I actually thought about asking her to record the audio on the other end of the phone, but I was working a little bit last-minute on this ad and didn't want to have to demand anything from her on a really short timeline!! So I just did a tribute by completely bastardizing her accent 😂
@@GinnyDi Personally I have never touched a dnd session. However I do love to role play! Your videos have helped me so much. Every time I watch one I ask my self. “ what part of this can I use in rp? “ many of your videos have helped me to learn everything I can about role play. Thank you for everything you have done! You inspire me 😁
The Ryuutma RPG is almost entirely about travel. It seems to have a lot of creative ways to make it interesting. Also thanx. These were great ideas, and really get imagination rolling.
@@GinnyDi did you say eleven and a half. What kid of socrercy is this. Where are the behind the scenes disks? Who are you? And what have you done to the dm
Great advice. Ive not had much experience with “travel sessions”, but one great one I had actually involved the characters needing to show how they prepare for the journey through the snowy mountain pass. Pretty much, if we didn’t have the right gear, enough gear, or enough rations or survival we simply wouldn’t make it. It allowed us to be much more proactive in the journey and got some interesting ideas from characters
The house rule that fixed travel for us in 5e: Long rests may only happen at friendly settlements. This means that there is tension in every encounter. Even simple things like wilderness hazards can weaken the party in some way making their quest more difficult once they get to their destination.
Hope all your players are on board. I met a DM like that once. Absolutely miserable. It completely cripples spellcasters. And Warlocks? Not even playable.
@@tiph3802 Maybe you've misunderstood. It's still just 1 adventuring day's worth of encounters. It's just a narrative device it doesn't actually change the gameplay.
Great advice, and excellent video quality as always. One of my players gave me some honest feedback (praise the sun) a few years back. He told me he just wasn’t interested in obstacles that were obviously ‘encounters for encounter’s sake. Ever since, I’ve made it a point that encounters are either very short and sweet, or impactful in some way, and the players have voiced loving the shift.
I cannot thank you enough for this. Travel has been a HUGE issue for me as a new DM. This advice I can work with and create some awesome things. You rock!
I'm so glad I found your channel! I'm running my first campaign and in a few days we'll be having our eighth session. A lot of the game revolves around being responsible for a delivery to a safehouse from one end of the island to another, with the starting location being the capital city, and the final destination being around three weeks away on foot. This has given me some ideas for how to make sure there aren't as many lulls since I want my friends to stay interested and have fun. I love your channel, I've been trying to stay away from (and I mean no offense to fans of this stuff) more televised/dramatized D&D content, and you have such a kind and warm energy while also giving such useful feedback that makes me feel encouraged to find new ways to improve! My friends and I have been having a lot of fun so far, and I hope to keep improving by learning from other experienced, wholesome DMs! Thank you!
While runing my sandbox campain, i love making the random encounters tell the storry. Like for example. My players (who where evill alinged) stumble in to a forest protected by a modified alabaster tree. Where they KNEW they canot beat it now. But they knew they can easely outrun it. Litle did they expect that the next day they hered the loud thundering footsteps after waking up. And basicly it derailed in to a "how do we avaoid this thing". And after 3 days of running, where every hour of rest, it only got closer. Til eventualy they devised a trap and weakened it enough to acualy beat it. Definatly a memorable experience
Traveling has always been a real downer in my campaign. Slows down the momentum and everyone checks out. I'm definitely going to take these ideas to spice up getting between point A and point B. Thanks Ginny!
I’m new to DMing and without even looking up stuff on UA-cam the algorithm has recommended me several of your advice videos. I’ve always found them not only helpful but really motivational, getting me excited to try out things you’ve recommended. I just wanted to say thanks, and I hope you enjoy doing these as much as I enjoy learning from them.
I have a travel session coming up this weekend and was concerned about what I was going to do, when this came up on my feed. This is exactly what I needed! Great video, great advice!! 😎😎Thanks!
My dad isn’t a D&D player, but he did MERP back in the day. He advised me to use the environment to help tell the story. Search for food, manage their equipment, make sure to fight off infections, etc.
Travel can be a hassle so I had an idea to make it creative and add more to each session. I had a wish, so I used it to turn my wagon into a huge magical tavern. One that is massive inside but no less conspicuous on the outside. We travel and everyone has rooms and spaces to have down time. While traveling. Plus generate some npc encounters and coin :)
I got basic d&d for Christmas 1979, and have been playing ever since. I've play and dm for years and have sot many sources for inspiration. So far you have been the best, especially your npc response videos, hope you understand that. Keep up the great work.
Loving the new intro! The advice in this video made me realize why I don’t love travel and is giving me great ideas on how to implement it more effectively. Thanks, Ginny! This video is super informative and well put together for this and I feel much more confident~
You have to level up so the small stuff stops holding you up! Like getting your Pally to level 8 and getting a large winter wolf as mount and then subdue a warg + 8 wolves to pack up and fallowing your every step!
I'll tap into my foraging enthusiasm and sometimes point out plants, mushrooms, etc with useful properties that my players can spend time harvesting, usually to sell whenever they reach a town. Occasionally I'll have a unique exchange, like a talking rabbit offering to trade the adventurers the contents of a long-dead travelers knapsack in exchange for some berries they gathered earlier.
I am so going to use your tips. Thanks for the video! It's really comforting to turn to your channel when I'm looking for inspiration, when I'm having problems or just want to watch and relax.
Ginny In my world Most major cities had gates to all the other cities. you would buy a stone (expensive) everyone holding hands would step thru the portal and come out close to where you were going. (with a 5% chance of going somewhere f***ed up) cut down on a lot of travel problems.
My idea is to give players two choices-travel by roads which is steady and mostly safe and uninterrupped but slow, good if you just want to get from point a to b with little distraction. or travel through wilderness and paths which can be quicker , more dangerous, with more things to discover, good if they want to gain some levels, find things, or if something is time sensitive and the road will take too long.
When i players are traveling I activate down time and ask players what they’re doing on route to the destination. Travel time is great or player RP interaction dialogue and jokes etc but once the punch line hits i fast forward to destination. I like to keep players directly in gaged with plot devices or quest important npc’s In fantasy settings ‘auto assumptions’ about down time are your friend. They travel to next town? Ok you arrive in (lengthy detail poetic introduction of town) set the scene and tone etc Go.
My brother ran a one shot one time that was a travel based adventure. The party was escorting a chef to the capital for a requested last meal by a noble. They had to harvest some ingredients on the way and fighting creatures.
Honestly, travel still is a big pain, because hopping from Action Point A to Action Point B makes it all feel like no time has passed (personally), and running every day of the travel (which I did in my first campaign... The trip was 2 weeks...) Is just grueling and painful. I did throw in an "encounter" in the last game, where the players noticed a large horde of undead heading their way, so they had to improvise how to hide. Which ended in a sliding "rock", moving as a "cover" to break line of sight for the skeletal mages. quite neat. Aside from that encounter, the rest of the travel was "It takes time, but you get to the entrance to the dwarven mines." And yes, I have also been raised on a steady diet of Tolkien and other fantasy works.
Love the point about still providing the PCs narrative choices. That’s my best advice to building any encounter: make sure we can learn more things about the characters.
As someone who kinda wants it to be relatively important, since I made an entire map that’s separated by elemental lands, this would be useful, if we had more than a few weeks left. We meet on Mondays and we’ll probably miss a few, and/or have too few people. It’s a school club so that’s why we don’t have too much longer, so I have to speed it up to get to the end
Most travel sucks because DMs place all the story and encounters at a handful of locations rather than spreading them out. Players get the plot hook in town, get some information in town, track down a few leads in town, and learn they need to visit a specific location three days journey away for a dungeon crawl. A better way is for the characters to catch the hook in town, follow up with a lead in the next town, investigate a nearby farmstead for more clues, get more information at an abandoned fort, travel to some ruins for the final clues, and then proceed to the dungeon crawl. Think of the travel novels you’ve read. Imagine if half the action in LOTR took place in the shire and the other half all happened at Mordor. The story would suck! Instead the action and information is coming to them all along the journey. There are detours (Moria) and holdups (Helm’s Deep).
My favourite way that takes no effort is a skill challenge, the players have to come up with the issue that arises and what they do to solve it then roll. Saves you any thinking.
Random encounters don't have to be boring: *Make them a thing that can be influenced by the rolls they make, like decreasing encounter chance if the party sneaks, or letting a good survival roll allow the party to choose between two encounters if one happens. *Customize them to the region or route. If you use wolves and bandits on every table, it will get very stale very quickly. But if a safe trade road has mostly regular people, merchants, guards, and occasional livestock on it, make a random encounter table that shows that, different from the one you use for the very unsafe road, and the fishing river route, and the totally not haunted route through the totally not cursed battlefield. *Cross things off. Seriously. If the story changes in a way where an encounter result shouldn't make sense, just cross off the result and have a "safe space" on the table, like crossing off "bandit ambush" after the party puts the bandit camp to the torch. It really gives the players a feeling of accomplishment when they see 7 come up on the die, they get ready for a fight, and then you tell them, "no worries, guys. False alarm. You killed the bandits here, remember?" *Have good things on there. Seriously, random encounters don't have to all be death and doom, guys. Throw in some merchants willing to buy and sell, some abandoned gear, tasty rabbits and deer... just, things that help sometimes. * Put the really bad weather on there. An entire travel day wasted due to a storm just sucks, but while uncomfortable, a freak one hour storm feel more like a challenge to overcome than just bad luck screwing over your time sensitive plans. * Keep the time pressure on. If you check every hour for encounters, treat that like a new round in combat. Even if nothing happens, checking in and asking what everyone is doing like clockwork in turns helps keep people engaged, especially if you combine it with my first tip where their actions actually affect travel.
Ginny's back! Ah shit, here we go again. This problem is always interesting to me because often the most critical parts of fantasy stories are about going from one place to another, and the strange things we learn about the world and each other along the way. Which is why that DMG advice is so bad I had forgotten it until you brought it up.
This is a problem I ran into back when I wrote a lot of fiction, too - I would write outlines that had a detailed beginning and a detailed ending, and then just be like "here's the middle bit, an epic journey, where all the character development happens and the mysteries unfold!" Travel is very deceptive that way. It needs to be a series of events just like any other narrative, but somehow we hoodwink ourselves into thinking that the "travel" is itself the event.
Best advice in my opinion! If you are going to skip travel however, remember to ask for player downtime activities just incase so that way they get the benefit of the passage of time, and get to possible add content themselves instead of you having to generate everything for them.
I think running random encounters that weren't even made for the party was my biggest weakness when i was still running games with people that just weren't as interested in the roleplay so it didn't matter to them, combat was the objective no matter what the story was With my new party that i've gotten online from a lfg server, i've managed to improve on it quite abit, i think player engagement and initiative early on can project onto the dm what they should or shouldn't put time into, for my party i've found a good balance of 50% planned events that occur during the travel, and 50% montage of the passing scenery possible traveling merchants or guards etc that can offer small quest hooks that connect to their locations, i've skipped weeks of time in a matter of 20 minutes and i still need to work on making that time passing feel legitimate, but it keeps the party invested due to all of their character goals alongside the story which adds alot of traveling to a campaign with an entire continent of factions they have to roleplay through
Great ideas, I was running travel with tables and gave it up, switched to miniplots and it worked way better, especially since they don't get a rest before every encounter.
Here's my copper piece: Before the game go thrpough the rando table lists and just make a quick note as to what clue it provides or how it fits in. Then during the enc, if tis with NPCs have the players make checks to see if they pick up on the clue from the encounter. So for example After the goblins are killed the characters notice the gold in the goblins purses is stamped with the mark of the Baron meaning these goblins were part of the raid on the town described in the opening lore dump, or this enocunter means the wolves are being pushed out of their hunting grounds by something worse.. So this way when your players meey random encounters they will always want to do perception checks and stuff to figure out what clues this encounter holds. Think of Gandolf in the Hobbit noting that the trolls were way south and he found that so odd he decided to go meet the council about it.
Our DM kind of does a mix of skipping over mundane travel and then focusing in on the times that there can be something going on. Travel just to travel certainly does feel like filler.
interesting points as always, really got me thinking about travel in my own campaigns! I don't watch CR so I was really hoping for an expansion on what exactly a skill challenge is, but I guess I can google that now that I know about it haha
THANK YOU! Finally a DM who doesn’t shy away from the challenge saying « boring just skip it! » Gosh I wish all other DMs in that community had a little more of your emotional intelligence, self reflection, courage and creativity! You’re the best *slowly puts the agressive cheering accessories down* -no DM was injured during the writing of this statement I promise xD-
I've recently come to realize that my biggest weakness as a DM is finding a balance between preparation and improv. I'm decently good ad both, but I've been told I'm always in a bad mood if I've prepared intensely for a session and my players didn't do what they were "supposed" to. On the flipside, if I go into a session underprepared, I waste too much time looking for random bits of information and figuring out how to allow player shenanigans within what I've planned long term. I've been working on how to find that balance where I'm sufficiently prepared to allow myself to be comfortable with improvising while also not getting annoyed that my players aren't picking up on leads I've basically put right in front of them but failed to make compelling. When I strike that balance, everyone has a better time, myself included.
These are some great ideas! Exploration is one of the parts of ttrpgs that I often don't get enough of, I hope to include more of it in my own games. Have you checked out Campfire from Abyssal Brews? I've been meaning to. The buzz seems so be that it really elevates the in-game travel experience.
I feel like the key to making random encounters during travel interesting is having good improv, partly like you said. "The party is attacked by orcs." Great. WHY? I feel as long as you can come up with a mini sub-plot to explain those orcs or that random merchant then you essentially just made a side-quest rather than a boring random encounter. I agree having some prepared ahead of time works, but I feel like once u have enough improv under your belt you won't NEED to prep them.
I mean... kinda! But being able to explain an encounter does not necessarily make it meaningful. Improv is without a doubt a valuable skill, but I firmly believe that if you ALWAYS improv and NEVER do any thoughtful prep, your game will ultimately end up feeling hollow and directionless.
My idea was to make travel work more like a side-scrolling video game. Or Pokémon. Nobody's ever called Pokémon, Mario, or Sonic boring that I know of.
Ha my biggest weakness is definitely not knowing like 10% of the amount of stuff in D&D... Me and my players are pretty new so we're still happy fighting bandits with swords and whatever but soon it will become stale I'm sure
My players have ticked off a bearded demon. He is brought into the dream realm to assist a Mindflayer. One of the team members who is new, touched a magical river flowing under the natural river. His fingers are cursed, and they can somewhat locate the team. They tried to lift the cures, but the NPC wizard failed to lift it. Natural 2. They have also stolen a LARGE amount of treasure from a thieves guild. Now I got more people hunting them. They are known to the city at large, because the king celebrated the returning of the treasure. THERE SHALL BE NO SLEEP AT NIGHT!!! Muah ha ha ha ha!
I sometimes run into this with NPCs, so I have a Pinterest board where I just pin a bunch of art/photos/images of fantasy-lookin people! Then when I need a random person description, I can just describe what I'm actually seeing in the image.
I think my biggest weakness as a DM is that I find it hard to stand up for myself. It's really easy to take advantage of me, so past players have used this to their advantage to really screw up important moments and just kill my desire to keep storytelling with them.
I used to play in a campaign once where every time we set up camp we would have a story-telling improv activity where we would get a prompt and each of our characters would each tell a story from their past based off it. It was easily one of the most memorable parts of the campaign
@@JakubWojciechowski933 Have an NPC travel with the party, get them to tell a campfire story of their past and then get them to ask the PC's if they want to share
DM: "So, you all settle in for the night. just as you are beginning to set out your bedrolls you hear a howling in the distance." P1: "Wait, what phase is the moon?" DM: Putting down monster card for CR1/4 wolf and beginning to search for CR3 werewolf monster card. "Oh, you know... full."
This is probably the only content creator I've seen that actually gives advice on how to improve mechanics, not just describe some vague content they "like to run"
Have you never watched Matt Colville's channel? Or Dungeon Craft? Or Bob The World Builder? There are plenty of content creators out there who do more or less exactly what Ginny does.
@@CrazyLikeUhFox yeah I wasn't trying to imply they're dumb for not knowing Matt or anyone else I mentioned. Just that you can find a fair amount of other content creators who are on Ginny's level.
WE’RE BACK! Nailed the background and the travel tips. The DMs guide is great… but not at everything. Travel being one of those things. One of the things I use travel for is world building. Every stretch of road is a new opportunity to show your party a living, breathing world.
My DM took a page from the Fellowship RPG and uses travel montages. We go around in a circle, each person thinking of a problem for the next player to solve until everyone has gone. There's no dice rolls and you can use any of your powers without expending them. The focus in on getting players to be part of the travel sequence and encouraging roleplay opportunities as well as chances to flex if you have powers or skills you don't get to use often. It also means that as a group of 4, travel goes by pretty quickly and doesn't drag on the plot.
I remember having a table where you rolled 2D6s that decided the encounter and then another table of 2D6s that decided what they were doing. For example "You see a bunch of orcs, but they are running from something". That way the encounters started to live more.
I remember Matt Colville said something like that too. If you roll up 2d6 orcs on a random encounter, then don't let them be generic orcs. They could be... 1) A tribe of nomads quietly passing through the area, 2) A hostile horde of Orcus worshippers who have flayed all the skin off their left hands, which gives each of them a touch attack for 2d6 necrotic damage, or 3) A proud company of mercenaries looking for work. Are the PCs hiring?
yeah, i think it helps to get a grasp on why the creatures are there. another problem i see is that a lot of DMs just immediately make them hostile and spring out of nowhere. determining the initial hostility level and distance can help improve encounters. maybe that band of orcs is some distance away, and theres foreshadowing or clues indicating they are in the area. they may have just survived another fight and arent going to immediately attack the party. it helps to generate a few random encounters ahead of time so you can work in the clues, rather than rolling and consulting a table in the middle of play.
I use a short set of rules to run travel in my games. 1) everyone gets to take an action each day, such as keeping watch, driving the wagon, scouting ahead, or maybe a downtime activity. Then providing description based on that, as well as the general environment. 2) I plan out a number of "Random" encounters that may occurs during the trip, such as threats, interesting locations, or NPCs. 3) Each day that passes I roll a D6, on a 1 an encounter happens. Each day that nothing happens I add another D6 to the pool. Also if something that the players do during their actions would draw attention to them I will either add another D6 or roll all the dice then and there. Once an encounter happens the pool either resets to 1D6, or if the party is close to their destination or has already used up all the planes encounters then I'll fast tract them to the location. The thrill comes from letting the players see the dice pool and watching their reactions as it grows in size. I use a modified version of this as well for certain events, such a sneaking through a dungeon or other location. I add dice to the pool every so often, but only roll it when the party draws attention to themselves.
You nailed it. The big problem with overland travel I find is that it ends up being too railroady where something can happen, but there is no lasting implications. Either weave those encounters into the overarching plot, or create a mini side adventure out of it for the players to get invested in over the session(s). Glad to see you back! Hope you're all caught up and excited to see what you have planned for 2022!
the other thing i find Travel being excellent is A) taking a chance to do world building, often using NPC's both friendly and hostile. B)giving some diversions, and letting the party decide what options they get hooked into. basically travel is great if it makes the party interested in the world, and for them to become being more connected with people. Everyone loves talking about that story about a Hag who runs a random magical shop who is morally questionable but Loved the party because they helped her with a Mephit infestation, and promised to both tradw with them whenever and even help them out them with a magical problem in the future if they want!
I *LOVE* the way Matt Mercer handled this in one of the Critical Role episodes: He introduced some bandits, the players torched one of them just outright but let the others go with a warning (and with less gear than they arrived with) only to run into them *again* some time later and have the (new) leader recognize them from the earlier encounter! Makes it really feel like the world is alive and there are consequences (even if they're good and not bad) to the players' actions! :D
One of the biggest tips I have for DMs who want better travel is - walk more. Like literally, go on a long walk in a place and just see how things are.
Id also add to tie in the random counters to your players backstory as much as you can. Assassin's for the escaped Noble character, blighted treants for your druid, escaped constructs for your artificer, etc. 😊 Amazing videos as always!!
As cheesy as it sounds I'd say self doubt is my biggest DM weakness. I accidentally ruined a campaign once because I was worried that the plot wasn't exciting so I completely changed it (introduced a multiverse and teleported the players to a new world, bad choice). All I did was confuse my players and some of them got pretty upset at the change, I had to end the campaign and take a break from DMing because I was so embarrassed. A little bit of self reflection is healthy and useful but doubt can cripple. P.s. The video's background music was quite enjoyable and exciting!
It's wild how much we can self-sabotage over criticisms that our players don't even have!! I'm sorry that campaign ended the way it did, but it's so good that you can recognize where it went wrong and learn from it.
I've done similar stuff! Took over a decade of stumbling to really get my DM skill and confidence up to a good level. If it's any inspiration to you, I dusted off the original campaign notes about 6 years later, did a soft reboot of the setting, and re-ran the campaign (with a better endgame and without the shark-jumping) and it went AMAZINGLY, probably my best campaign yet.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is check in with your players and see what they think of how things are going. Ask them if the plot makes sense, if they think the loot drops are sufficient, if there's any recurring themes they like (or perhaps aren't fond of). Just as your job as DM is to be there to help your players, sometimes you need your players to give you a hand as well.
If I may, always ask your players what they think about your campaign. Ask them what they liked. What they dont like. And work on those parts. You will get confidence that way and you have to trust them. If they tell you some stuff they didnt like, it would be easier for you to believe about stuff they DO like. Also, players are usually happy that they can even play, so dont question yourself.
@@cruorek I agree. I had one DM that insisted that we each told her something that we liked and something we didn't after each session. Being too vague with petitioning often leads to detached responses of "It's fine," or even "It was great!" which is more encouraging, but not very helpful. By each being required to give a good and a bad opinion, we already felt that our responses were tempered and fair, and we were under no obligation to give weight to either. So even if there was something that really bothered me about a session, but I didn't want the DM to feel bad about it, I didn't need her to know just how bad it was, and the thing that I liked, for all she knows, more than makes up for it. Any DM that does this is already looking for ways to make the players enjoy the game more, so no need to elaborate further, other than calling her attention to it. Finally, knowing that a moment for feedback would come at the end of every session allowed us to just roll with whatever happens during the game, and air our grievances later, instead of interrupting any dramatic tension. This meant that anything that seemed off-putting might later have some big reveal that makes it make sense before we go off on a tangent.
My tip would be... Treat travel like a dungeon! Use the 5 room dungeon format to create encounters that happen along the way from A to B, with each "area" of the map being a different room in the dungeon. Works great on a hex map, but can be done with any kind of map (or theater of the mind). I also recommend changing "random encounters" to "random occurrences" that include other adventuring parties, ruins, outposts, hazards, changes in weather, etc. and specifically include "special encounters" that relate to the plot. Populate your wilderness! There is always something going on!
I have started to give a general description of the territory they are traveling through and then asking my players what they have seen. I feel like this helps them to "see" the trip and offloads some of the world generation. It adds some color to my world and might influence my world lore as well. Also, if they mention something that sounds interesting to me I can always expand on it to provide a quick encounter. So far it seems to be working.
@@JohnSmith-zk8xp you seem to have missed the point. I describe the basics of the terrain but I ask the players to describe a memorable thing they "saw" during the trip. My trips are now a montage with the occasional random encounter instead of a long slog. If you want to run heavily detailed travel that is fine. I will always describe any relevant points of interest but if a player wants to mention the vibrant red flowers they saw along the way I can always throw something in. Maybe alchemy if a player is interested in that, or an encounter with a plant creature like an assassin vine. The point is to allow my players a chance to help build the shared world and keep them engaged during travel.
Some of the best moments I have ever had in D&D come from travelling. It can be a useful tool for DMs to further develop their world from some small encounter in the forest instead of a massive city as it adds variety to the game.
Once again, you've knocked it out of the park, Ginny! Amazing video on a worthwhile topic. Two of my favorite authors, L. Frank Baum (of Wizard of Oz fame) and Jack Vance (who inspired so much of classic Dungeons & Dragons) were great at telling travel stories. While the characters in their books were on quests, they would often have encounters with peculiar villages with strange customs, impish faeries with dangerous senses of humor, or travelers who were secretly important characters in disguise. For me, travel on the road in their books was always entertaining.
I don’t DM currently, but the players in my group (including me) often have projects that we are working on. Learning a new skill for practice or from another party member. Potentially even language. Though adding a language or skill still needs the game mechanic to allow it, the teaching.learning mechanics add something to the role play in travel even if we fast track the travel.
As a first time DM I have quickly learned that my biggest struggle is trying to figure out a narrative for role-play when my group decided to just have a session in town that I wasn't ready for
That is what tropes are for. Use them to build your improvisation skills. At first your burly dwarven blacksmiths, and flirty barmaids will feel forced and tropey. Soon you will see them morph into Kindar the one handed blacksmith who talks too much and Sadoran the high born barmaid with too much makeup and a fake limp to avoid detection by some-random-whatever-that-means-nothing-but-can-totally-become-a-BigDeal-for-the-players. The players will seize on random bits of your flavor and think it is worth following up. BAM, they just created your next adventure to flesh out. Or, you let them follow briefly before being turned away by some other information, event or NPC encounter.
I think one of my favorite travel experiences was a session we had that was legit 70% role play and 30% combat. We'd hired a couple of NPCs to accompany us on a journey and had one of them manning the carriage at the time while the rest of us just sat around in the back and talked for a bit in character until Savallis, the party Rogue pulled out some playing cards. We role played a few games of Texas Hold Em and had been gambling some wealth and items we'd accumulated until we realized that literally everyone was cheating in some way, including the Cleric we'd hired. By this point a few magical items had traded hands and Savallis had gambled away about half of his wealth. Good times.
This is perfect timing! The group I DM is going to have some travel coming up in our next session and I've been worried about how to make it interesting. I can't wait to try these ideas out! I'm still pretty new to being a DM, so what I've been working on lately is getting out of railroading mode. In our last adventure I tried to not assume any solutions, just set up the problem and make sure the environment was filled out, and it was super fun!
You hit upon a tool for success. Don't worry about solutions. Have the obvious in mind so you know how to react, but the players will always surprise you. Let things play out and see where they go.
transforming a random rolled encounter into a 3-encounter arc is such a simple tip that it's a little maddening that it's never occurred to me before. Thanks Ginny!
Take 40% off any annual World Anvil membership: www.worldanvil.com/w/ginnydi , use code "GINNY" for your discount, and nevermind the wizards...
Janet at WA would probably be over the moon if you ask her to record a brief cameo as a wizard. :D
I actually thought about asking her to record the audio on the other end of the phone, but I was working a little bit last-minute on this ad and didn't want to have to demand anything from her on a really short timeline!! So I just did a tribute by completely bastardizing her accent 😂
I love World Anvil, been a subscriber since 2018. I couldn't recommend it more.
@@GinnyDi Personally I have never touched a dnd session. However I do love to role play! Your videos have helped me so much. Every time I watch one I ask my self. “ what part of this can I use in rp? “ many of your videos have helped me to learn everything I can about role play. Thank you for everything you have done! You inspire me 😁
The Ryuutma RPG is almost entirely about travel. It seems to have a lot of creative ways to make it interesting. Also thanx. These were great ideas, and really get imagination rolling.
Make your party watch the entire extended Lord of the Rings trilogy each time they travel
"You have an eleven and a half hour journey ahead of you. Real time." *presses play*
@@GinnyDi did you say eleven and a half. What kid of socrercy is this. Where are the behind the scenes disks? Who are you? And what have you done to the dm
Just read them the book
"I walk to the inn across the road." "Alright, you guys want me to make popcorn, sorry, the coach is a bit messy" groans
The ultra extended version, where every single time Sam takes a step away from the Shire, he talks about how it's the farthest he's ever been.
Great advice. Ive not had much experience with “travel sessions”, but one great one I had actually involved the characters needing to show how they prepare for the journey through the snowy mountain pass. Pretty much, if we didn’t have the right gear, enough gear, or enough rations or survival we simply wouldn’t make it. It allowed us to be much more proactive in the journey and got some interesting ideas from characters
I love that!! Sort of an "Oregon Trail opening scene" situation.
You might be a closet old schooler. ;-)
@@bjhale that's an incredible feat given how late a start i got XD
The house rule that fixed travel for us in 5e: Long rests may only happen at friendly settlements.
This means that there is tension in every encounter. Even simple things like wilderness hazards can weaken the party in some way making their quest more difficult once they get to their destination.
That really depends on the way your plot is made but that really seems to activate hard mode in general
Hope all your players are on board. I met a DM like that once. Absolutely miserable. It completely cripples spellcasters. And Warlocks? Not even playable.
@@tiph3802 Maybe you've misunderstood.
It's still just 1 adventuring day's worth of encounters.
It's just a narrative device it doesn't actually change the gameplay.
Great advice, and excellent video quality as always. One of my players gave me some honest feedback (praise the sun) a few years back. He told me he just wasn’t interested in obstacles that were obviously ‘encounters for encounter’s sake.
Ever since, I’ve made it a point that encounters are either very short and sweet, or impactful in some way, and the players have voiced loving the shift.
I cannot thank you enough for this. Travel has been a HUGE issue for me as a new DM. This advice I can work with and create some awesome things. You rock!
I'm so glad I found your channel!
I'm running my first campaign and in a few days we'll be having our eighth session. A lot of the game revolves around being responsible for a delivery to a safehouse from one end of the island to another, with the starting location being the capital city, and the final destination being around three weeks away on foot. This has given me some ideas for how to make sure there aren't as many lulls since I want my friends to stay interested and have fun. I love your channel, I've been trying to stay away from (and I mean no offense to fans of this stuff) more televised/dramatized D&D content, and you have such a kind and warm energy while also giving such useful feedback that makes me feel encouraged to find new ways to improve!
My friends and I have been having a lot of fun so far, and I hope to keep improving by learning from other experienced, wholesome DMs! Thank you!
While runing my sandbox campain, i love making the random encounters tell the storry. Like for example. My players (who where evill alinged) stumble in to a forest protected by a modified alabaster tree. Where they KNEW they canot beat it now. But they knew they can easely outrun it. Litle did they expect that the next day they hered the loud thundering footsteps after waking up. And basicly it derailed in to a "how do we avaoid this thing". And after 3 days of running, where every hour of rest, it only got closer. Til eventualy they devised a trap and weakened it enough to acualy beat it. Definatly a memorable experience
Traveling has always been a real downer in my campaign. Slows down the momentum and everyone checks out. I'm definitely going to take these ideas to spice up getting between point A and point B. Thanks Ginny!
I’m new to DMing and without even looking up stuff on UA-cam the algorithm has recommended me several of your advice videos. I’ve always found them not only helpful but really motivational, getting me excited to try out things you’ve recommended. I just wanted to say thanks, and I hope you enjoy doing these as much as I enjoy learning from them.
I have a travel session coming up this weekend and was concerned about what I was going to do, when this came up on my feed. This is exactly what I needed! Great video, great advice!! 😎😎Thanks!
My dad isn’t a D&D player, but he did MERP back in the day. He advised me to use the environment to help tell the story. Search for food, manage their equipment, make sure to fight off infections, etc.
Travel can be a hassle so I had an idea to make it creative and add more to each session. I had a wish, so I used it to turn my wagon into a huge magical tavern. One that is massive inside but no less conspicuous on the outside. We travel and everyone has rooms and spaces to have down time. While traveling. Plus generate some npc encounters and coin :)
Your dice are perfectly in line with your color palette and I love them soooo much.
Also, great video.
I got basic d&d for Christmas 1979, and have been playing ever since. I've play and dm for years and have sot many sources for inspiration. So far you have been the best, especially your npc response videos, hope you understand that. Keep up the great work.
Loving the new intro! The advice in this video made me realize why I don’t love travel and is giving me great ideas on how to implement it more effectively. Thanks, Ginny! This video is super informative and well put together for this and I feel much more confident~
You have to level up so the small stuff stops holding you up! Like getting your Pally to level 8 and getting a large winter wolf as mount and then subdue a warg + 8 wolves to pack up and fallowing your every step!
I'll tap into my foraging enthusiasm and sometimes point out plants, mushrooms, etc with useful properties that my players can spend time harvesting, usually to sell whenever they reach a town.
Occasionally I'll have a unique exchange, like a talking rabbit offering to trade the adventurers the contents of a long-dead travelers knapsack in exchange for some berries they gathered earlier.
Me: Woohoo new Ginny video!!!
Also me: Wait! January is over already??
I am so going to use your tips. Thanks for the video! It's really comforting to turn to your channel when I'm looking for inspiration, when I'm having problems or just want to watch and relax.
Thanks chick. You just wrapped up the session I hadn’t finished yet and the players are coming in a couple hours
Ginny In my world Most major cities had gates to all the other cities. you would buy a stone (expensive) everyone holding hands would step thru the portal and come out close to where you were going. (with a 5% chance of going somewhere f***ed up) cut down on a lot of travel problems.
Thank you so much! I don't have a party yet (rural area) but the idea of travel was strange to me. This helped alot
Good to have you back!
Very interesting and funny video
My idea is to give players two choices-travel by roads which is steady and mostly safe and uninterrupped but slow, good if you just want to get from point a to b with little distraction. or travel through wilderness and paths which can be quicker , more dangerous, with more things to discover, good if they want to gain some levels, find things, or if something is time sensitive and the road will take too long.
When i players are traveling I activate down time and ask players what they’re doing on route to the destination. Travel time is great or player RP interaction dialogue and jokes etc but once the punch line hits i fast forward to destination.
I like to keep players directly in gaged with plot devices or quest important npc’s
In fantasy settings ‘auto assumptions’ about down time are your friend.
They travel to next town? Ok you arrive in (lengthy detail poetic introduction of town) set the scene and tone etc
Go.
My brother ran a one shot one time that was a travel based adventure. The party was escorting a chef to the capital for a requested last meal by a noble. They had to harvest some ingredients on the way and fighting creatures.
this was very useful, thank you!! also I wouldnt mind a longer video with more examples with details, because you explain things so well!
This was great advice! Will be using it for my upcoming campaign
Honestly, travel still is a big pain, because hopping from Action Point A to Action Point B makes it all feel like no time has passed (personally), and running every day of the travel (which I did in my first campaign... The trip was 2 weeks...) Is just grueling and painful.
I did throw in an "encounter" in the last game, where the players noticed a large horde of undead heading their way, so they had to improvise how to hide. Which ended in a sliding "rock", moving as a "cover" to break line of sight for the skeletal mages. quite neat.
Aside from that encounter, the rest of the travel was "It takes time, but you get to the entrance to the dwarven mines."
And yes, I have also been raised on a steady diet of Tolkien and other fantasy works.
Running a seafaring mini adventure currently, fantastic time to find this on my recommended list! :)
Love the point about still providing the PCs narrative choices. That’s my best advice to building any encounter: make sure we can learn more things about the characters.
Very cool transition shot with the dice.
LOVE THIS💕 Thank you for the tips!
As someone who kinda wants it to be relatively important, since I made an entire map that’s separated by elemental lands, this would be useful, if we had more than a few weeks left. We meet on Mondays and we’ll probably miss a few, and/or have too few people. It’s a school club so that’s why we don’t have too much longer, so I have to speed it up to get to the end
Most travel sucks because DMs place all the story and encounters at a handful of locations rather than spreading them out. Players get the plot hook in town, get some information in town, track down a few leads in town, and learn they need to visit a specific location three days journey away for a dungeon crawl.
A better way is for the characters to catch the hook in town, follow up with a lead in the next town, investigate a nearby farmstead for more clues, get more information at an abandoned fort, travel to some ruins for the final clues, and then proceed to the dungeon crawl.
Think of the travel novels you’ve read. Imagine if half the action in LOTR took place in the shire and the other half all happened at Mordor. The story would suck! Instead the action and information is coming to them all along the journey. There are detours (Moria) and holdups (Helm’s Deep).
My favourite way that takes no effort is a skill challenge, the players have to come up with the issue that arises and what they do to solve it then roll. Saves you any thinking.
Random encounters don't have to be boring:
*Make them a thing that can be influenced by the rolls they make, like decreasing encounter chance if the party sneaks, or letting a good survival roll allow the party to choose between two encounters if one happens.
*Customize them to the region or route. If you use wolves and bandits on every table, it will get very stale very quickly. But if a safe trade road has mostly regular people, merchants, guards, and occasional livestock on it, make a random encounter table that shows that, different from the one you use for the very unsafe road, and the fishing river route, and the totally not haunted route through the totally not cursed battlefield.
*Cross things off. Seriously. If the story changes in a way where an encounter result shouldn't make sense, just cross off the result and have a "safe space" on the table, like crossing off "bandit ambush" after the party puts the bandit camp to the torch. It really gives the players a feeling of accomplishment when they see 7 come up on the die, they get ready for a fight, and then you tell them, "no worries, guys. False alarm. You killed the bandits here, remember?"
*Have good things on there. Seriously, random encounters don't have to all be death and doom, guys. Throw in some merchants willing to buy and sell, some abandoned gear, tasty rabbits and deer... just, things that help sometimes.
* Put the really bad weather on there. An entire travel day wasted due to a storm just sucks, but while uncomfortable, a freak one hour storm feel more like a challenge to overcome than just bad luck screwing over your time sensitive plans.
* Keep the time pressure on. If you check every hour for encounters, treat that like a new round in combat. Even if nothing happens, checking in and asking what everyone is doing like clockwork in turns helps keep people engaged, especially if you combine it with my first tip where their actions actually affect travel.
My biggest weakness as a DM is prepping too much and being so focused on my prep, I forget to listen to the players.
Ginny's back! Ah shit, here we go again.
This problem is always interesting to me because often the most critical parts of fantasy stories are about going from one place to another, and the strange things we learn about the world and each other along the way. Which is why that DMG advice is so bad I had forgotten it until you brought it up.
This is a problem I ran into back when I wrote a lot of fiction, too - I would write outlines that had a detailed beginning and a detailed ending, and then just be like "here's the middle bit, an epic journey, where all the character development happens and the mysteries unfold!" Travel is very deceptive that way. It needs to be a series of events just like any other narrative, but somehow we hoodwink ourselves into thinking that the "travel" is itself the event.
Best advice in my opinion! If you are going to skip travel however, remember to ask for player downtime activities just incase so that way they get the benefit of the passage of time, and get to possible add content themselves instead of you having to generate everything for them.
That's a good call!
Love this advice, looking forward to this year's Ginny vids!
I think running random encounters that weren't even made for the party was my biggest weakness when i was still running games with people that just weren't as interested in the roleplay so it didn't matter to them, combat was the objective no matter what the story was
With my new party that i've gotten online from a lfg server, i've managed to improve on it quite abit, i think player engagement and initiative early on can project onto the dm what they should or shouldn't put time into, for my party i've found a good balance of 50% planned events that occur during the travel, and 50% montage of the passing scenery possible traveling merchants or guards etc that can offer small quest hooks that connect to their locations, i've skipped weeks of time in a matter of 20 minutes and i still need to work on making that time passing feel legitimate, but it keeps the party invested due to all of their character goals alongside the story which adds alot of traveling to a campaign with an entire continent of factions they have to roleplay through
Our session today was so boring, I WISHED for a random bandit encounter, but we didnt even get that...
Yep. The secret for memorable travels is to make a story arc around that travel. It just takes some extra effort and imagination.
Great ideas, I was running travel with tables and gave it up, switched to miniplots and it worked way better, especially since they don't get a rest before every encounter.
Here's my copper piece: Before the game go thrpough the rando table lists and just make a quick note as to what clue it provides or how it fits in. Then during the enc, if tis with NPCs have the players make checks to see if they pick up on the clue from the encounter. So for example After the goblins are killed the characters notice the gold in the goblins purses is stamped with the mark of the Baron meaning these goblins were part of the raid on the town described in the opening lore dump, or this enocunter means the wolves are being pushed out of their hunting grounds by something worse.. So this way when your players meey random encounters they will always want to do perception checks and stuff to figure out what clues this encounter holds. Think of Gandolf in the Hobbit noting that the trolls were way south and he found that so odd he decided to go meet the council about it.
Our DM kind of does a mix of skipping over mundane travel and then focusing in on the times that there can be something going on. Travel just to travel certainly does feel like filler.
interesting points as always, really got me thinking about travel in my own campaigns! I don't watch CR so I was really hoping for an expansion on what exactly a skill challenge is, but I guess I can google that now that I know about it haha
Matt Colville talks about them a lot and has great videos on the topic! ua-cam.com/video/GvOeqDpkBm8/v-deo.html
I’m going to run a travel session soon, this was really helpful!
one of your best videos, with fresh insight and advice
THANK YOU! Finally a DM who doesn’t shy away from the challenge saying « boring just skip it! »
Gosh I wish all other DMs in that community had a little more of your emotional intelligence, self reflection, courage and creativity!
You’re the best
*slowly puts the agressive cheering accessories down* -no DM was injured during the writing of this statement I promise xD-
I've recently come to realize that my biggest weakness as a DM is finding a balance between preparation and improv. I'm decently good ad both, but I've been told I'm always in a bad mood if I've prepared intensely for a session and my players didn't do what they were "supposed" to. On the flipside, if I go into a session underprepared, I waste too much time looking for random bits of information and figuring out how to allow player shenanigans within what I've planned long term. I've been working on how to find that balance where I'm sufficiently prepared to allow myself to be comfortable with improvising while also not getting annoyed that my players aren't picking up on leads I've basically put right in front of them but failed to make compelling. When I strike that balance, everyone has a better time, myself included.
"DM: Dungeon Matts" got an actual chuckle out of me
It sucks as we don't have Ginny with us. Just for the singing alone, I swear.
This girl puts in far more effort than her view count rewards. Bravo mi lady!
So so helpful! Travel can really drag. I just want to be Aragorn chasing down captured hobbits, mkay?
These are some great ideas! Exploration is one of the parts of ttrpgs that I often don't get enough of, I hope to include more of it in my own games. Have you checked out Campfire from Abyssal Brews? I've been meaning to. The buzz seems so be that it really elevates the in-game travel experience.
I feel like the key to making random encounters during travel interesting is having good improv, partly like you said. "The party is attacked by orcs." Great. WHY? I feel as long as you can come up with a mini sub-plot to explain those orcs or that random merchant then you essentially just made a side-quest rather than a boring random encounter. I agree having some prepared ahead of time works, but I feel like once u have enough improv under your belt you won't NEED to prep them.
I mean... kinda! But being able to explain an encounter does not necessarily make it meaningful. Improv is without a doubt a valuable skill, but I firmly believe that if you ALWAYS improv and NEVER do any thoughtful prep, your game will ultimately end up feeling hollow and directionless.
@@GinnyDi I definitely agree that there needs to be a balance between improv and proper prep.
My idea was to make travel work more like a side-scrolling video game. Or Pokémon. Nobody's ever called Pokémon, Mario, or Sonic boring that I know of.
Ha my biggest weakness is definitely not knowing like 10% of the amount of stuff in D&D... Me and my players are pretty new so we're still happy fighting bandits with swords and whatever but soon it will become stale I'm sure
AMAZING suggestions! Actionable and fun! I lucked into a group of players who aren’t murder-hobos, so this opens a WORLD of experiences.
My players have ticked off a bearded demon. He is brought into the dream realm to assist a Mindflayer. One of the team members who is new, touched a magical river flowing under the natural river. His fingers are cursed, and they can somewhat locate the team. They tried to lift the cures, but the NPC wizard failed to lift it. Natural 2. They have also stolen a LARGE amount of treasure from a thieves guild. Now I got more people hunting them. They are known to the city at large, because the king celebrated the returning of the treasure. THERE SHALL BE NO SLEEP AT NIGHT!!! Muah ha ha ha ha!
Welcome back!
Your players remember they have healing potions? How quaint.
Biggest weakness staying focused and not being distracted from my players
My biggest weakness as a DM? Describing the look of location and scenery, I think.
I sometimes run into this with NPCs, so I have a Pinterest board where I just pin a bunch of art/photos/images of fantasy-lookin people! Then when I need a random person description, I can just describe what I'm actually seeing in the image.
@@GinnyDi That's a great idea!
These are great tips!
I think my biggest weakness as a DM is that I find it hard to stand up for myself. It's really easy to take advantage of me, so past players have used this to their advantage to really screw up important moments and just kill my desire to keep storytelling with them.
I've actually had c'0me pretty far out expediting LARPing
I never seen anybody dye they eyebrows, its kinda fire
Great video!
The only time I travelled was on a boat and everyone else was acting like a crackhead while I sailed so I've never had boring travel before.
My worst area is traveling through caverns, my description never matches what's in my head.
I would have killed the merchant the first time he threatened me, side quest failed
I used to play in a campaign once where every time we set up camp we would have a story-telling improv activity where we would get a prompt and each of our characters would each tell a story from their past based off it. It was easily one of the most memorable parts of the campaign
That is such a good idea.
This is an amazing idea
Hello. Would you mind sharing some examples of what these prompts might be?
That sounds very cool, but I wonder how to introduce this idea to the players without making them feel weirded out
@@JakubWojciechowski933 Have an NPC travel with the party, get them to tell a campfire story of their past and then get them to ask the PC's if they want to share
"If you think of the journey as the way that you get to the quest, there's no way that it's not gonna feel like filler..." is literally genius.
indeed.
Running travel as a sidequest seems so obvious in hindsight. Probably the best D&D advice I've heard in a while.
As a DM I made the perfect travel, told my players they could Talk on character.
One of the best experiences posible to a DM
All of the best advice seems obvious in hindsight. :)
DM: "So, you all settle in for the night. just as you are beginning to set out your bedrolls you hear a howling in the distance."
P1: "Wait, what phase is the moon?"
DM: Putting down monster card for CR1/4 wolf and beginning to search for CR3 werewolf monster card. "Oh, you know... full."
This is probably the only content creator I've seen that actually gives advice on how to improve mechanics, not just describe some vague content they "like to run"
Have you never watched Matt Colville's channel? Or Dungeon Craft? Or Bob The World Builder? There are plenty of content creators out there who do more or less exactly what Ginny does.
@@ArvelDreth I was about to mention Matt Colvile too.
But in OP’s defense, for every informative D&D UA-cam vid there’s five terrible ones.
@@CrazyLikeUhFox yeah I wasn't trying to imply they're dumb for not knowing Matt or anyone else I mentioned. Just that you can find a fair amount of other content creators who are on Ginny's level.
I recommend The DM Lair, or Bob the World Builder
How to be a Great GM is a pretty good one, too, imo
WE’RE BACK!
Nailed the background and the travel tips. The DMs guide is great… but not at everything. Travel being one of those things. One of the things I use travel for is world building. Every stretch of road is a new opportunity to show your party a living, breathing world.
Love that!! Travel is an opportunity to show your players more of what's going on around them!
Oh, hey Crispy.
Ginny Di on Roll for Insight? Is this possible?
Two of my favorite dnd peeps in one thread, making sense... Beautiful
My DM took a page from the Fellowship RPG and uses travel montages. We go around in a circle, each person thinking of a problem for the next player to solve until everyone has gone. There's no dice rolls and you can use any of your powers without expending them. The focus in on getting players to be part of the travel sequence and encouraging roleplay opportunities as well as chances to flex if you have powers or skills you don't get to use often. It also means that as a group of 4, travel goes by pretty quickly and doesn't drag on the plot.
This is a very cool idea, very inventive Morgan B's DM
This is such a fun idea!!
This is a great idea! I'm going to steal, er, borrow it!😇
@@Cherryoak All credit goes to Vel Mini for writing it. We just stole the idea. :)
That’s a really interesting co narrative idea. I think I will use that during FATE in the future.
I remember having a table where you rolled 2D6s that decided the encounter and then another table of 2D6s that decided what they were doing. For example "You see a bunch of orcs, but they are running from something". That way the encounters started to live more.
I remember Matt Colville said something like that too. If you roll up 2d6 orcs on a random encounter, then don't let them be generic orcs. They could be...
1) A tribe of nomads quietly passing through the area,
2) A hostile horde of Orcus worshippers who have flayed all the skin off their left hands, which gives each of them a touch attack for 2d6 necrotic damage, or
3) A proud company of mercenaries looking for work. Are the PCs hiring?
yeah, i think it helps to get a grasp on why the creatures are there. another problem i see is that a lot of DMs just immediately make them hostile and spring out of nowhere. determining the initial hostility level and distance can help improve encounters. maybe that band of orcs is some distance away, and theres foreshadowing or clues indicating they are in the area. they may have just survived another fight and arent going to immediately attack the party. it helps to generate a few random encounters ahead of time so you can work in the clues, rather than rolling and consulting a table in the middle of play.
@@wunksta Matt mercer does it pretty well, mighty nein befriending a group of yetis thanks to a random encounter.
I use a short set of rules to run travel in my games.
1) everyone gets to take an action each day, such as keeping watch, driving the wagon, scouting ahead, or maybe a downtime activity. Then providing description based on that, as well as the general environment.
2) I plan out a number of "Random" encounters that may occurs during the trip, such as threats, interesting locations, or NPCs.
3) Each day that passes I roll a D6, on a 1 an encounter happens. Each day that nothing happens I add another D6 to the pool. Also if something that the players do during their actions would draw attention to them I will either add another D6 or roll all the dice then and there. Once an encounter happens the pool either resets to 1D6, or if the party is close to their destination or has already used up all the planes encounters then I'll fast tract them to the location. The thrill comes from letting the players see the dice pool and watching their reactions as it grows in size.
I use a modified version of this as well for certain events, such a sneaking through a dungeon or other location. I add dice to the pool every so often, but only roll it when the party draws attention to themselves.
This reminds me of the churn mechanic from the rpg for The Expanse.
You nailed it. The big problem with overland travel I find is that it ends up being too railroady where something can happen, but there is no lasting implications. Either weave those encounters into the overarching plot, or create a mini side adventure out of it for the players to get invested in over the session(s). Glad to see you back! Hope you're all caught up and excited to see what you have planned for 2022!
Thanks Jordan!!
the other thing i find Travel being excellent is
A) taking a chance to do world building, often using NPC's both friendly and hostile.
B)giving some diversions, and letting the party decide what options they get hooked into.
basically travel is great if it makes the party interested in the world, and for them to become being more connected with people. Everyone loves talking about that story about a Hag who runs a random magical shop who is morally questionable but Loved the party because they helped her with a Mephit infestation, and promised to both tradw with them whenever and even help them out them with a magical problem in the future if they want!
Well, travel and railroading go really well together, if you think about it.
I *LOVE* the way Matt Mercer handled this in one of the Critical Role episodes:
He introduced some bandits, the players torched one of them just outright but let the others go with a warning (and with less gear than they arrived with) only to run into them *again* some time later and have the (new) leader recognize them from the earlier encounter! Makes it really feel like the world is alive and there are consequences (even if they're good and not bad) to the players' actions! :D
@@00blaat00 Especially if your setting actually has a train :D
Love the way you clearly explain this stuff
One of the biggest tips I have for DMs who want better travel is - walk more. Like literally, go on a long walk in a place and just see how things are.
I find walking boring
@@THEM0J0MAN soz
Indeed. I think to many people only experience the world driving a car on a highway.
Visit your local forest, castle, old medieval inn.
Id also add to tie in the random counters to your players backstory as much as you can. Assassin's for the escaped Noble character, blighted treants for your druid, escaped constructs for your artificer, etc. 😊
Amazing videos as always!!
This is a brilliant idea
Yes!! That's such a good tip.
As cheesy as it sounds I'd say self doubt is my biggest DM weakness. I accidentally ruined a campaign once because I was worried that the plot wasn't exciting so I completely changed it (introduced a multiverse and teleported the players to a new world, bad choice). All I did was confuse my players and some of them got pretty upset at the change, I had to end the campaign and take a break from DMing because I was so embarrassed. A little bit of self reflection is healthy and useful but doubt can cripple.
P.s. The video's background music was quite enjoyable and exciting!
It's wild how much we can self-sabotage over criticisms that our players don't even have!! I'm sorry that campaign ended the way it did, but it's so good that you can recognize where it went wrong and learn from it.
I've done similar stuff! Took over a decade of stumbling to really get my DM skill and confidence up to a good level. If it's any inspiration to you, I dusted off the original campaign notes about 6 years later, did a soft reboot of the setting, and re-ran the campaign (with a better endgame and without the shark-jumping) and it went AMAZINGLY, probably my best campaign yet.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is check in with your players and see what they think of how things are going. Ask them if the plot makes sense, if they think the loot drops are sufficient, if there's any recurring themes they like (or perhaps aren't fond of). Just as your job as DM is to be there to help your players, sometimes you need your players to give you a hand as well.
If I may, always ask your players what they think about your campaign. Ask them what they liked. What they dont like. And work on those parts. You will get confidence that way and you have to trust them. If they tell you some stuff they didnt like, it would be easier for you to believe about stuff they DO like.
Also, players are usually happy that they can even play, so dont question yourself.
@@cruorek I agree. I had one DM that insisted that we each told her something that we liked and something we didn't after each session. Being too vague with petitioning often leads to detached responses of "It's fine," or even "It was great!" which is more encouraging, but not very helpful.
By each being required to give a good and a bad opinion, we already felt that our responses were tempered and fair, and we were under no obligation to give weight to either. So even if there was something that really bothered me about a session, but I didn't want the DM to feel bad about it, I didn't need her to know just how bad it was, and the thing that I liked, for all she knows, more than makes up for it. Any DM that does this is already looking for ways to make the players enjoy the game more, so no need to elaborate further, other than calling her attention to it.
Finally, knowing that a moment for feedback would come at the end of every session allowed us to just roll with whatever happens during the game, and air our grievances later, instead of interrupting any dramatic tension. This meant that anything that seemed off-putting might later have some big reveal that makes it make sense before we go off on a tangent.
My tip would be... Treat travel like a dungeon! Use the 5 room dungeon format to create encounters that happen along the way from A to B, with each "area" of the map being a different room in the dungeon. Works great on a hex map, but can be done with any kind of map (or theater of the mind). I also recommend changing "random encounters" to "random occurrences" that include other adventuring parties, ruins, outposts, hazards, changes in weather, etc. and specifically include "special encounters" that relate to the plot. Populate your wilderness! There is always something going on!
I have started to give a general description of the territory they are traveling through and then asking my players what they have seen. I feel like this helps them to "see" the trip and offloads some of the world generation. It adds some color to my world and might influence my world lore as well. Also, if they mention something that sounds interesting to me I can always expand on it to provide a quick encounter. So far it seems to be working.
@@JohnSmith-zk8xp you seem to have missed the point. I describe the basics of the terrain but I ask the players to describe a memorable thing they "saw" during the trip. My trips are now a montage with the occasional random encounter instead of a long slog. If you want to run heavily detailed travel that is fine.
I will always describe any relevant points of interest but if a player wants to mention the vibrant red flowers they saw along the way I can always throw something in. Maybe alchemy if a player is interested in that, or an encounter with a plant creature like an assassin vine. The point is to allow my players a chance to help build the shared world and keep them engaged during travel.
Nice tip, like a Dungeon World.
Is almost the same to me, I let them Talk in character and its a great fun
You're right, it IS time to binge watch Ginny Di all day again!
great way to spend a day!!
I wanna be in a game where every player is another Ginny Di.
Some of the best moments I have ever had in D&D come from travelling. It can be a useful tool for DMs to further develop their world from some small encounter in the forest instead of a massive city as it adds variety to the game.
The fact that you can pinpoint exactly what sucks in normal d&d makes me trust you more. Lol.
Once again, you've knocked it out of the park, Ginny! Amazing video on a worthwhile topic.
Two of my favorite authors, L. Frank Baum (of Wizard of Oz fame) and Jack Vance (who inspired so much of classic Dungeons & Dragons) were great at telling travel stories. While the characters in their books were on quests, they would often have encounters with peculiar villages with strange customs, impish faeries with dangerous senses of humor, or travelers who were secretly important characters in disguise. For me, travel on the road in their books was always entertaining.
I don’t DM currently, but the players in my group (including me) often have projects that we are working on. Learning a new skill for practice or from another party member. Potentially even language. Though adding a language or skill still needs the game mechanic to allow it, the teaching.learning mechanics add something to the role play in travel even if we fast track the travel.
Pathfinder has some nice (if expensive) retraining rules that I think can be handily adapted to any D20 system, might be worth checking out.
My players often use travel evenings to study & practice new skills or languages.
As a first time DM I have quickly learned that my biggest struggle is trying to figure out a narrative for role-play when my group decided to just have a session in town that I wasn't ready for
That is what tropes are for. Use them to build your improvisation skills. At first your burly dwarven blacksmiths, and flirty barmaids will feel forced and tropey. Soon you will see them morph into Kindar the one handed blacksmith who talks too much and Sadoran the high born barmaid with too much makeup and a fake limp to avoid detection by some-random-whatever-that-means-nothing-but-can-totally-become-a-BigDeal-for-the-players.
The players will seize on random bits of your flavor and think it is worth following up. BAM, they just created your next adventure to flesh out. Or, you let them follow briefly before being turned away by some other information, event or NPC encounter.
I think one of my favorite travel experiences was a session we had that was legit 70% role play and 30% combat. We'd hired a couple of NPCs to accompany us on a journey and had one of them manning the carriage at the time while the rest of us just sat around in the back and talked for a bit in character until Savallis, the party Rogue pulled out some playing cards. We role played a few games of Texas Hold Em and had been gambling some wealth and items we'd accumulated until we realized that literally everyone was cheating in some way, including the Cleric we'd hired. By this point a few magical items had traded hands and Savallis had gambled away about half of his wealth. Good times.
This is perfect timing! The group I DM is going to have some travel coming up in our next session and I've been worried about how to make it interesting. I can't wait to try these ideas out!
I'm still pretty new to being a DM, so what I've been working on lately is getting out of railroading mode. In our last adventure I tried to not assume any solutions, just set up the problem and make sure the environment was filled out, and it was super fun!
You hit upon a tool for success. Don't worry about solutions. Have the obvious in mind so you know how to react, but the players will always surprise you. Let things play out and see where they go.
How’d it work?
transforming a random rolled encounter into a 3-encounter arc is such a simple tip that it's a little maddening that it's never occurred to me before. Thanks Ginny!