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11 months ago ::
Jul 28, 2012 - 6:05PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jul 26, 2012
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As a DM, I have a hard time narrating travel. My usual narration for travel is as follows:
(Team decides to walk trough a forest): "Okay, so you go through the forest. [at this point I roll a d4 to see if a random encounter happens]. Nothing interesting happens. You eventually come out the other side of the forest and see..."
Awful, right?
My towns are a little better: [Everyone rolls a streetwise if it's a new town] "You walk into town, and notice that the buildings are of a lower quality. The gaurds here seem to be using hand-me-down armor." [player to me:] "Is there a blacksmith?" [me after a quick d4 roll] "Yes." "Then we're headed to the blacksmith." "Okay, you arrive."
Not much better. How do you guys do it?
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11 months ago ::
Jul 28, 2012 - 8:12PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jun 12, 2009
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As a DM, I have a hard time narrating travel. My usual narration for travel is as follows:
(Team decides to walk trough a forest): "Okay, so you go through the forest. [at this point I roll a d4 to see if a random encounter happens]. Nothing interesting happens. You eventually come out the other side of the forest and see..."
Awful, right?
My towns are a little better: [Everyone rolls a streetwise if it's a new town] "You walk into town, and notice that the buildings are of a lower quality. The gaurds here seem to be using hand-me-down armor." [player to me:] "Is there a blacksmith?" [me after a quick d4 roll] "Yes." "Then we're headed to the blacksmith." "Okay, you arrive."
Not much better. How do you guys do it?
Actually I like this. It gives a good description of the town without becoming bogged down in meaningless details. You could add a litltle more about the forest but it's the same otherwise. No need to talk for hours about the outside of the local bakery.
We summoned a devil once. All we used was the D&D books, too. It was pretty kwazy.
God of Arrested Development and Intelligence 
Resident Left Hand of Stalin and Banana Stand Grandstander
Pie-Cooling-On-A-Windowsill of the House of Trolls
In the morning HK'll be sober but you'll still be a meatbag.
I know I misspell "Danke" in my posts. It's an inside joke.
"Ten cents gets you nuts." -George Michael
Spoiler:
Show
''Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.''
—Bill Clinton
You are not a moral man. There are not enough middle fingers in the world for you.
Why do I get a silly PG-13 man giggle
going everytime I see Fist Of The Forest ?
Actually, Santa just didn't like you. However, you weren't on the Naughty List, so he had to give you something "better" than coal.
I'd take coal. Heating your house is expesive, and engery cost arn't going down.
Mabey if i beat enough homeless people, i won't have to be cold this year. 
"Heroes"...I wish I had those. I remember in my first-ever campaign one PC went around shootin all the unconscious baddies in the head to gain Dark Side Points...
Whaaaaaat?!??
Wow...way to waste perfectly good potential slaves.
Er...no wait I mean..uh...something not evil!
(Quotes screwed up on the next one, won't give the poster's name. It's in the Best Lines thread on the D&D forum)
First, an experience from a game I played in a few years back. Our DM didn't like 3.5 as a whole but liked parts of it. So he hands us a big ass rules packet for his modified FR campaign, complete with quotes from important NPC's on the front. I can't remember most of the HRs, just that some how gods like Cyric and Bhaal existed at the same time, despite the obvious problems there. In the end the game became a problem more because of the railroading than the HRs, but it ended with this classic line, after our ranger tried to disarm the strange woman following us WITH HIS BOW: DM: You just killed (insert random noble sounding name here) JP: Was she important? Jack: Dude, she's quoted on the front of the rules packet!
"Why in the wide,wide, world of all things irrational would I help you?
-Daniel Jackson
"Fun will now commence."
-Seven of Nine
"Excellent."
-Mr. Burns.
Whey is a crotch.
Cut the last encounter on your way out after dealing with the Darth. He's the BBEG. Treat him as such. Play up that Darth Revan is THAT much of a badarse. When the shuttle landed, I had no less than 13 JEDI MASTERS step off the shuttle. The PCs were slack-jawed. After the meetup with Bastila (as she's carrying Revan's body), only TWO jedi masters remained with her. Let me tell you, the player whining about not getting to fight Revan himself shut up pretty quickly when he saw that. 
There's so much you can do with insanity, especially when it has alot of resources.
1. Cleric cast protection from fire on Tank.
2. Tank goes in and get surrounded by enemies.
3. Wizard cast fireball and blows them up.
4. ???
5. Profit
I go by the saying," If it ain't friendly fire then it's not working."
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11 months ago ::
Jul 28, 2012 - 8:16PM
#3
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To paraphrase the Muppets ... "We travel by map!"
So, basically, unless I have something planned (since I hate random/wandering encounters and don't use them), the PCs travel for X days, then arrive at their destination.
Another day, another three or four entries to my Ignore List.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 28, 2012 - 10:37PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jul 26, 2012
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Salla, I actually use a map. I have a sheet of graph paper that I draw the map on as I make it up. I inform the players how many squares their party can travel in a day (accounting for terrain such as mountains) and I also inform them that each square covers so much ground that they might never take the same path twice through. So I roll a d4 to see if an encounter happens each square. That allows me to make up the map as I go, but have character memory become part of the story. It also gives me a graphic to give the party.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 29, 2012 - 5:58AM
#5
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When I narrate, I basically give sensory details. For example, i could say " The wind is softly blowing through the trees. The branches whisper to you a forgotten melody. You can smell the rotting logs and muddy earth from the fresh rain." It usually helps paint the picture in my players' minds as we go through the game. Obviously, you don't need a whole lot of detail, but just enough to keep your players interested in the game. (And a few combat encounters without dice rolling is fun too. Keeps them on their toes at all times  )
I fight for freedom. I fight for justice. I fight for honor. I fight for VENGEANCE.Beware, all you monsters, all you villains, for you have unleashed the wrath of Edward Darkforest. May your god have pity on your soul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDDGJr6LOiw&feature=share
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 29, 2012 - 9:14AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Sep 29, 2009
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"you're walking, and you're walking and you're walking along and suddenly a dragon jumps out. And he's scary, crazzy scarry"
From the D&D episode of Dexter's lab.
The sea looks at the stabillity of the mountian and sighs.
The mountian watches the freedom of the sea and cries.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 29, 2012 - 6:35PM
#7
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I'll sometimes describe real world, local weather patterns. For instance, if it has drizzled off and on for the last two days in our real world town, I might narrate a trip where the PCs start out relatively dry and comfortable but end up soaked and miserable at the end of the day. Heat, wind, snow, it's all fun .
/\ Art
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11 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 5:24AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2010
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Unless it matters (i.e. is difficult, and therefore some sort of involved, skill-challenge type of dealy), I simply say 'you travel X days, and arrive without incident'.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 3:06PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2004
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How do you guys do it?
I don't address travel unless it is specifically part of the adventure. However, if your style is more about the journey than the destination, here is a list of some random travel fluff:
1 - Unusually warm/cold day for season or brutally cold/hot day in accordance with season.
2 - Extremely windy day. Light gear becomes difficult to keep strapped down.
3 - Come across other travelers suffering from some problem. (Broken wagon, injured horse, etc.)
4 - Site of recent natural disaster: flood, forest fire, lightning strike, etc.
5 - Lost child who wandered too far from home/village or someone's lost pet.
6 - Animal tracks or droppings.
7 - Shepherd and his flock.
8 - Lumberjacks.
9 - PC discovers new hole in his boot, possibly via a mud puddle.
10 - PC or horse gets rock in shoe/boot.
11 - One of the PCs has a "bad day". Minor inconveniences plague him. (Trips over ruts in the road, gear difficulties, animal steals his lunch when he turns away for a moment. Etc.)
12 - One of the PCs has a "good day". Minor perks all day. (Find a copper piece lying in the road. Figures out how to repair some damaged item, the inn they stay at that night has one of his favorite meals as a special, etc.)
13 - Find an animal in a trap.
14 - Run into local 'recruiters'.
15 - Find an empty cave.
16 - Come across a way haven on the path.
17 - Find an old marker/sign.
18 - Bridge washed out/ river flooding.
19 - They camped on/near a fire ant colony.
20 - An army ant colony on the move.
21 - Find a hive.
22 - Someone stepped into a yellow jacket nest.
23 - Raccoons invade camp (steal/ruin items and rations)
24 - Spot a herd of deer or other food on the hoof.
25 - Spot a herd of wild horses.
26 - Run across wild young.
27 - Stumble into a blessed glade.
28 - Snowball fight or terrain/weather equivalent
29 - Wild, non-dangerous animal approaches closer for an inspection
30 - PC's must cross a rickety old bridge or ford a wide stream.
31 - Rainbow spotted or other lucky omen
32 - Break a wagon wheel or a horse throws a shoe
33 - Black cat crosses path, or other unlucky omen
34 - One PC start whistling or humming, then another, and then everyone joins in.
35 - Food forgotten at bottom of pack goes bad and smells horrible
36 - A PC gets a toothache, an earache, or a stomachache.
37 - A PC realizes they are gaining/losing weight.
38 - Find strange trash in the road, such as a wagon wheel or a chest of clothing
39 - Strangely shaped clouds seen on the horizon
40 - PC finds a hidden detail in recently acquired or purchased item, such as a
41 - Hidden compartment.
42 - Beautiful secluded beach and possibly a warm swim
43 - PC has digestion problems (fill in your own details)
44 - Minor piece of equipment is nearly worn out & should be replaced ASAP.
45 - Stumble into Poison Ivy (just for kicks, dwarves are immune)
46 - Find a fully ripe fruit tree or other easy food source
47 - Find evidence of recent combat, possibly including decaying bodies.
48 - The PC's have lost some very minor item, such as soap, a pot, or chalk.
49 - Discover one of the horses is pregnant or ill
50 - PC finds a tick or leech on their body.
51 - Thick fog or dust storm blows in
52 - Road kill: local animal dead in the road, natural causes, scavengers nearby
53 - Pass a small shrine or holy grotto
54 - Horse has a leg cramp, needs hour-long rubdown to continue.
55 - Minor earthquake, small avalanche, or freak storm
56 - PC gets a song stuck in his head all day
57 - Mosquito swarm
58 - It just really feels like today was a lot shorter/longer than a normal day.
59 - PC awakes from sleep after vividly dreaming that the group was being scryed on
60 - Someone has an allergic reaction to something in the area.
61 - Toll station
62 - Beautiful scene, such as waterfall or breathtaking view
63 - A PC is getting shaggy and needs to get a haircut.
64 - Pass the ruins of an old outpost or small tower, still 75% intact.
65 - Pass a roadside grave or the site of a past execution
66 - An eclipse occurs, a comet flies past, or other astronomical event.
67 - Quicksand, sinkhole, or other natural ground hazard
68 - The PC's find money or valuables left in the road.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 06, 2012 - 11:13PM
#10
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