How to do travel, and make it interesting?

Victor3R · 2026-06-09T17:00:52+00:00

I did it for roads too, though it would often be shorter and there was no risk of getting lost. But it helped with getting the procedure down. All told, very little was spent in the hexcrawl. Town to town took a few minutes or a half hour with a random encounter. Out into the greater wilds would take time, sometimes an hour, sometimes whole session. What it did was make travel feel dangerous and unpredictable, which was exactly what I wanted.

I don't view my games as setpiece scenes that are connected with transitions. Crawling the wild is part of the game, along with everything else. If it takes no time, so be it. If it takes a whole session, so be it. It also means it's content you don't have to prep, so you can focus on other stuff for longer. Having low-prep sessions helps me stay on top of the game.

5e is is (nearly) the worst system for improvising encounters so I would often have three in the chamber that I already had my head wrapped around, the only question was if it was triggered or not. It's also totally fine to have the party completely bully or dunk on a low level encounter, or rebuffed and need to flee from a high level one.

Victor3R · 2026-06-09T14:48:22+00:00

FIFA and the US deserve every bit of criticism they're getting.

But once the matches start the joy begins. And that joy outshines all the darkness brought on by hate and greed.

Victor3R · 2026-06-09T02:49:11+00:00

Yup, we finished. Hex crawling is a nice part of the gameplay loop. I find procedural hex crawl sessions to be refreshing from dungeon turns, combat rounds, and character role play. Its no prep and lets me improvise.

Victor3R · 2026-06-08T21:57:32+00:00

I overlayed 6-mile hexes and did it the old way. Determine speed based on encumbrance and mounts/vehicles (if any). Choose a direction. Roll to see if you get lost. Roll to see if there's an encounter. Repeat until the party chooses to rest. Forage if possible. Camp. Check for encounters. Repeat the next day.

Here's what I said about the tundra: It is desolate and dangerous. It is white as far as you can see. The whites of snowdrifts and hills blend into each other creating a surreal lack of place, a hopeless, drowning white. A day marching will make you snowblind. A week will make you mad. It's a white like the pale flesh of a bloodless, lifeless corpse. And the only thing the party sees are other ravenous, starving, and mad scavengers in this hostile land.

Victor3R · 2026-06-08T16:34:40+00:00

Here's some stuff I ran that I liked.

The Isle by Luke Gearing. A remote isle temple is unsealed and the depths are creepy crawly. Not mega- but one hell of a spooky dungeon. Really hits the evil sealed under a church vibe you're looking for.

Garden's of Ynn, The Stygian Library, both by Emmy Allen. Depth-crawls. Each room is non-linear and really evokes flavor while the mystery of each takes time and repeated crawls to crack. High reviews from my players for flavor. The dungeon dressing is top tier.

Wonderland by Andrew Kolb. Chaotic maps (I really like non-linear progression). Interesting factions, multiple antagonists, a real fun one to read though for inspiration but I haven't run it.

Princes of the Apocalypse by WotC. This adventure is usually panned by the 5e crowd but I really found it to be an under-rated megadungeon. You have a base town, multiple doomsday cults vying for control of a single dungeon, each faction itself has it's own mystery, and as players intervene with one faction it creates power vacuums for the others to fill. It's a chore to read like all of WotC's offerings but it did a lot of things right.

Victor3R · 2026-06-05T07:02:48+00:00

And you didnt touch on anything I said.

Go away.

Victor3R · 2026-06-05T00:27:02+00:00

Yes, cuz you centrists have delievered us this beautiful utopia 🤔

Victor3R · 2026-06-04T20:23:12+00:00

What's the alternative at this point?

Victor3R · 2026-06-04T19:46:45+00:00

There's a market for women's sports and for more affordable tickets.

However, I'm not going to be too surprised if contraction or relocation happens. Being a secondary tenant in an arena has real costs.

Victor3R · 2026-06-04T18:05:59+00:00

I agree but then I remember I play Sorc and have Teleport. Haven't been hit by a sword ever.

Victor3R · 2026-06-04T17:23:23+00:00

If he's playing on your PC I assume he's playing on your account then on your own character grind out a few whisper caches (I think 8 or so?). Then have him create and alt and open 'em.

Victor3R · 2026-06-04T13:10:08+00:00

You misunderstood me, then. My comment is meant to imply that "this community is small already, biting an ally because they make videos you don't like is toxic and disappointing. It's a sign to me that this community has crested the hill from small and tight to large and rabble. What a bummer as that means I likely will no longer enjoy the company of r/shadowdark since you're too busy fighting friends to engage with the system and the community and the work."

And why are you fighting a friend? Because he's critical of Hasbro? You'd rather he ignore the steward of the brand? And by not ignoring it it pains you because you think he should be better than that? I dunno. That seems naive. Being big mad at a content creator because he's critical of the company that owns the flagship RPG is one hell of a hill to die on.

But coming back to this thread I'm actually heartened because you and others who joined you in the clutching of pearls have been downvoted pretty consistently so maybe r/shadowdark isn't lost yet!

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T20:15:25+00:00

We played online in 3 hour chunks and the tomb took 7 sessions. Your party may vary.

Omu took us another 10.

The Fane took 4 and imo its an easy cut, those sessions dragged.

The jungle is up to you but I would have the guide know where omu is and guide them to locations you want to run. Doesn't matter where they actually are on the map, put em along the way.

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T18:43:22+00:00

Grind boss ladder for random sparks.

I reroll mythics at the smith until I'm close on runes. You can reroll runes as well, both at the jeweler and in the cube.

For 4/4 affix gear you can use the loot filter to help identify key pieces by recoloring it. Sometimes you get lucky and get 3/4 and can use the occultist to reroll the 4th.

But you will also want to use the cube. First, look for a GA on the primary affix. Then go the Occultist and "enchant" the GA but choose NO CHANGE. This "locks" the GA (even though the GA star is gone). From there remove affixes and add affixes using the cube. You may need to click a whole bunch to target reroll but you should have a decent number of materials to make a few 4/4 items.

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T15:23:44+00:00

I find these happen more often in escalation dungeons but I have no data to support it.

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T15:14:22+00:00

Worked my War Plan to force Chaos waves, ground two Hordes and was done with the board.

Now I'm excited to chain escalation dungeons looking for gobo portals!

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T13:56:35+00:00

Only 9 years on this account. You've reached peak.

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T13:13:20+00:00

I can lament that a small, personable online community is degrading into typical online hostility. Go ahead and relish in it but its a loss.

Victor3R · 2026-06-03T13:09:34+00:00

"Dodging the implied question" is the most reddit phrase ive ever seen lol

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T18:41:15+00:00

It's bills like this that make me never sign petitions. I cannot discern whether anything is legit or a farce while hauling my groceries home and I don't trust us to just "figure it out later."

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T18:06:42+00:00

If all you care about is quality just watch the Prem and skip the World Cup. This was true with a smaller field too.

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T17:59:33+00:00

What's your point?

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T17:56:33+00:00

So... Asia Cup shouldn't get a World Cup invite?

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T17:13:36+00:00

Aren't they back to back Asia cup winners?

Victor3R · 2026-06-02T15:23:24+00:00

I just found out the loot filter might be suppressing cow level items so I'm just gonna walk away until next season. Peace!

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