Anyone ever modify the Perilous Journey move? I saw Adam Koebel do it during the Miss Clicks game, which took place in a giant city; the quartermaster handled bribing city officials to allow passage through restricted areas, using money instead of rations.
I’m searching for inspiration… what sort of perilous journeys have you seen characters go on?
I am trying to adapt Pool of Radiance, which is basically fighting in a conquered city. I am working on a version called Attack the Block. I don’t have the text with me right now, but the dangers being avoided are:
1) Burn daylight
2 ) Face a random encounter
3) Set off a trap/alarm
I tried to modify Perilous Journey in our last session to handle navigating a network of caverns (Paizo Ice Cavern Tiles).
The trailblazer’s navigation determined the number of dead end tiles in the deck, handling the possibility of backtacking.
The scout determined if they rolled for wandering trolls on each tile, only at a dead end (cornering the troll) or only when backtracking from a dead end (cornering the party).
The quartermaster increased or reduced the total number of cavern tiles between them and their destination, which could have more effects than just time/rations expended.
It didn’t work very well because I didn’t expect them to roll so brilliantly, or to draw the dead end as the second-last tile of a long, safe journey. I will need to make success more interesting.
Two moves from a playbook of mine:
⃞ A Slightly Less Perilous Journey (WIS)
When you Undertake a Perilous Journey as a scout, roll+WIS. You manage to prepare your group with a view of the journey ahead. On a 10+, you know exactly what lies ahead and can either get the drop on it or avert the danger by taking a detour. On a 7-9, you get the drop on the danger but cannot decipher the details nor find a detour. On a miss, you get a complicated and possibly false understanding of the vision of what lies ahead.
⃞ A Much More Lucrative Journey
[Requires: A Slightly Less Perilous Journey]
On a 7+, the GM will now tell you what valuable treasure that this danger is guarding as a result of a clear vision into their history.
/sub
Running four PCs got me interested in the same, to give everyone a chance to contribute, now I want to set the tone of every locale with a from-scratch perilous-journey job list.
Looking over the perilous journey move, I’m not sure how well it works in my game. What is a trailblazer, anyway? Do they go ahead and find a better route? Isn’t that what a scout’s doing, except looking for danger, too? And how does the quartermaster reduce the no. of rations needed? By being stern with the other characters? I find it unlikely the bestial Gnoll hireling will take orders from the halfling thief quartermaster.
Aren’t these all just various forms of defy danger anyway? I think it’s time my players and I had a discussion about more interesting dangers than overeating on a trip.
My players are in a desert, so rations and water have an actual value to add a bit of grittiness. If they don’t have enough, they will have to return to a town or risk dying in the desert. There is definitely still a value to the current journey system, but you could definitely alter it to fit the needs of the current campaign.