I’m looking to run Freebooters on the Frontier with an old school hex map, and want to convert the travel rules to work with 6 mile hexes. My original idea is as follows but I would be very interested to see the solutions others have come up with:
(Assuming 6 mile hexes with 8 hours of walking per day)
Move Quickly Normal Terrain: 5 hexes per day
Move Cautiously Normal Terrain: 4 hexes per day
Move Quickly Difficult Terrain: 2 hexes per day
Move Cautiously Difficult Terrain: 1 hex per day
These are all maximum values assuming no major encounters, and any major encounter would halve movement distance rounding down
I came up with pretty much the same scale / duration. Following a road is 5 hexes and extremely difficult terrain 1. In Dolmenwood there are alternative travel durations for when PCs are actively exploring an area but I don’t know whether adding that much detail is worth the effort e.g. you would have to change the random encounter table to increase the chance of making a discovery.
One thing you may find is that you will end up with more Discoveries and Dangers in well-traversed areas, simply because the spotlight is on those areas more often when you roll to make a journey. This can artificially make certain map areas become overly (infinitely) dense… *”ANOTHER SETTLEMENT/RIVER/?”) Therefore, don’t necessarily roll for journeys once per day or once per hex. Instead, moderate this frequency as the master regulator of possible encounter density and use judgement. Within the confines of SAFE and PERILOUS, I also apply roll modifiers in areas that are known to be more or less risky. Another minor issue for me was that there was zero chance of danger or discovery in an area presumed SAFE. We therefore now roll three travel moves. I’ll post a PDF if there’s interest.
Maezar yes please
Maezar another yes please. Hopefully you’ll collect an anthology of all your learnings and supplements, sometime
Maezar much to think on, thank you!
Where do you live, Kyle? Do you run sessions in person or online?
Maezar Live in Japan, going to be playing online, mostly with The Gauntlet RPG community