For the next part of my campaign, I have the PC group traveling through a dense, mystical forest to a few locations they know they need to visit. They have a general idea of where to go, and those location encounters are worked out, but I'd like to introduce a mechanic of them finding their way to these places through a forest they can get lost in, getting more dangerous the more lost they are.
I'm thinking something similar to Zelda's forest where there's a pattern you need to follow, or something along the lines of the city chase mechanic presented in one of the core books (GameMastery?). Basically, I don't really want to map out the entire forest, but have more of an auto-gen process (beyond just random encounters) of them getting closer or further away, and the forest getting meaner or not, depending on their choices while they seek these encounter locations out.
Has anyone done something like this? How did it work out?
This is not exactly what you're looking for, but I've used it in a game where overland travel (in a forested area) was used as a central theme. You may find some things useful, or not...
As for the mechanics, you can go for a "actively used skills" approach or a "reactively used saving throws" approach. Both can be combined together whereas players can save vs lost with Will or a Survival check etc. the Survival skill has a good breakdown on how it can be used.
Otherwise, you could built an encounter table. Make sure that not all encounters = monsters; include cliffs, chance to become lost, rations ruined by rodents, night made uncomfortable with insects etc. as possible hazards to be encountered. You could even tier these tables, with results being "roll on the following worst-than-this-one table".
'findel
Wow, thanks for the reference - nice and simple post.