In our weekly Freebooters game, the Scout/Navigate moves are starting to feel too repetitive. J. Walton mentioned this possibility a while back, and I’m sure anyone who has played for more than a few sessions has experienced the same thing.
Thinking about Maezar’s house rule of using different abilities for exploration, I made some changes and tried to consolidate. I also wanted to incorporate a random encounter roll, so I’m going to see what happens when rolling doubles triggers a Danger. there’s a 1-in-6 chance of doubles coming up on any 2d6 roll, which nicely parallels the classic “wandering monster” roll.
VENTURE FORTH
When you set out into dangerous or unfamiliar territory, your starting point is a juncture. Say which way you’re going from there, and what you’re looking for (the next point of interest, a safe campsite, the tracks of your quarry, etc.)—that’s your destination. Then, choose one party member to lead the way, and that person decides to scout ahead, plot the best route, or read the surroundings as you go.
When you scout ahead, roll +DEX: on a 10+, you get the drop on whatever lies ahead, and choose 1 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 1 from the list below.
When you plot the best route, roll +INT: on a 10+, you’ll reach the next juncture in record time, and choose 1 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 1 from the list below.
When you read the surroundings, roll +WIS: on a 10+, you discern something useful about the environment—work with the Judge to describe it, and choose 1 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 1 from the list below.
– You make a Discovery
– You ensure that the route back to the last juncture is safe
– One other party member of your choice must Keep Company
When you roll a 7+ to Venture Forth and get doubles, you encounter a Danger in addition to the above results.
If you’re not waylaid, you reach a next juncture of the Judge’s choosing (which might be your destination, or merely one step closer to it).
Always good to see movement in these areas. I’m toying with a very simple cut-down of the navigate and plumb business in my latest attempt at a setting, because I am lazy:
briarwood.obsidianportal.com – Quests and Navigation
For paranoid PCs, is there a reason to NOT always choose “the way back is safe” as your option?
J. Walton, hm, I guess not. Maybe I could swap that one out with the primary WIS result? So that if you’re paranoid, you’d want someone with good WIS to lead the way. Like so:
When you read the surroundings, roll +WIS: on a 10+, you ensure that the route back to the last juncture is safe, and choose 1 from the list below; on a 7-9, choose 1 from the list below.
– You make a Discovery
– You discern something useful about the environment—work with the Judge to describe it
– One other party member of your choice must Keep Company
Matt Horam I really like that Ruins exploration mechanic. Is it based on anything, other than resembling Usage Die?
David Perry Thanks, it’s what happens when I read Macchiato Monsters, The Black Hack, Blades in the Dark and Perilous Wilds in the same week. Everybody’s ideas in the one cake.
EDIT: Also Maezar ‘s house rules for dungeoneering.
Jason Lutes I like that switch better.
“…must Keep Company” makes it sound like a chore. “Choose another party member to Keep Company”?
Also, you can save space by making only one mention of “On a hit, choose 1 from below”.
Matt Horam One question on the Ruin table, are these typos, or is it designating something I don’t understand?
3. – 4 Discovery + Danger
4. – 6 Discovery
David Perry I was having a fight with MarkDown formatting, see below.
Fixed it, now it’s
3-4 Discovery + Danger
5-6 Discovery
David Perry, I have a thing against the “on a hit” and “on a miss” terminology for AW games, because the terms are misleading and I want the language to be as consistent as possible from move to move. So I always spell it out in terms of numbers.
Have you considered tweaking/using these rules by Jeremy Strandberg? I’ve used them only once, but found they worked excellently.
plus.google.com – I keep thinking about travel moves for #Stonetop. We were originally were us…
.
Sub
Jason Lutes There’s always “On a 7+”. Less commonly used, but I think it’s sufficient.
(Apologies for the parallel discussion) Matt Horam Out of curiosity, how do you determine connections between rooms on a given level, just assume there’s a continuation in each room until they find the stairs?
Thanks for the shoutout, Timothy Stanbrough, but Chart a Course doesn’t strike me as a good match for Freebooters. It relies pretty heavily on the GM having an established vision of the world (or at least being willing to establish that on the fly). Freebooters seems to be much more about following the dice and everyone (including the GM) seeing where it leads us in play. Obviously I could be wrong about that, but it feels like they’re working towards very different design goals.
Matt Horam that’s a pretty killer and elegant system for dungeon delving!
Matt Horam Wondering what the 6 is for dangers? A player can roll 6-6 and apply a -3, so therefore a 6 could be the lower number. Maybe [ ] as the 1 is for Discovery?
Timothy Stanbrough, Jeremy Strandberg nailed it in one. Freeboters is intended as a more emergent game, and the shorter the decision lists, the better. Thanks for pointing out alternatives, though, that’s always helpful.
Jason Lutes I’m having trouble reconciling these with the fiction:
* (roll+WIS) you ensure that the route back to the last juncture is safe
* (roll+INT): you’ll reach the next juncture in record time
* (roll+DEX): you get the drop
Like, let’s say we’re crossing the Playa of Doom. It’s a big, open, alkali flat plagued by scour-storms that whip out of nowhere and the occasional terror drakes that roost in the surrounding hills, swooping down from above. We want to cross the Playa to get to the bluff in the middle, which we believe to be a dungeon.
The Playa is definitely dangerous, yeah? So crossing it is going to trigger Venture Forth. And it’s utterly devoid of resources.
I opt to take the lead and plot the best route. I roll+INT and get a 10+. We’ll make it there in record time! (Sweet, because we’re short on resources and that place is a blood blast furnace.) But what does that look like? It’s a vast, featureless terrain. The shortest distance is straight across. How am I plotting the best route? How is that getting us across more quickly that the obvious course of action (walking straight across)?
Alternately, I opt to read the terrain and roll+WIS and get a 10+. I make sure that the way back is safe. How? How could I ensure a safe path back across an empty playa that’s plagued with scour storms and giant winged drakes, when there’s literally no cover for miles around? Even if I found us a safe path there, isn’t there a chance of a random scour storm or a swooping terror drake on the way back?
And if I scout ahead, how is my DEX going let me get the drop on a scour storm or a terror drake floating on the thermals a half-mile up?
Do you just put that all back on the players to justify? Adjust the results of those moves on the fly? Handwave it all?
I don’t really have a mechanical solution that fits the Freebooters ethos. The best I can come up with is more specific moves, only some of which would apply on each journey based on the terrain. E.g.:
* Navigate Unknown Terrain (which wouldn’t apply here, it’s s straight shot)
* Endure the Elements (a sort of endurance check)
* Race the clock (for getting there before the storm hits, or before nightfall, or whatever… only relevant if there’s something they’re actually racing).
* Scout Ahead (an off-camera Discern Realities, basically)
* Stay Sharp (surprise check)
* Cover Your Tracks (i.e. leave no trace, can’t be followed, etc.)
That goes down a rabbit hole pretty quickly, and violates your less-is-more ethos. Plus, it might have the same problems as Chart a Course (GM needing to have a clear picture of the world in advance) and might result in some pretty repetitive procedures. But maybe it’ll inspire something?
I find a gully that takes us most of the way there, and keeps out of the direct winds of the storms. Surprisingly, no other critters were in it, at least this time.
Chris Shorb you find a gully in this?
mammothorbust.files.wordpress.com
Jeremy Strandberg TBH, I feel like you found the one exceptional terrain type. Sounds like a great opportunity for a custom move. “Less is more” seems good for RAW, but it doesn’t need to extend to play.
Of course, I’d love to play a FotF exploration-based game full of exceptional terrain types, travel through each of which has its requisite custom move (as long as they’re different enough to be interesting).
Jeremy Strandberg:
You ensure the way back to the last juncture is safe by observing the movements of the scourge storms and terror drakes.
You reach the next juncture in record time by navigating between the more difficult stretches of the Playa and/or by instructing your companions to book it (plus Chris Shorb’s example)
You don’t need to get the drop on the terror drake or scourge storm half a mile up — all you need to do is notice them before they hit you so you can act first. I might reword “get the drop” to “see what’s coming” or similar. I’m thinking here that DEX works as being stealthy or having quick reaction time.
I’ve been experimenting with a pointcrawl exploration based off the dungeon generation rules from Perilous Wilds and its GMless mod by Maezar I’ll maybe post it up next week
Jeremy Strandberg I have been on “flat” terrain before; however as I traversed it, unexpected undulations in the topography appeared.
David Perry that would be an interesting game indeed.
Thanks, everyone. This is a great thread for consolidating various moves and approaches to exploration.
Can someone provide a link to Maezar’s house rules for dungeoneering? I couldn’t dig it up.