map, but are simplified by using a legend of symbols. (Think vegetation, elevation, frostlines, pits/crevasses, or anything else found in the outdoors/territory type).
2. As the DM my primary unwritten duty is to track the game elements. I track the players on the map with a marker. I describe the area within the range which they can sense (basic human modified by demihuman racial abilities). I find the players typically follow the drawn map lines - the feature lines of the map. (roads, rivers, forest edges, gulches, coastlines, and more).
3. If the players trail blaze, leave the path, I draw a new path - their tracks. These tracks have a lifespan depending on the terrain, but they can be trod over many times and made more permanent (though even paved roads will eventually disappear).
4. For trailblazing I use the Outdoor Survival map. Its geographical features are meant to represent small variations in the overall terrain type. And the players visualization of them gives them some sense of how to travel. But the true gameboard is behind the screen. When they are lost I track their actual direction as a pencil trail behind the screen, not on the OS board. They find their way out when they reach another path on the overland map. Or perhaps they find their bearings and map the area leading to newly discovered elements not easily reached.
My thinking is "offhand adventures" are trailblazing, for me, and "exploratory journeys" are mapping the surrounding area from a location on my map the players already know about.
I suggest both of these activities are dangerous, but exploratory is probably safer if only because it's closer to home. Wilderness regions are dangerous, though I use a level range by terrain type (e.g. swamps and high mountains are high level difficulty).