1. Description
In the wilderness, sight is not limited to a light source carried by a party, it is instead determined through noting the time of day, elevation, weather, and tree-cover. Upon determining the line of sight, that information is relayed to the players commonly in clockwise order noting the nearby terrain, hours of sunlight remaining, and any points of interest visibile.
There are generally 12 hour of sunlight during which characters may travel in the wilderness. During summer this increases, and likewise during winter this decreases. The light of the full moon provides illumination on a cloudless night, but otherwise seeing the distant horizon and in turn traveling is limited to the day.
On a clear day, in flat terrain, a human being is able to see around 3 miles into the distance (horizon). Thus a character standing in the center of a 6 mile hex would barely be able to make out the terrain of the adjacent hexes. This is the reason the hex-map is composed of 6 mile hexes. Obviously, higher elevation is seen from further away, and allows orientation and triangulation as landmarks. Likewise due to reciprocal relationship of elevation and visibility, if a character climbed to greater elevation they would in turn increase their line of sight.
The following table describes the line of sight of a character in various elevations on a clear day:
Hills (50’) see 2 hexes away
Hilltop (150’) see 3 hexes away
Mountain (525’) see 5 hexes away
Mountaintop (1000’) see 7 hexes away
Snow-Capped Mountains (4000’) see 12 hexes away
Snow-Capped Mountaintop (5750’) see 15 hexes away
The distance elevation is seen from is determined by it’s zenith, thus on a clear day hills can be seen 3 hexes away, mountains can be seen 7 hexes away, and snow-capped mountains can be seen 15 hexes away. It also important to consider when elevation would block the sightline of other elevation such as a a mountain range blocking sight of the hills beyond it.
Weather and tree-cover then diminishes line of sight in the following stepwise fashion: full, 2/3rds, 1/3rd, 1/6th, none
Clear/Cloudy: no diminishment
Mostly Cloudy/Overcast: diminished by 1 step
Rain/Snow: diminished by 2 steps
Fog: diminished to 30’
Woodlands (50% tree canopy): diminished by 1 step
Forest (100% tree canopy): diminished by 2 steps
When non-evergreen trees lose their leaves, the tree-cover’s effects are reduced in severity with forests diminishing line of sight by 1 step and woodlands no longer diminishing line of sight.
A character climbing a tree to see above the treeline, would overcome the diminishment to line of sight of tree-cover. This climb would take an hour.
A character at the top of a wooded hill during overcast weather would have the 3 hex line of sight diminished to 1 hex. A character amid wooded snow-capped mountains during snowfall would have the 12 hex line of sight reduced to 2 hexes.
While this may seem overwhelming, at the table these values do not need to be memorized. The referee can easily craft a visibility ruler to place on the printed out hex-map to determine if nearby elevation is visible. Do not be discouraged by this! With practice it will be second nature.
Hex Description
- You stand in X terrain
- N you see, NE you see, SE you see, S you see, SW you see, NW, you see
- Y hours of sunlight remain
2. Timekeeping
Within the dungeon, time is tracked in 10 minute turns, while in the wilderness hours are used.
The time requried to enter into a new hex is determined by the terrain of that hex, intuitively remembered in that it takes more time to ascend a mountain than descend it. It takes 4 hours to traverse 6 miles modified in the following ways by terrain: wooded +2, hills +2, sodden +2, forested +4, mountain +6, snow cap mountain +10. Thus it would require 8 hours to enter a swamp hex (4 +2 wooded +2 sodden) and 12 hours to enter a wooded mountain hex (4 +2 wooded +6 mountain). Characters following a known path, such as a road, reduce the time required to enter a hex by 2 hours to a minimum of 4 hours. 6 hours of falling rain imparts a penalty of 1 hour for entering a hex the next day from mud, further each 4 hours of snow imparts a penalty of 1 hour for entering a hex the next day from packed snow.
Players who elect to begin a forced march to move faster through the wilderness, decreases the time to cross a hex by 1 hour. However the referee then treats rolls of monster surprise as 1, normally indicating that the monster is surprised, to instead signify that the party is instead surprised. Additionally, a forced march deals a point of damage in the following hourly increments: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (minimum) until the party spends a full day resting. Thus a party who performs 26 hours of forced march at 13 hours per day would take 1 point of damage the first day and then 3 points of damage the second day. If they continued to force march at 13 hours for an additional day they would take 5 points of damage. This damage is also dealt to the animals forced to march alongside the players,
To facilitate time-keeping in the wilderness, a calender has been provided. A 2 by 4 grid, each square 2 hours, is used to track the passage of time, implicitly another row of 4 squares beneath that take place during the night. You will note upon close inspection that a few additional pieces of information.
At the top of the square clock, rises a line, when crossed the referee is to roll for wandering monsters in the wilderness. Rather than having the three wandering monster rolls occur at the same time everyday, it shifts 2 hours later every day. The greyed out squares indicate night-hours, mid-summer having none visibile and mid-winter having only 8 of sunlight. Days which are overcast and mostly cloudy further have the start and duration of their percipitation tracked by small r’s. The new-moon and full-moon are likewise depicted on the calender.
Next to these square clocks the weather has been recorded. Weather is given in the combination of temperature, cloud cover, and winds, the notation used in the calender is shown below
| Temp |
Cloud Cover |
Winds |
| W3 Dangerously Warm 50/122 |
Cl Clear |
D Doldrum |
| W2 Very Warm 40/100 |
Cld Cloudy |
W1 Calm |
| W1 Warm 30/86 |
Mc Mostly Cloudy |
W2 Windy |
| N Normal 20/68 |
O Overcast |
W3 Gale |
| C1 Cold 10/50 |
O Overcast |
W3 Gale |
| C2 Very Cold 0/32 |
O Overcast |
W3 Gale |
| C3 Dangerously Cold -10/14 |
O Overcast |
W3 Gale |
Spring and Fall is between W2 and C2, Summer is between N and W3, Winter is between N and C3
Mc = 4 hours of rain
O = 6 hours of rain
Winds modifier: D 0.5x, W2 1.5x, W3 2x
The base temperature from weather is felt differently due to other weather conditions.
In a doldrum, warm weather is felt warmer by 1 step.
During Mostly Cloudy and Overcast Weather line of sight is diminished by 1 step, and all weather is felt colder by 1 step.
During Windy and Gale Weather, all weather is felt colder by 1 step.
There are additional factors to determine the felt weather: Warm Furs, Fire, and Shelter each increase felt temperature by 1 step. Being soaked through, whether through percipitation or falling into waters, being in a snow-cap mountain terrain, and nightfall each decrease felt temperature by 1 step.
Such factors are important when determining Heatstroke and Hypothermia.
In weather felt as W2 very warm, men must rest for an hour after 8 hours of travel, with each step warmer halving the duration of travel before rest. Further, an additional liter of water must be drank for every step felt warmer than W1. Failure to take these precuations results in a save vs heatstroke those who fail the save are reduced to 0 hp, those who travel while wearing heavy armor fail their saves. If resting in the shade, water requirement is treated as 1 step lighter, thus characters in the wilderness who experience weather as W3 but chose to rest in the shade rather than keep traveling would only require 1 additional water skin per day.
In weather felt as C1 cold, those exposed to the elements take 1 point of damage every 5 hours. The duration of exposure needed to inflict damage, halves (rounded down) for every step felt colder. Thus in C2 it takes 2 hours, in C3 1 hour, in C4 3 turns, in C5 1 turn.
While this may seem overwhelming, these considerations are generally intuitive. Further, it is simple to print out the Temperature appendix and place it on the referee screen to quickly sum up the modifiers for the base temperature.
| Temperature Appendix |
Hypothermia/Heatstroke |
| Doldrum if Warm Weather +1 |
C1 Every 5 hours |
| Wearing Warmfurs +1 |
C2 Every 2 hours |
| Fire +1 |
C3 Every hour |
| Shelter +1 |
C4 Every 3 turns |
| Night -1 |
C5 Every turns |
| Mostly Cloudy/Overcast -1 |
C5 Every turns |
| Windy/Gale -1 |
W2 8 hours, 1 additional waterskin |
| Soaked -1 |
W3 4 hours, 2 additional waterskin |
| On snow-capped mountain -1 |
W4 2 hours, 3 additional waterskin |
3. Getting Lost
In certain circumstances characters traveling in the wilderness may become lost.
When characters seek to enter a new hex, they are following a route, such as a trail or the shores of a river there is a 2 in 6 chance that they end up unknowningly deviating from their intended direction. A six sided die is rolled with a 1 indicating a counterclockwise deviation while a 2 indicating a clockwise deviation. A referee’s judgement is useful to consider when it is likely for the party to unknowningly go the wrong way, if a party is traveling from plains towards hills that are flanked on either sides by woodlands it would be unlikely for them to mistakenly enter the woodlands. Similarly, if a party is entering a swamp which is flanked counterclockwise by hills but clockwise by more swamps, then the roll of a 1 should indicate that they instead mistakenly enter the clockwise swamps.
If the sightline of characters has been reduced to 1/3rd/1 mile, such as when it rains or snows, it is possible that the party instead travels in circles: A die roll of a 6, upon entering a new hex, instead indicates that the party goes in circles for a half the hours it would require the hex they are in. Further, if the sightline of the characters has been reduced to none, two dice are instead rolled, and if matching they indicate the direction in which travel occurs starting clockwise from the north, heterogenous rolls indicate the party walks in circles.
When the party begins to travel off course, the referee will then deliver new information incorrectly, in line with the deviation made by the party as the characters would not know of they had gotten lost. In turn it is the players responsibility to notice that they had become lost when they notice their surroundings no longer match their map.
Once they have determined they are lost, players must reorient themselves. They can determine north by spending an hour to construct and use a solar compass, or by waiting to for nightfall to find the north star.
4. Encounters
In addition to monsters which occur on a 1-2, an additional table of wilderness incidents has been provided, at the end of this document, to allow a referee to add minor events to the millieu rather than simply meeting monsters in the woods. A HTML version of the table is provided for ease of use.
Much like the dungeon, encounters in the wilderness require the determination of surprise, reaction, and distance. Surprise and reaction are determined the same way as in the dungeon. Distance is tripled in the wilderness, with an inch representing 10 yards rather than 10 feet it does in the dungeon. Distance may be then used to inform information about the encounter as described below.
The dice are rolled to determine the distance, then each dice is assigned to a feature of the terrain. In the case of complex terrain, such as forested mountains, whose terrain could be determined by woodlands, forests, hills, and mountains, a few extra dice could be rolled.
| Dice Roll |
1-2 |
3-4 |
5-6 |
| Woodlands |
Thick Tree Cover |
Sparse Tree Cover |
Meadow with Few trees |
| Forest |
Vegetation up to shoulders |
Vegetation up to chest |
Vegetation up to knees |
| Wetlands |
Waters up to waist |
Murky waters up to knee |
Waters up to calf |
| Shores/Rivers |
Party and encounter perpendicular to waterline party closer |
Party and encounter parallel to waterline |
Encounter within waters |
| Hills |
Party at lower elevation |
Party at equal elevation |
Party at higher elevation |
| Mountains (as hills and) |
Lower incline between (other die roll*10’) |
Steep incline between (other die roll*20’) |
Sheer incline between (other die roll*30’) |
Wandering monsters still occur while the party makes camp as indicated on the calender, but there are a few changes to the procedures. Firstly, the 2 in 6 chance of a wandering monster encounter assumes the presence of a campfire, those camping cold to avoid detection instead roll a 1d12, with rolls of 1 and 2 indicating a wandering monster. Secondly, rather than the normal 1d8 roll to determine the wandering monster from the wilderness monster list, a 1d6+2 is rolled, to reflect those who traverse the night. Further, players who set aside rations or treasure, much in the same way that they could drop rations or treasure when being chased in a dungeon, would have the same chance to avoid pursuit. Lastly, the referee should consider the motiviation of those who would draw near to a camp at night as hostile reactions do not neccesarily mean violence to the characters. Predators are likely to attack pack animals and take them to their lair. Bandits are likely to steal horses or treasure. A particularly malicious referee may even replace a character by a entity which copies their appearance and wishes to betray the party at a later point.
One of the wandering monsters listed is “Wilderness”, this category indicates wilderness travel complications such as storms or quicksand. In such a case the referee is to see which conditions are satsified and then determine one at random or through appropriateness to see befalls upon the party.
In the wilderness, hexes may contain a lair of a monster. If a hex is written to contain a lair, an additional die is rolled at every wandering monster check, specific to the inhabitants of that lair. When making camp in a hex which contains a lair, the increased likelyhood of encountering that monster becomes apparent.
5. Miscellaneous Wilderness Considerations
Bushcraft
Every 4 hours spent on bushcraft incurs a d6 roll to determine mishap. Rolls of 1 indicate becoming lost and separated from the rest of the party. Rolls of 2 indicate becoming stalked by a 1d4+2 roll on the wandering monster table. The referee would then determine when the stalking monster may strike.
Finding water
An hour searching in a “wet terrain” hex such as swamps, marshes, lakes, or one through which a river flows is automatically successful. Each hour searching for water has a 3 in 6 chance of success, if bordering a “wet hex”, the chance of success improves by 1. Weather of at least W2 imparts a -1 penalty.
Source: 2d6
12-9 Stream
6-8 Pond
3-5 Spring
2 Rain-basin
If not adjacent to a wet hex result is a step down. In badlands hex result is 2 steps down.
Fishing
Wet hexes and Streams always have fish, ponds have a 50% chance to have fish.
Every hour spent fishing has a 3 in 6 chance to grab a fish. Fishing at within 2 hours of dawn or dusk improves fishing chance by 2.
Pond: 1d6 (treat rolls of 6 as 1) food stuff
Stream/Marsh/Swamp: 1d6 food stuff
River: 1d6 (treat rolls of 1 as 6) food stuff
Lake: 2d6 (if doubles fish is of sum foodstuff, else take higher roll)
Foraging
The possible yield for foraging is dependent on the season. In the summer a d6 is rolled while, each month outside of it incurs an increase in die size (d8->d10->d12->d20) until a d20 is rolled in winter. Every four hours searching, an appropriate die is rolled for each member of the foraging party. Foraging in forests doubles the yield, while foraging in deserts or badlands halves the yield.
1-2: number rolled dry rations
3-4: number rolled foodstuff
5: Beneficial Herb Found
5+: nothing
Survey
Half of the time required to cross a hex, is the time required to search a sixth of it.
Each step of decreased visibility reduces the amount searched by half. In a jungle which costs 8 hours to cross, where visibility is reduced by two steps, the time required to search 1/24th of the hex would be 4 hours. Conversely it would require 2 hours to search a sixth of a plains hex. Thus three groups of surveyors working together could fully search a plains hex in 4 hours. Piecemeal searching of a hex has chance of success equal to the % of hex surveyed in this manner. Thus for the 3 groups of surveyors searching the plains hex, after 2 hours of searching they would have had a 50% chance of discovering the hidden hex feature. Searching a hex in this manner passively forages and likewise it incurs a roll to find water every 2 hours.
Hunting
Requires 6 hours (this includes butchering the quarry and returning it to camp), 2 in 6 chance of finding prey. Referee then rolls 3d10 to determine yield of food stuff and declares which manner of quarry is found.
Crossing a River
Crossing a river has a 2 in 6 of causing someone to slip fall in. Finding shallows reduces the chance to fall in by 2, this process requires 2 hours. Enough rainfall to produce thick mud or present rainfall both increase the chance of falling in by 1 and increase the time required to find shallows by 1.
Mountaineering
When a party travels in mountainous terrain, an additional 1d6 is rolled at the time of wandering monsters and rolls of 1-2 indicate the party encountering difficult terrain of 3d6*20’ which can either be challenged resulting in a gain of 2 hours of travel or bypassed. A character needs to climb to establish lines for the party to follow after them, alternatively a party may attempt to scale cliffs without equipment. Between the intervals of the 3d6 roll a climbing roll is made to determine if a characters fall with damage calculated as if they fell down their distance away from the closest piton -10’. (rolls of 1,4,2 would test climbing at 20’ and 100’ respectively)
Factors impacting climbing chance: Base 5in6
Thews Score +Modifier
Pick +1
Free Climbing -3 (no pitons) (Thieves ignore this penalty)
Precipitation -1
Snow -1
Armor imparts a third of its movement penalty
While ascending a mountain, encountered difficult terrain (as determined by rolls of 1-2 on the extra d6 rolled at times of wandering monsters), has the opposite temporal effect. Unless challenged it imparts a 2 hour penalty due to backtracking.
Ascending a mountain times:
Ascending a hill is 1 hour
Ascending a mt is 4 hours
Ascending a Snow mt is 12 hours
Wilderness Mastery Procedure
1. Description
In the wilderness, sight is not limited to a light source carried by a party, it is instead determined through noting the time of day, elevation, weather, and tree-cover. Upon determining the line of sight, that information is relayed to the players commonly in clockwise order noting the nearby terrain, hours of sunlight remaining, and any points of interest visibile.
There are generally 12 hour of sunlight during which characters may travel in the wilderness. During summer this increases, and likewise during winter this decreases. The light of the full moon provides illumination on a cloudless night, but otherwise seeing the distant horizon and in turn traveling is limited to the day.
On a clear day, in flat terrain, a human being is able to see around 3 miles into the distance (horizon). Thus a character standing in the center of a 6 mile hex would barely be able to make out the terrain of the adjacent hexes. This is the reason the hex-map is composed of 6 mile hexes. Obviously, higher elevation is seen from further away, and allows orientation and triangulation as landmarks. Likewise due to reciprocal relationship of elevation and visibility, if a character climbed to greater elevation they would in turn increase their line of sight.
The following table describes the line of sight of a character in various elevations on a clear day:
Hills (50’) see 2 hexes away
Hilltop (150’) see 3 hexes away
Mountain (525’) see 5 hexes away
Mountaintop (1000’) see 7 hexes away
Snow-Capped Mountains (4000’) see 12 hexes away
Snow-Capped Mountaintop (5750’) see 15 hexes away
The distance elevation is seen from is determined by it’s zenith, thus on a clear day hills can be seen 3 hexes away, mountains can be seen 7 hexes away, and snow-capped mountains can be seen 15 hexes away. It also important to consider when elevation would block the sightline of other elevation such as a a mountain range blocking sight of the hills beyond it.
Weather and tree-cover then diminishes line of sight in the following stepwise fashion: full, 2/3rds, 1/3rd, 1/6th, none
Clear/Cloudy: no diminishment
Mostly Cloudy/Overcast: diminished by 1 step
Rain/Snow: diminished by 2 steps
Fog: diminished to 30’
Woodlands (50% tree canopy): diminished by 1 step
Forest (100% tree canopy): diminished by 2 steps
When non-evergreen trees lose their leaves, the tree-cover’s effects are reduced in severity with forests diminishing line of sight by 1 step and woodlands no longer diminishing line of sight.
A character climbing a tree to see above the treeline, would overcome the diminishment to line of sight of tree-cover. This climb would take an hour.
A character at the top of a wooded hill during overcast weather would have the 3 hex line of sight diminished to 1 hex. A character amid wooded snow-capped mountains during snowfall would have the 12 hex line of sight reduced to 2 hexes.
While this may seem overwhelming, at the table these values do not need to be memorized. The referee can easily craft a visibility ruler to place on the printed out hex-map to determine if nearby elevation is visible. Do not be discouraged by this! With practice it will be second nature.
Hex Description
2. Timekeeping
Within the dungeon, time is tracked in 10 minute turns, while in the wilderness hours are used.
The time requried to enter into a new hex is determined by the terrain of that hex, intuitively remembered in that it takes more time to ascend a mountain than descend it. It takes 4 hours to traverse 6 miles modified in the following ways by terrain: wooded +2, hills +2, sodden +2, forested +4, mountain +6, snow cap mountain +10. Thus it would require 8 hours to enter a swamp hex (4 +2 wooded +2 sodden) and 12 hours to enter a wooded mountain hex (4 +2 wooded +6 mountain). Characters following a known path, such as a road, reduce the time required to enter a hex by 2 hours to a minimum of 4 hours. 6 hours of falling rain imparts a penalty of 1 hour for entering a hex the next day from mud, further each 4 hours of snow imparts a penalty of 1 hour for entering a hex the next day from packed snow.
Players who elect to begin a forced march to move faster through the wilderness, decreases the time to cross a hex by 1 hour. However the referee then treats rolls of monster surprise as 1, normally indicating that the monster is surprised, to instead signify that the party is instead surprised. Additionally, a forced march deals a point of damage in the following hourly increments: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (minimum) until the party spends a full day resting. Thus a party who performs 26 hours of forced march at 13 hours per day would take 1 point of damage the first day and then 3 points of damage the second day. If they continued to force march at 13 hours for an additional day they would take 5 points of damage. This damage is also dealt to the animals forced to march alongside the players,
To facilitate time-keeping in the wilderness, a calender has been provided. A 2 by 4 grid, each square 2 hours, is used to track the passage of time, implicitly another row of 4 squares beneath that take place during the night. You will note upon close inspection that a few additional pieces of information.
At the top of the square clock, rises a line, when crossed the referee is to roll for wandering monsters in the wilderness. Rather than having the three wandering monster rolls occur at the same time everyday, it shifts 2 hours later every day. The greyed out squares indicate night-hours, mid-summer having none visibile and mid-winter having only 8 of sunlight. Days which are overcast and mostly cloudy further have the start and duration of their percipitation tracked by small r’s. The new-moon and full-moon are likewise depicted on the calender.
Next to these square clocks the weather has been recorded. Weather is given in the combination of temperature, cloud cover, and winds, the notation used in the calender is shown below
Spring and Fall is between W2 and C2, Summer is between N and W3, Winter is between N and C3
Mc = 4 hours of rain
O = 6 hours of rain
Winds modifier: D 0.5x, W2 1.5x, W3 2x
The base temperature from weather is felt differently due to other weather conditions.
In a doldrum, warm weather is felt warmer by 1 step.
During Mostly Cloudy and Overcast Weather line of sight is diminished by 1 step, and all weather is felt colder by 1 step.
During Windy and Gale Weather, all weather is felt colder by 1 step.
There are additional factors to determine the felt weather: Warm Furs, Fire, and Shelter each increase felt temperature by 1 step. Being soaked through, whether through percipitation or falling into waters, being in a snow-cap mountain terrain, and nightfall each decrease felt temperature by 1 step.
Such factors are important when determining Heatstroke and Hypothermia.
In weather felt as W2 very warm, men must rest for an hour after 8 hours of travel, with each step warmer halving the duration of travel before rest. Further, an additional liter of water must be drank for every step felt warmer than W1. Failure to take these precuations results in a save vs heatstroke those who fail the save are reduced to 0 hp, those who travel while wearing heavy armor fail their saves. If resting in the shade, water requirement is treated as 1 step lighter, thus characters in the wilderness who experience weather as W3 but chose to rest in the shade rather than keep traveling would only require 1 additional water skin per day.
In weather felt as C1 cold, those exposed to the elements take 1 point of damage every 5 hours. The duration of exposure needed to inflict damage, halves (rounded down) for every step felt colder. Thus in C2 it takes 2 hours, in C3 1 hour, in C4 3 turns, in C5 1 turn.
While this may seem overwhelming, these considerations are generally intuitive. Further, it is simple to print out the Temperature appendix and place it on the referee screen to quickly sum up the modifiers for the base temperature.
3. Getting Lost
In certain circumstances characters traveling in the wilderness may become lost.
When characters seek to enter a new hex, they are following a route, such as a trail or the shores of a river there is a 2 in 6 chance that they end up unknowningly deviating from their intended direction. A six sided die is rolled with a 1 indicating a counterclockwise deviation while a 2 indicating a clockwise deviation. A referee’s judgement is useful to consider when it is likely for the party to unknowningly go the wrong way, if a party is traveling from plains towards hills that are flanked on either sides by woodlands it would be unlikely for them to mistakenly enter the woodlands. Similarly, if a party is entering a swamp which is flanked counterclockwise by hills but clockwise by more swamps, then the roll of a 1 should indicate that they instead mistakenly enter the clockwise swamps.
If the sightline of characters has been reduced to 1/3rd/1 mile, such as when it rains or snows, it is possible that the party instead travels in circles: A die roll of a 6, upon entering a new hex, instead indicates that the party goes in circles for a half the hours it would require the hex they are in. Further, if the sightline of the characters has been reduced to none, two dice are instead rolled, and if matching they indicate the direction in which travel occurs starting clockwise from the north, heterogenous rolls indicate the party walks in circles.
When the party begins to travel off course, the referee will then deliver new information incorrectly, in line with the deviation made by the party as the characters would not know of they had gotten lost. In turn it is the players responsibility to notice that they had become lost when they notice their surroundings no longer match their map.
Once they have determined they are lost, players must reorient themselves. They can determine north by spending an hour to construct and use a solar compass, or by waiting to for nightfall to find the north star.
4. Encounters
In addition to monsters which occur on a 1-2, an additional table of wilderness incidents has been provided, at the end of this document, to allow a referee to add minor events to the millieu rather than simply meeting monsters in the woods. A HTML version of the table is provided for ease of use.
Much like the dungeon, encounters in the wilderness require the determination of surprise, reaction, and distance. Surprise and reaction are determined the same way as in the dungeon. Distance is tripled in the wilderness, with an inch representing 10 yards rather than 10 feet it does in the dungeon. Distance may be then used to inform information about the encounter as described below.
The dice are rolled to determine the distance, then each dice is assigned to a feature of the terrain. In the case of complex terrain, such as forested mountains, whose terrain could be determined by woodlands, forests, hills, and mountains, a few extra dice could be rolled.
Wandering monsters still occur while the party makes camp as indicated on the calender, but there are a few changes to the procedures. Firstly, the 2 in 6 chance of a wandering monster encounter assumes the presence of a campfire, those camping cold to avoid detection instead roll a 1d12, with rolls of 1 and 2 indicating a wandering monster. Secondly, rather than the normal 1d8 roll to determine the wandering monster from the wilderness monster list, a 1d6+2 is rolled, to reflect those who traverse the night. Further, players who set aside rations or treasure, much in the same way that they could drop rations or treasure when being chased in a dungeon, would have the same chance to avoid pursuit. Lastly, the referee should consider the motiviation of those who would draw near to a camp at night as hostile reactions do not neccesarily mean violence to the characters. Predators are likely to attack pack animals and take them to their lair. Bandits are likely to steal horses or treasure. A particularly malicious referee may even replace a character by a entity which copies their appearance and wishes to betray the party at a later point.
One of the wandering monsters listed is “Wilderness”, this category indicates wilderness travel complications such as storms or quicksand. In such a case the referee is to see which conditions are satsified and then determine one at random or through appropriateness to see befalls upon the party.
In the wilderness, hexes may contain a lair of a monster. If a hex is written to contain a lair, an additional die is rolled at every wandering monster check, specific to the inhabitants of that lair. When making camp in a hex which contains a lair, the increased likelyhood of encountering that monster becomes apparent.
5. Miscellaneous Wilderness Considerations
Bushcraft
Every 4 hours spent on bushcraft incurs a d6 roll to determine mishap. Rolls of 1 indicate becoming lost and separated from the rest of the party. Rolls of 2 indicate becoming stalked by a 1d4+2 roll on the wandering monster table. The referee would then determine when the stalking monster may strike.
Finding water
An hour searching in a “wet terrain” hex such as swamps, marshes, lakes, or one through which a river flows is automatically successful. Each hour searching for water has a 3 in 6 chance of success, if bordering a “wet hex”, the chance of success improves by 1. Weather of at least W2 imparts a -1 penalty.
Source: 2d6
12-9 Stream
6-8 Pond
3-5 Spring
2 Rain-basin
If not adjacent to a wet hex result is a step down. In badlands hex result is 2 steps down.
Fishing
Wet hexes and Streams always have fish, ponds have a 50% chance to have fish.
Every hour spent fishing has a 3 in 6 chance to grab a fish. Fishing at within 2 hours of dawn or dusk improves fishing chance by 2.
Pond: 1d6 (treat rolls of 6 as 1) food stuff
Stream/Marsh/Swamp: 1d6 food stuff
River: 1d6 (treat rolls of 1 as 6) food stuff
Lake: 2d6 (if doubles fish is of sum foodstuff, else take higher roll)
Foraging
The possible yield for foraging is dependent on the season. In the summer a d6 is rolled while, each month outside of it incurs an increase in die size (d8->d10->d12->d20) until a d20 is rolled in winter. Every four hours searching, an appropriate die is rolled for each member of the foraging party. Foraging in forests doubles the yield, while foraging in deserts or badlands halves the yield.
1-2: number rolled dry rations
3-4: number rolled foodstuff
5: Beneficial Herb Found
5+: nothing
Survey
Half of the time required to cross a hex, is the time required to search a sixth of it.
Each step of decreased visibility reduces the amount searched by half. In a jungle which costs 8 hours to cross, where visibility is reduced by two steps, the time required to search 1/24th of the hex would be 4 hours. Conversely it would require 2 hours to search a sixth of a plains hex. Thus three groups of surveyors working together could fully search a plains hex in 4 hours. Piecemeal searching of a hex has chance of success equal to the % of hex surveyed in this manner. Thus for the 3 groups of surveyors searching the plains hex, after 2 hours of searching they would have had a 50% chance of discovering the hidden hex feature. Searching a hex in this manner passively forages and likewise it incurs a roll to find water every 2 hours.
Hunting
Requires 6 hours (this includes butchering the quarry and returning it to camp), 2 in 6 chance of finding prey. Referee then rolls 3d10 to determine yield of food stuff and declares which manner of quarry is found.
Crossing a River
Crossing a river has a 2 in 6 of causing someone to slip fall in. Finding shallows reduces the chance to fall in by 2, this process requires 2 hours. Enough rainfall to produce thick mud or present rainfall both increase the chance of falling in by 1 and increase the time required to find shallows by 1.
Mountaineering
When a party travels in mountainous terrain, an additional 1d6 is rolled at the time of wandering monsters and rolls of 1-2 indicate the party encountering difficult terrain of 3d6*20’ which can either be challenged resulting in a gain of 2 hours of travel or bypassed. A character needs to climb to establish lines for the party to follow after them, alternatively a party may attempt to scale cliffs without equipment. Between the intervals of the 3d6 roll a climbing roll is made to determine if a characters fall with damage calculated as if they fell down their distance away from the closest piton -10’. (rolls of 1,4,2 would test climbing at 20’ and 100’ respectively)
Factors impacting climbing chance: Base 5in6
Thews Score +Modifier
Pick +1
Free Climbing -3 (no pitons) (Thieves ignore this penalty)
Precipitation -1
Snow -1
Armor imparts a third of its movement penalty
While ascending a mountain, encountered difficult terrain (as determined by rolls of 1-2 on the extra d6 rolled at times of wandering monsters), has the opposite temporal effect. Unless challenged it imparts a 2 hour penalty due to backtracking.
Ascending a mountain times:
Ascending a hill is 1 hour
Ascending a mt is 4 hours
Ascending a Snow mt is 12 hours