I'm GMing a game where the party has chosen to travel on foot all the way across the country. They could have travelled by boat if they had been willing to part with some gold to rent/buy one, but no dice.
I don't want to just say "many days later you arrive" because then their choice to be cheap and walk has no weight.
I've managed to make the first few days of travel interesting - some random encounters, a blizzard, pretty scenery, a bunch of fey running around in the moonlight trying to trick the PCs, etc. They've been loving it so far, but I'm starting to run out of ideas, and they still have a ways to go.
They're traveling through a magical forest filled with fey and dire wolves and blizzards and winter-themed monsters, and have pretty much figured out how to not get lost. I want to come up with more role-playing opportunities as well as interesting combat encounters but I've got a bit of writer's block.
Any ideas?
Raging Swan's wilderness dressing pdf has a ton of tables and charts to help you flesh out wilderness travel.(including deep/fae forest tables) I'm using it myself currently for my Kingmaker campaign.
A lot of the stuff can spark inspiration to turn a 1-2 sentence hook into a full blown mini encounter.
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Ever heard of Snow Blindness? (I'm assuming there is snow, since you mentioned winter-themed monsters) The UV light is reflected in the snow and damages the eyes, which is like looking into the sun for prolonged periods of times. You could have them mysteriously growing blind if they don't protect their eyes.
And really, if they are in a magical (creepy) forest you just have to haress them with disturbing tracks around/inside their camp every time they wake up. If you want inspiration for the culprit you can borrow it from folklore around the world.
For instance The Wendigo, which is a pretty well-known monster.
Picture (kinda disturbing, tho. Don't choke on something!)
or maybe a Yuki-Onna? (Essentially a re-skinned succubus)
Depending on the urgency of their current mission you could add a whole adventure on the way. Think about a ruin (Mesoamerican pyramid?), a dungeon (big ancient human tombs?) or a lose settlement of fey.
Beside this, the fey theme allows a lot of illusions, trickery and harassment. Even if the feys are not evil, they might want to have some fun at the party's expense. Or maybe they face some danger and need the adventurers.
Something else, to highlight the different modes of travel, is have a traveler from their destination going the opposite way. They bring news that things have happened in the destination city, perhaps something that indirectly will make their objective more difficult.
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Well I do have an idea for some fun.
Depending on the party you might want to go with this, a Tavern/Inn, within the strange forest.
If your going for fun, the Tavern/Inn could be owned by a friendly wizard illusionist. (having just found the place and is using illusions to make it look 'freshly repaired and such' to make guests feel better about spending gold there.
Or the evil route.
A trap by the drow to drug and kidnap slaves for trade. Using disguise self and a few simple spells the patrons and work staff could all be Dark elves.
although my favorite was a Tavern/Inn called the Busty Dryad, with an obvious male drow wizard that enjoyed the surface world so much that he set up shop in the only place he could after escaping his house duties, what he never tells anyone is that he is an enchanter that has enslaved a Dryad to an apple tree in the middle of the tavern and uses the fruit to feed everyone that visits.
I've yet to have anyone of the PC's figure out he's a NE Wizard that just is being selfish and wants to stay on the surface instead of going back to his drow house and -work- as the head of the wizards of his house. I found it so funny that PC's took him at face value that he turned over a new leaf and wasn't dangerous.
and not to mention running into travelling merchants and/or Scam artists.
SOLOMON the great! :3 is mine, he is good at crafting Potions, Scrolls and Wands, but does deal is stollen items as well and items with Magic Aura cast on them for those customers looking for a Ring, Rod, Staff and/or other Wonderous items that normally have a permanent effect.
Check out the DM Miscellany books, especially wilderness dressing. Gives tons of little interactions and interesting fluff to make things more interesting. Probably one of my most used 3PP purchases to date.
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I'm GMing a game where the party has chosen to travel on foot all the way across the country. They could have travelled by boat if they had been willing to part with some gold to rent/buy one, but no dice.
I don't want to just say "many days later you arrive" because then their choice to be cheap and walk has no weight.
I've managed to make the first few days of travel interesting - some random encounters, a blizzard, pretty scenery, a bunch of fey running around in the moonlight trying to trick the PCs, etc. They've been loving it so far, but I'm starting to run out of ideas, and they still have a ways to go.They're traveling through a magical forest filled with fey and dire wolves and blizzards and winter-themed monsters, and have pretty much figured out how to not get lost. I want to come up with more role-playing opportunities as well as interesting combat encounters but I've got a bit of writer's block.
Any ideas?
Honestly? Get rid of it. No really, resolve yourself that long distance travel isn't relevant. Because eventually it won't be. And that gives you more time to spend on the stuff that is important. It's a win/win.
I partially agree with Anzyr. I only play out the travel if it is important or if I know there are encounters along the way that I want to occur as part of revealing the indigenous peoples or setting that is being traversed.
If I play out the travel, I roll for two to three random encounters per day. That includes one for nocturnal encounters. 20% chance of an encounter works well - with adjustments up or down depending on the area.
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Also take note of peoples Rations and Water to make sure they can make the trip if they can't make a trip with the food they have then one could start with the survival rolls and such and attack the food they find, then PS: Cooking to not poison themselves with what they cook by making it incorrectly and KS: Nature to make sure it isn't poisonous to begin with.
What are they crossing the country for?
You could have them arrive a few days too late for whatever it was; somebody else already raided the dungeon.
Though, honestly, the decision of mode of travel should mostly just determine what type of 'random' encounters they get. Boats get aquatic, fairy forests get fey, and deserts get giant bugs.
Also, in some areas, they could run into bandits, unfriendly tribal Humanoids (or other creatures), or even slavers and/or corrupt officials in "civilized" areas.