How Should I Write Adventures for Campaigns Where Global Maps and Teleportation are the Norm?

[johnnythexxxiv]

So, working on a homebrew campaign setting where tech level is a little higher (still pre-industrial revolution) and as a result maps are very accurate and easily accessible. Since maps are reliable, means of fast travel are more reliable as well, be it overland flight, teleportation or what have you. For the most part though, vehicular travel hasn't sped up significantly, meaning that mundane travel hasn't been effected too much.

Knowing that the PCs can hop from location to location with relative ease, what's are some good ways of dealing with not wanting PCs to head to certain areas "until they're ready?" In your experience, what's an "appropriate" amount of globe hopping with this kind of setting at low levels? Mid levels? High Levels?

Thanks for any responses, each one will have me bang my head against the wall one less time.

[VRMH]

As long as they have no reason to travel somewhere, what does it matter they could travel anywhere? Let them "hop" all they like, but the action was back where they started.

Also, just scale the map down in your mind. Maybe in ye olden days the next village was a day's travel. Now the next country is. So just think of a whole nation as just another town.

[choyer7]

Well when the characters get the ability to start really moving along the globe it can be pretty hard to stop them if they get their mind set. However, they would also have to be interested in those areas for some reason. Generally magical transport really spikes upwards of lvl 7 and it is still pretty risky as the wizard could make huge mistakes trying to go to a location he has only seen on map.

A good question for yourself would be: Are you saying that there will be people selling magical travel, or that you are worried at the PC's ability to travel?

Generally an area itself can ward away PC's if you have the kind of PC's that understand that they can run from a encounter, so I would let them go where they want and then let them face the consequences.

Because of teleports error you don't have to worry about them teleporting into the bosses lair or something that would get the killed. Just ward them away with the dangers they would face if they tried to do those areas. If they persist tell them that this will be challenging and then let them have it, perhaps they will surprise you.

High levels which I will refer to as 14-20 can quickly move to plane hopping and you may find yourself quickly leaving your world behind if their business if finished there. The PC's will have plenty of opportunities to get themselves in a lot of trouble here so I don't see nay reason to restrict anything at this point.

[johnnythexxxiv]

Magic hasn't really advanced along with tech (and there certainly isn't more magitech popping up) so no more people would be offering magical transportation than most settings. In fact, there's a slight dip in the number of casters running around since people aren't quite as reliant on magic for daily activities. Medicine's a bit better so remove disease et al. doesn't need to be cast as often, agriculture's improved a bit so plant growth isn't as needed to properly sustain larger populations, and so on and so forth. That doesn't mean that spellcasting services are hard to come by by any stretch of the imagination though.

Teleport itself isn't what I'm worried about, it's more so things like "Oh, we have to go to City X? Well I mean we could follow the road and get there in two months or we could just fly over these two mountain ranges that I've never personally been to nor had reason to care about until now and get there in a week." With teleport they arrive at City X way under leveled, realize that and then figure out how to rectify that problem. With quick travel they arrive only kind of under leveled and then blame the GM for making the encounters too hard.

I know the obvious answer is "make the encounters suit the PCs, not the other way around" but it would nice to have the world feel just a little more organic than that.

[DM_Blake]

Don't do anything.

Too bad for them if they get there and they are "under-leveled".

What you do is give them interesting adventure hooks to places that they SHOULD visit. Don't give them an adventure hook to a distant city and expect them to get 7 levels on the way there then be disappointed if they only get 1, or zero, levels and can't handle the dangers around that city.

Instead, give them an adventure hook to some ruins in those mountains. That way they won't fly over two mountain ranges, they'll just fly over one and visit the ruins. They'll get some levels there and maybe find a new adventure hook to some other adventure area nearby in the same mountains. They'll fly to that, get more levels, and THEN they get the adventure hook to that distant city - what luck, they're already close AND they got some levels on the way so they're not under-leveled.

And if they ignore you and want to skip that cool-sounding ruin and fly straight to the distant city, make sure they've heard about the dangers in that city (whatever makes them "under-leveled" to visit it now) so that the players and/or their PCs can figure out that going there, right now, is bad.

And if they STILL insist, let them go and get in trouble. If they're lucky, they'll run away with their tail between their legs. Lesson learned. Or they might even die. Lesson learned. Hey, it's a dangerous world. If they want to ignore warnings and skip to the highly-dangerous areas when they're still under-leveled, then they need to face those consequences like grown-ups.

[choyer7]

johnnythexxxiv wrote:

Magic hasn't really advanced along with tech (and there certainly isn't more magitech popping up) so no more people would be offering magical transportation than most settings. In fact, there's a slight dip in the number of casters running around since people aren't quite as reliant on magic for daily activities. Medicine's a bit better so remove disease et al. doesn't need to be cast as often, agriculture's improved a bit so plant growth isn't as needed to properly sustain larger populations, and so on and so forth. That doesn't mean that spellcasting services are hard to come by by any stretch of the imagination though.

Teleport itself isn't what I'm worried about, it's more so things like "Oh, we have to go to City X? Well I mean we could follow the road and get there in two months or we could just fly over these two mountain ranges that I've never personally been to nor had reason to care about until now and get there in a week." With teleport they arrive at City X way under leveled, realize that and then figure out how to rectify that problem. With quick travel they arrive only kind of under leveled and then blame the GM for making the encounters too hard.

I know the obvious answer is "make the encounters suit the PCs, not the other way around" but it would nice to have the world feel just a little more organic than that.

Yeah I have to agree with Blake in many respects. Now if you are telling them they should go to this area and then they get there too quickly for your liking and all of your encounters are too strong, you may want to consider some more side quests in the location or at least preface the challenge with a warning.

Honestly its that uphill battle that can really make campaigns and it is quite doable for PC's to take on creatures up to 3 or even 4 above their CR. I have frequently found that the characters can do more than you think if you press them. Its also fine for the PC's to run, or to have them engage in more clandestine operations to give them the edge in a fight.

[ccs]

johnnythexxxiv wrote:

Teleport itself isn't what I'm worried about, it's more so things like "Oh, we have to go to City X? Well I mean we could follow the road and get there in two months or we could just fly over these two mountain ranges that I've never personally been to nor had reason to care about until now and get there in a week." With teleport they arrive at City X way under leveled, realize that and then figure out how to rectify that problem. With quick travel they arrive only kind of under leveled and then blame the GM for making the encounters too hard.

Well, there's probably REASONS most folk use the roads....

Teleportation:
Readily available? Sure. But expensive. And the more accurate, the more it'll cost you. Likewise concerning popular destinations & at certain times.
Some areas might be blocked. Some might require permission. Entry taxes? Restricted arrival places, possibly enforced by magic?
And your maps? Readily available, yes. Fairly accurate, yes. Absolutely perfect enough to base a blind teleport jaunt on??? Hope there wasn't any new construction at the spot you've picked since this copy was made....

Flight (overland):
It's OK. Faster than walking/riding for sure. But it's still only about 6mph.
How wide is that mountain range again? How HIGH was it? Flying predators, crossing NPCs holdings uninvited, weather, getting lost, limited carry capacity (maybe). Breathing at high altitudes. And weather itself not withstanding, flying would be COLD. (Or maybe really HOT if you were flying through the desert during the day) You'd have to be bundled up like a WWI biplane pilot!
And sure, your spells duration might last 8+ hours. But do you really want to fly continuously that long? In the weather, heat/cold, into the night, etc?? You're gonna land. Eventually.
It only looks like the easy solution on paper, reading the mechanics of the spell....

[Ascalaphus]

If maps are accurate and all, then people know some areas are not safe for travelling. Even by air. In fact, given the consequences if something goes wrong with your skyship (argument with dragon), it's a pretty scary form of travel.

Likewise, if a destination is a scary place, but getting there is easy, people will know that and warn the PCs.