Journeys

Traveling can be every bit as dangerous as facing monsters or delving into dungeons. Long roads cut across plains, forests, deserts, and mountains, where the party must contend with hunger, fatigue, unexpected encounters, and setbacks of every kind.

Shifts

In Trilhamarga , the day is divided abstractly into 4 shifts: Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night.

A party of adventurers can travel for 2 shift in a row without suffering any penalty. For each additional shift spent traveling, a character takes 6 fatigue damage .

Most commonly, the party travels during the Morning and Afternoon shifts, uses the Evening shift to make camp, and sleeps through the Night shift.

Travel Time

The first thing the GM should do is establish how many travel days the party needs to reach its destination. To do this, consider the means of transport the characters are using and the type of terrain they must cross.

Use the following modifiers to calculate the number of travel days based on the predominant type of terrain:

Danger Level

After establishing the expected number of travel days for the journey, the GM must set its danger level. The danger level determines the number of encounters the party must go through to reach its goal.

Use the table below to calculate the number of encounters based on the number of travel days and the journey's danger level.

The number of encounters the characters must face during a journey equals the travel days divided by the encounter frequency that corresponds to the journey's danger level.

Journey Encounters

A journey's encounters can be drawn from a table, like the following one, or prepared in sequence by the GM . The final encounter is always the party's arrival at its goal, which may or may not include a challenge of its own, at the GM 's discretion. Besides that, the GM can roll 1d12 + 8 to determine the time of day at which an encounter takes place.

AMBUSH ON THE ROAD: Thieves, mercenaries, or intelligent creatures strike by surprise, demanding supplies, a toll, or blood. If the party suffered a setback before this encounter, they are caught off guard.

BLOCKED CROSSING: The road ceases to exist: a bridge has collapsed, a ravine has opened, or the road has been swallowed by landslides. There is no direct passage. The party must decide whether to improvise a new crossing or go around the obstacle, losing time and resources. If the party chooses to look for another way, this encounter does not count toward journey progress.

DANGEROUS CROSSING: The road is broken by an unstable bridge, a log over a chasm, or a river in flood. The party must decide whether to cross with a real risk of falling and losing gear, or to go around, which will add several days to the journey. If the party chooses to look for another way, this encounter does not count toward journey progress.

DUBIOUS COMPANY: A group of travelers offers help or shelter. There may, however, be ulterior motives: they could be thieves, spies, cultists, or just ordinary folk. Either way, trusting them is a risk.

HIDDEN RUIN: The ground gives way or a landslide swallows part of the party, who plunge into an ancient structure of tunnels, catacombs, or forgotten ruins. Making their way through the interior and finding a way out is the only path forward.

HOSTILE TERRITORY: The party crosses territory held by hostile creatures. Spirits, sentinels, or guards watch over the passage. They must negotiate, slip past, or face the consequences of trespassing.

LANDMARK: The party comes upon a landmark . A structure that catches their eye. An abandoned mine, a dark cave, or even a roadside inn. It is up to the party to decide whether to explore or ignore the opportunity.

LOST PATH: The party loses its bearings: the trail forks, the markers vanish, or the sun disappears behind clouds or trees. They must find the right way before their supplies run out. If the party chooses to press on without having found the correct path, this encounter does not count toward journey progress.

MERCILESS STORM: A torrential downpour, blizzard, or sandstorm forces the party to seek shelter or endure the weather. The characters take 6 fatigue damage before the next encounter if they decide to push on.

SIGN OF HOPE: A spring, a shrine, or some other promising place appears ahead, but reaching it takes effort: perhaps the way there is dangerous, or perhaps something guards the place and bars any approach.

TERRITORIAL PREDATOR: The party realizes that a wild or monstrous creature is stalking them. With every lapse in caution, it draws closer. They must throw it off, drive it away, or face it.

Advancing the Journey

The first step in determining how far the journey advances toward the next encounter is figuring out how many days actually pass before reaching it. The number of days until the next encounter is set by the table below, according to the danger level of that stretch of the journey:

Journey Challenge

To determine whether the party suffers a setback before the next encounter , the characters make a journey challenge . A journey challenge is a skill challenge with a difficulty based on the type of terrain, in which each participant must describe how they contributed to the journey's advance and use a relevant skill:

If the party succeeds, the adventurers reach the next encounter without any setbacks . Otherwise, the GM chooses or rolls a setback from the list below:

Supplies

Each character consumes one travel ration for every day traveled on a journey.

Conserving Supplies

To conserve supplies , the party can hunt and forage while traveling. Doing so increases the difficulty of the journey challenge by +2 for each character in the party.

On a success, the party consumes only half the supplies needed for the number of days traveled, rounded up. Otherwise, the party consumes its supplies as normal.

Traveling Without Supplies

Traveling without supplies increases the difficulty of the journey challenge by +3 for each character in the party.

On a success, the party manages to reach the next encounter without any setbacks ; on a failure, however, it suffers an additional setback , and every long rest during that stretch counts only as a short rest .

Wounds on Journeys

A wounded character undertaking a journey may make one attempt to recover a wound per long rest taken on that stretch of the journey, but failing those attempts does not grant the party any Boons .

Landmarks

Beyond encounters , in some situations the GM may need to prepare or improvise points of interest along a journey. Places where the characters can rest, find supplies, or uncover important information about the world.

Below are a few ideas to help the GM with that task:

BREWERY OR WINERY: The aroma of fermentation fills this bustling hub of local trade. The challenge here is not to survive, but to navigate political intrigue, merchant disputes, and sharp-tongued gossip. Amid the dealings, shrewd adventurers can forge alliances, pry information out of drunken nobles, or land lucrative sponsorships.

CAMPSITE: Torn tarps and still-warm ashes point to a recent departure. The adventurers can try to track the original occupants, but they should stay alert, for something may still be lurking. Exploring the abandoned site offers a chance to recover supplies left behind, find journals with useful clues, or turn up small treasures hidden beneath the camp's remains.

CAVE: A crack in the rock serves as a natural shelter, but entering it means dealing with beasts, hidden bandits, or territorial humanoid tribes. Negotiating with or fighting these inhabitants lets the party claim the space as a safe campsite, as well as loot mercenaries' hideaways and discover alternate routes into the underworld.

CHAPEL, MONASTERY, OR PRIORY: The mist-shrouded ruin of an ancient structure dedicated to a faith. Those who dare to enter may have to face profane creatures that have overrun the place, or contend with old traps set there to keep looters out. Once cleared, however, the site can become a valuable refuge, along with the chance to uncover blessed relics and forgotten sacred texts.

FARM, RANCH, OR MILL: A quiet rural property home to a family that prefers its isolation. The characters must convince the often-paranoid residents that they are no threat. Diplomacy or cunning can earn fresh mounts, access to plentiful supplies, and tactical use of the buildings for rest or defense.

GRAVEYARD: A burial ground of heavy atmosphere, marked by headstones worn away by the ages. In exploring this place, the party may end up rousing the undead, falling ill from exposure to miasmas, or facing corrupted cultists who use the tombs as a base of operations. In very old graveyards, one can find ancestral artifacts forgotten by time, and even glean secrets of the world of old through contact with the spirits that rest there.

HOVEL OR LIGHTHOUSE: Isolated though it is, this structure still appears to be inhabited, so entering uninvited could be taken as trespassing. Yet in an emergency the place could make an excellent refuge, and winning its occupant's friendship may earn not only an invitation to dinner but also a fine source of knowledge and secrets about the region.

INN: A lively, warm hall packed with bards, merchants, and other travelers making merry. The challenges here involve shining in drinking contests, breaking up friendly brawls, and winning over the locals. By engaging with charm, the party can score free rooms, recruit eager allies, and pick up promising rumors.

MINE OR QUARRY: Dark tunnels with rusted rails and blunt warnings of danger. The descent poses lethal challenges, such as cave-ins, thin air, or ambushes by horrors that shun the light. Surviving the depths lets the party extract valuable minerals, locate forgotten equipment, and use the tunnels to reach distant regions of the underworld.

SHRINE: A quiet ring of stones, with fresh offerings and a reverent atmosphere. With no great dangers lurking, the place asks only for the wisdom to identify which tribute pleases the local deities. Leaving the right offering rewards travelers with peaceful rest, fleeting mystical blessings, and the healing of afflictions.

TOWER: An imposing monolith of ancient stone that draws all manner of residents. Climbing its floors means dealing with fortified bandits, winged beasts, or eccentric mages and their experiments. Mastering the structure grants an unrivaled strategic view of the region, along with access to relics or stockpiles of contraband.

WRECK OR SHIPWRECK: Wreckage and scattered cargo mark this site of disaster. Exploring it may call for caution, along with the risk of a run-in with opportunistic scavengers. Still, sifting through the debris can mean rescuing grateful survivors, recovering intact goods, and finding valuables among the lost baggage.