120' for a fully armored character

[sennahoi]

"Movement...is in segments of approximately ten minutes. Thus it takes ten minutes to move about two moves - 120 feet for a fully armored character." - U&WA p. 8

I was thinking about what this kind of (quite slow!) movement would look like, and I was reminded of this scene from one of my favorite movies:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AORegX4bd-0

Starting at 03:05 an unarmored character (12") moves about 120' down a hallway in a little more than 5 minutes. Since they had to argue about who was going to go first, it's a whole turn from the start of the video to actually get there.

The suspense and terror of exploring the unknown really slows things down.

[Der PigDog]

Wonderful movie, one of my favorites as well. I hope I bring a sense of the strangeness of the zone to my mythic under- and over-worlds.

Great illustration of dungeon movement.

[aj]

There is a great Conan story about getting stuck in an unnatural underworld. Howard writes that a lot of time is spent feeling against the walls, testing each step before moving weight onto it, carefully listening in total silence for creatures prowling the dark...
I think it is important that these things should be established for players to explain why movement is so slow, that caution is assumed of their characters, simply rushing into a monster and trap infested maze ought to be a foolish mistake!

[tombowings]

Slow armored movement creates a meaningful trade between leather, chain, and plate. Some of the most successful low level parties I've seen are those that forgo heavier armor in order to increase their speed, allowing them to easily flee from danger. Instead, they used trickery to lure monsters away from treasure rather than assaulting them directly.

[waysoftheearth]

I agree that encumbrance/movement rates are primarily useful for the pursuit/evasion games.

Exploration effectively occurs at one movement rate (despite parties wearing mixed armor types). IMHO that rate is as much impacted by available light as it is by armor types worn.

[howandwhy99]

I agree that the Dungeon Crawl is a crawl speed. But I think for City Exploration, when it is considered safe, double the Movement Rate can be performed to get around town.

If you were being hunted and didn't want to be seen or make noise, then you might slow down. You might even speed up to MVx2 but I would require saves for... difficult terrain? A populated area that inhibits running and would slow the actual speed. And failures would result in a choice: fall for subdual damage or perhaps use overbear / open doors actions.

The others are right, the game movement rates are really more for Overland travel and the activities you engage in with it.

I find having city rules can be fun, so bend toward chases and stuff when drawing the maps.