Perilous Journey/Make Camp Question
The party starts it’s 5 day journey to the Halls of Silence (or whatever). The scout rolls poorly and they are ambushed by highwaymen on the second day.
During the ensuing fight the party prevails but one character is down to 1/4 HP, the wizard lost a spell and the cleric leveled so they decide to Make Camp so they can face the challenges at their best.
Is the remaining three days of travel considered a NEW Perilous Journey move or a continuation of the Original one that was interrupted? Why or why not?
Same journey.
I think making camp is implied by the rations you have to consume to justify a Perilous Journey. So, making camp for real is just zooming in on details and doesn’t matter.
If they altered their journey, by taking a new course, or something similar — I think that’d be a new roll.
Nowhere in the Perilous Journey description does it say you get the benefits of the Make Camp move at the end of it. They are two different moves requiring two different consumption of rations.
Fair enough. I don’t have the book in front of me.
That said, you’re telling me the PCs travel for five days straight and never make camp? Sounds unlikely.
EDIT: by which I’m trying to say, they’re already making camp (little m little c) in the fiction because we know they’re not likely walking for five days straight, so I don’t think it matters that they Made Camp after a fight and it got zoomed in on. Use the one Perilous Journey roll and keep moving, unless the details of their journey changes.
This is a technical question then: Did they need to make camp?
The assumption is that they encountered trouble on the road, but because they were on a perilous journey that was one of the dangers and they already ticked off a ration to explain part of their rest along the journey.
I don’t think “Make Camp” was needed, I think it’s an implied part of the perilous journey.
I remember reading (but forget exactly where) that you only ever make a single Perilous Journey Move regardless of how long the trip is. The way I see it, the UPJ Move is when you “zoom out” and do a traveling montage. If the Scout misses the roll and the party gets ambushed, then zoom in and run the encounter. Then zoom back out and finish the UPJ Move, assuming the PCs want to or are able to continue.
Make Camp is when you’re already “zoomed in” at the location. The PCs aren’t going to leave (well, not far) but they need to rest up before they continue.
I see the ration consumption from the UPJ Move as a result of the PCs making camp as they travel.
Perilous Journey is triggered when you travel through hostile territory. It also says the roll is for the entire trip so that answers my own original question.
Make Camp is triggered when you settle in to rest.
PJ mentions camp (lower case “c”) several times and but only in terms of how many rations it costs you. Then rations are described as the amount of supplies used in a day.
Make Camp costs a ration and can be as little as four or five hours.
I always assumed Make Camp to be an extended version of catching your breath. Sort of stopping, settle in, put a guy on watch and lick your wounds but needing to expend the resource of a ration to do so.
To be honest I think it really is just up to how you want to rule it. Personally I’d include the Make Camp in the Journey and leave it at that.
They’re separate. The Journey is too perilous to Make Camp without a separate, concerted action. You zoom out, make the roll, and see how the journey goes. If it’s interrupted part way by a monster or something, the journey is over. You’ve stopped. Like an attack that didn’t connect, the action is over. So you deal with what’s at hand, take stock of the situation and say “okay, what now?” and maybe the answer is “Make Camp”. Maybe it’s “let’s continue” in which case, it’s a new journey.
You consume rations as you travel – that represents the short rests at the roadside or in caves or wherever. They’re not “making camp” so you don’t get to level up or anything. You’re resting because that’s how it goes, but it’s not the same.
Adam, this is the kind of thing where at the table we just decide what seems right and move on — it hasn’t been a problem for us. But analyzing it more closely, what you’re saying about continuing after an attack being a new journey doesn’t feel like it quite lines up with:
“A perilous journey is the whole way between two locations. You don’t roll for one day’s journey and then make camp only to roll for the next day’s journey, too. Make one roll for the entire trip.”
I think that the way we’ve played is that the monster attack mid-journey didn’t create a new journey unless things changed; we went somewhere else or maybe we stopped to dungeon-delve and then three days later, even if we ended up heading off to the same destination, that was a new journey.
Adam Koebel But doesn’t every result for the scout include an interruption? A miss would be, a 7-9 is an interruption no one is ready for, and a 10+ is something you have the drop on (but presumably still have to engage somehow since this Journey Is Super Perilous)?
Alfred Rudzki it’s only if they get interrupted. Doesn’t mean it has to happen.
Christopher Weeks you can interpret it that way, sure! I generally say the journey ends if it’s interrupted, but there’s room either way.
They already rolled for the Perilous Journey, so it’s all part of the same journey. That said, the rations the use in Camp should be separate from the rations they use for the Journey.
EDIT: Sorry, somehow I missed a slew of authoritative posts.
Thanks for clarifying the intention, Adam!
The way I read it was close to Stone-bush’s interpretation – one roll covers the journey, and if they get sidetracked they spend time zoomed in to deal with conflicts and Camping if needed. Then they could zoom back out to the journey they already rolled for or change plans (go in another direction, abandon the original trek) with that possibly calling for another Journey.
I think I’ll split the difference and allow the party the choice to push on with the original Journey after dealing with the conflict (it’s not like they lost the trail – unless they did – or returned home and erased the dotted line they were following on the map) or opt to Camp and make another Journey once they’re rested.