Adventuring Rules

Time

Keeping detailed track of time is generally unnecessary during an adventure or campaign. In story terms there is little to no effect if it takes a day or a week for the party to journey to the next town over to start a new adventure, and it is best to just note that the journey was uneventful and move on to the fun adventure. However, there are times when the story dictates that time is important and tracking it aids in telling the story at hand.

Is the party trying to cross a desert with limited supplies or are they trekking through the jungle looking for a lost temple to stop a magic ritual that will happen in three days when the moon is full? Those are the situations where tracking time becomes important.

General

When tracking time is necessary, the GM will determine the increments of time that should be tracked based on the actions taken. In other words, searching a castle for a bunch of oil barrels with a lit fuse would be tracked in minutes, leading a crew of workers creating a defensive palisade before the enemy forces arrive might be tracked in hours, and the trek across the desert could be tracked in days as the party’s food and water slowly dwindle.

In these cases, the GM can break down the action in the increments decided upon and describe to the players the effects of their actions during each increment (e.g., Cyrus frantically searches the castle for the barrels of oil about to explode, each minute that passes, the GM asks Cyrus where he is searching next and hopefully Cyrus searches the kitchens within five minutes before the fuse ends).

For longer journeys like the trek across the desert it can be helpful to have a map of the region or world that the GM can use to show players where they are and how much or little progress they are making. The map can have as little or as much detail about distance as necessary for the story (e.g., a long trek might only need a legend of distance across the map for general distance tracking, but a story centered around exploring a new land might have a map divided into hexes for easier tracking of areas explored and those still unknown).

Rounds

In combat and in specific situations it is necessary to break time into more precise chunks with specific actions taken in a specific order to make sense of the chaos involved in quick, violent encounters. In those cases, time is broken up into rounds. Each round represents just a few seconds of time, generally enough time for a quick spell casting, firing a bow, a quick attack and parry with a sword, or drinking a potion.

For combat, the order of actions and the actions that can be taken in a round are detailed in the Combat section. For non-combat rounds the format of the combat round can be used for tracking, but the actions allowed, and their order can be worked out by the GM and players in that situation.

  • For example, the players enter a chariot race, and nobody is attacking each other, but the race is broken up into rounds. The GM indicates that in each round the players in the race can choose to sprint forward, try to cut off a competitor, or find a shortcut through the city streets and they decide to roll a d20+Riding skill each round to determine the success of each action. 


Movement

As with time, most movement in the game does not need to be precisely tracked as it adds nothing to the story and takes up valuable time in a game session that can be better spent moving the story forward. Letting your players know that the last three days traveling with the caravan were slow and peaceful is perfectly acceptable to move the story quickly to the town where the real action will take place. However, as with time, there are instances where more precise measurement of movement speeds is necessary to the story. In those instances, the rules below can be used to measure how far and how fast a player or creature is moving more precisely.

In these cases, it can be helpful to have a bit more detail about relative speed and agility, but not so much that we bog down the story tracking every inch or mile that someone moves. In most cases, it can be enough for the GM and players to work out quick guidelines for speed of travel and to provide a means of tracking progress.

  • For Example:
    • Long distance travel
      • The party takes a job acting as protection for a merchant heading to the next town to deliver his goods through a dangerous stretch of forest.
      • GM decides that the horse and cart the characters are using can travel 20 miles in an average day. 
      • The GM lays a map depicting the local area on the table and one of the players marks the party’s location as they travel each day.
    • Short distance travel
      • As the players run through the city streets in a chase, the GM decides that each participant is rated as Fast, Average, or Slow. 
      • During each action taken, the participants roll a Feats of Agility skill check against a DC to determine if their declared movement in the chase is successful or not.
      • The Fast participants roll the skill check with ADV, the Average participants roll a normal skill check, and the Slow participants roll the skill check with DIS.
    • Combat/Round movement
      • The combat round is only a couple seconds, and the participants movements are combined with quick actions, so the amount of movement possible is very limited. However, each participant could choose to sprint or flee or otherwise move faster than normal during a given round.
      • The recommended way to handle movement and judging between melee and ranged attack distances is to use Zoned Terrain. This concept and how to make a physical battle board come from the Dungeon Craft You Tube channel. All credit goes to Professor Dungeon Master for this idea. Zoned Dungeon Terrain for D&D & Pathfinder (Ep. 100) - YouTube . The linked video describes Professor Dungeon Master’s rules for Zoned Terrain and how to build your own board from cheap materials (I can attest it is a fun and relatively easy project). However, I have some slightly different ideas on the rules for attacks and movement using Zoned Terrain. Feel free to use the one that most appeals to you.
      • Zoned Terrain and combat movement works thusly:
        • A board is laid out with three zones, Near, Short, and Long.
          • Anyone can attempt a ranged or melee attack on anyone else in the same zone as they are.
          • Anyone can attempt a ranged, but not a melee attack on anyone in an adjacent zone.
          • Nobody can attempt a ranged or melee attack on anyone two zones away.
        • Movement between one zone to another takes the full action of a participant for the round. 
          • A participant wishing to move, and attack will only be able to move within their current zone, melee attack anyone in their current zone, and ranged attack anyone in their zone or an adjacent zone.
          • A participant wishing to move to a new zone will only be able to move to the new zone during that round and will not be able to take any additional actions.
          • Boris is in the middle zone of a battle board representing a battle in a forest. He can see his friend Leopold in the inner zone battling with an enemy soldier. Boris can either move into the inner zone this round and prepare a melee attack on the next round, or he can stay in the middle zone, but fire his rifle at the enemy soldier in the inner zone.
        • If different participants have been given movement ratings like the ones listed in the Short Distance Travel section above, the GM could rule that Fast creatures are able to move across zones and still take an action in a round, and Slow creatures need two rounds to cross zones. 
          • Boris with Average speed runs to Leopold’s aid and can move to the inner zone but cannot make an attack that round. However, the Enhanced Fighter next to him with Fast speed can move into the inner zone and attack the enemy soldier in the same round.
        • The Zoned Terrain board can have bits of scatter terrain, doors, short walls, important objects, or other items placed on it in each zone to give everyone an idea of the layout of the combat area as well as provide inspiration for wild stunts and Cinematic Advantage actions.
          • It is best to only place terrain items on the board that could have an affect on actions and can give a sense of place. Putting every wall and every piece of furniture on the board will only clutter the area so much that everyone is unable to move their miniatures or see what is happening on the board. Less is more in this instance and just placing a door at the edge of the inner zone and a table and chair in the middle of the board can be enough for players to know that the inner zone is in a separate room and represents the dining hall the GM just described.

Optional Rule: Chases

Although the example given above is a simple way to cover relative speeds in a chase, it doesn’t provide much opportunity to add drama and quick thinking to a chase sequence. With that in mind, here is a set of optional rules that can be used to run a fun chase.

  • The GM and players decide upon an appropriate skill for the pursuers to use to catch their prey and for the pursued to use to escape. 
  • The pursued start with a score of 3 from a range of 0 - 6.
  • Each round the two sides roll their respective skill checks in an opposed roll using the skills agreed upon earlier with the party using the bonus of the lowest skilled member of their party for their roll. If the pursuers roll higher, the score is reduced by one and if the pursued roll higher the score is increased by one. If the score reaches 0, the pursuers catch their prey, is the score reaches 6, the pursued escape for good.
  • To reflect the parties quick thinking during the chase, the GM will have a list of specific actions the players can use to increase their chances of winning the opposed roll. The party can see the list of actions, the relevant skill and DC, and any consequences from failure and decide to use one of the actions that round, or just roll normally. If they are successful in the skill check, they gain advantage on that rounds opposed roll. If they are unsuccessful in the skill check, they either roll normally on the opposed roll or add in any consequences listed for failing that action.
    • Whether the party is the pursued or pursuing, they will be the ones with the list of actions to take, after all it is their heroic story being told. The GM should stick to rolling a normal opposed skill check for any NPC’s involved unless there is an extraordinary storytelling circumstance involved.
    • In cases where a chase is started and the GM had not prepared for one before hand, use the generic actions below and spice them up with appropriate descriptions based on the surroundings
      • Use the terrain to mask your tracks: Wilderness Survival or Street Smarts DC X
      • Use the terrain to go where your opponent cannot easily cross: Feats of Agility or Feats of Strength DC 
      • Trick you opponent: Stealth or Sleight of Hand DC X
      • Block their path: Feats of Strength DC X
      • Set a Trap (useful for longer distance chases): Sleight of Hand DC X
        • In each case, you could add a consequence of failure as desired to make the choice of action harder for the party.
  • For example. The party has just escaped capture at the villain’s wilderness camp and their guards are in hot pursuit. In each check, they will perform an opposed roll of Wilderness Survival for the party vs Perception for the guards. The party starts with a score of 3, if they win a roll they gain 1 to their score, if they lose, they lose 1 to their score. If they get to a score of 6 the hunt ends, if they get to a score of 1, their pursuers catch up to them. To increase their chances of evasion, the party can choose to take a specific action before the opposed roll using the lowest skill rating of the characters in the party. If they succeed on the action roll, they gain Advantage on their opposed roll for that round.
    • Run down the creek: Wilderness Survival DC 10
    • Go down a waterfall: Feats of Agility  DC 12 (Failure results in d4 points of damage)
    • Double-back: Wilderness Survival DC 12
    • Climb a small cliff: Feats of Agility DC 15 (DC 10 if rope is used)
    • Ride their pack animals: Riding DC 10 (The party needs to dump all their supplies from the pack animals)
    • Travel at Night: Wilderness Survival DC 15 (Failure may result in party becoming lost)
    • Set a Trap: Sleight of Hand DC 10 (Failure will give pursuers advantage on roll)
      • For example, the party decides to try and climb a small cliff to escape. Grognar has the lowest Feats of Agility skill rank at 2, so one member of the party rolls the Feats of Agility skill check with a +2 to determine if they are successful or not. If they succeed, they have ADV on that rounds opposed roll, and if they fail they roll normally on the opposed roll and probably moan that Grognar needs to work on more than just his muscles.


The Environment


A castle floating high on a cloud, the villain’s throne room deep in a volcano, and the noxious gases of the swamp planet are all great locations for dramatic story events. Why go to all the trouble of creating and describing these fantastic locations only to have them just be window dressing and not affect the story.

Environmental effects can add a lot of fun and drama to an otherwise routine encounter or provide additional insight into a species or a villain’s motivations. In some cases, an evocative description is enough to convey that information, but having it affect the characters and the decisions they make in the story can have a more profound impact.

In general, there are three kinds of environmental effects that can impact game mechanics; weather, harsh environments, and fantastical environments. Weather can be used to turn a normal environment into something memorable or add even more danger to a harsh environment. Fighting some orcs in the forest is fine, but fighting some orcs in the forest during a torrential rainstorm is a whole different story. Harsh environments, like that villain’s throne room in a cave filled with pools of lava require the party to deal with potential harm at every footstep in addition to the cackling villain. Fantastical environments can be an encounter unto themselves. Imagine the parties surprise when they realize they have to navigate a field of fiery mushrooms that explode on contact to get to that long sought treasure.

To properly reflect the environmental effects, it is best to use modifications to skill rolls or changes to game mechanics that the characters will have to deal with. Here are a few examples in the categories of Weather, Harsh Environments, and Fantastical Environments.

Weather

  • Rain: -2 to Perception checks
  • Heavy Storm: DIS to Perception checks and To Hit rolls
  • Snow: Overland movement reduced to half speed, -2 to Perception checks
  • Heatwave: Double the water rations needed per day or the character is Fatigued. If they do not find enough water for two days in a row they are Exhausted.
  • Sandstorm: Overland movement reduced to quarter speed. DIS on Perception checks

Harsh Environments

  • Frozen Lake: DIS to Feats of Agility checks
  • Lava Cave: Characters are Fatigued if they remain in the cave more than 30 minutes without special protection. Touching the lava in any way causes d10 DMG
  • Deep Desert: The same effects as Heatwave above. In addition, without proper attire and shelter the characters suffer from exposure and gain DIS on all skill checks
  • Fetid Swamp: Movement reduced to half speed, x% chance of encountering quicksand and character must succeed on a DC15 Feats of Strength skill check to escape if there is nobody around to help them

Fantastical Environments

  • Fiery Mushroom Field: Characters must succeed on a DC12 Feats of Agility skill check each time they move or they will hit a mushroom and cause it to explode dealing d4 DMG to anyone within a meter radius
  • The Mesmer Cave: The cave walls are covered in monstrous and hypnotic eyes. Anyone in the cave without special protection for their eyes must make a DC15 Mental Fortitude check or stop all action and stare into the eyes mesmerized.
  • Cloud Castle: The castle on a cloud floats higher than any mountain peak. Characters must make a DC10 Feats of Strength check every hour or become Fatigued due to the thin air. In addition, there is a chance they stumble upon a thin spot in the cloud that cannot support them and they fall through. These spots can be detected with a DC7 Perception Check.

As you can see, environmental effects do not have to be limited to combat encounter skill check modifications and they do not have to be limited in duration and can often become the entire encounter themselves. Pitting the characters against the environment rather than needing a monster to show up and present the party with a challenge can be a fun change of pace. These are just a few examples and the GM should feel free to create whatever effect they desire to reflect the environment and conditions the players are experiencing.