The Nature GM

​Throughout the ages people have tried to tame the wilderness, and the wilderness fights back. We think we have conquered, but we have merely carved out corners of the world. And security is but an illusion.

The players should feel this when they step off the road, especially when their characters are levels 1-4. Low level adventurers cut their teeth in the nearest forest or swamp, and when they return—battered and weary—they have gained two qualities: strength from overcoming dangers and respect for the vastness that yet remains wild.

Like many tables, we have our own rules for wilderness travel and encounters. Let us look together at the goals for this approach for Fifth Edition, the mechanics, how it has played out, and where it could evolve.

Wilderness Travel GM Goals

These goals are influenced by the reality that my table plays two hour sessions 2-3 times monthly. We must make the most of our gameplay and do not entertain slog merely because it is the tradition. Here are my goals from the game master perspective:

• Travel rules should be quick to make tangible progress in a short session. This usually means one encounter per day and one per night
• Travel needs to be impactful or else it is a waste of player time. This could be impactful to health, consumable resources, time, or something in jeopardy
• Encounters should feel avoidable to the characters. In other words, the characters should have some agency in whether or not they have an encounter
• Encounters should be consistent with the established world. They should reinforce what the players already know about the world while also adding to its depth and mystery
• There should be something between success and failure. If you have played any Powered by the Apocalypse games, then you are familiar with the mixed success concept

Travel Mechanics

In this approach, travel is a function of both Navigation (am I headed the way I intended to go) and Safety (how well do I chose a concealed location to set up camp). Both are determined by skill checks rolled by the players. How well you roll determines if you stay on course during the day, and if you have an encounter during the night. Since day and night checks are treated differently, let us look at them one by one.

Day Travel (Navigation)

There is always an encounter during the day, but it is not necessarily a combat encounter. The check determines if you are travelling in the right direction and if your encounter has any complications.

One player makes a Survival check to navigate the party through the wilderness (Help, Inspiration, or a buff spell such as Guidance cannot be used because this check represents a full day of travel):

• 14+: successfully travel in the intended direction
• 13: travel half a day in the wrong direction, then realize your error and course-correct
• ≤12: travel all day in the wrong direction

Regardless of the result of the Survival check, the characters have a wilderness encounter. If they failed the check, the encounter will have a complication.

For example, the encounter for today is that the lead party member walks knee-deep into quicksand; this happens regardless if they are on course or not. If the party rolled a 14 or higher on their Survival check, they pull their companion out of the quicksand and keep walking. But if they rolled a 13 or lower there is a complication: a black pudding attacks while they are stuck.

If your players have a pack animal that is not loyal to them, you can optionally add a DC 10 Animal Handling check to determine if your pack animal follows willingly or if it trudges along at half speed. My players had the idea of grooming and petting their pack donkey to gain advantage on the check. After a couple days this “Donkey check” felt pointless, and we cut it.

Night Camping (Safety)

If you camp for the night, you may be able to avoid an encounter depending on where you are and how well you set up camp. The check determines how well you conceal yourself during the night.

One player makes a Survival or a Nature check to select a camping location and conceal the party (Help from another player proficient in the Survival/Nature skill used, Guidance, or Inspiration can be used because this check represents a discrete action):
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• I made a list of nighttime encounters and assigned each a DC (usually equal to the passive perception of the creature)
• Encounters for when the party was lost were more challenging and had a higher DC
• If the party rolls below tonight’s encounter DC, that encounter happens
• If the party rolls at least as high as (meets it beats it) tonight’s encounter DC, that encounter passes them by

For example, the party is on track and the encounter for tonight is that a small band of goblin raiders stumbles upon their camp while headed someplace else. The DC for this encounter is 9 (because goblins have a passive perception of 9). If the party rolled a 8 or lower on their Survival/Nature check, then the encounter happens as written. But if the party rolled a 9 or higher, then whoever is on watch hears rustling bushes and muttering in goblin, and if the party does nothing then the goblins will simply pass by. Of course some bloodthirsty players may want to attack the goblins with a surprise advantage, and that’s their prerogative.

However, if the players are lost then the encounter for tonight is that they accidentally set up camp next to a shambling mound. The DC for this encounter is 17 (because the shambling mound has a +7 to attack). If the party rolled a 16 or lower, then in the night the party is awakened by one of their party member’s screams as they are engulfed by the shambling mound. But if the party rolled a 17 or higher, maybe they notice in the fading light that the bush they camped beside has several skeletons of woodland creatures sticking out of it, and they can move their campsite to avoid the encounter.

Travel Destination

​I determined when the party arrived at their destination by simple tally. If the characters needed to travel two days through the wilderness, they arrived at their intended destination after two successful Survival checks to navigate the party. This was true whether the number of failed checks was zero or six. If they traveled a half day in the wrong direction, I put a half point each in the On Track and Off Track columns.

Travel Played Out

​If player enjoyment is any gauge, then this style of wilderness travel has worked rather well. It plays on the perceived danger of the wilderness: they characters could lose their lives any day, but they do not come close to it every day. The players internalized the feeling that the wilderness can be deadly.

The initial navigation check does introduce some swing into the days spent travelling. My players had a quest that ought to have taken them five days there and back, and instead it took ten. I had to be quick on my toes and well prepared for the numerous encounters. They took to climbing a tree to get their bearings every morning before setting off, desperate to gain some advantage that would end their wandering. There were many memorable and enjoyable moments for both sides of the table.

When the players became lost, they felt they had earned it due to poor rolls. But with 0-2 combat encounters a day, each day of travel passed fairly quickly, lending a sense of “progress” even when it was in the wrong direction. The night encounters were more challenging than the day ones, especially if the party was lost, and this created a sense of anticipation for the dangers of the night. Players reserved resources for the potential nighttime encounters, and they cheered when they managed to avoid one.

Travel Evolutions

​My players learned their lesson about wilderness travel, and now they have a compass and ask NPCs for a map or directions before they go anywhere. Either a compass or a quality map (not one drawn on the back of a bar napkin) gives advantage on the Survival check for navigation, and if the party has both then they can skip the check and simply travel in the correct direction. Daytime encounters still occur even with automatic navigation successes. The nighttime rules apply with no changes.

When the characters grow somewhat stronger (level 7+), I will reward their tenacity by letting the wilderness show a grudging respect for these worthy foes and withdraw the infantry. The forest that the characters walked through at level 1 was dangerous with a bear encounter; at level 7, rather than having a pack-of-bears encounter, the bears catch the death scent of the characters and give them a wide berth. However, if the characters are travelling through the haunted wasteland of the lich king, the wilderness will surely send out its worst.

I would like to make the nighttime encounter DCs feel less arbitrary. I do not think the problem is that the DC changes; the problem is that the players tell me they roll a 12 to set up camp, and I have to choose if the DC 11 encounter or the DC 14 encounter is the one they have tonight.

The simplest, most obvious solution is for me to choose the encounter for the night before they roll. And yet I cannot quite manage to do this. Yes, I could put the encounters in a table and roll randomly on it. However…I do not think random encounters are fun, because they lack context. I am not even confident random encounters are more “fair”.

If the party has had a rough daytime encounter and rolled a 12 at night, I can pick the DC 11 encounter and allow the party to breathe a sigh of relief that they get to rest undisturbed. Conversely, if they skated past the daytime encounter I can send the DC 14 encounter at them so they get to feel challenged and heroic. Or I can close my eyes and flip a coin.

The most important thing is that everyone in the game is having a good time and has bought in to the adventure that we weave together.