So I am looking at the exploration rules on how it takes 1 day or so to explore a hex. Some areas have certain things that set off every hour
So how does one roleplay the hours of exploration and make these saves every hour? It seemed to me that having the PC's roll 12 saves per day (assuming 12 hour day) is a bit much and I don't know how to spice up exploration (aside from the things you find) other than "You're in a forest... there are trees...".
So I am looking at the exploration rules on how it takes 1 day or so to explore a hex. Some areas have certain things that set off every hour ** spoiler omitted **. I also do plan on having weather effects (like heat wave) to show up.
So how does one roleplay the hours of exploration and make these saves every hour? It seemed to me that having the PC's roll 12 saves per day (assuming 12 hour day) is a bit much and I don't know how to spice up exploration (aside from the things you find) other than "You're in a forest... there are trees...".
I've been handling it pretty simply. A couple of saves here, some in character talk, etc... The exploration is "important" but there's so much of it that running the AP would take years if you spend too much time with the hex by hex stuff.
[edited for mathfail]
Agreed. Exploration is already going to take up a LOT of the game; you might want to limit roleplay to only a small handful of times per session, perhaps by dropping in a noncombat encounter that the players can interact with until they're done ("You hear rustling in the bushes, but it's only a rabbit" "You find an old ruined wall, but it seems whatever was here has been eroded away").
As far as weather, the Stolen Lands are more of a canadian climate, and the game starts at the beginning of spring when you're more likely to still see blizzards than heat waves.
James (or was it Jason?) has also gone on record as saying that the game was not designed to take inclement weather encounters into account; in the beginning of the game, the players will be only a wee number of levels, and some encounters like blizzard or wildfire would be potentially lethal encounters on their own. And if those weather encounters aren't bad enough, even mildly inclement weather like a cold snap or heavy rain can penalize wandering encounters that they'd normally only survive by the skin of their teeth -- the players being level one doesn't make the trolls they come across any less of a CR 7, and having penalized movement due to snow or not seeing the monsters until they're face to face doesn't help.
Later on in the game, I seem to recall that disastrous weather is already incorporated into the kingdom events table.
Use discretion.
Also, your players may all have horses within short order anyhow, which turns that 12 hours of travel into 4 hours, and exploring all terrains to a 1-day minimum.
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Well off the bat, 12 hours is a long time out. Where did you get that figure? A full day of exploration in my games assumes a standard 8 hour day (of actual exploration). If you’re spending more than 8 hours moving, that invokes the “forced march” rules. In addition to incurring the in-game penalties, I’d guess that frays a lot of nerves.
Forced March: In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.
A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It's possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.
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We play a game called Campfire Tales.
Essentially the GM asks a series of questions about the PCs character histories or opinions on things. Each player makes a guess as to what the answer is. For each answer the PC gets right they gain a point. Every 5 points could be traded in for a Hero Point or Plot Twist card.
The players really got to know each other's characters a lot more intimately playing that game, and it was a fun non-combat interaction between a group of characters isolated in the vast and dangerous wilderness.
Give it a try, once per session at least.
Doing the game tomorrow so thanks for the ideas. I will still be using the weather effects (I'm a fairly tough but fair GM) for a challenge, though Im not too worried since the chance of rolling anything above a 70 is low. As for saves for heat exhaustion/hypothermia, I think I'll just make it a "three saves, your down" type deal.
At first it was a novelty, and my players enjoyed the exploration. Then it became a bit tedious. And now we more or less cruise through and focus more on the actual plot.
Some of my players was not too happy with the notion that they still have to explore in part 5, when they have been royalty and have families and stuff. But since it is scaled for the PCs levels, no hired band of adventurers can really DO anything, so it ends up being them that have to windwalk and harass monsters.
So don't overdo it early on, otherwise, it will get real old soon enough.
Yeah I can already see how exploring can be tedious after awhile. I am changing some things here and there so they find stuff a bit more plot relevant instead of a radish patch :). I am looking alot at cryptoids as well to make it interesting when they find some of these like a Kingmaker version of Igopogo or maybe add the marsupial lion along with the Thycaline.
So I did my second game of Kingmaker and I gotta say, as is, exploring is less exciting and alot more tedious. While they haven't hit some of the more exciting hexes
it's becoming clear that the hexes that don't have anything in them or don't pertain to the main story feel more in the way than anything else. What are some ways to make these more interesting? I am looking for non-combat ways. I was thinking of maybe having some hazards like quicksand but what are some other good ideas?
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In the way of what exactly?
I explained to my players that Kingmaker is not about some grand meta-plot, instead it's a very Man vs. Wild story and because the players are adventurers, everything they do is by definition an adventure.
Have you started the pranks with Tyg-Titter Tut and Perlivash?
Solving that mystery and befriending the fey became an important sub-plot to my players when they were in the forest.
Have they interacted much with characters coming through Oleg's Trading Post?
The people in there have a bunch of sub-quests - in fact those quest lines are a good way to motivate players.
Random Encounters -
These encounters need not always be combat and you can instead change these up to RP encounters, or signs of the creature's passing. I added an encounter with a naked man in a river due to random encounters. The PCs rescued him and realised he had a nasty wolf-bite on his side, and had no memory of three days.
They went on a sub-quest to find some wolfsbane in order to cure the man of his affliction.
The plot is ABOUT your PCs and everything they choose to do. Present them with difficult choices, and ethical dilemmas. Combine random encounters with written encounters (if you roll kobolds in the tatzlwyrm hex then perhaps theres some kobolds being attacked by tatzlwyrms. Do the players let the kobolds die? Or do they rescue the kobolds to gain their allegiance/help for the den later?
Play up the weather - I warned my PCs they were exploring in winter, and when a few didn't take the hint they suffered the consequences when I rolled a sudden cold snap. The gnome sorcerer fell unconscious in the saddle and the PCs had to find a sheltered area, start a fire and then go looking for fur to make impromptu cold-weather gear out of.
Improvisation is your friend in this campaign. As is choice. There is no BBEG breathing down the PC's necks plotting world domination/destruction. Just the PCs trying to change the world and everything they do does that.
Hope this helps.
Make your players roll the encounter dice. Remember:
5% chance of encounter when entering a hex.
15% chance when exploring the hex.
15% chance when resting in the hex.
I let certain places modify these odds, like 1% chance of encounter when resting in the hidden gold mine, or 25% chance if resting in a square with a predatory monster like the tatzylwyrms.
But if you have your players do the percentile rolls for these encounters, you can keep their attention on the game even when its "booring" hex exploration. Assuming 4 players, that is 3 percentile rolls for an encounter, and a possible 4th roll if an encounter happens. Keeps everyone busy.
Granted, for Hexploration, it plays out like this at my table:
Me: Right, Ferrick, roll me Hex Entry Chance.
Ferrick: 53.
Me: Nothing then, Jacob, Hex Exploration, if you please.
Jacob: 23!
Me: A cold wind whips up at high noon, but nothing comes of it, even if it set you a little on edge for a bit. Snake, Camping roll.
Snake: 13, dammit.
Me: Right, Tuesday, encounter roll. And who is on watch near midnight?
Tuesday: 48.
Jacob: I'm on watch.
Me: Alright, so Jacob, while you are on watch, the campfire explodes into a riot of colored light and smoke. Scares the crap out of your horse, and the noise from that quickly wakes up everyone else, although all they see is the leftover smoke wafting away, the lightshow has already died down. Oh, and your bedroll is crawling away like an inchworm.
Jacob: You know, I'm really getting tired of these faeries. Someone get me the sugar cubes from my horse's feedbag!
I've pre-rolled and pre-configured all of the wandering monster encounters, so I know, for instance, that on the 23rd day of Hex entry there will be an encounter, or that on the 45th 'overnight' there will be an encounter.
When the party hits that mark on the timeline, I look at the terrain, and snag the next pre-built encounter for that terrain. When there is no encounter, I reveal the terrain and we move on. As a result, the 'non-significant' hexes fly by, interrupted only by inter-party discussion (often of their upcoming plans or concerns).
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Like the previous poster - I have already rolled to determine the presence of any random encounters for unexplored hexes and taken the advantage of the prep time to really work up the encounter.
Like the "naked man in the river" add in that someone did, I added a few bandits that had been fishing and become charmed by a nixie for instance. I added a treant. Add some encounters where one creature is up against another - I had one with a dire wolf trapped in a beartrap being accosted by boggards trying to stab it. Who do the PCs help? I had a dire boar race out of underbrush towards the PCs - the PCs prepared to fight it as charged them, but it ran right by - only to be seen that a troll was chasing it. Extra prep time allows for these agendas. Thats why I prefer doing it this way.
Aside from creatures - make exploring fun or exciting by inserting topographical and geographical locations; above and beyond the obvious ones already noted in the module.
Heres what I suggest: take some time to view some panoramic photos online of landscapes, to get some inspiration of what terrains and features the PCs may encounter.
In place of random encounters w/ creatures, I describe options in terrain to the players. Describe how a set of hills comes down to meet a valley and cuts this way or that, bisected by a small river (most small creeks etc won't show up on the map as a river - but it doesn't mean they don't exist). Give the players options: you can scale this side of the hills - it looks quite steep and slow going and the wind look like it's shearing up there; you can head south towards the smaller hills to see if you can find a pass to the north, or cross the river here to the west and follow the canyon through the hills to the west though being in the canyon will trap you with little option of retreat.
Then have each "option" pose a "challenge" - whether it's swim, climb, survival, tracking, perception....something. Let there be something discovered - so that they wonder what would be discovered the other way. A rare plant? Tracks? An old war totem from a savage humanoid tribe. Ancient ruins of....something. Barbarians? A wizards tower? An old temple? or Shrine? barrow mound? Ancient civilization? etc etc etc. It doesn't have to HAVE any creatures. The fact that it was discovered is an encounter in and of itself.
Ultimately, encourage your players to see this as an oppotunity to explore and discover - and hopefully engage in this campaign more than they have in the past.
For instance: in most other campaigns, the maps and setting are already published and written. Droskars Crag in Darkmoon Vale is a perfect example. This campaign allows for the possibility for the PCs to name their own unchartered but notable topographical and geographical locations.
We all have little local areas with special names on them that locals know about: Pinecone hill, Redwood Grove, Devil's Peak, Devil's Canyon, Devil's Fork, Horseshoe Bend, Wolf Canyon, Blueberry Hill, Apple Hill, Cedar Creek, Billy Goat Bluff, King's Crossing, etc etc etc. What about known features to man such as "Halfdome" at Yosemite, or "Old Faithful" at Yellowstone, on a larger scale is Grand Canyon etc. These had to be named by someone! Or if we go to places popular in fiction: MountainTop where the Watchtower of Amon Sul was built, or Ford of Brunen where Arwyn fended off the Nazgul with the rising creekwater. These places when they are named gain stories of their own. The PCs are in a position to "write" these stories. Few other campaigns allow for this.
Provide these options and terrain features, allow for them to be explored and navigated. Use great pictures of scenery and landscapes to fuel your imagination to describe what the PCs see to explore. It doesn't have to be a drawn out affair - it just adds life and spice to the campaign.
In a recent game I ran for my players - they were exploring the hills SE of the StaggLord's fort...
near the owlbears den
and I described one hex having a deep rocky valley with steep hills surrounding it on three sides - navigating to the top is a challenge - but at the top was this great big plateu roaming with elk - headed by a dire elk. The eagles in the area flew away and cried out when the PCs were heading up the hills - "warning" the elk of their coming etc. This was far more memorable than any encounter with another dire boar.
Another adjacent hex had the hills culminate downwards into a old dried up river bed canyon - most likely dried due to geological shifts that cause the ground to open rifts and change the flow the river at one time. The canyon has become home to many wolves. They could see a pack of them roaming about and a small cave down below with two more sleeping in the shade of the canyon.
It wasn't there meant for an encounter - the PCs were level 6 and 8 wolves CR 1 really wouldn't be much of a problem at all - it was just fluff for the story. Had the PCs wanted to kill all the wolves, I would have just hand-waved it as narration and described the PCs slaughtering them. However, knowing the wolves werent a threat and just part of the natural surroundings, the PCs let them be. One PC cast invisible, silence and fly - he went into the small cave to see it was just a little pocket in the rocks where they sleep - nothing more to it than that, then left. The wolves snifffed something was amiss, and snarled but by they time they were all on edge the PC had flown away. Due to the snarling, they dubbed the place "Snarling Canyon" The plateau with the elk has been dubbed "Huntsman's Ridge"
These have more lasting memories than any "random encounter" you could roll straight out of the book.
Feel free to share your own ideas and thoughts.
Robert
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Oh yeah - and don't forget the occasional corpse or remains as a "random" encounter.
You'd be surprised how much discussion and roleplay can come out of a simple long-dead body (or portion thereof).
Who was he?
Where did he come from?
How long ago?
How'd he die?
Where the rest of him?
Does he have anything of interest on him?
Was he a bandit who got doublecrossed? Was he a ranger/hunter that succumbed to weather or wounds? was he a Pathfinder member on some grand exploration? was he an unfortunate adventurer? or a criminal or war refugee who fled into the wilds to hide? Was he assassinated and brought out here to dispose of? Or was he buried here long ago and some wild creature dug him up? Is he tied to some local story, or legend of a missing person? Does he have any personal effects that link him back to a locale? A picture? Jewlery? Writ of passage? Etc.
This is an excellent example of a non-combat random encounter that you can have prepared to add something extra to the game.
Here's a hint - let the players drive the story. As DM - maybe you have no idea who the body is. As the players bring up the possibilities - pay attention to their dialogue and questions and run with it. As they ask questions fill in the blanks as you go allowing their guesses and fishing for answers guide you to what/who it is/was.
Player: does he have any remnants of clothing that could narrow down his origins
DM: [having had no previous plans on how to play this out] ah yes....it looks like the remnants of a tabard still cling to his rotted corpse. the color of the thread seem to be similar to Andoran.
Player: You mean like one of the Blue Falcon uniforms?
DM: YES! That's exactly right.
Player: I check his skeletal remains for any obvious signs of injury / wounds / trauma.
DM: Ah, okay....it has seen its share of degradation over the years but the huge hole and dent in its skull seems to be fairly eviden of a large bludgeoning weapon.
Player: Or a fall?
DM: Now that you mention it - you are the base of a rocky outcropping - it's about 60 ft up to the top. A fall from there onto this rocky ground would indeed cause such an injury.
Player: How about so and so ranger character go up to the top and see if there's anything to look at up there....
DM: (thinking this is turning out pretty cool). You can risk scaling the rock wall or walk a ways down the hill to find easier way of going up.
Once at the top (either w/ climb checks etc)
DM: you find the remnants of a sturdy but rusting iron grappling hook and the tattered remains of hemp rope slung around a large rock.
Player: we search the area for any more clues
DM: (survival or perception checks later) You find a couple of small arrows - a knowledge local check identifies them as being similar fletching of goblins
Player: we broaden our search and look some more
DM: (after survival checks) After taking some time to scavenge the area, you turn up 4 goblin skulls amid the underbrush - whoever this was seemed to be able to handle himself in a fight pretty well - but was obviously outnumbered. Among the goblin remains you find a few scattered coins, and a......etc.
Ultimately this campaign is more about the players than most others. They drive the story. It's why so many players have come to enjoy it, I think. The campaign is only as good as they want to make it. The players determine the level of their own involvement.
Robert